Police interview after a traffic offence or accident in Belgium: your rights

If the police question you after a traffic offence or an accident, the law expressly guarantees you certain rights: you may remain silent, you are told about the facts, and you may reread your statement and have it corrected. Whether you are also entitled to a confidential consultation with a lawyer and to their assistance during the interview depends on the penalty attached to the facts. Since 1 September 2026, the answer lies in the penalty level (strafniveau / niveau de peine) of the new Criminal Code.

Police interview after a traffic offence: what counts as an interview?

At a roadside check or after an accident, the police first record facts: who was driving, where, how fast, and the result of the breath test. Those findings go into an official report (proces-verbaal / procès-verbal). According to the guidelines of the public prosecution service, a few short questions to understand the situation are not yet an interview.

An interview (verhoor / audition) begins once the police question you specifically about the facts and record your statement in a report. From then on, the rules of Article 47bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure, known as the Salduz Act, apply. They distinguish between a witness or victim and a suspect.

Your rights in every interview

Even as a witness or victim, you receive a brief summary of the facts before the interview. The police must also tell you that:

• No self-incrimination. You cannot be compelled to incriminate yourself.
• Evidence. Your statements may be used as evidence in court.
• Verbatim record. You may ask for the questions and your answers to be recorded in the exact words used.
• Investigation and documents. You may ask for a specific investigative step or interview to be carried out, and you may use documents and have them added to the report or the case file.

If you do not properly understand the language of the interview, a sworn interpreter is called in, at the State’s expense. A victim or witness may bring a lawyer, but must arrange this themselves.

Your rights as a suspect: right to silence and information

As a suspect, you have additional rights (Art. 47bis, § 2 Code of Criminal Procedure). The police must tell you that you are being interviewed as a suspect. Once you have given your identity, you may choose to make a statement, to answer the questions or to remain silent. If you are not deprived of your liberty, you may leave at any time.

Before the first interview, you also receive a written letter of rights. If you are deprived of your liberty, the rights under the Pre-trial Detention Act apply as well.

Note: the right to silence does not allow you to refuse a breath test or breath analysis. That refusal is itself an offence (Art. 34, § 2 of the Road Traffic Act, Wegverkeerswet), punished as severely as driving with a breath alcohol concentration of 0.35 mg/l or more. See our article on drink-driving.

Right to a lawyer: when does it apply?

The right to a confidential consultation with a lawyer before the interview and to assistance during it applies insofar as the facts concern an offence for which a custodial sentence can be imposed. If you are not deprived of your liberty, you must take the necessary steps yourself to contact a lawyer.

For offences committed on or after 1 September 2026, the penalty level determines whether a custodial sentence is possible (Art. 36 Criminal Code). A level 1 penalty does not include imprisonment as a principal penalty; from level 2 upwards, it does. Most offences under the Road Traffic Act are classified at level 1. See also our article on the new Criminal Code and road traffic.

Two caveats. With a level 1 community service or probation sentence, the court may set an alternative prison term; whether that suffices to trigger the right to a lawyer has not yet been settled. And for offences committed before 1 September 2026, the old penalties apply, subject to the most lenient criminal law (Art. 2 Criminal Code).

Even for a level 1 offence, you may consult a lawyer yourself before responding to an invitation; that is often wise.

Written invitation to an interview

The police often invite you by letter to an interview after the facts. The invitation briefly sets out the facts and your rights. A copy is attached to the report, and your rights are then deemed to have been communicated.

Important: anyone who attends in response to a written invitation is presumed to have consulted a lawyer beforehand. So contact a lawyer straight away. If you are interviewed without prior invitation about facts that give you the right to a lawyer, you may ask for the interview to be postponed once.

An adult suspect may waive the consultation with a lawyer, but only voluntarily, deliberately and in writing, in a dated and signed document. The waiver can be revoked. A minor cannot waive this right.

Rereading and supplementing the report, and its value as evidence

The report records precisely when the interview starts and ends. At the end, you are given the text of your interview to read, unless you ask for it to be read out to you. The police then ask whether you wish to correct or add anything (Art. 47bis, § 6 Code of Criminal Procedure). Take your time: the court will later read that text as your statement.

The findings of the competent officers in a report on a traffic offence carry special evidential weight: they stand until proven otherwise (Art. 62 Road Traffic Act). You must therefore produce evidence to the contrary yourself, for example photos, camera footage or witnesses. Your statement is one piece of evidence that the court weighs.

Under the law, a conviction may not be based on statements made in breach of certain interview rules. Whether that is the case must be examined in each file.

A copy of the report

Article 62 of the Road Traffic Act provides that a copy of the report is sent to the identified offender, the registration plate holder or the usual driver. Since 1 July 2026, this must happen within thirty days of the date of the offences; previously, the time limit was fourteen days.

So check the date of dispatch. Whether late dispatch affects the evidential value is best assessed by a lawyer. If you are later summoned, your lawyer can inspect the full criminal file; see our article on a summons to the police court.

What should you do?

1. Stay calm and give your identity. The right to silence only applies once you have given your identity.
2. Ask in what capacity you are being interviewed. Witness, victim or suspect: your rights differ.
3. Contact a lawyer before the interview. Especially with a written invitation, since you are then presumed to have consulted one already.
4. Choose deliberately whether to speak. A short, accurate statement can help; speculating about speeds rarely does.
5. Have it recorded verbatim and reread everything. Have inaccuracies corrected and gaps filled in before you sign.
6. Bring your documents. You can have photos, camera footage or a sketch added.
7. Keep everything. The invitation, the copy of the report and the envelope.

How Novex Advocaten can help

Our firm prepares the interview with you and assesses whether you would do better to make a statement or to remain silent. Where the law allows, we assist you during the interview. Afterwards, we check whether the interview rules and the time limit of Article 62 of the Road Traffic Act were complied with.

If the case goes before the police court (politierechtbank / tribunal de police), we defend you, including in cases of hit-and-run or an accident with injuries. If you are the victim, read our article on compensation after a road accident. We plead before the police courts in Dutch or French, including in Brussels, Halle, Vilvoorde and Leuven. You can speak to us in Dutch, French, English or Arabic. Find out more on our page traffic law lawyer.

We agree on fees clearly in advance. Legal expenses insurance often applies; see also our article on legal expenses insurance.