Icy weather causes numerous road accidents, one fatal

Belgium’s Royal Meteorological Institute issued a code orange on Sunday evening for most of the country, as freezing weather and precipitation brought slippery conditions to roadways.

A rain zone moving slowly from west to east across the country prompted the shutdown of several bus lines and numerous traffic accidents. One person died as a result.

That motorist was killed on Sunday evening in a collision between two cars on the E40 in Aalter, East Flanders, the public prosecutor's office confirmed. The circumstances of the accident are still being investigated.

Authorities called on people to stay indoors and avoid driving unless it was completely unavoidable.

This week will bring much of the same weather: lows in the single digits and precipitation every day of the week except for Wednesday (20% chance of precipitation) and possibly Christmas Day (20% chance).

Already this weekend emergency services were overwhelmed with calls and there were not enough ambulances to respond to needs, prompting the Red Cross to send in some of its own as support.

“It was also difficult for the rescue services to reach some places because the roads were too slippery,” governor Carl Decaluwé in West Flanders pointed out.

The rain became widespread overnight, meaning the slippery conditions persist on Monday morning, in particular in parts of Flanders, Hainaut, Walloon Brabant and the Namur province.

Public transport operators across the country have activated severe weather plans, which they expect to lift throughout the day if traffic and weather conditions improve. Commuters are encouraged to check conditions before travelling.

Pavements on Sunday evening were compared to “ice rinks”, with pedestrians urged to take caution. Conditions were poor on major roadways, as well, including the E42 Tournai-Mons, the A16 Mouscron-Tournai and the A8 Tournai-Brussels.

Shortly before 20.00 on Sunday, on the E42 Tournai-Mons, five cars were involved in a pile-up at Wasmes-Audemez-Briffoeil (Péruwelz).

In the other direction, under the TGV bridge at Maubray-Vezon (Antoing-Tournai), another accident occurred.

On the Grand-Route in Gaurain (Tournai), a pick-up truck collided with a car at the crossroads near the CCB cement factory. On the A8 Tournai-Brussels motorway, near Quartes, several drivers lost control of their vehicles and some of these cars collided.

At the entrance to Lessines, a motorist lost control of his vehicle and ended up in a roundabout. In the village square of Deux-Acren (Lessines), a car crashed into the front of a house.

Local authorities have been salting the roads throughout the rain, and expect that road conditions will be improved.

“This morning will be overcast with periods of rain over much of the country. Then it will become drier from the south with some clearings, especially in the southeast of the country,” the RMI said on Monday morning.

Temperatures are expected to hover around 10°C in most of the country, but could dip below freezing in the Ardennes.

The Road Action Unit advises all road users to remain vigilant in such weather conditions, especially on smaller roadways and temperature-sensitive locations such as bridges, which freeze before other roads do.

Its advice is for drivers to adapt their speed, avoid sudden manoeuvres, keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front, have the necessary equipment in their cars (ice scrapers, first aid kits, etc), check the condition of their vehicle and not overtake the salt-spreading trucks.

In the meantime, Belgium lifted its warning about high concentrations of fine particulate matter in the air, as pollution levels fell below the threshold of 35 µg/m³ on Sunday. The warning had been in place since 15 December.

No new exceedance of the thresholds is expected in the following days.