In the first quarter of this year tailbacks on Dutch motorways dropped to their lowest levels in six years, according to the Dutch automobile association, the ANWB.

The body calculated that the tailback pressure (the length of tailbacks multiplied by their duration) fell by 30 percent, mainly as a result of the economic crisis, which led to a drop in traffic, but also due to favourable weather conditions. The ANWB expects northbound traffic on the key A4 motorway between Rotterdam and Amsterdam to improve further now that an additional lane has been added.

The first tailback to occur in modern times in the Netherlands is thought to have formed on 16 August 1925 when people in the eastern province of Gelderland took to the roads in droves to see a region near the German border devastated by a fierce storm. The cars formed a tailback measuring over seven kilometres. The worst morning rush hour ever recorded in the Netherlands was on 8 February 1999, when heavy snowfall caused tailbacks totalling 975 kilometres in length. An average morning rush hour typically sees tailbacks with a total length of 200 kilometres. Sunday 30 December 2007 was the first time in five years no tailback was documented at all in the country.

(cl/rk)

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