The Walloon Road Safety Council (CSWSR) has presented its action plan to reduce the number of road deaths in Wallonia. Among the most important proposals in the seven-point plan is a speed reduction on regional roads from 90 to 70 km/h, as in Flanders.
Another important pillar: better compliance with speed limits, supported by a strengthened enforcement policy – in other words, more police checks.
Drop in traffic fatalities, but…
Since 2019, Wallonia has seen a 33% drop in road deaths, a 17% drop in serious injuries, an 8% drop in minor injuries, and a 6% drop in accidents resulting in injury.
However, this encouraging trend should not hide the fact that Wallonia still lags behind the other two Belgian regions and the European average. In 2024, Wallonia had 56 road deaths per million inhabitants, compared to only 9 in Brussels and 37 in Flanders. This level places Wallonia in Europe at the bottom of the ranking alongside countries such as Portugal (60), Latvia (60), Hungary (52), and Poland (also 52).
More recent figures also show that there is still a long way to go to achieve the goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2050: in the first six months of this year, 89 people lost their lives in traffic incidents in Wallonia. In the same period last year, the figure was 94. In 2024, 206 people lost their lives on Walloon roads.
Walloons not keen on 70 kph measure
In the action plan presented by the Walloon Road Safety Council in Namur last week, it now advocated extending the 30 km/h zones in built-up areas and reducing the speed limit on regional roads from 90 to 70 km/h. In Flanders, this measure was introduced in 2017 and had a noticeable effect on road safety, with the number of serious injuries and fatalities falling by no less than 22,7%.
However, the Walloons are not keen on this measure. According to the Council, which surveyed 1,000 Walloons, only 35% would support it. For this reason, the Council is arguing against immediately reducing the speed limit by law, but rather gradually expanding the number of roads where you can only drive 70 km/h.
Other points from the seven-point plan include making high-risk crossings, construction sites, and school routes safer, and better integrating road safety into the daily lives of Walloons through awareness campaigns and courses on the use of alcohol, drugs, and cell phones while driving. Finally, the council also advocates introducing more police checks, precisely because many Walloons believe the chances of being caught are low.
