Why is Wallonia rejecting roundabouts at Mons accident blackspots?
Walloon Minister for Mobility and Infrastructure François Desquesnes has ruled out, at least for now, a roundabout-led response to accident-prone crossroads in Mons, according to La Dernière Heure.
In 30 seconds
- La Dernière Heure reported on 17 June 2026 that the minister rejected roundabouts for accident-prone Mons crossroads.
- The file falls mainly under Walloon regional competence, not federal transport policy.
- François Desquesnes is the Walloon minister responsible for infrastructure and mobility.
- The road-safety issue sits inside the 2024-2029 Walloon legislative cycle.
The subject is the proposed aménagement de giratoires aux carrefours accidentogènes in Mons, a Walloon local road-safety debate involving regional infrastructure policy. On first mention, the relevant political actor is François Desquesnes, Walloon Minister for Territory, Infrastructure, Mobility and Local Authorities in the government led by Walloon Minister-President Adrien Dolimont. His reported position closes the door to using roundabouts as the preferred answer for the Mons crossroads concerned. In Belgium's institutional system, this is not a federal road file: the Walloon Region is responsible for regional roads and infrastructure policy, while municipal authorities handle local mobility concerns and relay residents' problems.
Background
Roundabouts became a common Belgian road-safety tool because they can slow traffic and simplify conflict points at some junctions. But Wallonia's current road-safety challenge is wider than one design choice. The regional safety strategy is built around reducing deaths and serious injuries across a mixed network of motorways, regional roads, rural routes and urban streets. That means an accident-prone carrefour is usually assessed through crash history, traffic volume, site geometry, vulnerable-road-user risk and cost-benefit logic rather than through a single preferred template.
What to do
Residents seeking action should direct site-specific complaints both to the City of Mons and, for regional roads, to Walloon mobility channels. The most useful evidence is concrete: date, time, direction of travel, crash or near-miss type, pedestrian or cycling risk, and photos showing visibility or layout problems.
Impact
Regional — The impact is concentrated in Mons and the surrounding Hainaut road network. It matters to commuters entering the city, residents near busy intersections, local schools and businesses affected by traffic flow, and emergency services that respond to crashes. The broader regional effect is that Mons becomes another test case for how Wallonia prioritises safety blackspots when infrastructure budgets are limited.
EvidenceDeveloping · 1 primary source + 1 official document · Background sources: 2 · some details remain unconfirmedExplore evidence →Hide evidence ↑
- Published:
- 17 Jun 2026, 02:00
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 22 Jun 2026
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- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 22 Jun 2026
- Publication date unavailable
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 22 Jun 2026
- Publication date unavailable
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 22 Jun 2026
- Publication date unavailable
- Retrieved by ODIN:
- 22 Jun 2026
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This story was assembled from verified evidence, with its sources and reasoning recorded as it was written.