Zuid Holland takes the lead

Thursday 5 February 2021
Recovery operators on the primary road network achieved their best ever response times in the last quarter of 2020. This came about after a year in which the record had already been broken twice. Across the country, 23,630 recoveries were carried out with an average response time of 11:07 minutes. For the first time ever, the average response time after correction for delays due to traffic congestion was under ten minutes: 9 minutes and 56 seconds. This was 30 seconds faster than in the third quarter. A single company was responsible for one third of the improvement at national level, and that was Vreugdenhil Berging of Den Hoorn (Westland). Vreugdenhil was able to improve its average response time in three busy districts around The Hague by over two minutes and, accordingly, became one of the five quickest recovery operators in the country.

Andy Dekkers of Vreugdenhil Berging on the N446 at Leiderdorp on 28 December 2020. By the crash barrier: road inspector Ed Zonneveld of the Province of Zuid Holland (photo: Koen Jongen)

Like Vreugdenhil, the other four frontrunners are all based in Zuid Holland. After a brief hiatus, Takel-, Berging- en Transportbedrijf A. Barendregt in Rhoon retook its place as the country's fastest recovery operator. The company achieved an average response time of just over six minutes. This was that little bit quicker than the company in second place, Roos Autoberging.nl in Schiedam managed. BRL Leiden was nestled in third place, not least thanks to its excellent performance in the busy district around Zoetermeer. Completing the top five was Jan de Graaf Jr in Rotterdam, who was ahead of Vreugdenhil by a fraction of a second.

Quickest recovery operators, 2020-Q4

The ranking is limited to companies that performed at least 200 salvages in the past quarter.

The very low response times registered by these companies are the result of strict scheduling of personnel and vehicles in combination with patrolling. The patrols make it possible to "discover" broken-down vehicles before an incident report reaches IMN's National Central Reporting Point (LCM). This not only means that the response time is the lowest possible (0:00 minutes), but also that the incident in question can be detected more quickly. What is more, the five companies named above were able to make time savings because they provide stand-by services on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat stand-by services during rush-hour periods, which implies that they can have a recovery vehicle standing ready to deal with incidents at strategic locations alongside motorways.

IM recovery operators with 100% performance

One of the requirements that recovery operators have to satisfy is that they must reach the call-out site within the standard response time of twenty minutes during the day and 25 minutes at night (11:00 p.m. - 5:00 a.m.) in 90% of call outs. This requirement was fulfilled in almost all districts in the fourth quarter. Thirteen companies were even able to respond to call outs within that timeframe in every instance. However, this list of outstanding performers was not headed by companies from Zuid Holland, but by two recovery operators from Noord Brabant. Bergingsdienst.nl in Liempde was on time at 263 call outs in an area covering nearly 100 kilometres of IM roads between Den Bosch and Eindhoven.

Gerjo Sprankenis in his office in Leende (from the archives, 2015)

Autosleepbedrijf Sprankenis in Leende turned in a comparable performance on 80 kilometres of IM roads to the south of Eindhoven. The area in question contains the secondary (provincial) N266 and N279 roads that are difficult to access from the company's premises. When incident reports came in from those roads, it was possible for the company to reach the site within the standard response time by deploying a driver who lives in that area, and has the recovery vehicle parked outside his house.

Recovery companies with an average arrival time under 8 minutes

The list of districts in which an average arrival time of less than ten minutes was achieved in the fourth quarter was so long that it was decided to list the districts in which the arrival time was less than eight minutes. In addition to the well-known parties from South Holland, Smits Kraan- en Dragbedrijf in Haarlem is also prominently present on that list. This company booked an average arrival time that remained well under eight minutes in both the extensive area around Haarlem (NH129) and in Amsterdam - Southeast and surroundings (NH135).

The table lists 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 after 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.