Are motorists respecting the carpool lane?

As Luxembourg's busiest motorway, the A3 can experience up to 4,000 vehicles per hour at peak times. The road was enlarged from two to three lanes, and the left-hand lane has been allocated to carpooling vehicles since March of this year.

In doing so, the Grand Duchy followed examples set by other countries in an attempt to promote more sustainable travel options. Only buses and vehicles carrying at least two passengers are authorised to use the carpooling lane as a result.

The Roads and Bridges Administration have just installed two speed cameras on the new section of the motorway, which will operate in a test phase from spring 2026 before being fully deployed.

RTL sent a team out to observe how many drivers use the carpooling lane on their own. Although there was less traffic than usual due to French schools being on half term during the period of observation, the team spotted several motorists simply ignoring the new rules. One driver even changed lanes when he realised he had been caught on camera; it seems as though not everyone is ready to respect the law when it comes to the new lane.

"We still have work to do on the A3"

A week after the first round of filming, RTL were permitted to follow a highway police patrol unit. Reporters accompanied two officers, Guillaume Bettinger and Pedro Serra, for their regular patrol which kicks off on the A3.

It took mere minutes for two motorists to flout the carpooling rules. Serra pulled both vehicles over in a secure location and issued each driver with a €74 fine. But no points were taken from their licences.

Another driver was caught soon after using the carpool lane by herself, but expressed her displeasure at the fine. "First she said she'd only used the lane for 10 metres, but I explained that whether she used it for 1 metre or 4 kilometres, it was an infraction either way", said Bettinger.

Serra continued: "You can see we are constantly catching people misusing the carpool lane and even the new speed cameras aren't dissuading them. We still have lots of work to do on the A3."

110 drivers received verbal warnings

In just one hour, the police issued four fines on the A3. To date, 110 drivers have been sanctioned for misusing the carpool lane.

As the speed cameras are not yet in service, all surveillance on the A3 is currently conducted by the police. It is impossible to record exactly how frequent these checks are, but Laurent Lentz, director of the highway police unit, said that patrols are dispatched "daily" to the A3.

Roland Fox, director of the Roads and Bridges Administration, explained the pilot phase of using cameras to carry out the surveillance will be launched in spring 2026. Numerous photos will be taken from different angles and subjected to analysis, which will teach the system to distinguish between humans, animals and dolls. If a child is on the back seat, the system will be able to identify this, said the Ministry.

Video report in French: