Icy road sends gritter into Hague ditch; No Arriva buses running in north

A gritting truck ended up in a ditch in The Hague during the early hours of Friday morning. That was one of several accidents caused by icy roads overnight. The meteorological institute KNMI has a code yellow warning in place for the entire Netherlands, except the Wadden Islands, until noon. Arriva is currently not running buses in the country's north due to the icy roads.

The gritter was sprinkling salt on the very slippery cycle path at the Carry van Bruggenhof (Moerwijk) when it skidded away and went off the bank. The vehicle ended up with its cabin in the water. The driver was unharmed and managed to get out of the truck on his own.

An ambulance also ran into problems in Moerwijk due to the slipperiness. The vehicle’s tires slipped on the ice-covered road on Minstrelstraat, so it could not move, Regio15.nl reported. The fire department had to help free the ambulance.

Elsewhere in the country, the icy roads also led to accidents. Cars ended up in the water in several places, and in Delft, a car crashed into the wall of an apartment building. Several accidents also occurred at the Rijnsweerd junction near Utrecht, where the A27 and A28 converge.

The KNMI ended its code orange weather warning for the icy roads at 2:00 a.m. on Friday. The roads can still be treacherously slippery in many places, the KNMI warned. It, therefore, implemented code yellow for the entire country except for the Wadden Islands. The warning applies until at least noon.

Bus travelers in the north of the country should take into account that their bus may not run on Friday morning. Arriva reported at 6:30 that it would run no buses in the Noord region from Leeuwarden until further notice due to the extreme slipperiness.

Rijkswaterstaat gritters sprinkled salt on many roads in the country overnight. The gritters spread over 5 million kilograms and have driven more than 75,000 kilometers since Thursday evening. “Are you going on the road? Be extra alert and adapt your driving style to the circumstances,” Rijkswaterstaat said on Friday morning.