Apart from five addresses, all addresses of the village of Midwolde (municipality of Leek) will soon be provided with reflective house numbers. A call from two young ambulance drivers is effective.
The drivers arrived much too late last year to pick up a victim and take them to the hospital. They lost track in the nocturnal darkness.
Especially in the outskirts, it often happens that rescuers arrive late because house numbers cannot be found or are illegible from the public road. In situations where literally every second count, that is extremely undesirable.
Cry for help
The village association in Midwolde picked up the cry for help. Thanks to a subsidy from the province and Ondernemersfonds Leek, all houses in the village are provided with reflective numbers.
What may be called special: the villagers do not have to pull the wallet for this. People from the village association place a pole made of recycled plastic at each parcel. A triangular sign is then applied to this which is provided with reflective material on two sides. The house numbers are stuck in black on it.
According to board member Jos Leber (67) of the village association, a large part of Midwolde (133 addresses) is already provided with reflective house numbers. Another 73 addresses will follow this month.
The initiative is now being copied in neighboring Lettelbert, Den Horn and Enumatil, where another 50, 46 and five addresses, respectively, are provided with reflective house numbers. This mainly concerns plots in the outlying area. The extra subsidy has been made available for this. Leber calculates that the cost of installing a post with reflection plates is around 25 euros.