Never before so many hit and run crimes: VIAS sounds the alarm after a new fatal collision | Instagram VTM NEWS

The accident in Tervuren happened in the vicinity of the Vierarmenkruispunt. What exactly happened remains unclear, but when the victim was found on Saturday morning – she was lying on the roadside – it was already too late. The rushed emergency services were only able to determine her death. The law doctor and the lab also came to the scene. The woman would have been 49 years old and of Polish origin.

Everything indicates that the victim was hit by a motorized vehicle because debris was found at the scene of the accident. The woman’s injuries also point in that direction. There was no trace of a driver, the public prosecutor’s office opened an investigation.

Not a weekend goes by without a report of a hit and run, the collision in Tervuren is the umpteenth. Knowledge center for road safety VIAS sees a worrying development. Never before have there been so many hit and run accidents in our country. Last year alone, more than 4,700 accidents were counted with a fatality or an injured person, involving hit and run. That is the highest figure in ten years. The figures are particularly alarming in Brussels. Of all traffic accidents that occur there, 16 percent of the cases involve hit and run. In Flanders that figure is 12 percent, in Wallonia it is 10 percent.

VIAS knows that mainly vulnerable road users are the victims of hit and run crimes. This applies to cyclists and pedestrians. For example, one in five cyclists was left to their own devices after a collision and one in seven pedestrians.

There is one bright spot: the chance of getting caught is high. “85 percent of the perpetrators are eventually identified,” says Stef Willems of VIAS. “That’s because the police are increasingly using cameras, both public and private, to track down perpetrators. That pays off.” The perpetrators often indicate afterwards that they had underestimated the seriousness of the accident. Nineteen percent admit to fleeing to avoid having to pay for the costs of the accident and thirteen percent admit to having been under the influence.