News
06/01/2021

Building the 30km/h city: Brussels goes bold

Reducing speed limits is imperative for improving road safety, now Brussels is showing us how it is done.

POLIS member, Brussels has made a firm commitment to road safety by applying a generalised 30km/h speed limit across the entire region. The new rule, which came into effect on 1 January this year applies to all motorised vehicles, as well as bikes and scooters, but excludes trams, emergency vehicles in blue-light mode and snow ploughs.

The regulations are designed to reduce accidents, creating safer and calmer streets across Brussels, allowing drivers, cyclists and pedestrians to move around the city safely and comfortably. Each year, 50 people are killed or seriously injured on the capital’s roads as a result of speed-related incident. Lowering speed limits to 30km/h dramatically reduces the likelihood of collisions. Indeed, at this new rate, driver reaction time and braking distance are less than half that at 50 km/h, while the risk of death is slashed five-fold.

Compliance to the new rules will be monitored by fixed speed cameras across the region, with any revenue generated from fines donated to the Regional Road Safety Fund and used to raise awareness, make infrastructure safer for all users, and purchase speed enforcement equipment.

Find out more about the new regulations here. 

 



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