The A4 near Leiderdorp has been named as the most dangerous kilometre of motorway in the Netherlands after the accident rate shot up by 60% in 2018.

Stichting Incident Management Nederland (SIMN), the body which liaises between insurers and road operators, said it dealt with 52 incidents last year between the 33th and 34th kilometre markers on the southbound carriageway heading towards The Hague.

The accident spot is at the point immediately after vehicles emerge from a tunnel and reach the Zouterwoute-Rijndijk junction, where the slip road joins the motorway on the left-hand side. The road also narrows from from three lanes to two.

‘The combination of traffic slowing down, sudden daylight and the need to steam in from the left-hand lane considerably increases the chance of an accident,’ said SIMN.

The most dangerous five-kilometre stretch is the A16 around the Van Brienenoordbrug, near Rotterdam, where both carriageways were the scene of more than 100 accidents in the course of last year.