135 drink-drive fines a day!
Every two hours an accident occurs in Belgium involving a driver who is over the drink-drive limit. On an average day 135 motorists are fined for drink driving.
Countless campaigns have been staged to tackle drink-driving, but a resistant core of drink-drivers remains. The latest figures show an improvement on 2016, but are higher than the 2015 figures. Figures from the traffic safety institute VIAS show that there were 4,210 drink-related accidents and that works out as one every two hours.
It matters where you live when it comes to fines. More fines are meted out for drink-driving in the Mechelen and Antwerp areas. You're more likely to be fined on the coast too. The reason is unclear. Sometimes there are more checks. Sometimes people are drinking more. Stef Willems of VIAS says that a mentality shift is urgently needed. People need to have the impression a fine is likely if they drink-drive: "People should feel that they can be checked everywhere and that if you drive, you don't drink."
Interior minister Jambon supports this pointing to the dozens of fatalities in road accident every year.