Dendermonde (Eurotoday) – A woman sustained serious injuries in Dendermonde after becoming trapped under a truck on Mechelsesteenweg. She was transported by emergency services to Sint-Blasius Hospital for urgent medical care. Following the incident, traffic in the area was heavily disrupted but has since returned to normal.
The collision occurred at approximately 14:15 at the intersection near Mechelse Poort. Reports indicate that the woman was dragged nearly 20 meters by the truck as she attempted to cross the road. The driver of the truck appeared to be in shock, and emergency responders closed a section of the road to manage the aftermath of the accident.
Road Safety Trends in Dendermonde and Surrounding Areas
According to the Belgian Road Safety Institute, the Flanders region recorded 33,843 traffic accidents in 2022, with heavy trucks involved in 2,473 of those incidents. Dendermonde’s development into a transport hub, due to its proximity to the E17 and E40 highways, has coincided with a noticeable increase in serious accidents involving large vehicles over the past five years.
Data from 2021 indicates that the Dendermonde police zone reported 147 injury-related vehicle collisions, with trucks and buses responsible for approximately 12% of those cases. A 2023 study by the Vias Institute revealed that several intersections along Mechelsesteenweg rank among the 15 most hazardous sites in East Flanders, particularly for vulnerable road users like cyclists and moped riders.
Federal police reports show that distracted driving is a contributing factor in 40% of truck-related accidents across Belgium. Moreover, blind spot collisions account for 22% of truck-related fatalities. Sint-Blasius Hospital, where the woman was taken following the recent incident, handles around 85 serious traffic injury cases each year, as reported in its 2022 annual summary.
A 2021 audit by the Flemish government found that the 2019 redesign of Mechelsesteenweg—introducing dedicated bicycle lanes but retaining narrow intersections—was insufficient in maintaining safety standards for all road users, particularly in separating trucks from other traffic.
Local authorities in Dendermonde have increased the number of speed checks by 30% since 2020. However, statistics from the East Flanders transport department reveal that traffic violations involving trucks rose by 8% in 2023. The current traffic fatality rate in Dendermonde sits at 3.1 per 100,000 residents. Incidents with heavy vehicles account for 17% of all traffic deaths in the region, slightly higher than the Flemish average of 2.9 per 100,000.
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