Erpe-Mere (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – A car crashed into a police vehicle Tuesday night after ploughing into a cleaning machine, injuring its occupants, at Erpe-Mere. The officer in the police vehicle and the driver of the car were taken to the hospital with injuries. The cleaning machine driver remained unharmed. Debris scattered across a 50-meter stretch, and authorities worked to clear the scene for several hours after the road closed.
A car in Erpe-Mere ploughed into a police vehicle after striking a cleaning machine, injuring the driver and the officer inside. They wait for hours as the road is closed to clear debris in case of the cause of the crash. The accident happened on the Leedsesteenweg, a road linking Lede to Oudenaarde, and the car was heading in that direction when it happened.
The car hit and crashed sideways into a cleaning machine that was working to get rid of the sand from the road. It lost control because of the initial impact, turning into the path of the oncoming police vehicle that was destined for Erpe-Mere. The police vehicle hit the patrol car, which did additional damage and required the officer to be pulled from the wreck.
No life-threatening injuries have been reported to the hospital for either the officer or the driver, officials say. The driver of the cleaning machine was in the sequence of events but was not injured in the crash. Leedsesteenweg was closed for hours after the debris from the crash spread across a wide area of the road.
The cause of the accident is under investigation. However, authorities have not determined whether the driver’s speed or the condition of the road played a role in the crash. As is standard practice, since a police officer from the Erpe-Mere/Lede zone was involved, the investigation is with the neighbouring Aalst police zone to facilitate an objective and impartial examination of the accident.
Investigation and legal implications for the involved parties
The investigation is complicated when there are lots of vehicles and people involved. Transparency is guaranteed when the role of the police in traffic accidents in which they are involved is performed. However, due to the presence of the police officer, the neighbouring Aalst police zone will examine what happened in the crash, as this allows things to remain unbiased. It’s vital because one of the people affected here is an officer, so this process is indispensable so that the investigation’s integrity doesn’t break.
However, whether the crash was weather- or road-related is unknown. Whatever the visibility or road surface was like at the time, it contributed to the car losing control, and local authorities have yet to release official reports on the exact condition of the weather. Public safety experts said that routine maintenance of cleaning machinery and police vehicles is critical to prevent such incidents. These machines used on roads with unpredictable conditions are strictly monitored as to how they work with maintenance schedules, with regular checks to ensure that they are functioning properly.
What is more, the cleaning machine itself was not directly involved in the injuries, but accidents relating to such heavy machinery can often be very damaging as this kind of equipment is often very big and heavy. Road maintenance cleaning machines are slow-moving but need to be clearly visible to oncoming drivers in order not to cause a collision. The authorities will look back and see if enough was done to get motorists to notice the presence of the cleaning equipment on the road. Also, the positioning and visibility of the police car at the time of the crash will be looked into.
