Drenthe has had a year with a record number of traffic jams

Drenthe had a total of 278 traffic jams this year. That is much more than in recent corona years, when people worked from home much more often and there were several lockdowns and a period with a curfew. Last year the counter remained at 99 files, in 2020 there were no more than 53.

But the number of traffic jams has also increased compared to the years without corona measures. Until that moment, 2019 was the year with the most traffic jams: 209 times traffic came to a standstill. In the years before, the number of traffic jams was lower and remained (well) below 200.

All together we formed more than 800 kilometers of traffic jam.

We not only stopped more often in Drenthe. The traffic jams also lasted longer on average. Rijkswaterstaat uses the term ‘congestion severity’ for this. This is calculated by multiplying the length of the traffic jams by the number of minutes that a traffic jam is there.

This calculation shows that traffic jams in 2022 were three times as large as last year, and five times as large as in 2020. And here too: the traffic jams were much greater last year than in the years before corona.

We were mainly on hold due to traffic on the road. That sounds logical, but also means that accidents and road work caused far fewer traffic jams than the ‘normal’ crowds. These are the causes that Rijkswaterstaat has counted:

* Activities: 19 files

* Stranded vehicle: 35 traffic jams

It is striking that the number of accidents in the past caused traffic jams much more often. Between the years 2016 and 2019, this happened about twice as often as this year, around seventy times. This number was also considerably less during the corona period, which seems logical because it was a lot less busy on the road then.

The fact that we were stopped 19 times this year due to roadworks is also striking. In previous years, that was at most nine times. The work on the A28 undoubtedly played a role in this, although Rijkswaterstaat does not indicate this separately. The number of traffic jams due to stranded vehicles is not remarkably higher or lower than in previous years without corona.

Then the busyness remains as the main cause of the traffic jams. The previous record was set in 2019. Then we stopped a hundred times due to crowds. That is 83 times less than last year. The difference with the years before 2019 is even greater. At that time, the number of busy traffic jams varied between 66 and 83.

Last year there was no difference between the morning and evening rush hours in terms of the number of traffic jams. In both peak periods there were 107 traffic jams in our province. Outside rush hours there were 64 traffic jams.

Farmers took action on the road in several places. What that did to traffic cannot be deduced from the figures from Rijkswaterstaat. The overview reports that no traffic jams were created due to blockades. But what is counted in that category is not clear from the explanation that is given.

It is almost certain that there were traffic jams that arose because of or after farmers’ protests. This is how the traffic jam in the photo above, on the A37, arose due to a slow-down action by demonstrating farmers. This file can be found in the tables of Rijkswaterstaat with ‘slow vehicles’ as the cause. This is not included as a separate section in the annual overview.

These traffic jams were particularly noticeable in the months of June and July: eight traffic jams on the A28 and A37 were attributed to ‘slow vehicles’ or ‘demonstration’.

The traffic figures only concern national highways. This means that the traffic jams on the N34, for example, have not been counted, because that is a provincial road. This applies to most N-roads in Drenthe, just like the N374, N375 and N376.

However, it does not apply to all N-roads in Drenthe. For example, the N33 and the N48 are national roads in Drenthe. The traffic jams on these roads are also included in the figures from Rijkswaterstaat.