Rijkswaterstaat and the police registered more than 103,000 traffic accidents in the Netherlands last year. Almost 11 percent of this can be traced back to just two major cities: Amsterdam and Rotterdam. But the greatest risk of a traffic accident is in four other municipalities.
Most traffic accidents naturally take place in the busiest provinces: Rotterdam (6280 accidents), Amsterdam (4978), The Hague (4480), Utrecht (2441) and Haarlemmermeer (1858). At the provincial level, South Holland is the outlier. In 2020, a quarter of all accidents in the Netherlands took place there (26,056). In second and third place are Noord-Holland (16,592) and Noord-Brabant (14,168).
Highest risk of a traffic accident in this municipality
When the number of traffic accidents is compared to the population of a municipality, the chance of an accident is greatest in Ouder-Amstel, Noord-Holland. 24 accidents were reported here per 1000 inhabitants. And that is four times higher than the national average of 5.9 accidents per 1000 inhabitants. For those who do not know where Ouder-Amstel is located: it is the municipality between Amstelveen and Amsterdam-Zuidoost, containing the places Duivendrecht and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel.
Midden-Delfland, Eemnes and Oostzaan also score poorly
Three other municipalities that score high are Midden-Delfland (18.8 accidents per 1000 inhabitants), Eemnes (15.8) and Oostzaan (15.1). Midden-Delfland is located between The Hague and Rotterdam, Eemnes along the A1 between Hilversum and Amersfoort, and Oostzaan is north of Amsterdam, right next to Zaandam.
Most accidents on a straight road and at an intersection
Comparison site Independer delved even further into the information from Rijkswaterstaat and the police and calculated that more than half of the traffic accidents (50.2 percent) in 2020 happened on a straight road. These were mainly rear-end collisions and accidents in which a vehicle was struck in the side. Traffic accidents at intersections are also relatively common (22.8 percent).