Ghent (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The court in Ghent decided to free from prosecution the suspect who appeared to strike a person at a zebra crossing and then fled from the scene. The accused went free because no one proved definitively who struck the pedestrian, thus becoming the sole suspect in the case.
A man who allegedly struck a pedestrian at a zebra crossing received an acquittal when the Ghent court processed his case. The court decided to release the accused person because prosecutors failed to establish beyond a doubt his involvement in the vehicle that hit the pedestrian. The judicial court bases its decision on insufficient evidence combined with unresolved contradictions to grant an acquittal.
The accident took place on Bevrijdingslaan in Ghent on September 7th of 2023. Security footage showed a vehicle driving out from a narrow street to turn immediately left. The vehicle hit a 52-year-old person while he exercised his legal right to cross a zebra crossing.
The collision forced the victim into a head-first action onto the car hood, then the victim proceeded to land on the street with major injuries. The driver left the car on the sidewalk before escaping from the scene. The police identified a man who denied operating the vehicle when they questioned him about the case. The man told the court that he had not driven the car when the crash took place.
How common are hit-and-run accidents in Belgium?
Traffic safety reports document that Belgium faces an ongoing hit-and-run problem because 4,000 incidents occur yearly. The hit-and-run collision numbers in Flanders reached 1,200 incidents during 2023, and pedestrian victims made up approximately 30% of all victims. Driver inattention coupled with speeding constitutes the main factors that cause hit-and-run incidents at zebra crossings within Ghent’s dense residential spaces.
According to Belgian law, anyone who avoids a car accident becomes subject to steep financial penalties, reaching €30,000 while facing possible term imprisonment. The prosecution process depends mainly on inaccurate testimony from witnesses together with poor-quality surveillance videos.
Police investigators in Ghent struggled to connect the suspect to the accident even though video footage existed, because they found no solid evidence. Road safety organisations advocate for higher traffic camera installation and enhanced enforcement to combat hit-and-run offences, given that 40% of cases remain unsolved because of a lack of evidence.
