Dozens of accidents happened on the roads of Brabant last Sunday evening and night. This was due to the slipperiness, for which the KNMI had issued code orange earlier that day. The control room of the Central and West Brabant police was flooded with calls.
The first problems arose in the west and centre of the province. Dozens of reports came in of calamities in Bergen op Zoom, Steenbergen, Terheijden, Breda and Tilburg, including the A4 and A58 motorways.
Mostly damage to the bodywork
Later in the evening there were also accidents in places such as Uden and Valkenswaard, . In a few cases, people were injured, but most of the time the cars were slightly dented only.
Rijkswaterstaat received ‘just under five hundred reports’ of accidents due to slipperiness on Sunday evening and night throughout the Netherlands. On an average Sunday – if it is not icy – there are between ten and fifteen reports, according to a spokesman.
‘Biggest spread of the year’
Only around a quarter past four at night code orange (be prepared) was withdrawn, when the temperature rose to above freezing everywhere. Then code yellow applied for a short time (be alert). That warning was lifted around 6 a.m.
In an attempt to combat the slipperiness, Rijkswaterstaat had sprinkled more than thirteen million kilos of salt since Sunday afternoon. The gritters drove a total of about 140,000 kilometers. “This was the largest spreading campaign of the year,” said the spokesperson. In total, Rijkswaterstaat has spread almost 32 million kilos of salt this year.
Another accident
This morning yet another accident happened in Aarle-Rixtel, where a car slid off the Broekdalerbaan and ended on its roof. Whether slipperiness played a role in this is being investigated. The driver was able to get out of the car on his own and was taken to a hospital.
Source: Omroep Brabant
Translator: Martijn
