Madeleine van Toorenburg, Member of Parliament for the CDA, calls for a tougher approach to motorists who ignore red crosses above the motorway. She believes that the use of nail mats should be considered here. However, this form of enforcement is quite controversial.
Van Toorenburg believes that, especially for the safety of road workers, it is necessary to more actively combat ignoring red crosses above the road. According to it Algemeen Dagblad in consultation with ministers Ferd Grapperhaus (Justice and Security) and Sander Dekker (Legal Protection), she advocated a stricter approach. The MP is of the opinion that ignoring a red cross is “more than one traffic offense”. She wants the ministers to investigate the effectiveness of the use of nail mats on closed lanes. The VVD will only support this solution if road safety does not deteriorate. When a car drives over a nail mat at high speed, it can become unmanageable as a result of the flat tires.
The campaign against ignoring red crosses is by no means new. As early as 2015, Rijkswaterstaat came up with a new sign to remind motorists of the meaning of the cross even more. Apparently this was not effective enough, because at the end of 2019, Rijkswaterstaat started the campaign ‘#nietvoorniX’ to emphasize the consequences of ignoring a red cross. Rijkswaterstaat did not want to respond to Van Toorenburg’s idea because it is a ‘policy issue’.