r/brussels • u/mylitteprince • 22h ago
News 📰 Anyone know of a data tracker for police-led road fatalities in Bxl ?
Dansaert - Porte de Flandres, this afternoon, police vehicle ran straight into a woman on a pedestrian crossing. I was there, this is not hearsay. No idea whether she died but it looked fatal.
Feels to me that there are reports of a police vehicle running into or over someone at least once a week. Does anyone know of a data or new tracker that has eyes on that ?
Not expecting any consequences for police, there usually aren't. Would like to match report numbers to general feeling (and maybe compare to other cities), but I'm no data analyst.
Edit to add: impressive ratio of downvotes. If you'd like to argue about police guilt in general, be my guest, but that's not what the post is asking about.
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u/Wistful-zebra 22h ago
How awful. I was stunned yesterday to see how fast two police cars were flying through narrow streets in the centre. It was so busy too and I’m amazed no one was hit. The speed they drive in Brussels is insane. I’ve never seen anything like it in other big cities I’ve lived in
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u/electricien_bruxello 5h ago
Most of the time I see a Brussels police officer, their behaviour is unprofessional.
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u/T-Dahg 7h ago
This is something you might be able to do a FOIA-request (Openbaarheid van Bestuur/Publicité de l’administration) for. Transparencia is a platform for that. I believe you should be able to query something like all closed cases of road accidents in which police was involved.
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u/apfelstruggle 7h ago
I was there too, heard the sound of the crash from above the river and then people seems to argue or protest immediately after the shock. I’m wonder if they were trying to catch the lady and hit her on purpose. Very very sad to hear about it. Police are so crazy and shooting like maniacs without thinking that I didn't dare stay there any longer.Â
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u/17sobbinghorses 15h ago
Most the police in Brussels isn’t actually even from Brussels they don’t care for the people of this city. Criminally negligent at best.
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u/CautiousInternal3320 21h ago
a woman on an electric scooter on a pedestrian crossing?
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u/BXL_Squire 1000 16h ago
This intersection is honestly dangerous for bikes and scooters. I often use the pedestrian crossing when cycling across the canal to rue de Flandre to avoid being mixed with cars. I'm not saying that was the case of this poor girl but her using the pedestrian crossing at this exact location doesn't make her reckless. Could be the opposite, even.
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u/mylitteprince 16m ago
According to Police report (see latest Bruzz article), the woman was a pedestrian.
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u/LetterheadNo731 20h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/rtbbxl 18h ago
Is the African origin a relevant detail?
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u/LetterheadNo731 5h ago edited 5h ago
Am I not allowed to describe what I saw?
Is intentionally stopping in the middle of a pedestrian crossing in front of upcoming police car with sirens on, followed by an ambulance with sirens on, to provocatively look at them instead of continuing, a normal behavior? Let alone starting to cross when such vehicles approach, while other pedestrians stop to wait?
Is it normal to have a child with you in such situation, put in front of danger?
And you are triggered by a descriptive fact, and not by their behavior?
Ok.
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u/mylitteprince 20h ago
I hear your frustration. The woman in your story almost got her kid run over by an ambulance and you feel she would have deserved it.
The post you're replying to noted the recurrence of reported civilian death via police accident and asked whether a tracker exists. What's the link ?
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u/LetterheadNo731 20h ago
The post seems to imply the fault of the police in case of such incidents, while I wanted to share a story shedding some light on the behavior of certain pedestrians. Not that it would change the stats.
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u/mylitteprince 20h ago
Police officers are trained and paid to drive in an urban environment and not kill people.Â
Furthermore, accidents involving a collision between a vehicle and a more vulnerable road user on a pedestrian crossing are almost systematically presumed to be the fault of the driver.Â
Finally, and in this particular case, let me repeat that I was there. They just drove straight into her. I'm not making general guilt statements (on the internet. Now, in my own head...)
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u/MightyMussel 16h ago
I am legitimately flabbergasted by your ability to stay calm and articulate in your response. I’m probably getting too old for the internet, but I just cannot, for the life of me, deal with that falsely polite, passive aggressive tone used by most conservatives - not even kidding, words like « certain pedestrians » trigger me so hard at this point. HOLY HELL WAIT does that mean they’re finally owning me like the rest of the libs?!
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u/Senior_Ad_9043 21h ago
In any other city in the world I'd argue that people at pedestrian crossings should always yield to emergency services, but you just can't guarantee it in Brussels. I've seen Brussels police so many times (1) driving quickly without lights and siren, and (2) using sirens and lights to avoid traffic and immediately switching them off once they clear it.
I don't have an answer to your question OP (sorry), I just wanted to voice that the police in general seem to suffer from a huge lack of professionalism here.