Saturday, 8 August 2020, 6:33 PM
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THE HAGUE –
A sweltering day, where people generally held each other five feet apart. But also a day with overcrowded roads. And one in which motorists too often showed ‘unacceptable’ behavior, including towards traffic controllers. That is the balance that the municipality of The Hague draws up at the end of the day. That behavior of those administrators is also a ‘blemish’ on that beautiful summer day, according to Deputy Mayor Hilbert Bredemeijer from The Hague.
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The Deputy Mayor therefore makes an appeal: “Please have respect for all those hardworking emergency services who do everything in their power in difficult situations and do their utmost to give you a carefree time.” He emphasizes in a statement that in tropical temperatures, traffic controllers, enforcers and bike coaches are constantly working to help city residents, tourists and day trippers to provide ‘a nice beach day’.
But they don’t always appreciate that. ‘The Hague insists on being a hospitable seaside resort for everyone,’ says Bredemeijer. ‘Today we have to conclude that too many people – including a considerable number of tourists from abroad – had unfortunately left their common sense at home. There was unacceptable (traffic) behavior in several places on and towards the coast. In some cases, the residents of our coastal neighborhoods have also witnessed this. ‘
Chaotic situation
The municipality notes that people despite the enormous crowds generally have kept five feet apart. But in traffic, especially in Scheveningen, there was occasionally a ‘chaotic situation’, the deputy mayor saw. ‘Despite our repeated and multilingual calls from last week to travel consciously and smartly and to bring common sense, people still tried en masse to come to the coast by car; and unfortunately in a number of cases without common sense. ‘
Friday the municipality saw that it was generally going reasonably well. People often opted for other forms of transport instead of the car, which often resulted in no incidents. On Saturday many more people got into the car. This led to crowded roads and overcrowded garages. That is why at the beginning of the afternoon the message was given on all matrix boards – both on the highways and on the roads within the city limits – not to come to the coast anymore.
Tropical days
With a few more tropical days ahead, Bredemeijer therefore urgently appeals to beachgoers not to come to the coast by car. Travel consciously and bring common sense. This also applies if you go home later or tonight. Preferably do this when it is quieter again. In any case, take into account the residents of our coastal neighborhoods and the employees of our emergency services. ‘
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