These roads will soon be toll roads for all French people, thousands of them drive on them every year

Many French people will soon have to pay to be able to drive on certain roads.

Owning a car is a luxury according to some. It is true that between the cost of the vehicle at purchase, maintenance, possible repairs, tolls and fuel, the budget allocated to the car is one of the largest annual expenses for households. Not forgetting the various fines, whether they are the consequence of speeding, failure to pay for parking or any other offences punishable by the Highway Code.

Unfortunately, for the French, a new expense could soon be added to those mentioned above. It seems almost certain that several currently free roads will become toll roads in the short term. What exactly is this about? ? In order to use certain roads, motorists will be asked to purchase a sticker that can be renewed every year. In the absence of a sticker, the driver will be exposed to a fine.

© Bilal – stock.adobe.com

This new measure does not target French territory, but that of a neighbouring country. It is in Belgium, where the subject has been debated for many years, that the authorities are considering imposing the purchase of a vignette on all foreign drivers who wish to use motorways. It should be noted that, as in many other European countries, such as Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom or the Netherlands, there is no toll charge in Belgium. A lack of earn some to be able to finance and maintain the road infrastructure that the Wallonia region, and only it, seeks to fill by charging the approximately five million foreign motorists who, according to RTBF, cross it each year.

This vignette system already exists elsewhere. And no need to go far since it is found in Switzerland, where it currently costs 42 euros per year, but also in Austria, Hungary and Romania in particular. For the many French people who work in Wallonia or visit the region by car every year via the motorways, whether on the Liège, Charleroi, Namur or Mouscron side, this would therefore be an additional expense. If this can reassure them a little, the Belgians will also have to pay the fees to be able to drive at high speed on their motorways. Well, not the Walloons, only the people of Brussels and the Flemish, subject to the same regime as foreigners…