Social pressure, stress: why the driving license is less and less attractive, especially in Brussels

Because if the public transport network is not optimal in Brussels, it still allows you to get everywhere without having to sit behind a wheel. “Sometimes it takes a bit of resourcefulness but it suits me very well this way. Especially since driving in a car stressed me out a lot and the alternative of cycling suits me more.” It may be complicated not to have a license when you are in the countryside but in a city like Brussels, you have everything nearby: shops, healthcare services, the children’s school, the swimming pool… I I honestly rarely have moments where I say to myself that it would have been easier if I had my license.”

Do you need to renew your license? There is change

At 44, Ingrid can only agree. She also does not have the precious sesame, synonymous with “freedom” for millions of motorists. “And I’m doing very well that way,” comments the forty-year-old.

Two testimonies which seem to be shared by an increasingly important segment of society. In a quarter of a century, the number of permits issued annually has decreased drastically, following a curve inversely proportional to the increase in the population, according to figures from the FPS Mobility. In 2000, 132,706 license candidates obtained their precious pass, compared to 120,721 last year. That is a 9% drop in the number of permits issued in 24 years.

All regions are impacted. However, there are more or less significant differences depending on which one takes the famous practical exam. Thus, it is Wallonia which seems the least impacted with a drop of 5.8% (39,945 permits issued last year compared to 42,418 in 2000). “In Wallonia, unlike Brussels, having a car is almost an absolute obligation if you want to get around, Benoît Godart, spokesperson for the Vias Institute, recently told us. When you live in Brussels, you don’t realize that there are people who live in Daverdisse or Erezée where there is no metro, no train station and only two buses per day. Belgium is not just about Brussels or the big cities. You have to go and live a little in these remote places to see that, whatever happens, the car for these people will remain obligatory in any case.”

Do you need to renew your license? It’s now possible to do it online!

In Flanders, where the territory is smaller and the population density is greater, the drop in the number of permits granted is de facto greater. We went from 75,238 permits in 2000 compared to 69,769 last year. That’s a fall of 7.3%.

But it is in Brussels, a city-region, that the decline is most marked. Around 27% fewer permits. A situation which is logically explained by the omnipresence of public transport but also by the multiplication of shared transport solutions (bikes, scooters, scooters, cars, Uber, etc.) and the multiplication of secure cycling infrastructures allowing Brussels residents to travel without need to take a car. And therefore to have a license but also because of traffic conditions which have deteriorated considerably with an increase in traffic jams which mean that the car is no longer the most efficient way to get around the city.

Note, however, that the number of permits granted increased compared to 2019. This could be explained, among other things, by a phenomenon of catching up compared to the covid years during which the examination centers had to close for several months and during which the conditions learning in a driving school were more complicated.

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