Proposition 53K2234

Projet de loi modifiant, en ce qui concerne la conservation des bicyclettes, l'article 2 de la loi du 30 décembre 1975 concernant les biens trouvés en dehors des propriétés privées ou mis sur la voie publique en exécution de jugements d'expulsion.

General information ¶

Authors

CD&V Jef Van den Bergh
Open Vld Mathias De Clercq
PS | SP Anthony Dufrane, Özlem Özen
Vooruit Renaat Landuyt, Karin Temmerman

Submission date

June 5, 2012

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

seizure of goods municipality personal property enforcement of ruling two-wheeled vehicle

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR VB

Abstained from voting

∉ N-VA LDD

Party dissidents ¶

• Alexandra Colen (VB) abstained from voting.
• Peter Logghe (VB) abstained from voting.
• Peter Luykx (CD&V) abstained from voting.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 21, 2013 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

I refer to my written report.

However, in my personal name I express the hope that the new law that will limit the storage space for bicycles will not bring the mayor of Bruges to ideas to place the bicycles in the future in the monument to Toyo Ito, as I heard him telling on the radio last week.

Mrs. Temmerman, you are from Gent. Is there a problem in Gent?

There is a big problem in Gent.

Gent has missed the opportunity to find a monument to Toyo Ito on its territory, which we of course regret.

Absolutely absolutely . I totally agree, Mrs. Van Cauter, but we will get a very beautiful monument in place. I invite you to the opening; I will personally watch for you to receive an invitation.

It is very clear: bicycles are in the elevator. I have, of course, only figures from the flat Flanders, but I am sure that in the southern part of our country cycling is also becoming more and more popular. With bicycles becoming more popular, it means that cities are facing a number of problems: the bicycle infrastructure in the cities must absolutely improve; additional bicycle parks must be placed; there is the growing problem of abandoned bicycles.

Bicycles are stalled for various reasons and no longer picked up. In student cities, for example, students who have completed their studies often just leave their bicycles behind. Of course, there are other reasons. For example, if the bike is broken, it is simply put on the side. I think everyone can bear witness to the fact that the station Gent-Sint-Pieters sometimes looks very strongly like a bicycle sink farm. We hope that this will change in the future.

Colleagues, the law of 30 December 1975 obliges municipal governments to retain for six months goods with unknown owner that are delivered or removed because they threaten safety. Bicycles are also covered by this law. I’ve already said that especially cities with a large student population now have to stack thousands of bicycles over six months. This means, for example, for Gent a storage capacity of approximately 3 500 bicycles and for Leuven 3 000 bicycles, which one must keep staying. However, the law does not only apply to student cities. Also in Bruges, around 1,400 bicycles are picked up annually, of which only a very small number returns to the owner. The problem is that these bicycles must be tracked for six months.

A survey by the VVSG shows that the majority of bicycles are picked up within a month. Mechelen is also faced with the problem. Bicycles that must remain standing for six months will not be removed. For the cities, there are very high costs associated with the fact that they have to keep the bicycles so long. One should consider an area of 1.5 square meters per bike, which means that the capacity should always be increased. Hence the bill to halve the period of six months and reduce it to three months, exclusively for the bicycle, which becomes an exception in the law.

I would like to thank everyone who supported the proposal. I am also convinced that it will be able to count on a very large contribution in the hemisphere, especially since the proposal will enable the cities to save on a number of investments and that savings will be able to use to create better bike paths, better bicycle parking and, in short, greater safety for the cyclist.

Mr. Speaker, dear colleagues, if this topic seems light at first, the practical problem posed by this compulsion for municipal administrations to keep for six months the objects found or removed due to the harm caused is important.

When it comes to bicycles, we can understand the dimension of this problem even more. This obligation requires considerable storage spaces Now, our cities are quickly faced with several thousand bicycles to store, which generates a very high cost for them.

Moreover, as you said, the majority of bicycles are recovered within the month of theft or forgotten. Bicycles that were not recovered after three months are no longer. These costs are therefore no longer justified for more than three months.

Theft of bicycles is, with an estimated 150,000 annual flights, the most common form of theft of means of transport, far ahead of theft of cars. To get an idea of the phenomenon, a city like Ghent must store more than 7,000 bicycles found by police and waiting for their potential owner. The cost of this storage is estimated at tens of thousands of euros.

The text submitted to vote today limits the period of storage of bicycles by municipalities to three months instead of the six months currently planned. This will allow many municipal administrations to save significant costs, and people who supply themselves with second-hand bikes will eventually make a good deal. Even better: these bikes can be donated to associations or families in difficulty, and make some happy, which is not negligible. This is almost without impact for bicycle owners, which is why my group will support this proposal.