Flanders adds almost 200 average speed checks this year

Between 2019 and today, the Flemish government added 234 average speed checks on 136 locations. This year, another 194 controls are planned on 109 locations. According to Flemish Mobility Minister Lydia Peeters (Open Vld), they’re a “concrete and effective measure to reduce the number of accidents”.

Excessive speed is one of the biggest killers in traffic, so enforcement is and will, therefore, remain essential to improve road safety. “Research has shown that the number of traffic accidents decreases significantly, not only on the controlled routes but also before and after the controlled stretch,” Minister Peeters explains.

542 controlled systems

It is not clear yet where those new speed checks will be installed. Accident figures and data about the speed driven play a role, but local authorities can also submit an application to the Agency for Roads and Traffic (Agenstschap Wegen en Verkeer, AWV) for the installation of average speed checks.

During this legislature, the number of installations along the Flemish highways and regional roads increased to 300 locations, accounting for 542 controlled systems.

Effective measure

Average speed checks are considered to be more effective than speed control cameras because the former doesn’t provide a ‘snapshot’ but actually checks the average speed of a driver over a longer distance.

“Average speed checks have proven to be successful,” says Minister Peeters. Research has indicated that the number of speeding incidents decreases by 78%, and the number of accidents by between 15 and 30%. The number of accidents in which seriously wounded people are involved even is more than halved.”