Expansion of police capacity to process 1,000 fines per hour
Wednesday's edition of Het Nieuwsblad reports that the federal police, with the help of extra personnel, can soon process as many as 9 million traffic tickets annually. The expansion will also allow speed cameras along regional roads and mobile speed detection devices to continuously monitor for violations.
At the end of last year, the government decided to give the federal police more money to invest in improving road safety. With the extra budget, Interior minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) will hire dozens of people in the regional processing centres, which process most traffic fines.
When fully staffed, the centres will employ 187 people. According to Verlinden, "the processing capacity will then increase to almost 9 million offences", an average of about a thousand fines per hour. Currently, the centres' processing capacity is limited to 5 million offences per year.
We will also apply more zero tolerance on local roads
The increased capacity of the regional processing centre will also enable the activation of many local speed cameras, especially in Flanders, Verlinden explained. "And we will also apply more zero tolerance on local roads".
Experts say stricter speed controls are urgently needed. In 2022, 540 people will lose their lives on Belgian roads and 54,000 will be seriously injured. This puts Belgium far behind its neighbouring countries in terms of road safety.
#FlandersNewsService | © BELGA PHOTO BENOIT DOPPAGNE
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