The number of car accidents increased by 8% last year, from 462,000 in 2014 to over 500,000 in 2015 according to the Dutch insurance association VvV.

The total number of accidents, including those involving lorries and delivery vans, increased by 6.5%.

According to the association’s director Richard Weurding, the use of smartphones while driving is one of the reasons for the increase. However, he said, ‘we have no hard data on that.’

Another reason is that the traffic police have been less active in traffic control. ‘We’re still seeing many accidents happen in 30 kph zones,’ Weurding said. The infrastructure in some parts of the Netherlands is also ‘a bit outdated’, he added.

Insurers want the new cabinet to create a plan to tackle this issue. ‘This is an urgent matter. We set targets together and you can see now that they are not working,’ said Weurding. ‘You can see it in the number of casualties as well.’

Last year 621 people died in traffic accidents, up from 570 in 2014.