The Red Badge of Carnage

Most European drivers on principle ignore the traffic laws, which they regard as an abridgment of their uncivil rights. However, they heed one caution signal: the red-and-white license plates of a car or truck from Belgium. Alone among Western European nations, Belgium does not issue drivers' licenses, give traffic instruction in its schools, or even demand that car owners show rudimentary knowledge of the rules of the road.

Statistics describe the dire results: at home, one in seven Belgian drivers is involved in an accident each year. The accident rate (1.4 persons killed or injured per 100,000 car miles traveled) is higher even than in France (0.6) or the U.S.

(0.25)* Last week the government finally approved and sent to Parliament a law making it illegal to drive without a license. But only citizens who are buying a car for the first time will have to prove that they can drive. More than 1,000,000 Belgians who already operate cars and trucks will automatically get their licenses after merely filling out a form declaring that they are in good health.

* Though its official traffic fatality rate (1,079 in 1961) is lower than that of either country. Reason: Belgian statistics fudge by including only instant deaths--those that occur at the actual scene of an accident.

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