Just a few days ago I wrote about the many standards we have for streetnames in the Netherlands. But on top of that new streetnames are added constantly for newly build neighboorhoods. Sometimes this also results into changing of existing streetnames. This was also the case last week, when rescue people were not able to find the exact location in Putten. An emergency call was made for a 60 year old man, who suffered from heart failure. People who tried to re-animate the man heard the ambulance passing by, but they didn’t see the ambulance. The end result was that they arrived after 19 minutes and they were too late to save the man’s life. This is a very unfortunate accident and an investigation has been started to find out what exactly went wrong. Preliminary results shows that the navigition systems of both the police and the ambulance were not up-to-date.

I have looked at the location using Google Maps. Normally you expect that a street consists of one thoroughfare. But in this case the street, named “Kraakweg”, consists of three different parts, which are clearly not in one direct line. I have indicated it with 1, 2 and 3. Number 4 indicates another street, but with almost the same name “De Kraak”.

To make things even more confusing. The “Kraakweg” used to be called the “Stenenkamerseweg”. The “Stenenkamerseweg” still exists, but is more than one kilometer from the “Kraakweg”. Double streetname signs are used in this area. So if your are not familiar with the neighbourhood you are completely left out in the dark whether you are at the “Stenenkamersweg” or at the “Kraakweg”.

Photo taken by Ruben Schipper. Residents have been complaining over and over about the confusing situation and roadsigns. Hopefully now it will be settled for once and for all.

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