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Brussels police to crack down on ‘rodeo driving’ in the capital

Ixelles police vehicle - Belga
18:44 17/05/2022

Police in Brussels plan on cracking down on “rodeo driving” in a series of regular checks over the coming months. They hope to combat a rise in reckless driving in the capital that tends to coincide with the return of warm weather.

“Despite the efforts that are continuously made by the zone, in the past weeks we had to deal again with an upsurge of rodeo driving,” Brussels Capital Police Ixelles said in a statement. 

Police said that the area of the Heysel plateau in particular had become a hotspot for excessive speed and reckless driving behaviour.

“Some infrastructural measures have already been taken in the past, but in spite of all this, it appears that drivers are once again heading for the area when the weather is nice, in order to put their foot down on the accelerator.”

Among the preventative measures already taken are a partial closure of the Louis Steensplein roundabout with concrete blocks, although this hasn’t stopped the spate of reckless driving in the area.

A rash of reckless driving incidents in May

In two incidents of such “rodeo driving” last weekend, two vehicles were confiscated by a taskforce set up specifically to target the phenomenon.

“On Saturday evening, a driver was stopped by a patrol for driving at an inappropriate speed on the Boulevard Centenaire, endangering pedestrians and other road users,” police said. “When he was stopped, a seven-year-old child was found sitting in the back seat. The driver's licence was immediately confiscated for 15 days and the car was impounded.”

A little later that day, another vehicle was spotted travelling at least 80 km/h in the 30 km/h zone near Avenue Jean Sobieski. That driver also had his licence withdrawn for 15 days and his car impounded. 

“Over the past weeks and months, speed checks have also been carried out regularly in the wider area,” said police, pointing to another incident in which a driver was fined for going 101 km/h on Avenue Houba De Strooper, whose speed limit is 50 km/h. 

“Regular speed checks were also carried out on Chaussée Romaine, Avenue Madrid and Avenue Impératrice Charlotte and Rue Emile Delva. At the latter location, the maximum permitted speed is 30km/h and one driver was caught at 107km/h.”

The police zone is emphasising that in the coming months as the weather continues to get warmer, police in Brussels and in Ixelles will continue to be focused on catching reckless drivers, in order to “guarantee the safety of all local residents and users of the public highway.”

Photo: (c) Belga/Paul-Henri Verlooy

Written by Helen Lyons

Comments

Anon3

Some deterrent! After 15 days, the cowboy drivers get their car and their licence back. If the authorities really want to get rid of this and other sorts of dangerous driving, they are going to have come up with much more severe measures.

May 18, 2022 14:19
John P

Reckless driving is unacceptable but it makes thinking people wonder why they are making such a great deal out of 1 or 2 reckless drivers per week in a city with hundreds of thousands of drivers?
I'll tell you why: They don't even care about reckless driving, they simply care to turn us against each other while applying ever stricter laws and...while creating endless choke points through out the city where large numbers of people can be easily blocked.
Just look at the ever increasing choke points with immovable concrete blocks being strewn around. 3 to 5 police cars can easily blockade half a commune.

May 18, 2022 16:50