While road inspector Jessie van Weert ensures safety on the highway, every day it is questionable whether she will come home safely herself. Despite emergency cries from Rijkswaterstaat, the province and Bouwend Nederland, there are more and more incidents taking place by road users who ignore red crosses or are aggressive. “The mentality of people must change, they must start driving more consciously.”
Jessie van Weert has been a road inspector at Rijkswaterstaat for 4.5 years now and can be found on the motorways around Eindhoven, Den Bosch and Tilburg. “Road inspectors ensure that incidents are protected on the highway and that other care providers can do their work safely.”
“The driver has just not been busy with the road.”
But the safety of the road inspectors themselves is at stake, Jessie knows. “Road users are driving less and less social. For example, they ignore red crosses, show aggression and driving their cell phone in hand, which creates dangerous situations. I really have to pay attention and focus. ”
And we see that when we ride with Jessie. At the start of her service, Jessie drives to the A2 near Boxtel. There are repair work there, so that an exit is closed. She puts her striking yellow car in the rusted lane and walks to the site of the incident. “You keep looking around or really nobody drives through the Red Cross.”
Waiting for privacy settings …
At the exit, a truck rammed a so -called Rimob, a crash barrier that can take care of the first blow. “You can see very clearly that people are not paying attention. How can you deviate such a huge part from your lane? The driver has just not been busy with the road. And we experience that daily in our work, I could have been here too. That’s why I always keep looking at the traffic when I’m in an incident. “
“It is anti -social behavior.”
Last year sixteen cars from Rijkswaterstaat were hit, other years there were four or five. Rijkswaterstaat, the province of Brabant and Bouwend Nederland are therefore the alarm again every few months: ‘Road inspectors and road workers are at risk’. But it doesn’t help anything.
While Jessie is still at the Boxtel exit, she has to go quickly for the next report. A breakdown at Den Bosch, exactly after an unclear bend. On the emergency lane she puts her yellow car down again, this time with the LED screen with a warning triangle on top.
First priority: let the passengers safely tackle behind the crash barrier and the car. The Berger is already on the way. After a short conversation, Jessie will quickly place pylon, because many motorists take the emergency lane with them. One inattentive road user and it goes horribly wrong.
The biggest annoyance of road inspector Jessie is ignoring the Red Cross. “It is antisocial behavior and it provides a dangerous situation for everyone. People also call things very often while a lane is closed and you are protecting a breakdown. ”
“The mentality of people must change.”
The question “Will I come home again tonight?” regularly goes through the head of Jessie. “That’s bad, but that’s how society is right now. The mentality of people must change. All we can do is continue to emphasize that people have to drive more consciously and that they should not do other things. ”
In the meantime, the stranded car has been removed from the A2 and Jessie can clean up her pylons. “Fortunately it went safely, on to the next.”
Previous incidents and emergency cries
Three road inspectors of the province hit a week
Aggression against road workers: size is full after destroying work bus
Current Road Workers: ‘Throw the highway completely closed during work’
Car crashes on N2, motorists ignore Red Cross above closed road