Among the four million motorists who are flashed each year in Belgium, some are not afraid of ridicule and abuse excuses more outlandish than each other to try to avoid the fine. “Among these excuses, we often find the pressing need which would require driving faster to get home faster, comments Bruno Gysels. These are probably the most common excuses. But these are excuses that do not hold up in court.”
A few months ago, a lady flashed on the highway at 189 km / h had pretexted such a pressing need to escape the fine. But the judge ended up penalizing her with a fine of €1,500 and a three-month license suspension.
The questioning of the speed limit is also often mentioned. As for these motorists flashed in the middle of the night by a lidar installed in zone 30 in front of a school. Without success for the protester.
Two identical offenses and justifications but two different verdicts: “Citizens are not equal before the law”
“On the other hand, attacking the non-respect of the fourteen-day period between the offense and the sending of the report is a guarantee of success, confides Bruno Gysels. I have never had an unfavorable judgment to date.”
The lawyer recalls on his website (www.amendes-routieres.be), the Court of Cassation ruled that if a copy of the initial report was not sent within fourteen days following the offence, the holder of the license plate of the vehicle might no longer be considered presumed guilty of this offence. “In other words, it’s up to the prosecution to prove who was driving that day. Which is almost impossible. The prosecution, unless it is incompetent, knows this and yet it continues to refuse challenges on the basis of these arguments. In particular because he considers that it is from the drafting of the report that the famous period of fourteen days runs. But it would be too easy for the verbalizing authority to decide the deadline. And this argument is always swept away by the judges.”
