Record year for traffic jams in Belgium

Never before have drivers in Belgium spent as much time in a traffic jam as in the first half of this year, according to mobility organisation Touring Mobilis’s new traffic barometer. The barometer shows that so far in 2015 there have been 607 hours of 100km or longer traffic jams on Belgian motorways, report Het Nieuwsblad and Het Belang van Limburg.

Those 607 hours equate to more than 25 full days with traffic jams of 100km or more, the highest number since the beginning of the measurements in 1995. In 2012, by comparison, there were about 394 hours of traffic jams in the first half of the year.

Severe weather provides a partial explanation for the increase, with seven out of 10 of the worst traffic jams this year related to extreme weather.

But the rise in the number of train strikes in 2015 could also play a role, according to Touring spokesman Danny Smagghe. "What really stands out is the sharp increase this year in the length of structural traffic jams, the ones that are there every day, regardless of weather or road accidents. These have grown spectacularly."

Smagghe also points out an increase in the amount of leisure traffic during rush hour, or the traffic that arises in connection with leisure activities, as opposed to work or errands. One in three cars stuck in traffic is leisure traffic, he says, and that share is increasing.