Salvage companies were much less busy last year than a year earlier. Fewer people with a car breakdown or after an accident needed assistance.
In 2020, recovery companies were called on 18,370 times to provide assistance in the event of an accident on the highway or on provincial roads. That was 32 percent less than in the previous year, when assistance was required 27,141 times. This is evident from figures from the Incident Management Netherlands Foundation (SIMN). Last year, due to the corona crisis, a lot of work was done from home and fewer people were on the road.
The decline in calls for help was especially noticeable on motorways. There, the number of accidents fell to 12,833, from 20,890 in 2019, a drop of 39 percent. On provincial and urban roads, the decrease was limited to 11 percent. Last year, 77,498 vehicles were moved due to breakdowns, 5 percent less than in 2019. Recovery companies received a total of 126,430 orders, a decrease of 12 percent compared to 2019, but more than in 2018.
In the spring (during the first wave) the traffic volume decreased by about 35 percent, with the exception of a 50 percent decrease in the second week of April compared to a year earlier. After mid-April, the traffic volume gradually returned to normal levels, but declined again from September due to stricter measures. At the end of 2020, the traffic volume was around 80 percent of normal.