At around 8 am on Monday morning there were traffic jams totaling more than 300 kilometers on motorways and main roads in Flanders. For the country as a whole the total length of the tailbacks reached 370km. This made Monday morning’s rush hour the busiest morning rush hour so far this year. The VRT’s traffic expert Hajo Beeckman says that this is "No coincidence" as today is the first working day after the half-term holidays and it had also rained in many places. Furthermore, October and November are always busy months for traffic. However, things could have been much worse were it not that many people are still working at least in part from home. Although 370 kilometers of traffic jams is a lot it is still not as much as on some days prior to the coronavirus crisis.
Busiest morning rush hour in 2022 so far with 370km of jams on the country’s major roads
There were more than 300 kilometers of traffic jams this morning on motorways and main roads in Flandersd and 370km of tailbacks in the country as a whole. This made Monday 7 November the busiest morning rush hour so far this year. But why was there so much traffic? Today is the first working day after the half-term holiday and the rain on Sunday night and early on Monday morning served to cause an increase in incidents on the country’s roads Peter Bruyninckx of the Flemish Traffic Centre told VRT News. Mr Bruyninckx added that "October and November are also the traffic jam champion months of the autumn every year."
The VRT’s Traffic expert Hajo Beeckman explains that "In September you still have people who are on holiday, but from October, once the academic year at colleges and universities has started, there are more cars on the road. Students also sometimes to drive to college, especially now that student digs have become so expensive. We are now also at a level of full economic activity. Add to the extra nervousness on what is first day after the holidays, and the fact that it rained in the north and west of the country and this results in a high figure when it comes to traffic jams."
There were also several accidents early on Monday morning. The effect of the rain is twofold. On the one hand, it serves to stretch the traffic out and on the other it can lead to accidents as visibility is decreased.
"Around 6.45 am, things were already completely jammed around Antwerp. Also on the Brussels Orbital Motorway in Jette, two lanes were closed from around 6.45 am”.
Although more that 300km of jams is still a significant figure it is well short of the more than 400km of jams that sometimes were recorded on Flemish roads pre-corona. Hajo Beeckman believes that due to many people still working at least some of the time from home it is not likely that there will be rush hours with more than 400km of jams any time soon.