Over the past years the Dutch government has implemented Incident Management (IM) projects on several locations on the Dutch motorway network. Incident management projects aim to reduce the delay caused by incidents, i.e. accidents, stalled vehicles and spilled loads. This paper provides an overview of the activities with respect to IM in the Netherlands over the past decade. The IM activities in the Netherlands can be subdivided into four chronological phases: (1) the `orientation' phase. This phase started at the end of the 1980's with an orientation on the IM activities in the USA. This phase ended in 1995 with the publication of an Incident Management Manual by the Dutch Ministry of Traffic and Transportation; (2) the `pilots project' phase. This phase started in 1994 and ended in 1996. Within this phase several IM measures were tested on motorways around Utrecht and Rotterdam; (3) The organization phase. This phase started during the previous phase and ended in January 1997 with the erection of an organization called `Project Bureau Incident Management'. Several emergency services are represented within this organization, like police, transport authorities and motorway operators; The implementation phase. This phase, which started in 1997, consists of the nationwide introduction of IM measures. Initially, two measures are selected, one for passenger cars and one for trucks. Looking back, the main conclusions are that three major changes can be identifed. First, the initial focus on technical aspects changed to a focus on managerial and legislative aspects. Secondly, the focus on reducing traffic delays for motorists changed into improving the safety of all persons involved. Finally, preventive measures were also taken into account besides the curative measures.
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