Most drivers adjust driving behavior after speeding fine

In 2023, 30% of Belgians received a traffic fine, the vast majority for a speeding offense. A survey conducted by Traffic Safety Institute Vias now shows that two out of three drivers do adjust their driving behavior after receiving a speeding ticket.

The Federal Highway Police and local police are also organizing the twentieth-speed camera marathon today. For 24 hours, the police will carry out extra checks on road users’ speed on Belgian roads.

Fines do work

Speeding causes most drivers to be fined, which is no surprise given the increased ANPR camera surveillance in Belgium. The other top five offenses are illegal parking (18%), ignoring a prohibition sign (5%), mobile phone use (3%), and not wearing a seatbelt (2%).

Overall, men were also slightly more likely to be fined than women, 33% versus 26%. The figures for Flanders and Brussels are slightly above 30%, while the figure for Wallonia is slightly lower at 25%.

A new survey by Vias, which took a sample of 2,000 Belgians with a driving license, shows that fines work effectively and modify driving behavior: after being fined for speeding, two out of three Belgians, or 66%, say they have adhered more strictly to the speed limit.

Of course, the financial aspect plays a role in encouraging behavior change. One in three people (34%) paid between 101 and 300 euros in fines, and nearly 7% had to pay more than 300 euros last year for their fines.

20th-speed camera marathon

“In Belgium, one accident in three is due to excessive or inappropriate speed,” says Vias. “That is why it is important to organize regular awareness and enforcement campaigns, such as the 20th-speed camera marathon organized today by the Federal Highway Police and local police.”

At the previous speed camera marathon in November, some 6% of drivers checked were speeding, and 13 driving licenses were revoked. At last April’s edition, 4,56% were speeding. “Unfortunately, we notice an increasing trend in the figures of the past editions,” the federal police laments.

Lower technical tolerance margins

In Belgium, there is still a technical tolerance margin of 6 km/h for speeds up to 100 km/h and 6% for speeds above 100 km/h. But in the meantime, technology has improved tremendously and Vias therefore advocates lower technical tolerance margins.

Indeed, new calculations show that for a 2-km section control in a 50 Zone, the device can calculate the speed accurately to within 0,26 km/h. For a section control of 15 km on a motorway, the device calculates the speed accurately to within 0,17 km/h. So there is no reason to apply such a high technical tolerance anymore.