Arrest over fatal A59 crash in farmer-protest tailback
Police confirmed on Monday that they have arrested a 34-year-old woman over the crash on the A59 motorway near Heesch last Friday morning in which two people died. She was questioned and released, but a police spokesperson stressed that release does not mean she is no longer a suspect. She is held on suspicion of causing an accident resulting in injury or death — a charge that covers reckless driving or failing to pay proper attention, and which does not allege that anything was done deliberately.
The two people killed were a 71-year-old man and a 72-year-old woman from Oss. Six others were injured, and four vehicles were involved in the chain collision. A trauma helicopter landed on the motorway at the scene.
What turned an ordinary Friday morning dangerous was where the queue came from. Tractors were driving to Den Bosch for a demonstration at the provincial government building, where hundreds of farmers were protesting against the province of North Brabant's plan to withdraw the permits of five poultry businesses. The traffic jam those tractors created stretched back along the A59, and the collision happened at the tail end of it. The investigation into exactly what took place is still open.
The wider argument has already started. The police union has called for reflection on how farmer convoys on motorways are handled, and a lawyer working on the issue said publicly that the approach to tractors on motorways had been an accident waiting to happen. Farmers' group Farmers Defence Force rejected that, calling it unfair to blame the protest for the deaths.
The practical point for anyone driving in North Brabant is the ordinary one that this case makes vivid: the back of a motorway queue is the most dangerous place on the road. If you see brake lights or a slow-moving convoy ahead, drop your speed early and put on your hazard lights to warn the cars behind you. Protest convoys are announced in advance, and traffic apps flag them.