Brussels (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Flemish Mobility Minister Annick De Ridder (N-VA) cancelled 70 of 82 planned speed checks, keeping only 10 based on safety data. Tomas Roggeman supports the focus on transparency and real danger zones.
As VRT News reported, Flemish Minister for Mobility Annick De Ridder is changing the way traffic is monitored on regional roads because of worries about too many speed checks. After a review, 70 out of 82 planned speed checks will be cancelled. This decision came after Tomas Roggeman and Bart Claes asked questions in the Flemish Parliament.
Roggeman said speed checks shouldn’t be used to make money but to make roads safer. He wanted checks focused on roads where speeding is a real danger. Minister De Ridder agreed and told her team to review the planned speed checks. They will look at places with many accidents and where people speed a lot, using a special measure to find these spots.
What does cancelling 70 speed checks mean for road safety?
According to officials, the review found that only 10 speed checks met the safety rules. The other 70 will not be used, showing a change to safety based on facts. The minister wants people to trust the checks and use them only where needed. The government, especially N-VA, doesn’t want people to think speed checks are just for money. The government is saying speed checks must be used for safety, not for money.
“The screening reduces the list to about ten trajectory controls. For me, these are the places where we will still work with such trajectory controls,”
De Ridder said.
The Flemish Minister of Mobility, Annick De Ridder, from the N-VA party, has decided to bring back the warning signs for section controls on regional roads. This reverses the decision made by her predecessor, Lydia Peeters from Open VLD, who had removed these signs. De Ridder believes that clear communication is essential for citizens to perceive that road safety policies are implemented fairly and with a clear purpose.
He mentioned they the intention is not to use section controls as hidden traps to catch drivers unaware, but rather to provide warnings to road users, encouraging them to adjust their speed and driving behaviour.
Tomas Roggeman from N-VA is happy about the decision. He thinks it’s a big step toward fairer traffic rules. He says speed checks should be used where they are needed, like near schools or where accidents often happen.
He mentioned that this way, people will support the rules because safety comes first, not just money. Roggeman believes this is a big change for road safety in Flanders. It moves from checking everyone to focusing on dangerous areas, which helps everyone on the road.
