Traffic deaths
A deceased person is not included in the category of traffic deaths if: the accident occurs at a location closed to public and other traffic; the accident occurs on a part of a train or tramway track, which is not part of the public road and can only be used by trains or trams; the victim dies after 30 or more days after the accident took place; the deceased has already been classified as a ‘murder’ or ‘suicide’ victim.
In 2017, 44 of the 613 traffic fatalities on Dutch roads were not registered as residents of the Netherlands. e.g. foreigners who came to the Netherlands for work or holidays. The calculation of the number of people killed annually in traffic accidents in the Netherlands is based on three different sources: medical certificates of cause of death which have been completed by a physician; dossiers at district public prosecutor’s offices and police accident reports. As these sources are linked and integrated, lacking information can be retrieved from the separate databases.
The results of this integrative approach of traffic fatalities has been available since calendar year 1996. Series referring to earlier years can be obtained from Rijkswaterstaat, which is part of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. These time series are solely based on police accident reports.