Traveling is one of the most important hobbies for many people. On holiday by car, by bike or by plane. It is wonderful to travel at home or abroad. Unfortunately, a vacation can be brutally disrupted by an accident while traveling. This mainly concerns a traffic accident.

A road accident on holiday could be a car accident or you could, for example, be hit as a cyclist (Dutch: fietser aangereden). The question then is what to do. Who holds you liable and which damage items are eligible for compensation. The first question is then, where did the accident happen?

The location of the accident during travel is important

Did the car accident or bicycle accident happen in your home country? In that case, the law of your own country applies in principle. You will then be paid your personal injury compensation (Dutch: letselschade vergoeding) under the law of your home country.

The location of the accident is important because the laws in different countries are not the same. The way in which personal injury is calculated also differs per country. If the accident therefore happened while traveling abroad, it is difficult to find out which law now applies, but also which personal injury items are eligible for compensation.

In principle, the law of the country in which the traffic accident happened to you applies. This is stipulated in a number of treaties to which a large number of countries are members. Did the car accident or bicycle accident happen to another vehicle from your own country? In that case, it is not the law of the country where the accident happened to you that applies, but the law of your own country.

Advice in the event of a road accident abroad

If you have a road accident during your trip abroad and you end up in hospital, the costs are often not covered by your health insurance company. You can then end up with high costs. That is why it is advisable to always take out travel insurance. Make sure you look at the general terms and conditions of the travel insurance and in particular whether medical costs abroad are reimbursed after an accident.

Because the law is different in every country, it is wise to consult a personal injury lawyer in the country where you were involved in a traffic accident during your trip. If you have been hit by a car in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), it is therefore important to consult a personal injury lawyer in Rotterdam (Dutch: letselschade advocaat Rotterdam) and ask what steps you need to take to be able to recover your personal injury from the liable party.