Traffic fines for foreign drivers in Belgium double in a year

The number of foreign drivers receiving traffic fines in Belgium has doubled in a year, Mediahuis newspapers report on Tuesday.

Police forces caught 427,000 drivers from other EU countries violating the Belgian highway code in 2020. Last year, that number rose by about 30 percent to 560,000 offences. In the first half of 2022, almost 540,000 foreigners were fined in six months. That amounts to an average of some 3,000 drivers per day, up from an average of 1,500 per day last year.

Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD, Flemish liberals), who listed the figures in response to a question from N-VA (Flemish nationalists) MP Wouter Raskin, attributes the increase to the increased focus on improving road safety in Belgium. 

Moreover, the actual payment of 'foreign' fines is rising. Of the 1.5 million immediate collections sent out by the police in 2020, 2021 and the first half of 2022, half (52 per cent) were paid promptly.

© BELGA PHOTO JONAS ROOSENS