New app maps drink-driving checkpoints in Flanders, highlighting legal grey area
A new app called Trapspotter claims to show drivers in Flanders where to avoid alcohol checkpoints. Created by Vincent Parisis, an entrepreneur from East Flanders, it is presented as a deterrent to drink-driving, encouraging users to choose a designated driver, public transport, or a taxi instead. However, Belgium’s road safety institute, VIAS, strongly disputes this, arguing that the app undermines road safety and is primarily a revenue model, VRT NWS reports.
Trapspotter uses AI to aggregate information from social media, messaging platforms, and user reports. It currently operates as a web app, with mobile versions planned. The service is free for the first two weeks, after which it costs 3.95 euros per month.
VIAS warns that such tools could make it easier to evade police checks and help criminals avoid controls unrelated to alcohol. The organisation is calling for stricter regulation, similar to that in France, where apps may only indicate general control zones rather than precise locations.
Although Belgian traffic law prohibits tools intended to obstruct enforcement, it is legally contested whether checkpoint-mapping apps fall under this provision.
These discussions are taking place amid the annual BOB campaign, which was launched in Belgium in 1995 and intensifies around Christmas and New Year. The campaign promotes the use of a designated driver and is accompanied by increased police checks. It's a model that has since been adopted in countries including the Netherlands, France, Germany and Luxembourg, albeit with national variations.
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