Strong increase in the number of accidents
Never before have so many cars been rescued from their unfortunate situation by salvage companies in the Netherlands as in 2023. That is striking. In 2022, there was already a record number of times that recovery companies had to respond. This is evident from data from the Incident Management Netherlands Foundation.
In 2022, salvage companies in the Netherlands carried out more than 177,000 salvage assignments. A huge number would be added in 2023. Recovery companies that operate on main roads (IM recovery companies) will make no fewer than 210,000 calls in 2023, 32,500 times more often than in 2022. This represents a growth rate of a significant 18 percent. Never before have IM recovery companies carried out so many assignments. This involves an average of 90 additional assignments per day.
According to the Incident Management Netherlands Foundation, a significant part of the growth is due to reports from the ANWB. If a car breaks down in an unfortunate or dangerous location, the ANWB can ask the National Central Reporting Point (LCM) to take the vehicle to a safe location. According to the Incident Management Netherlands Foundation, this happened just under 54,000 times last year, no less than 47 percent more often than in 2022. The number of security assignments that recovery companies carried out also increased in 2023. If no road inspector from Rijkswaterstaat is available to secure an incident location, Rijkswaterstaat can call in an IM recovery company.
More numbers? Have. According to the Incident Management Netherlands Foundation, the number of accidents on main roads increased by 11 percent to 26,695 in 2023. That’s not quite a record. This was established in 2019 (27,141 accidents). The Incident Management Netherlands Foundation fears that that record will be broken this year.
Assignments from IM recovery companies in 2023
| Kind of assignment | 2023 | 2022 | Percentage difference compared to 2022 |
| Accident | 26,695 | 23,948 | +11% |
| Breakdown move | 127,820 | 106,995 | +19% |
| Security | 10,048 | 6,833 | +47% |
| Unattended vehicle | 2,900 | 3,074 | – 6% |
| Empty ride (so: not necessary afterwards) | 42,378 | 36,608 | +16% |
Photo credit: Incident Management Netherlands Foundation.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl