Bikers involved in 14% of road accidents
This was the first time that the Traffic Institute carried out speed checks using a representative sample of bikers. Bikers cover one percent of all the kilometres covered on Belgian roads. This contrasts with their involvement in 8% of all road accidents. 14% of those killed on Belgian roads are bikers.
The Traffic Institute notes that bikers are heavily overrepresented in accident and road death figures. Speed is one of the most important causes of these accidents.
On most roads the bikers' average speed exceeds the official speed limit. Half of all bikers speed. Bikers do stick to the speed limit on roads where there is only one lane and speed is restricted to 90km/h. On the whole bikers drive faster than motorists, though they drive more slowly in 30 km/h zones and their average speed equals that of motorists on motorways.
The average speed recorded for bikers in traffic jams is 72 km/h. This by far exceeds the 50 km/h maximum allowed.