August 17, 2022
Auderghem, one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, is stepping up its fight against illegal parking of shared mobility units. Drop zones will soon be created. The city is doing this on its own initiative because of the lack of directives related to the ordinance approved by the Brussels Region in March, the […]
August 17, 2022
The new ‘Good Move’ circulation plan in the Brussels Pentagon was launched on Tuesday. Stewards were posted in many places to guide motorists and other road users in the right direction. A welcome solution, because on the first day of the new plan, some places had an extra 30 minutes of traffic jams. Brussels Alderman […]
August 17, 2022
Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN), a Dutch organization dedicated to traffic safety since 1932, wants to ban devices to tune up electric bicycles. With those tuning kits, e-bikes with a normal maximum speed of 25 km/hour can be tuned up to reach speeds of 45 to 50 km/hour. “Far too dangerous”, says VVN, “especially for youngsters.” […]
August 16, 2022
In January, three liberal members of Parliament submitted a bill for the introduction of a green courtesy light for voluntary firefighters. Now, the Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) has commissioned the traffic safety institute Vias to start a pilot project. The idea is that voluntary firefighters could use a courtesy light to let other […]
August 16, 2022
In Brussels, near Place Saincteclette, a road user was recently arrested for driving 112 km/hour on his e-scooter. He reached this speed in the Anny Cordy tunnel, during the Roller Bike Parade, which is organised every Friday evening from 10 June to 23 September. So reports La Dernière Heure. The man filmed his own ‘heroic […]
August 16, 2022
The new traffic plan in the center of Brussels comes into force on Tuesday, 16 August, as announced several months ago. The project, adopted by the city council on 21 February, aims to turn the Pentagon into a ‘traffic-calmed zone’. As a result, less transit traffic should make the center more livable, accounting for no […]
August 10, 2022
According to figures from Minister for Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo), more than 12 000 Belgians are driving around with an expired driver’s license. And this could lead to fines of 1 600 to a whopping 16 000 euros. Since July 2010, those who pass their driving test get a European driver’s license. The card looks […]
August 10, 2022
Chevrolet has reduced the price of its Bolt EV by up to $6 000 in the US this summer. Owners of previously bought Bolt vehicles are apparently offered the same credit… if they waive all rights to sue GM over the vehicle. The website Jalopnik reported that owners who bought their Bolt before the price […]
August 10, 2022
In the second quarter of 2022, the Brussels local police checked the speed of 9 758 387 drivers using fixed cameras, mobile speed cameras, and the LIDAR speed camera. Of these drivers, 19 434 were found to be driving at an illegal speed. At the section controls in the Hallepoorttunnel and the Baljuw- and Louiza-tunnel, […]
August 09, 2022
From 16 August, vehicle inspection centers in Flanders must resume their normal activities and stop accepting customers by appointment only. This is what Flemish Minister for Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) has decided. The minister is also demanding an audit of the operation and customer satisfaction of the facilities after the complaints piled up in […]
August 09, 2022
In France, sites and apps providing road guidance will have to inform their users about the negative impact of their trip on the environment and their health. In addition, they will have to propose less polluting routes and possible alternatives to the car for their voyage. When a user searches to plan a route, the […]
August 08, 2022
The Democrats in the US Senate have presented a new bill on the tax credit for electric cars. This bill still foresees the amount of a $ 7 500 reduction, but the upper limit of 200 000 electric cars per manufacturer is removed. This would make Tesla and GM eligible again. The law has now […]
August 05, 2022
Last year, the police fined 12 517 cyclists for not respecting traffic regulations. In our country, an average of 34 cyclists are tagged daily. The figures come from the Ministry of Domestic Affairs. The most common infringements are the absence of lights, ignoring traffic lights, and using a cell phone while cycling. However, the police […]
August 04, 2022
The Brussels region has issued the building permit for the renovation and extension of the former postal sorting office at Brussels-Midi station. This was announced by Pascal Smet (one.brussels-Vooruit), State Secretary for Town Planning in Brussels. The Belgian rail company NMBS/SNCB will accommodate its headquarters and many other activities in the future building. A consortium […]
August 04, 2022
Brussels Minister of Mobility Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) is not in favor of increasing the number of lanes on the Brussels Ring Road. She is reacting to the plans of the Flemish government presented last week. Van den Brandt does advocate more bicycle and tram connections to Brussels. According to her spokesperson, increasing the […]
August 01, 2022
Energy provider Eneco Belgium has been refused a permit to build a battery storage site in an industrial park in Ville-sur-Haine. The municipal council of the Roeulx commune has blocked the demand. This seems to be the newest example of the growing straddle between local and regional or national authorities. According to Eneco, the council’s […]
July 29, 2022
Five years after the installation of the cameras in the tunnel, Brussels Mobility will restart discussions in September about the introduction of average speed checks in the Annie Cordy Tunnel, the former Leopold II tunnel, which is the longest in the country. In 2017, the then State Secretary for Traffic Safety, Bianca Debaets (CD&V), wanted […]
July 29, 2022
The roll-out of 10 000 extra charging points in the public domain in Flanders – on demand for those who don’t have the means to charge an EV at home – will be realized in the next two years by French energy giants Engie and TotalEnergies. They won the public tender, which divides Flanders into […]
July 28, 2022
Germany is going to phase out the eco-bonus for electric vehicles. From 2023 onward, incentives for PHEVs will disappear and support will focus mainly on cheaper electric cars bought by private customers. The support measure would continue until 2024, but the subsidy pot will also be reduced yearly. Germany is currently very generous with eco-bonuses […]
July 27, 2022
The Brussels government is to launch the procedure to protect the D’Ieteren Group’s building in the Rue du Mail/Maliestraat in Ixelles. D’Ieteren recently announced plans to renovate its headquarters and prepare them for the future. The Ixelles site covers 67 000 m² and has been owned by the D’Ieteren family since 1906. It has been […]
July 27, 2022
The French government has abolished the decree imposing technical control for motorbikes over 125 cc from 2023. President Emmanuel Macron is thus fulfilling his promise, even though the measure should be compulsory from this year according to a European directive. According to the French Minister for Transport, Clément Beaune, “other methods can effectively achieve the […]
July 25, 2022
A Brussels resident had just obtained the 1 000 signatures needed to set up a participatory commission dedicated to the nuisances generated by motorized two-wheelers. “This shows that this is an important issue for the people of Brussels and that I am not the only one who suffers from these nuisances,” says initiator Marc Escudeiro […]
July 15, 2022
Almost half (49,5%) of candidates in Brussels passed their practical license exam last year. More than half, therefore, failed. This is what La Dernière Heure reports. However, the figure is changing for the better: only 44% of Brussels motorists passed their test in 2019 and 45% in 2020. To put things in context: taking the […]
July 15, 2022
Volkswagen adapted its software to limit the consequences of the so-called dieselgate scandal. The problem is now that the new software is as illegal as the previous one. This has been confirmed by the European Court of Justice, which has been asked for advice by the Austrian Court of Justice. Dieselgate concerns a software fraud […]
July 14, 2022
A bill currently under study in the North Carolina legislature would allocate $50 000 to get rid of free public EV chargers unless free gas pumps are built alongside. That’s what a Car&Driver magazine contributor has noticed in its state and neighborhood, District 52 of that same US state. “Politicians have to run on some […]
July 13, 2022
Belgian Energy Minister Tinne Van der Straeten (Groen) proposes to ask for a one-off crisis contribution from the energy sector amounting to 25% of excess profits. The details are now being worked out with Finance Minister Vincent Van Peteghem (CD&V) and will end up on the government table in the autumn as part of the […]
July 13, 2022
The recently voted parking plan of the Brussels Minister for Mobility, Elke Van den Brandt (Groen), has to pool the available parking spaces in urban areas. By doing so, Van den Brandt is actually following a general tendency in a growing number of large European cities. Van den Brandt wants to see fewer cars in […]
July 12, 2022
Also in Belgium, Uber used dubious practices to gain a foothold, for example by exerting pressure on governments. This is evident from the revelations of the Uber Files by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), of which Belgian media such as Knack, De Tijd, and Le Soir are members. In France, it is the […]
July 12, 2022
Nearly two months after his re-election, the French opposition is summoning French president Emmanuel Macron to explain himself after the revelation by the press of privileged exchanges between Uber and Macron when he was at Bercy. The left-wing alliance Nupes wants a parliamentary commission of inquiry, while the far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) is asking […]
July 12, 2022
The Flemish government does not agree with the environmental impact statement about the noise nuisance of Brussels Airport. That is what the newspaper De Standaard wrote on Monday. The study was ordered in 2017 by then Minister of Mobility François Bellot (MR). The French consultancy agency Envisa finally suggested nine scenarios to spread the nuisance […]
July 11, 2022
After a first pilot project, all cameras on the Flemish highways will be permanently operational as of the end of August. Anyone driving 129 km/hour or more will be caught and fined. There will no longer be any margin of tolerance. The measure should improve traffic safety. “129 km/hour will become the standard on the […]
July 11, 2022
The Brussels government has validated the first version of Good Living, the future bible of urban planning in the Brussels Region. Open spaces, urbanity, and liability are the three principles of Good Living, which will be the guiding principle for the transition of Brussels to a future-oriented city on a human scale. It foresees a […]
July 11, 2022
Volvo Cars is the second manufacturer in a few months to announce it will no longer be a member of the European car manufacturers association ACEA. It’s the next member to withdraw after Stellantis pulled the plug some weeks ago. The reasons for departure may seem a little different, though. In an official declaration sent […]
July 08, 2022
Just one day after Cruise was granted an official license for commercial autonomous taxi rides, one of its robocars got involved in an accident injuring multiple passengers. The crash is under investigation. According to reports, a robotaxi from Cruise took a left turn on the 3rd of June at a junction in San Francisco but […]
July 06, 2022
Over two months, more specifically from May through June, approximately 1 500 driving licenses were withdrawn from car drivers in Halle-Vilvoorde who used their phones while driving. The public prosecutor’s office reported this on Tuesday in a press release. “At the time of the action, all these drivers posed a real danger to themselves and […]
July 06, 2022
The Walloon government announced on Tuesday that it has approved the Wallonia Cycling Plan 2030, which aims to make cycling possible, safe, and normal for everyone. The plan, which results from consultation with numerous partners, including cyclists’ associations, is divided into four sections on which work must progress in parallel: governance, networks & infrastructure, service […]
July 06, 2022
On Tueday, the EU agreed on the Commission’s updated proposal to toughen emission ratings for plug-in hybrids (PHEV) by 2025 to mimic better the actual amount of CO2 they emit on the road, being sometimes three times higher than assumed. The so-called ‘utility factor’, used to calculate the share of electric driving in estimating CO2 […]
July 05, 2022
Minister of Mobility Georges Gilkinet (Ecolo) wants to make bicycle theft – almost 70 a day in Belgium – a priority for the police. A single national bicycle registration system will be set up so that the police can return a recovered bicycle to its owner more easily. That is what the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad […]
July 04, 2022
As in the rest of Europe, the Netherlands has long debated switching to pay-per-kilometer taxation to discourage car usage. Finally, the government of Rutte IV decided in favor of the new charge and sets an example for other European countries. A single rate for all drivelines will be deployed, and crossborder mileage will also be […]
July 04, 2022
The Brussels Region is taking additional measures for e-scooters, such as reducing the maximum speed to 8 km/hour in certain pedestrian zones. Brussels Mobility announced this in a press release on Friday. There will also be adapted parking or drop-off zones and prohibited zones with specific road signs. Parking on the pavement is allowed if […]
July 01, 2022
The Brussels Government has finalized the ‘Low-Emission Mobility Brussels’ roadmap with accompanying measures for gradually phasing out diesel and gasoline engines. In addition, the social support measures were also strengthened. The measures taken are also designed to respect the climate objectives of the Paris Agreement of the EU. 2030 is a turning point As previously […]
July 01, 2022
The die is cast: Dutch riders of mopeds (and their passengers) will have to wear a mandatory helmet as of January 1st, 2023. Plans for the compulsory helmet were already imminent, but now the situation is finally clear. Those who hit the road without a helmet risk a fine of 100 euros. The measure applies […]
June 29, 2022
Early in the morning on Wednesday, the 27 member states of the European Council approved the ‘Fit for 55’ climate plan of the Commission, reducing CO2 emissions for cars by 55% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. Despite the last-minute maneuvers of car-producing countries like Italy to postpone the date, the 27 stick to 2035 […]
June 28, 2022
The Walloon government has reached an agreement on the new car taxation scheme that was already due for a certain time. Normally, the whole scheme should come into effect from 1 September 2023 onward and totally implemented by 2026. As well road tax and registration tax will be revised, the global ‘tax pressure’ should stay […]
June 27, 2022
The city of Antwerp introduced new regulations for shared e-scooters. From July 18th onward, ‘no go zones’, ‘no park zones’, and ‘slow-speed zones’ will be marked. Technology makes cheating impossible. For example, in a ‘no go zone’, the e-scooters will automatically reduce speed and come to a halt if you enter the area. The city […]
June 27, 2022
Last year, the federal police fined more than 4,6 million drivers for speeding in Belgium. That is more than ever, or an increase of 14,75% compared to 2020. According to the police, “people experience a kind of urge for compensation after corona.” And, of course, this leads to more traffic fines. “People seem to give […]
June 27, 2022
All eyes are set on the European council, where the member states search to agree on a joint position after the European Parliament has voted in favor of a ban on the sales of combustion-engined cars as of 2035. However, the deadline could still be jeopardized. Major countries like Italy, France, and Germany support more […]
June 23, 2022
In a second vote on the climate ambitions of the European Commission, assembled under the ‘Fit for 55‘ umbrella, the European Parliament has agreed with the remaining issues and measures to reduce greenhouse gases by 55% in 2030. A central issue is the reform and the enlargement of the Emission Trade System. The European car […]
June 22, 2022
An earlier EU phase-out date for cars and vans with internal combustion engines would net significant savings for European drivers and hugely reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to new calculations by Greenpeace Germany. “An end to sales of new gasoline, diesel, and hybrid cars in 2028 would reduce oil use enough to save drivers €635 […]
June 22, 2022
The Mobility Commission of the Brussels Parliament voted and approved – majority against the opposition – on Tuesday the new parking reform. The aim is to review the draft car parking ordinance – the last one goes back to 2009. Next, the text will move to the plenary. Finally, after a second lecture by the […]
June 21, 2022
Owners of zero-emission cars will likely pay lower parking fees in The Netherlands beginning next year. A legal framework has been created so that cities and towns can adjust their parking policies in favor of electric cars. But Norway, with the highest rate of EVs per capita in the whole world a leading exemplar, is […]
June 21, 2022
After decades of postponing, the Mobility Committee of the Belgian Parliament is finally going into the details this week of a driver’s with points, as inscribed into the coalition agreement of the Vivaldi government. The Belgian road safety institute Vias was asked to study the consequences and modalities and presented the results to the MPs. […]
June 20, 2022
Now that road tax in Flanders is rising due to the annual indexation on July 1st, mobility organization Touring pleads for a temporary stop of indexation. “Bad timing to increase tariffs by almost 10%,” they say. Touring points out the already sky-high fuel prices and other price-rises consumers are confronted with these days. “The indexation […]
June 16, 2022
From 1 July, the emission measurement for diesel cars in the Belgian annual technical inspection will be changed. From then on, diesel cars will have to pass a new test procedure to map out the emission of particulate matter in the exhaust gases. The new system counts the particles that are present, making it possible […]
June 16, 2022
In April, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo installed an expert committee to battle inflation and study ‘buying power and competitiveness’. Yesterday, Pierre Wunsch, chair of the committee and Governor of the National Bank, presented its intermediate conclusions. Among them, clear recommendations were to gradually reduce the highway speed limit to 100 kph and reduce […]
June 16, 2022
In May, 690 drivers were caught using their smartphones at the wheel in the province of East Flanders. As a result, their drivers’ licenses were suspended for eight days. Earlier, the public prosecutor had warned of a severe approach. “The inadmissible use of the smartphone at the wheel will immediately be punished with an eight-day […]
June 15, 2022
The British Department of Transport (DfT) has put a lid on its plug-in car grant scheme, making buyers of electric cars no longer eligible for financial support. Scrapping the so-called Plug-In Grant evokes disappointment from carmakers. Still, according to the government, it needs to shift its investments to developing public charging infrastructure and greening other […]
June 09, 2022
Europe has taken a historic step on Wednesday with the Parliament voting a ban on sales of new cars or vans with an internal combustion engine (ICE), including plug-in hybrids, from 2035 on. Only manufacturers selling less than 10 000 – mostly exclusive sports cars like Ferrari – can apply for a derogation for a […]
May 30, 2022
Inhabitants in Brussels who dispose of their vehicles and hand in their licence plates receive a premium through Bruxell’Air or Brussels’Air. The fees vary between 500 and 900 euros depending on income and can be used to finance public transport passes, a bicycle, or car-sharing services. Regarding the last alternative, the municipality of Woluwe-Saint-Pierre has decided […]
May 27, 2022
The French government is working on a project to provide the poorest inhabitants with an electric car at a cost of 100 euros per month. The proposal, first proposed by the Socialist candidate and mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo and promised by newly elected president Emmanuel Macron during his first campaign speech on 17 March, […]
