WARS Campaign - Queues? Form the safety corridor
The Walloon Agency for Road Safety informs you about when and how to form the emergency lane. The latter is a legal obligation. Below you will find information as well as a short video, in French, but easily explaining the implementation of the emergency lane. This is a translation of the Walloon Agency for Road Safety page.
Click the button to access the original page in French:
A few figures
4 min
According to ASFiNAG, an Austrian motorway toll operator, the emergency lane system would save the emergency services an average of 4 minutes.
40%
According to the ASFiNAG, the emergency corridor increases the chances of survival of road accident victims by 40%.
174€
If you prevent the passage of a priority vehicle that uses the siren, you commit a 3rd degree offence and you risk a fine of €174.
+/- 800
Every year, nearly 800 personal accidents occur on the motorway in Wallonia.
+/- 30
Every year, nearly 30 people die in a motorway accident in Wallonia.
At a glance
In the event of a serious accident, the emergency services must take care of the victims as quickly as possible. It's vital! But in the event of traffic jams, which frequently happens after a road accident, they can be slowed down in their intervention.
What does the law say?
In the event of a traffic jam and even before the emergency services are visible, you should take a manoeuvre if necessary to make it easy for the emergency services to make their way through the queues.
In the event of a queue, the drivers form an emergency lane as referred to in Article 2.70 of the Belgian Traffic Law:
- when the public highway includes a carriageway composed of two lanes of traffic, drivers travelling on the left-hand lane keep to the left and drivers travelling on the right-hand lane keep to the right so as to create an emergency lane between them;
- When the public highway includes a carriageway with more than two traffic lanes, drivers travelling on the left lane keep to the left and those travelling on the other lanes keep to the right, so as to create an emergency lane next to the left lane.
However, if a priority vehicle (using its blue lights and siren) is approaching from behind and does not have enough space to drive in the emergency lane at your level, you may have no choice but to temporarily bite into the hard shoulder or cycle lane or bus lane. In this case, you should always be careful not to put their users at risk.
In addition, according to article 38 of the Highway Code, you must immediately clear the lane and give way when you hear the siren of a priority vehicle. If necessary, you should stop.
Fines and other sanctions*
If you do not fall back on the side in the event of a traffic jam, you commit a 1st degree offence and risk a fine of €58.
If you prevent the passage of a priority vehicle that uses the siren, you commit a 3rd degree offence and you risk a fine of €174.
*An administrative fee (indexed annually) is added to the base amount of the immediate collection or settlement proposal.