It was the first fatal accident involving trucks this year. Last year, four people died in Amsterdam traffic in accidents involving a lorry, in 2019 there was one fatal accident.
A black day, confirms traffic alderman Egbert de Vries. He immediately took a closer look at the Waterlooplein on Monday morning when he heard that a 66-year-old traffic controller was there got hit by a truck. “The truck was there in connection with work on Waterlooplein, a project for which we ourselves are the client.”
What exactly happened is still under investigation, but it appears that the traffic controller, who had been working on the square for almost a year, slipped while standing behind the truck.
Amstelveenseweg
At about the same time, a girl died on the Amstelveenseweg who was riding on the back of her father’s bicycle was hit by a truck. The truck drove in the same direction as the father and daughter and appears to have turned, after which the accident happened. Both places were not known as dangerous intersections.
Trucks are a major risk in the increasingly busy Amsterdam traffic. Figures show that on average, trucks are involved in 14 percent of fatal accidents in the city. Buses and trams are involved in 16 percent of fatal accidents.
According to the Municipality’s Multi-Year Road Safety Plan, accidents with lorries often occur due to the limited visibility of the lorry driver in the blind spot, and due to the formation of obstacles by lorries loading and unloading on the roadway or bicycle path.
‘Is it important for traffic controllers to work’
It is very sad that the traffic controller has died, says De Vries. “He was there precisely because that point at Waterlooplein can sometimes be difficult: a lot of cyclists often drive to work during rush hour. It helps if controllers point out to people that there is a dangerous situation with a truck. At the same time, this fatal accident proves how important the work of traffic controllers is.”
It is still being investigated whether there was a blind spot accident and whether the driver had no view of the traffic controller. The fact is, that blind spot of trucks is typically a topic that many people say are aware of the dangers. While research by Safe Traffic Netherlands shows that 43.5 percent of adults choose the correct position next to a truck when standing still in front of a traffic light. In fact, 33.3 percent even choose the most dangerous place, right next to the cab of the truck.
The exact frequency of such accidents was last examined in 2015. A study by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment showed that an average of nine people died in the previous seven years as a result of a blind spot accident. Experts say they have no reason to believe the problem has gotten worse or worse since then.
Often very bad outcome
Accidents caused by the blind spot are not very common, but when something happens, it is substantially more likely to end very badly: 46 percent have a fatal outcome. By way of comparison: ‘only’ 8 percent of serious accidents involving a passenger car have the same outcome. The municipality is therefore going to intensify the safer design of intersections. But also banning certain types of lorries in part of the city is a rule that Amsterdam is considering.
Often after such dramatic accidents, the call is made to keep freight traffic out of the busy parts of the city. That is difficult: shops, supermarkets and catering establishments have to be supplied. For example, if large trucks for the supply of supermarkets were replaced by smaller vans, this would mean that on average ten vans would have to drive to the same location instead of one. This not only has consequences for road safety, but also for traffic flow.
Research by knowledge organization SWOV has shown that shifting the window times within which freight traffic is enabled to load and unload in the city center can be effective in preventing such accidents: when loading and unloading later, young people would already be at school at the time that trucks drive through the city.
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