In ten accidents involving military vehicles in 2023 and 2024, those involved were not wearing seat belts, according to research by the Defense Safety Inspectorate. Two of the ten accidents described involved soldiers from Drenthe barracks.
A total of thirty soldiers were injured in the ten accidents investigated, ten of whom were seriously injured.
The Defense Safety Inspectorate investigated, among other things, an accident near Hoogersmilde on February 23, 2023. An army vehicle overturned during an exercise on the site of a sand-lime brick factory.
According to the inspection, the accident happened during so-called blackout driving. The military car drove without lights, but the driver used a brightness booster on the helmet.
While making a turn, the vehicle skidded off the road, landed in a ditch and rolled over. One of the occupants became trapped under the car. A total of two soldiers were seriously injured, three other soldiers slightly injured.
The other ‘Drentse’ accident happened on June 11, 2024 in Lohheide, Germany, with soldiers from the 43 Mechanized Brigade from Havelte. There, a military reconnaissance vehicle ended up upside down in a ditch.
According to the inspection, there were bad weather conditions due to rainfall. The car slid off a bridge and ended up upside down in an adjacent ditch. The car then quickly filled with water. Three soldiers were slightly injured.
According to the inspection, in those two accidents and eight other accidents involving military vehicles, the soldiers failed to use a seat belt or the belts were missing. And that fact leads to a dilemma within Defense.
According to the report, commanders may authorize drivers and passengers of defense vehicles not to wear seat belts, for example because this could be disadvantageous during a specific military operation.
But the Defense Safety Inspectorate concludes that the exemption is being misinterpreted. Risk assessment is lacking in most cases and exemption is regularly given by lower commanders who are not authorized to do so.
The inspection advises the Commander of the Army to promote the use of seat belts more actively and to investigate other measures if a seat belt is not present. The inspectorate also recommends that military drivers be offered more training that will help increase road safety.
Furthermore, it should be clearer to drivers which driver’s license is required for which vehicle. State Secretary Derk Boswijk has now presented the report to the House of Representatives.
