At 11 o’clock on Wednesday, the first alarms came in about disturbances on E22 in Skåne.
Then followed a day of chaos in the freezing cold and compact darkness – where the police, emergency services and military worked in a joint effort to free stuck vehicles and passengers in distress.
– This is completely unique, says Janne Nyström, who has worked as a salvager for 40 years.
At 11.44 on Wednesday, information was received by the assistance corps that a regional bus had run into a guardrail on the E22 outside Hörby. When a lorry behind then lost grip and crashed, both lanes were blocked.
Barely an hour later, the Swedish Transport Administration decided to close traffic in both the northbound and southbound directions.
In the meantime, traffic filled up and came to a standstill. At most, over 1,000 cars were stuck – and scores of road users had to spend the night in their vehicles.
– In all the years that I have been involved in salvage, I have never experienced such a rush. It has been very tough – both for us and for the drivers, says experienced salvager Janne Nyström.
“No one looks or listens when you drive a car”
The heavy snowfall put many to bed, despite the fact that SMHI had issued an orange weather warning.
The Swedish Transport Administration has expressed self-criticism and said that they could have closed the roads at an earlier stage to prevent the monster queue.
Janne Nyström does not think the authorities could have done much differently. Instead, he points out that many motorists could have listened better to the information spread on radio and television.
– That’s where the problem lies – nobody looks or listens when you drive a car and all of a sudden you’re standing there in a queue with lots of cars. You can send out as many warnings as you like if people don’t listen, he says.
The trucks are singled out as a problem
A possible explanation for why the chaos blockade could occur could be due to the blank ice that quickly occurs when trucks stop. In just a few minutes, the ice forms – at the same time as the hot tires of the trucks cool down, making it virtually impossible to drive on.
In addition, many trucks drive without winter tires, even though there is a law on it, according to Janne Nyström.
– Then you have worse operation and stoppages. But in this case, I have no idea what it looked like – we just lifted up and pulled, he says.
“Then there could be even bigger problems”
The major remedial work at the site is far from over. At lunchtime tomorrow Friday at the earliest, the Swedish Transport Administration hopes that the clean-up work will be complete.
But much is still unclear. It is difficult to estimate how much needs to be done and how long it may take, according to Janne Nyström – who believes that the cut center rails may cause problems in the future.
– They are only temporary. If the snow disappears, the cars will drive faster and then there can be even bigger problems. There are holes in the railing and if someone drives in there, it takes a terrible toll, he says.
So began the chaos on E22 – minute by minute
11:00 a.m The Swedish Transport Agency is alerted that there is a stoppage in traffic in the southbound direction.
11:44 am The assistance team receives information that a regional bus has crashed into a road barrier south of Ekerödsrasten.
12:01 The approach to E22 southbound at Ekerödsrasten is closed.
12:32 p.m E22 in the northbound direction is closed at Hörby so that the tow truck can reach the bus.
12:47 p.m The road is closed in both directions. At the same time, the traffic fills up and comes to a standstill all the way from the accident site south of Ekerödsrasten to Sätaröd, a stretch of just under a mile.
When the northbound lanes are closed to be able to get the bus off, about 20 trucks get stuck between Hörby Norrehe and Hörby Norra. All four lanes will be blocked on this stretch.
Snowdrifts quickly form on the closed lanes from Hörby Norra that go north.
15.56 The bus is towed away. At this point, it is too late to dissolve the queues. Around 1000 cars and trucks are stuck and many are forced to spend the night in their vehicles.
Sources: The Assistance Corps, the Swedish Transport Administration, the Police