"We've reached an agreement on this approach with the public prosecutor," the spokesman for the Brussels-West zone (which includes Molenbeek, Jette and Koekelberg) told De Morgen. "We have to keep in mind the working capacity of the magistrates. And even with those higher limits, it's still possible to send a tough signal to the hard-line speeders."

Motoring organisation Touring said it was "no more than normal" for police to use a certain margin in deciding whether to flash. "According to our recent measurements, barely one in 100 motorists respects the 30 km/h speed limit. Try fining everyone," Touring said in a statement. "The police are not the ones at fault here, but the politicians who introduce such absurd speed limits in the first place."

In Antwerp, a local prosecutor confirmed that police there also do not flash speeders in the 30 km/h zone of the city. If the speed limits were to be applied strictly, the city would soon be buried under a mountain of tickets. One exception: the Gasthuis, Blauwtoren and Van Eyck tunnels under the Leien, which have a limit of 30 and where radar is permanently in operation.

In 50 km/h zones, on the other hand, police do flash, but only for speeds of 61 and over, except in the case of special traffic actions.

In Ghent, no margins are in place, but police say they sometimes turn cameras off for reasons of weather, heavy traffic or police capacity. Police in Leuven, meanwhile, operate no margins at all.