The Norwegian Public Roads Administration and the Customs and Excise authorities increase the controls on road vehicles at the border in Northern Norway, following traffic accidents involving foreign road vehicles on slippery winter roads.
‘’Yesterday, I asked the Norwegian Public Roads Administration to look at opportunities to increase the controls in Northern Norway in view of the situation we have there, and if necessary to move resources. They will now strengthen their control activities in the north of the country’’ said Transport Minister Jon Georg Dale of the Fremskrittsparti (FRP) to ABC News on Tuesday.
The Customs Service will control tires and chains on heavy transport at the border crossings in the north.
This happens, among other things, after a 22 year-old man went into a coma as a result of a foreign vehicle hitting the man’s car. The accident happened outside Tromsø on January 7th.
After the accident, the Senter party demanded that the government introduce immediate measures in Northern Norway to prevent more traffic accidents involving road vehicles in demanding winter conditions.
In the longer term, Dale hopes several measures can improve traffic safety. From 2020, winter driving expertise will be part of the training in all EU and EEA countries. Thus, driving in such conditions will become a driving license requirement for professional drivers across Europe.
‘’The government is also investigating national and international room for manoeuvre to tighten the requirements for tires’’ Dale said.
In 2016, the Transport Economics Institute (TØI) concluded that foreign heavy goods vehicles have a considerably higher risk of being involved in traffic accidents than Norwegian heavy goods vehicles.
“Foreign heavy goods vehicles have three times higher risk of getting involved in accidents than Norwegian heavy goods vehicles, and almost twice the risk of collision with a vehicle driving in the same direction. Foreign drivers in Norway also seem to have a higher probability of triggering fatal accidents than Norwegian drivers” the report said.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
