100 road deaths in 2014, a record low according to federal police

100 road deaths in 2014, a record low according to federal police

A hundred people died on Belgium's motorways and main roads last year, a historic low said the director of the federal traffic police, Michaël Jonniaux, when he presented the review of his services on Tuesday. The number of road deaths reached an all-time low in 2014 with 100 deaths, compared to 131 in 2011. The number of people seriously injured also fell from 1,125 in 2011 to 484 in 2014, well over a 50% drop.

According to chief superintendent Jonniaux, improvements in the roads and special preventative measures contributed to this positive outcome. He further pointed out that these results were also achieved through increased spot checks on the roads to ensure road safety. In 2014 Federal traffic police increased the amount of time spent doing spot checks by 20% compared to the previous year, representing over 155,500 hours in total last year.  The number of alcohol and speed checks had even almost doubled since 2008 (145% and 102% increase respectively).  Speeding is responsible for nearly one third of fatal accidents and drink-driving for nearly a quarter of them said Mr Jonniaux so the police are particularly vigilant regarding these two factors.

The chief superintendent also highlighted the drop in speeding offenses caught by fixed and average speed cameras On average, in 2014 2.7 cases of speeding were recorded hourly compared to 3.3 in 2013. Mr Jonniaux conservatively described the results as encouraging.

(Source: Belga)  


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