The first five finalists of the NK Safest Chauffeur 2019 have been announced. The first of two semi-finals was held on Saturday in Rijssen, on the site of transport company Nijhof Wassink. Sixty Dutch professional drivers were tested on, among other things, professional knowledge, responsiveness, mental health and driving skills.

The five finalists are: Martijn Hofman (Rijssen), Marco Dijkstra (Leeuwarden), Edwin Maljaars (Voorthuizen), Andre Dillerop (Emmen) and Martijn Klink (Meppel). The final of the NK Safest Chauffeur takes place on Saturday 26 October at the TT Circuit in Assen. 

The NK is part of the TVM Awards, the new initiative of TVM insurance to improve transport and road safety. More than a thousand professional drivers took part in the NK Safest Chauffeur 2019. Knowledge and reaction tests were conducted in the first online phase of the competition. In addition, driving behavior was measured via a mobile app. The 120 best drivers qualified for the two semi-finals. 

Second semifinal

The second semifinal is next Saturday in Gilze in Brabant. The main prize is ultimately - in addition to the honor and the TVM Award - a trip for two people to Brazil. The TVM Awards are made possible in part by the partners Volvo Trucks Netherlands, Van Eijck Group, Continental, Transport and Logistics Netherlands (TLN), Veilig Verkeer Nederland (VVN) and Advance Group.

“I spend a lot of time on the road myself and I see strange things happening around me from time to time. We need to work together to improve the situation. For this reason too, I think it is good that TVM and the partners of the TVM Awards, among other things through this NK, are contributing to more awareness for road safety ”, says the Breda-based television presenter and former hockey star Hélène Hendriks, ambassador of the TVM Awards and the NK Safest Chauffeur.

The semi-finalists seen at work are true ambassadors of their profession. Each and every one of them is very consciously involved with the theme of road safety. In the Netherlands, trucks are sometimes associated with delays, traffic jams and accidents, but that image is really unjustified. In practice, truck drivers often know how to prevent accidents, for example by anticipating in time. However, there are still far too many road casualties in the Netherlands.

“As TVM insurance, we want to show our appreciation to Dutch professional drivers with the TVM Awards and the NK Safest Chauffeur. They are among the safest carriers in Europe, and we should be proud of that, ”said Frank Woestenburg, manager of corporate communications TVM insurance.

At TVM, they have been committed to transport safety for decades, including through prevention policy. The initiative of the TVM Awards also fits in with this. With the TVM Awards, they explicitly want to contribute to increasing road safety awareness among all road users. 

After all, awareness is the first step to behavioral change. Human behavior plays a role in ninety percent of all fatal accidents. That percentage indicates that there is a world to win and, above all, that there is still a lot of work to be done.

In the group photo: Ambassador Hélène Hendriks poses with the five finalists of the NK Safest Driver 2019: Martijn Hofman, Marco Dijkstra, Edwin Maljaars, Andre Dillerop and Martijn Klink (left to right).

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