Truck drivers that continue to ignore the weekend ban on heavy goods vehicles from driving on the eastbound carriageway of the Brussel Orbital motorway over the Vilvoorde Viaduct risk a 15-day driving ban. The Halle-Vilvoorde prosecutor’s office plans to get tough on truckers that flout the ban on vehicles heavier than 3.5 tonnes driving over the viaduct at weekends. The weekend ban on HGV traffic travelling east over the viaduct (towards Zaventem and Leuven/Liège-bound E40) has been in force since 9 August.
Truckers that ignore weekend HGV ban on Vilvoorde Viaduct risk 15-day driving ban
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The Vilvoorde viaduct is currently undergoing a complete renovation. In order to enable delicate welding work to be carried out vehicles weighing more than 3.5 tonnes are allowed to drive over the eastbound carriageway of the viaduct between 11pm on Friday evenings 11pm and 4am on Monday mornings.
“There are numerous signs indicating that there is a ban well ahead of the roadworks in order to enable HGV traffic to seek an alternative route. In addition to this, mobile gantries have also been placed on sit to form a physical barrier. Nevertheless, there are still trucker that are ignoring the signs and in so doing are creating life-threatening situations”, the public prosecutor’s office says.
The Halle-Vilvoorde public prosecutor's office says that it is a regular occurrence that that truckers drive up to the height restriction and then realise that they can’t go any further before reserving back to the exit slip road before the viaduct. “Other trucks drive on and damage the gantries and they need to be replaced each time. Falling debris can also damage other vehicles. Trucks that drive on also cause damage to the work that is being carried out and this serves to delay completion of work”.
Up until now drivers that ignored the weekend ban were only issued with a fine. The public prosecutor's office is now going a step further. “To better enforce the weekend ban, the police will now also have the option, subject to permission from the Halle-Vilvoorde public prosecutor's office, to revoke the driver's licence for 15 days. If the driver is issued with a court summons, they risk an additional driving ban of up to five years".