Flanders has been turned upside down, the farmers think. And so they hung the municipal signs in Bocholt and Bree upside down. — © Roger Dreesen
Peer, Oudsbergen, Bree, Bocholt –
Stop turning street signs upside down immediately. The Roads and Traffic Agency asked this on Monday, after many farmers throughout Flanders had turned over signs in protest in recent days. Signs were also tampered with in some Limburg municipalities.
The action of Boerenhart Vlaanderen started on Thursday night in the Westhoek by turning over dozens of place name signs along approach roads. In the following nights, farmers from all over Flanders followed suit. Also in Limburg, including Bocholt, Bree, Oudsbergen and Peer.
All with the same message. “The entire Flemish countryside is letting us know that the pressure on agriculture and horticulture is too high. Give us a future. Or we ‘young farmers’ are the last generation of a beautiful Flemish agricultural and agro-business history,” he said.
It is now enough for the Roads and Traffic Agency (AVW). In a press release it urges them to stop immediately. “Inverted traffic signs lose their function in traffic and they are no longer readable,” it said. “That is dangerous. For example, a traffic sign indicating a built-up area also requires a lower speed limit of 50 kilometers per hour and some mopeds are allowed to drive on the road. This sign also brings into force all kinds of traffic rules, which are often focused on the road safety of active road users in village or city centers.”
© Roger Dreesen
The agency also says it is mapping “where traffic signs have been sabotaged” and taking the necessary steps to hang them properly. AVW says it is also considering a complaint.
© Roger Dreesen