Contact after a traffic accident

Ans van der Veen, staff member of Victim Support Netherlands, helped a mother and daughter who were involved in a severe car crash. The daughter wanted to talk with the person who caused the accident. “The victim really wanted to know the full story. What happened during the accident, and how the causer had experienced it.”

Perspectief mediator Wil van der Veen guided the mediation. “People who caused an accident can’t always recount exactly what happened, while this is what victims really want to know about. I prepare a victim for this. That they’re not going to get an answer to that question. After that, I talk to victims about what a meeting can offer them. About what else they want to get out of it. For example, to show what the consequences of the accident were for them. With fatal accidents it’s often the case that the relatives of the deceased want to know in exact detail what happened during the last minutes their loved one was alive. Did they say anything?”

Transparency

Victim Support staff member Ans van der Veen was impressed by the working method of Perspectief: “During the mediation, there is transparency about everything down to the smallest details. That is very important. This way, my client knew beforehand exactly what she could expect. The eventual conversation was very nice. For my client it was important to hear that he was sorry. For him it was important to know that she did not hold a grudge.”

Read more about how restorative mediation after an accident works on this page.