On the A2 in the Netherlands at about 1:15 pm on Friday August 19, 2011 a man and a woman were injured in an accident. By unknown reason the car skid of the road into a ditch. The roof of the car was removed to free the driver and passenger. The wounded were transported by ambulance to the hospital. The accident created a traffic jam on the A2 from Junction Batadorp Weert of 15 km. Twee gewonden bij ongeval op de A2 bij Leende | nufoto.nl | De laatste nieuwsfoto's zie je het eerst op NUfoto.nl!
So that's what you'll ask when you are trapped in your vehicle with fluids leaking and high voltage power-packs in your neck and the firefighter approaches your ditch or your tree with a pair of pneumatic scissors?
It looks like the doors were also removed. I'd guess they were trying to extricate the occupants in the best way possible w/o causing further injuries. It must be hard to remove an unconscious person from a car while trying to keep them supported and stable.
Dutch highway have long straight stretches of roadway. Combine that with high speeds and you have a recipe for disaster. I spent two years in the NL and another in D. The German roads are curvy, hilly and take skill to drive.
sorry? so long stretches and high speed spell accident? But curves and hills, require skill and are thus less dangerous? Or did you mean that the freeways both in the Netherlands and Germany are more prone to accidents than in the US? Of course you stuck a nerve. Here it comes: Highways are broad, there's always a shoulder, on and off ramps are freaking long so a merge is always possible, oh-yeah signs on the road tell you which way to go if you have a city as destination (and not only route numbers). Plus, there are no manhole covers on the freeway (honestly, I've really seen that, on newly paved freeways in the US), AND people know how to drive: look over their shoulder before a lane change, they use their signals before changing lanes too (9 out of 10 times, OK), and oh yeah, no pot holes.
It may have been safer to lift them up and out rather from the side to reduce risk of neck or back injury.
Mike, sorry to have struck a nerve but that is exactly right. Long straight stretches of roadway result in more accidents. The German Autobahn was actually purposely designed with hills, curves and other features to keep drivers on their toes. I spend a total of four years stationed in Europe. Being stationed at remote sites meant that I traveled the road quite a bit. On long stretches of straight road drivers tend to drive with one hand and are more at ease. On challenging roads, drivers are paying more attention to their driving. In addition, long stretches of straightaways tends to cause a driver to travel at a faster speed. If you make a mistake on a long open stretch, at a higher rate of speed it is easier to overcorrect resulting in loss of control. Many people are surprised to discover that the Dutch Autobahn has a speed limit while there are many parts of the German Autobahn.
Interesting thought. I find that the German autobahn has more long stretches than you see in the Netherlands (having traveled both countries for 20+ years, and being Dutch myself). Many stretches of Germain autobahn were designed to be able to go fast and even a small bend in that long stretch feels like a serious curve at 95-100 mph. Knowing the Germain way of being efficient, I guess they mostly blasted through hills to make that freeway as smooth as possible (for those speeds, saving fuel; also for all the road transportation by trucks in that country). But you might be right... I'm not a highway professional. And of course: long monotone stretches, will give fatigue a chance, but the Netherlands is so much smaller than Germany that I think you have more "active" driving to do in the Netherlands than in Germany...
When I was in the NL back two decades ago, we used to travel from Steenwijk to a variety of cities. We regularly traveled to Amersfort, Schinnen, Bremerhaven and Sogel. I was usually on the road three to four days a week. I stopped often for patats and if it was summer ijs. When I returned to the states, McDonalds employees thought I was nuts asking for a triple order of fries and nothing else. What can I say, I was addicted.
