Senate approves road signs in other languages
To avoid confusion for truck drivers and tourists on Belgium’s roads, the Senate has approved a measure that allows road signs to be in multiple languages
Regions to decide which signs need clarified
“Half of the trucks on our roads are registered abroad,” De Padt said. “The drivers are mostly of foreign origin and unable to speak our national languages. They are not able to understand our road signs.” The signs would also, of course, assist tourists in the country.
It will be up to the regions to decide whether a road needs to be equipped with multi-lingual road signs. “It might be helpful in cases of major road works, for road safety as well as the effective flow of traffic, if signs were also in English,” De Padt said. “Multilingual signs are already a common feature in other countries, such as France and the Netherlands.”
De Padt denied claims by N-VA and Vlaams Belang that the proposal was in breach of language laws. “The language laws should be respected, but that shouldn’t cause us to lose touch with reality,” he said. “As a transit country, we see a great many foreign truck drivers and motorists on our main roads.”
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Traffic in Flanders
largest area covered in traffic ever recorded in Belgium in kilometres
time Antwerp drivers spend in gridlock per year in hours
traffic diversions in Flanders per year
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