Fewer reports from police control rooms

Thursday 7 November 2013
The National Central Reporting Point (LCM) of Stichting Incident Management Nederland is receiving ever fewer accident reports from the police. The number of reports of accidents and other incidents on motorways fell from 28,249 in 2010 to 23,372 in 2012, a fall of 17%. During that same period, the number of accidents on these roads also fell, but by only a few percentage points. The fall in the number of reports affected practically all police regions. The cause of the downturn in report numbers is the police reorganisation. This has led to reduced discipline in the passing on of accident reports.

IM reports per police region 2010 - 2012 (motorways)

The greatest fall was noted within the KLPD (National Police Services Agency). This agency, which was scrapped on 1 January 2013, was traditionally most at home on the motorway. In 2010, the KLPD was responsible for 11,494 reports on motorways - 40% of the national total. In 2012, that number had shrunk by almost half (to 6,041 reports). This fall was the result of the transfer of tasks from the KLPD to the regional forces. However, in most cases, the regional forces failed to fill the gap left by the KLPD. Indeed: in some parts of the country, numbers of reports by regional forces also fell. The table below shows that this fall in report numbers was particularly obvious in Groningen, Drenthe, Limburg and Utrecht.

IM reports per police control room 2010 - 2012 (motorways)

The police control rooms occupy a central position in dealing with accidents on motorways. When an accident occurs, the individuals involved and passing road users generally dial the emergency number 112. These reports are received by police control rooms. The police control rooms have been instructed to immediately pass on any reports on motorways and other major routes to the LCM. The LCM then calls in the locally-contracted recovery company that can quickly swing into action to clear the road.

The direct link from 112 to the network of IM recovery companies is the main artery for incident management (IM) on the Dutch trunk road network. If this connection is lost, road users are forced to find other routes for reporting an accident. In many cases the result is loss of time or the selection of unsafe solutions - clearly an undesirable development. The fall in the number of police reports is therefore a major subject of discussion between Stichting Incident Management Nederland, the police and Rijkswaterstaat.