January 06, 2020
On January 1st, 2021, in one year, Brussels will have completed its speed limit reduction to 30 kph on most of the Region’s streets. Today, the government begins discussions with the 19 municipalities, police zones, and public transport operators, to make that transition to go as smoothly as possible. Brussels Mobility has created a temporary […]
January 06, 2020
For the Belgian company XenomatiX, participating in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas will be a significant start of an extraordinary year. As a Louvain spin-off of Imec, the company produces the so-called lidar sensors. Multi-beam approach Thanks to XenomatiX’ multi-beam approach – using several laser pulses at the same time – they […]
January 03, 2020
Film music composer Hans Zimmer (62) from now on creates sounds for new electric BMWs. Zimmer created his first sound for the BMW Vision M Next concept car, but he will also make compositions for upcoming production models. From 2021 on, a driving noise is compulsory for electric vehicles, making them safer for pedestrians and […]
December 29, 2017
Lowering the speed limit on secondary roads in France from 100 to 90 kph is inevitable to save lives, and should be implemented as soon as possible at beginning of the new Macron government’s term, as intended. France’s leading newspaper Le Monde is quite straightforward in its editorial opinion. The discussion about lowering the speed […]
December 29, 2017
The entire pentagon of the Brussels city centre has become a 30 kph traffic zone in 2010. Eight years later speeding will finally be controlled and subsequently punished with speed cameras. During those years politicians pointed to each other when questions were asked about controlling this low speed zone. But now Alderwoman for Mobility Els […]
December 28, 2017
According to research with a driving simulator, executed by the Institute for Mobility (IMOB, Instituut voor MobiliteitI) and the Hasselt University, car drivers slow down at crossroads where they have to give priority to traffic from the right. “The faster we drive, the more risk there is at an accident and the heavier the material […]
December 27, 2017
In the Netherlands several bottlenecks in the highway network, causing huge traffic jams have been cured by increasing the road capacity. Traffic flow has significantly improved at these spots. According to the the Dutch traffic information service VID (VerkeersInformatieDienst) the amount of traffic jams in the Netherlands has stayed at the same level in 2017. […]
December 26, 2017
It never snows in Silicon Valley and this worries the engineers of Waymo and Uber among others, pioneers of autonomous vehicles: they do not have enough experience of how a self-driving car responds to whirling snowflakes. It sees it as hard objects you have to brake for. Light detection and ranging The sensors of those […]
December 22, 2017
Federal Minister of Mobility François Bellot (MR) is thinking of changing the speed limits and including a new maximum speed on highways in his new road code, due in the first half of 2018. On certain parts of the highways were traffic isn’t too dense, the maximum speed of 130 kph could be allowed instead […]
December 20, 2017
From January the 26th on, the four Reyers tunnels, that are the gate to the eastern part of the city of Brussels will be closed (in phases) during at least one year. After the Montgomery and Stephanie tunnels, now it’s time for the Reyers tunnels to be renovated. From the 26th of January they will […]
December 19, 2017
‘Veilig Fietsen’, a recent traffic campaign about safe bicycle driving, launched on Monday showed that 42,06% of the bicycles of pupils from the primary and secondary schools in the province of West-Flanders has defaults. The campaign is an initiative of the province and Carl Decaluwé, governor of West-Flanders. 19.185 bicycles From October 1st till November […]
December 19, 2017
Lending your car to a drunken driver or a driver without a valid driver’s licence may in the near future mean that you loose your car. Authorities are working on a law giving police judges the right to confiscate the car. Third’s party property Reason for this was the case of Miguel V., guilty of […]
December 19, 2017
Today 8% of the working population is working at least one day a week from home. If this percentage would double, at least 25 casualties would be avoided yearly and 220 accidents with injuries a new study by Vias shows. Only 18% of employers It’s the first time the impact of teleworking is studied by […]
December 19, 2017
For the first time in its 20 years of existence the EuroNCAP organization, crash-testing cars for consumers, saw a car – the Fiat Punto – awarded with zero stars, even worse than the Rover 100 in 1997. The European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP), with headquarters in Brussels, tests cars on behalf of consumer and […]
December 19, 2017
The city of Antwerp is testing a system to avoid dead spot accidents with a lightening traffic sign warning truck drivers when a cyclist is nearby. Once a cyclist is detected by a direction sensitive infrared camera, the traffic sign with LEDs lightens for 25 seconds. Local work group The project is an idea of […]
December 18, 2017
Brussels’ State Secretary for Traffic Safety Bianca Debaets (CD&V) has allocated 1,2 million euro for 23 different traffic safety educational projects initiated by several organizations. They will be elaborated in 2018 for a divers public. Sensibilizing projects The Brussels Region has a number of general sensibilizing projects on traffic safety like speed, alcohol or buckling […]
December 18, 2017
Flemish Minister of Mobility Ben Weyts (N-VA) inaugurated this weekend the first ‘mobile’ average speed check on a stretch of one and a half kilometer on the A12 between Londerzeel and Willebroek. More systems will be deployed soon. In Flanders 12 fixed average speed checks are already in use, 45 more are planned for in […]
December 14, 2017
Several of the biggest cities in The Netherlands, considering to ban mopeds – besides motorbikes – from the bicycle paths, are allowed to do so. This was decided by a majority in the Dutch parliament. Until now mopeds had to ride on the bicycle paths at a maximum speed of 25 km/hour. Now cities have […]
December 13, 2017
With snow bringing the country to a standstill beginning this week, KMI weatherman David Dehenauw launches a simple idea: “One SMS of the boss to work at home today and the traffic jams will shrink visibly”. Minister of Work Kris Peeters (CD&V) sees the point. Severe weather conditions His proposal is that when severe weather […]
December 12, 2017
France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is determined to do something about the numerous fatal accidents on the French roads. On Monday he declared to be prepared to bring back speed limits to 80 km/hour on certain bidirectional national and regional roads. They seem to be the most dangerous and the most fatal: two third of […]
December 12, 2017
Belgian federal Minister of Mobility François Bellot (MR) wants to tackle the problem of truck drivers ignoring the ban on overhauling in rain or snow with ANPR cameras that can recognize number plates. An amendment of the law to make this possible, will become active in 2018, says Bellot. On Monday with half of Belgium […]
December 07, 2017
According to the latest figures of Vias, the Belgian institute for traffic safety and mobility (formerly called BIVV/IBSR) the death toll on Belgian roads (first three quarters) has lowered from 407 to 363 casualties. Minister Weyts is happy that his latest measures are having results. “These figures show a world of difference with those assembled […]
December 06, 2017
Only 1% of people working at Belgium’s international airport in Zaventem come to work by bicycle today. That’s why Brussels Airport together with local authorities and the Flemish Region, wants to invest in an extra exit, a branch on the existing F3 Leuven-Brussels high speed bicycle path by 2019. Double capacity By 2040 Brussels Airport […]
December 05, 2017
It was Flemish Minister for Mobility Ben Weyts (N-VA) who belled the cat with his federal and two regional colleagues in the executive committee to propose a ban on radar detectors like the popular Coyote. But his French speaking colleagues have not really warmed to that plan. Radar zone Weyts was willing to compromise and […]
December 05, 2017
Google Glass was launched as a very promising device some years ago, but it was a commercial disaster. Not so in the professional world: in a hospital in Belgian Herstal it even saves lives. Google Glass would make our daily live so much easier, that was the promise when a prototype was launched in 2013. […]
December 04, 2017
“Stubborn keeping on driving on the left- or middle lane while the right lane is free, should to be fined 118 euro instead of 58 in the future”, the Belgian institute for road safety Vias proposes. By doing this, they are endangering other road users that are tempted to overhaul on the right side. The […]
December 01, 2017
In order to free up the roads as fast as possible after an accident, tow-trucks should get priority like ambulances, police vehicles and fire engines. That’s what the Belgian sector federation Traxio wants to accomplish with streamlining some 200 private services into a common quality label ‘Road Support’. Green rotating lights Traxio wants its members […]
November 30, 2017
Dutch car supplier organisation BOVAG ordered a study about the replacemnt of worn wipers on passenger cars. The study of bureau Markteffect showed that only 4% of the car owners replace their wipers after a fixed period.The rest is waiting until they hear screeches or have their vision blurred. The study from Markteffect asked 1.026 […]
November 30, 2017
A 45 year old man on a motorbike was flashed at 252 kph but got away scot-free before the judge in Tournai. His lawyer advised the man to stay away from his trial and let the case become prescribed by the lapse of time. Speeding infringements are prescribed after one year in Belgium. In November […]
November 29, 2017
Citizens of the province of Antwerp, Belgium’s forerunner on cycling, are getting the scoop – a European first – of an online data bank mapping out the best quality bicycle paths and showing were most accidents happen. Places to be careful or to avoid, thus. Fietsbarometer How good are the bicycle paths? How many cyclists […]
November 28, 2017
In Belgium one of five drivers or 19,9% is checked each year for alcohol. The risk of getting caught has tripled the last ten years. In 2006 only 7,5% of Belgians was checked. These are some of the figures coming from the annual statistic report of the Belgian road safety institute Vias on controls and […]
November 23, 2017
Transport companies willing to invest in sustainable technology and road safety can get a 100.000 euro financial leg-up from the Flemish government from this week on. Condition is that the investment goes further than the strict legally obligation. SCR-systems The subsidies – up to 80% of the investment and limited to 100.000 every three years […]
November 16, 2017
Many motorists still don’t know how to react when they suddenly see an ambulance with blaring sirens suddenly appear in their rear-view mirror. Mobility organization Touring therefore proposes to modify the Belgian road code. For the new proposal Touring has been inspired by the ‘Rettungsgasse’, a principle that is obliged for some time in countries […]
November 16, 2017
Guess what is the biggest annoyance of motorists on the highway? Indeed: the persisting middle-lane driver. This is shown by a poll by Vias Institute, the Belgian road safety institute. Staying in the middle lane is annoying, but is it also dangerous. “Other road users are forced to pass by left,’ says Stef Willems, Vias’ […]
November 16, 2017
More than half (57%) of Belgians claim to have been the victims of aggressive behaviour in traffic last year. This is apparent from a poll by Belgian Vias Institute for road safety, National Road Safety Day On “National Road Safety Day” Vias institute, the former BIVV/IBSR, surveyed the Belgian population about aggressively and irritating behaviour […]
November 15, 2017
According to figures given by Jan Jambon (N-VA), Minister of the Interior, in 2016, a total of 108.500 fines were issued for using smartphones at the steering wheel, which means 300 infringements a day. MP Jef Van Den Bergh (CD&V) asked for these figures. Also cyclists are involved Of the total number of fines issued, more […]
November 15, 2017
In two years, the number of accidents in 30-zones has increased by 21%. Admittedly the number of zones has increase too, but the major part of drivers is still driving too fast. The Walloon government is working on installing “intelligent 30-zone” active only during school periods. 283 is the number of accidents recorded in 30-zones […]
November 15, 2017
All new cars should have advanced driving assistance systems (ADAS) that can detect pedestrians, brake automatically in an emergency, warn for lane departure and adapt the speed of the car. This is the general idea of a resolution voted by the European Parliament on Tuesday to half the number of casualties in traffic by 2020. […]
November 13, 2017
According to a drastic road safety plan 30 kilometer per hour should be the speed limit in the entire Brussels’ region. The only exception should be the larger through roads. The plan by Brussels Minister for Road Safety Bianca Debaets (CD&V) and Minister for Mobility Pascal Smet (PS), joins the similar proposal by parliament member Bruno […]
November 13, 2017
Walloon Mobility and Transport Minister Carlo Di Antonio (cdH) just validated a new subvention program worth nearly 5,5 million euro to promote the use of the bicycle and enhance security for cyclists and pedestrians. This amount will be distributed between 62 cities and municipalities. The program is part of the mobility plan 2030 ‘FAST’ of […]
November 10, 2017
Thursday morning, on the E314 in Genk, fourteen wild boars were hit by a truck and a car. Fortunately, the drivers were not injured. The animals didn’t survive the accident. The Belgian province of Limburg is suffering from a plague of wild boars. The animals are also appearing increasingly on roads and motorways, resulting in […]
November 09, 2017
The Belgian Vias Institute for road safety unveiled some details of its important study on persistent road offenders. The institute analyzed cases in the Leuven and Malines Courts and determined a typical profile: a 39 year old male blue-collar worker with lower income, single and without children. Vias has studied numerous repeat road offender cases […]
November 07, 2017
From May 20th 2018, France is tightening up its technical vehicle inspection, up to European standards agreed on in April 2014. Cars will be checked for 606 features, compared to 467 today. The group SGS which does 32% of these inspections, expects the number of failed cars to rise to one out of two. In […]
November 07, 2017
Last year, there were 779 road accidents in Belgium with a damage cost of more than 125.000 euro. The average cost of these claims was 424.647 euro. In order to pay only the major accidents claims, more than one million insured persons are needed, as evidenced by recent figures from Assuralia, the professional association of […]
November 06, 2017
Construction works on the Groenendael ecoduct are nearing completion with cars driving under it and animals from the Sonian Forest already able to cross the Ring without danger. Grading and leveling works of the different adjacent sites should be finished in December and specific plantation is due beginning 2018. The ecoduct’s layout takes into account […]
November 03, 2017
Expect a moralizing sermon with every traffic infringement fine you’ll get in the near future. Belgian Minister of Mobility François Bellot (MR) wants to add ‘a personal message’ with each fine to sensitize people in what the minister calls “behaviour on the road that can’t be tolerated”. The ‘fine with sermon’ on about 9 million […]
November 03, 2017
Belgium’s most famous viaduct will get a crucial makeover with four lanes in each direction in the context of the redesign of the Ring around Brussels. Local and through traffic will be split and the viaduct will become a so-called ‘selection zone’ of almost 2 kilometres long. The first works are scheduled for 2019. The […]
November 02, 2017
Minister of Mobility Francois Bellot (MR) wants to change the road code so that companies can be held liable if a traffic infringement is committed with a company car. At the moment, fines are sometimes left unpaid if it’s not clear which employee committed the offence. In the new proposal liability is not only extended […]
November 02, 2017
Modern cars are loaded with safety systems, but most drivers hardly ever use them. They simply don’t know what smart gadgets their car is equipped with. This was one of the remarkable results of the study carried out by the Connecting Mobility, a project office of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management together […]
November 02, 2017
One of the side effects of self-driving car is that the drivers tend to fall asleep and are unable to intervene when something goes wrong. “A scary experience”, Waymo CEO John Krafcik told Reuters on a visit of its Phoenix area test facilities this week. After experiencing this in 2013 during highway testing, Waymo, sister […]
October 31, 2017
The Commission on Infrastructure of the Brussels’ parliament has agreed in the forming of a work group that has to study the implementation of dynamic road signs and speed limits on the main entry axes and the Ring. These dynamic road signs will adapt the speed limits to the traffic and weather conditions. The implementation […]
October 31, 2017
The Belgian Walloon regional government has agreed last week on an ambitious plan to reduce car usage from 83 to 60% by 2030. Its Transport, Mobility and Road Safety Minister Carlo di Antonio (cdH) wants 4 out of 5 car trips in the future to be with at least two passengers and boost public transport […]
October 30, 2017
Philippe De Backer, State Secretary for Social Fraud, but also leader of the Open VLD faction in the Antwerp city council, calls for a kilometre tax for lorries in the inner city of Antwerp for certain critical time slots. Unless they pay a substantial fee. “Circulation plans sound good, but the solution is just there […]
October 30, 2017
Japanese carmaker Subaru has confirmed that its certification method for home market cars wasn’t done by certified inspectors, just like Nissan. The company plans on recalling 250.000 cars. “These methods involving controlling new vehicles by non-accredited inspectors for the Japanese market have been going on for 30 years at Subaru”, declared CEO Yasuyuki Yoshinaga. The […]
October 27, 2017
In Wallonia starting 2018, all classic cars will have to go through a periodic technical inspection every two years. For cars aged between 25 and 30, it will be every year. In Belgium, a car is considered a classic car if it is older than 25 years old, counting from its first registration date. In […]
October 27, 2017
After the indignation about the bicycle crashes in Antwerp, the political parties are now focusing on road safety. The collective ‘Samen’, joining political parties sp.a and Groen, wants to introduce a drastic new traffic plan like Ghent did. The left-wing collective asked professor Dirk Lauwers (UA, UGent), an authority in the field of road safety, […]
October 25, 2017
Simultaneously green light for all cyclists and pedestrians at crossroads could prevent accidents. But that road code is still not valid. According to Member of Parliament Jef Van den Bergh (CD&V) it could be applied sooner. Federal Minister for Mobility François Bellot (MR) is working on an adaptation of that traffic regulations. The proposal includes […]
October 25, 2017
Uber has created a fake city near Pittsburgh (US) on an old industrial lot to test autonomous cars in “real world conditions”. It is also used to train the future security drivers that will be present in Uber’s autonomous cars in case something goes wrong. On an old industrial lot of 17 acres, Uber has […]
October 25, 2017
Without unexpected obstacles, one of Europe’s biggest road construction sites, the Antwerp Oosterweel connection, will start in spring 2018 on the left bank of the river Scheldt (Linkeroever) and Zwijndrecht. A job that will take four and a half years and will cost 386 million euro. The Antwerp Ring will be open for traffic all […]
October 23, 2017
Federal Justice Minister Koen Geens (CD&V) and Mobility Minister François Bellot (MR) proposed a new law aiming at reducing the number of vehicles driving without insurance. Penalties go from a three months driving ban to nine months imprisonment. In 2016, 29.233 drivers were caught circulating on the roads without any insurance for their vehicles. This […]
