Motorists could receive bonus for fitting winter tyres

State secretary for mobility Melchior Wathelet and insurance company Ethias want to introduce a scheme where motorists who equip their vehicles with winter tyres would receive a bonus, the SudPresse newspapers report. The idea is to offer motorists an incentive in the form of a bonus and / or a discount on their car insurance premium. Following a study conducted by the Belgian Institute for Road Safety (ISBR), Wathelet decided in July not to make the use of winter tyres compulsory when temperatures begin to drop. He does, however, want to continue to exhort motorists to equip their vehicles with winter tyres. These do not solve the problem of trucks stuck in snow, nor do they decrease the seriousness of car accidents, but they do help keep control of the vehicle when the temperature drops below 7°C, the SudPresse newspapers explain.