At the end of last year, the woman was caught on the N35 between Pervijze and Veurne, where you can drive 70 km per hour. In the speed check she drives 3 km too fast, but the photo also clearly shows that she is holding a mobile phone. But she now only receives the minimum speeding fine of 80 euros. She was acquitted of cell phone use behind the wheel, because that offense still has to be established by real police officers.
Legal technical statement
Thomas Bailleul, traffic law lawyer: “The reason is legally technical. The article in question says that unmanned cameras can register a speeding infringement, but cannot establish an infringement of mobile phone use. As long as the law does not actually change, and the unmanned cameras are also allowed to detect such infringements, this should always lead to an acquittal. That finding in itself now has no special evidentiary value.”