What BLIQ achieved in the Netherlands
BLIQ keeps councillors and executive members of local government clearly and regularly informed about road safety. The report combines crashes from the police register with speed data from HERE, brought together in CROSS: the risk map of crashes and speeds.
BLIQ is part of STAR, the partnership of the Dutch National Police, the Dutch Association of Insurers and VIA. STAR makes high-quality crash data available, such as exact locations and verified numbers of fatalities. Each audience gets the information it needs: BLIQ for decision-makers, a public crash map for residents and associations, and VIA Software for professionals.
BLIQ is published three times a year: provisional figures at the start of the year, final figures in April and half-year figures in September. Every municipality, region, province, water authority and police unit can download it free of charge and share it. In 2025, 431 tailored editions were produced, accounting for 839 downloads.
Public documents on Dutch government websites show that BLIQ is used at every stage of a risk-based road safety policy:
- analysing network risks;
- setting priorities;
- informing elected representatives and accounting to them;
- selecting measures for specific locations;
- coordinating enforcement.
It started with a question from practice
BLIQ was developed in 2016 together with the Eindhoven Metropolitan Region. Its municipalities wanted to inform their councillors regularly, with one standard report for every municipality and a shared benchmark: road casualties per 10,000 inhabitants.
Their wishes were concrete. The casualty trend had to be visible at a glance, including its direction based on the latest data. Municipalities wanted to show their own policy emphases, such as cyclists or young people. Councillors had to be able to ask targeted questions without running analyses themselves.
Over ten years, BLIQ kept developing. The top 10 of unsafe road segments and junctions was added when CROSS became available. The effect of COVID-19 on the 2020 and 2021 figures was made visible. Most recently, the collision matrix was added: road casualties by mode of transport and opponent.
What other countries can take from it
The Dutch experience points to five lessons that apply wherever authorities work with the Safe System approach:
- One report, one benchmark. When every authority receives the same report with the same definitions, figures become comparable and discussions start from the same facts.
- A fixed rhythm. Three editions a year keep road safety on the agenda of decision-makers, not only after a serious crash.
- The right information for each audience. Elected officials need a clear trend and priorities, professionals need detail, residents need a map.
- Speeds next to crashes. Combining crash records with speed data shows risk on roads where the crash record is still thin.
- Built with users. BLIQ was designed with the people who use it. VIA still works this way, for example on Data-driven working with the municipality of The Hague and an evaluation tool for mobile speed cameras with the province of Groningen.
BLIQ in the United Kingdom
BLIQ is also available for road authorities and police forces in the United Kingdom. Read more on the BLIQ product page.
Have an idea?
Do you have an idea that would make your work easier or better, and do you know that colleagues at other public authorities face the same question? We would like to hear from you.
We prefer to work with a small but diverse group of users, so we get a clear view of what the product needs to do. VIA then assesses the technical and data feasibility. If that works out, we develop a concept. With the feedback from user testing, we work together towards a final product.
There is no charge for this cooperation: what we build becomes part of the platform, and updates are always included in the price (see our pricing). We do ask for the commitment and involvement of the participating users.
Get in touch at info@via.nl. Who knows, in ten years your idea may be in the spotlight too.
