Dutch motoring organisation ANWB is calling for an investigation into the sudden rise in the number of serious road accidents in the Netherlands, broadcaster Nos says on Wednesday.

‘We think there has been a rise in the number of serious accidents and this worries us,’ a spokesman told the broadcaster. ‘We want to know what is going on and it should be stopped immediately.’

For example, more ambulance helicopters are being used than normal, the ANWB said. Over the past week, five people were killed in eight very serious crashes.

Monitors

‘We don’t have any concrete figures but if I talk to my traffic jam monitors, then they say they are reporting far more accidents than normal,’ said ANWB director Guido van Woerkom.

Van Woerkom wants the transport minister to analyse the accidents which have taken place over the past five weeks. ‘Is there a trend which we should know about?’ he said. ‘If so, we all have to work together to ensure proper road safety standards.’

However, the traffic safety institute SWOV says it has not recorded a rise in victim numbers. ‘The trend is downwards,’ a spokesman said. ‘However, we do not have any 2014 figures yet and we do not keep a day-to-day register.’

In 2013, 570 people were killed in road accidents in the Netherlands. This is down around 12% on 2012.