>Distracted driving is one of the main causes of fatal traffic accidents: around 150 deaths per year among motorists in Belgian traffic can be attributed to distraction, a third of which is due to manual telephone use. That is why VRT and Pommelien Thijs, together with the Flemish government, are launching a new awareness campaign on the theme today. But how big is the problem actually?
>The most recent figures on distraction in traffic in our country date from last year. In the first half of 2023, the police issued 61,692 fines for the unauthorized use of smartphones. That is 339 per day or 14 per hour.
>These are flagrant violations in which the police catch road users red-handed while they are talking on the phone with their phone in hand or even reading or typing emails or text messages. The majority of those fines went to motorists and drivers of vans and trucks, a small minority to cyclists.
>Figures for the second half of 2023 are not yet available, but the above figures do suggest that the number of fines is increasing. In 2022, this amounted to approximately 117,000 fines in one year.
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[https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2024/02/20/afleiding-in-het-verkeer-hoe-groot-is-het-probleem/](https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2024/02/20/afleiding-in-het-verkeer-hoe-groot-is-het-probleem/)
>Distracted driving is one of the main causes of fatal traffic accidents: around 150 deaths per year among motorists in Belgian traffic can be attributed to distraction, a third of which is due to manual telephone use. That is why VRT and Pommelien Thijs, together with the Flemish government, are launching a new awareness campaign on the theme today. But how big is the problem actually?
>The most recent figures on distraction in traffic in our country date from last year. In the first half of 2023, the police issued 61,692 fines for the unauthorized use of smartphones. That is 339 per day or 14 per hour.
>These are flagrant violations in which the police catch road users red-handed while they are talking on the phone with their phone in hand or even reading or typing emails or text messages. The majority of those fines went to motorists and drivers of vans and trucks, a small minority to cyclists.
>Figures for the second half of 2023 are not yet available, but the above figures do suggest that the number of fines is increasing. In 2022, this amounted to approximately 117,000 fines in one year.