Busy at the top

Thursday 14 May 2020 (update 10 june 2020)
In the first quarter of 2020 IM recovery operators achieved their best ever response times. Across the whole country, 25,485 recoveries were carried out with an average response time of 11:52 minutes. That was almost half a minute faster than the previous record, which was set in the second quarter of 2019. If the figure is corrected for delays resulting from traffic congestion, the average response time is 10:26 minutes. A difference in speed of thirty seconds might seem negligible, but for recovery operations as a whole it represents a gain of almost 190 hours.

Peter Brouwer of Kooijman Berging at work on the A4 at hectometre marker 82.3 Li on 13 May 2020

The encouraging figures were, in part, the result of incidental developments. For instance, there were very good response times in district ZH163, which includes the Terbregseplein interchange in Rotterdam. In this area of operation, the busiest in the country, Jan van de Graaf Jr. assumed responsibility for IM recoveries on 1 January and proved his worth from day one. There was also a significant improvement in district ZH178, which includes the Knooppunt Gorinchem interchange. This area is served by Kooijman Berging, which has been operating from a new base in Vuren since December. This replaces the site on the Marconiweg, Gorinchem, which went up in flames at the end of 2018.

IM recovery companies with an average response time of less than 10 minutes

Some recovery operators noticed an improvement across the board. That was the case for operators including Takel- en Bergingsbedrijf A. Barendregt and Jan van de Graaf Jr., the two recovery operators with the lowest average response times in the country. The largest gain in terms of time was recorded by Eerste Arnhemse Wegen- en Sleepdienst van Amerongen. That company scored an average time in all districts served by the company that was 70 seconds lower than in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Wesley van Hassel, Jelle Pruiksma, Wesley Hol, Arie Kooijman and Dennis Gerulis in the new company premises of Kooijman Berging in Vuren

Bergnet in Amsterdam stood out by achieving an average response time of under ten minutes in five districts. In previous quarters that was the case in three districts at most. These developments meant that it was busy at the top of the list of operators averaging a response time of under ten minutes. And the list was long, too. Never before have over 40% of recovery operations been carried out in districts registering a response time of ten minutes or less.

IM-bergers met 100% performance

BCF, a recovery operator with districts in Friesland, excelled in the extensive F16 district that includes Drachten. For all recoveries undertaken, the company achieved a response time below the contractually agreed standard time of twenty minutes during the day and twenty-five minutes at night-time. A similar level of performance was recorded by Bergingsdienst on the A2 between 's-Hertogenbosch and Eindhoven. The area is smaller but registered 225 recovery operations. They arrived promptly in each case.

The tables list only districts for which a complete quarterly report has been published for the quarter just ended. These are districts in which twenty or more recovery operations were carried out and districts for which the quarter just ended was the last in a series of quarters in which the minimum of twenty recovery operations required for drawing up a report was exceeded. Average response times are reported following correction for delays as a result of congestion. In determining the kilometres of road in each district, the two carriageways of roads with divided carriageways are counted as separate roads. No rights may be derived from the information on the tables.