Dutch gov't invests €50 million into addressing dangerous roads

Minister Cora van Nieuwenhuizen of Infrastructure and Water Management is investing an additional 50 million euros to address unsafe national- and provincial roads in the Netherlands, RTL Nieuws reports.

Half of that amount will go towards provincial roads. A recent study by RTL Nieuws showed that the risk of a fatal accident on these roads is three times higher than on national roads. One in five fatal accidents occur on provincial roads, while these roads only account for 6 percent of the total road network in the Netherlands.

The money Minister Van Nieuwenhuizen is now making available, comes on top of the budgets the provinces themselves reserved for tackling the provincial roads. Roads can be made safer by removing trees and other obstacles located close to the road, or by installing traffic islands.

Provinces can submit proposals on how to increase safety on provincial roads to the national government. The government finances a quarter of the total costs, the province must cover the rest, according to the broadcaster.

The other 25 million euros the Minister made available will go towards improving traffic safety on a number of national roads, which the government manages itself.