More recoveries, fewer security operations in 2017

Tuesday 20 February 2018
In 2017, IM recovery operators undertook more than 80,000 recovery orders, almost 8,000 more than in the previous year. On the other hand, fewer security vehicles were deployed. Recovery operators were called out 2,088 times to provide security for their own activities, fewer than in 2016. Stichting IMN has therefore concluded that the number of incidents in which work was undertaken without the prescribed security measures rose further, in 2017.

Frans Bul of Takel- en Bergingsbedrijf Quartel waiting for security in front of the entrance to the Benelux Tunnel on 8 February 2018. The police on site had accidentally driven past the incident. (photograph: Bart Maat)

The National Central Reporting Point (LCM) of Stichting IMN called in IM recovery operators in 2017 on a total of 103,184 occasions. The final order for the year was passed on to Takel- en Bergingsbedrijf Quartel in Rotterdam, just nineteen seconds before midnight. 2017 was the third year in a row in which the number of reports rose by more than 10%. The yearly total was twice as high as in 2008 (51,860 reports) and more than three times as high as in 2004 (32,585). In 2004, breakdown removal had not yet been introduced and Stichting IMN received only accident reports.

IM orders in 2017

The number of accidents on IM roads has continued to rise. In particular thanks to a very busy fourth quarter, the total number of collisions on trunk roads amounted to 26,726, 7% more than in 2016. This figure is all the more remarkable because traffic volume did not rise in 2017. According to figures from the Traffic Information Service (VID), congestion levels remained almost the same last year as in 2016.

Bergnet securing a broken-down vehicle on the A10 motorway at Nieuwe Meer, on 13 November 2017 (Photograph: Sander Poort)

The number of police reports to the LCM barely rose. This lack of growth was related to the decision by the Police Control Room for the Northern Netherlands to no longer pass on reports directly to the LCM but to first contact the traffic control centre of Rijkswaterstaat. Rijkswaterstaat then calls the LCM. This approach is time consuming and for that reason, Stichting IMN is in discussion with the various parties to reintroduce the old procedure. These discussions will also include the possibility of replacing telephone messaging by police, traffic control centres and ANWB with electronic incident reports. Such an approach could result in time savings of several minutes as compared to the current work approach.

IM orders 2010 - 2017

In 2017, the LCM started to make use of accident reports submitted via road users in the online platform Flitsmeister, for the time being merely as a pilot project. In many cases, the same reports had also reached the LCM via the traditional sources. The table shows only those cases in which Flitsmeister was quicker to report incidents than other reporting bodies. The average time saving achieved in those cases was 6:14 minutes. Stichting IMN aims to further develop the use of online reports. Work will have to be carried out on improving the assessment of the quality of the reports, to reduce the risk of wasted trips.