from 179 to 16,000 euros in fines…

Tonight, many Belgians will celebrate the transition to the new year. Evenings that will be festive with, for the occasion, probably a few glasses of alcohol of all kinds. But be careful to designate your BOB or not to drink if you have to get back behind the wheel followingwards.

To avoid the worst, and deter bad behavior, the police will watch with, here and there, several roadside checks aimed in particular at the alcohol level of drivers. A breathalyzer that aims to determine whether motorists behind the wheel are S (safe), A (alarm) or P (positive). In the latter two cases, people are asked to take a breath test to determine the exact blood alcohol level. “This level will ultimately determine the severity of your sentence,” Stef Willems of VIAS told Laaste Nieuws.

For the good of all and yours, the drivers who will take the wheel tonight must be those who haven’t been drinking! “Counting glasses is a bad idea anyway,” adds Stef Willems. And if one last argument was needed to convince you, perhaps the sums requested in the event of a positive control will do it. As a reminder: between 0.5 and 0.8 grams of alcohol in the blood, you will have to pay a fine of 179 euros (and immediately) with a license withdrawal as a bonus of 3 hours; if the blood alcohol level exceeds 1.5 grams, your file will immediately go to court with a fine between 1,600 and 16,000 euros!