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Road Rules and Traffic Regulations in Belgium - Driving Nuances

1. Belgium is distinguished by rather comfortable roads. However, foreign drivers should not forget that local motorists usually prefer quite an aggressive style of driving. The fact that all road signs are in Flemish or French makes orientation on the roads of Belgium somewhat complicated for foreign drivers who do not know these languages.
2. Only drivers who have the EU driving license are allowed to drive a vehicle in the territory of the country. All other driving licenses must be necessarily supplemented with the international driving permit - only in this case they will be considered valid.
3. In addition to the driving license, drivers are required to have the vehicle certificate and the insurance (the so called "green card"). Foreign drivers will also need a passport. It is not mandatory, but recommended to have a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher in the car.

Nuances of Car Rental in Belgium

To save on your rental, we advise to book your car in advance. You will save the most if you do this several weeks or even several months prior to your trip. Rental offices in Belgium usually raise rental prices over time, based on the number of cars left available for the accounting period.

When looking for an exotic car (cabriolet, minivan or limousine), we advise to check in the rental offices located at airports, as they usually provide much wider choice comparing to offices in urban areas.

Upon receipt of invoices, bills and documents for your car at the rental location, please compare the obtained data with your voucher. Quite often, employees of rental offices in Belgium try to add optional charges or services without informing customers.

It is very important to pick up your car at the rental office in Belgium in a correct way. Prior to leaving the office, carefully inspect the car for various defects, and ensure that all the discovered defects are mentioned in your rental documents. In case of a non-compliance found, place a demand for correction to the rental officer.

You can always check our car actual rental offers in Belgium. Simply use the search form at the top of the page. We guarantee that you will not find better prices anywhere else!
4. Drivers should not forget to comply with the speed limits for different types of roads. In the city, the speed limit is 50 km/h, and on country roads the maximum allowed speed is 70 - 90 km/h. Finally, on highways it is allowed to drive with the speed of up to 120 km/h.
5. The autobahn roads have another restriction - the concept of minimum speed, which is 70 km/h. There are also special restrictions for vehicles equipped with snow tires. The maximum allowed speed for them on the autobahn is 90 km/h, and on all other roads such cars cannot exceed the speed of 60 km/h.
6. All roads of the country are equipped with numerous cameras and radars, so there is absolutely no difficulty in detecting traffic violators. Quite often Belgian police patrol the streets using ordinary cars without any police markings.
7. In Belgium, the police have the right to charge fines right on the spot. If the driver, for whatever reason, cannot pay the fine on the spot, he will be given a bill that can be paid in any bank.
8. Despite strict regulations, there are a lot of traffic violators among local drivers, with speeding remaining the most common traffic violation. Foreign visitors are not recommended to follow the example of local drivers and should respect the speed limits. If a vehicle behind you wants to overtake, then simply move to the right lane and give way to that vehicle.
9. Every year new crossroads appear in the country. Many of them have circular motion. The way of moving on roundabouts is the same as in many European countries – cars that move in the circle have the advantage.
10. The maximum permitted alcohol blood content is 0.5 ppm. The punishment for driving under the influence of alcohol depends on the level of exceeding the limit and includes not only a monetary fine. In some cases the driver can be imprisoned.
11. If the alcohol blood content ranges from 0.5 to 0.8 ppm, the driver must immediately pay the fine of 150 euro; he will be allowed to drive again in three hours. If the driver refuses to pay the fine on the spot, his case can be submitted to court and the amount of the fine will be increased to 3,000 euro.
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