Two federal highway police inspectors escaped worse in the night from Friday to Saturday when their car was hit on the E403 in Lichtervelde. This happened when they had just arrived to report another accident. And afterwards it almost went wrong twice more.
It was just before half past twelve on Saturday morning when a BMW and a Mercedes A-class collided in the direction of Bruges. All in all, the consequences were not too bad. The driver of the Mercedes was able to pull over safely a little further away. The BMW’s front right-hand side was too damaged to continue driving and the vehicle ended up stranded in the right-hand lane. An ambulance rushed to the scene, as did a fire brigade signal vehicle, to secure the area surrounding the accident.
Warning panel opened
About fifteen minutes after the accident, a patrol from the West Flanders federal road police arrived. The inspectors parked their vehicle behind the stranded BMW and immediately opened the warning panel mounted on top of the roof of their car. Such a panel is equipped with both blue warning lights. Orange signals indicate to traffic behind whether a lane is free or whether a lane needs to be diverted.
(read more below the photo)
Police officers unharmed
The driver of a fully loaded van did not notice this for some reason. The man drove into the police vehicle. The blow was enormous. The police car, a sturdy Volvo V90, was thrown away. The van overturned. “The colleagues had only just gotten out and were unharmed,” the federal highway police said. “They escaped much worse.” The driver of the van was slightly injured. That was also the case with the BMW driver in the first accident. Both were taken to hospital for treatment.
Closed for five o’clock
Police and fire brigade closed the E403 in the direction of Bruges. Traffic had to leave the highway in Lichtervelde and then continue on the E403 via a detour past Torhout. The public prosecutor’s office sent an expert to the scene to investigate the circumstances of the double accident. This meant that the highway could not be opened again until 5.45 am, more than five hours after the first collision. Despite all the signs and instructions from the fire brigade and police, two vehicles – a passenger car and a truck – continued to drive on the E403. They were finally stopped just before the scene of the double crash.
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Tags: Van crashes police vehicle banal accident E403 Fortunately colleagues Lichtervelde
