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Fine for not wearing seatbelt
I was apparently spotted not wearing my seatbelt by a Police officer in Schaarbeek. I NEVER drive without my seatbelt on. The fine was 100 EUR. I contested it. Few monts have passed and now the fine is 120 EUR or face the courts. I called them (Openbaar ministerie) to see if they can prove it and they said they can't, there was no picture taken, they said the only thing I can do is prove that I was wearing my seatbelt.
Seriously?
If I were you I will pay the fine (a good learning that you will wear the seatbelt in future-), the longer you procrastinate the more you will pay........
You are guilty until proven- especially contesting policemen in Belgium
I think it all depends on how much you value your innocence. Contesting it will prove expensive, timewise and probably financially, but if you're OK with that then go to court. I'm no expert on this type of offense but it'll be your word against that of a policeman.
Perhaps you should take some proper legal advice in the next few days, as that is the only way you'll get an idea of the probability of success in the court.
Me? I would've paid the 100€ straightaway. Just so much easier and cheaper.
The policeman are on oath and their word stands unless you can prove that you had your seat belt on. The same situation happened to me in Canada some years back and I contested in court and lost.
I am pretty sure the policeman's word can only be contested by proof, as BEST said. How else would someone caught with drugs or a gun be taken to court? In all events, paying it is the cheapest way.
Whether it was you or not, if the police say someone that was in a car with number plate XXXX etc was not wearing a seatbelt at a specific time anywhere then the person the said car is registered to is responsible.
This is law anywhere in the EU.
Best to pay early rather than late
If you are the only person who drives your car and you know that you never drive without your seat belt on, you know that the police officer is either lying for some reason, or has such poor vision as to falsely accuse innocent people and try to make them pay. Don't buckle under the pressure - fight for truth and justice all the way!
This sort of thing happens all the time in Belgium - and the Belgian saying goes - 'you pay first and then fight it!' Although it is outrageous that we have to pay and then use our time and money claiming back for what is usually a Belgian clerical error. The onus is not that you prove you wore a seat belt - it's that they prove you did not! Did they stop you and issue the fine when you were/were not wearing a seat belt? You are not clear about how they determined you were not wearing it. Good luck - I suspect that like all good citizens here, you will fall like a sheep - myself included - and pay up. Nothing ever changes.
