The Swedish Transport Administration’s road management is seen: “It’s horrible”

The haulage owner Nicklas Jansson thinks that the Swedish Transport Administration is completely wrong when they blame the trucks and worn tires.

Instead, he believes that the authority’s handling of the roads is under all criticism.

– I am sick and tired of the Swedish Transport Administration blaming everything on the trucks. It is clear that you get stuck when the roads are better suited for skating, he says.

The past 24 hours’ snowstorm has caused major traffic problems in southern and central Sweden. Outside Jönköping, mile-long queues were formed after a number of accidents where cars and trucks got stuck in the snow and blocked the road.

Many had to spend the night in their cars and only on Wednesday morning did the queues begin to ease.

Bengt Olsson, the Swedish Transport Agency’s press manager, told Aftonbladet that the major traffic problems could have been avoided if more people had better equipment in terms of the right tires, among other things.

– Trucks and heavy traffic are out doing things they shouldn’t be doing (…) it has been more trucks than cars that have had the big problems, said Bengt Olsson.

“Time to set higher demands”

Nicklas Jansson has operated a haulage business for 15 years and has also worked with snow removal. He strongly opposes the Swedish Transport Administration’s attitude and Bengt Olsson’s statement.

– I’m sick and tired of the Swedish Transport Administration blaming everything on the trucks for the major accessibility problems during the winter. It’s clear we get stuck when the roads are better suited for skating, says Nicklas Jansson.

He believes that the handling of Swedish roads is at too low a level.

– It is time to step up and make sensible procurements that require the contractors to do what is required to have passable and safe roads.

He believes that it is time to demand a finished result and actually ensure that it is maintained. That you go out and do checks and not just check via GPS.

Don’t want to blame the weather

According to Nicklas Jansson, the winter weather cannot be blamed either.

– It has been a normal winter, I would say. We don’t have problems on the forest roads where we drive ourselves, but the problems have been on the major traffic roads because they are not properly maintained. It’s horrible.

The statement about the trucks’ tires is nonsense, according to Nicklas Jansson. He believes that it does not matter what tires you have if you have stopped in the road conditions prevailing on the roads. If one truck stops, all other trucks will also stop.

– You can’t blame the tires. We must have passable roads where you can ride. As it stands now, the roads are filled with hard-driven snow and it is too poorly maintained. The measures are not taken in time, says Nicklas Jansson.

“The Swedish Traffic Agency bears the blame”

He believes that it is not prepared with enough salt, that snow is cleared too infrequently and that there are no snow blades on the slopes to save wear steel. But he does not want to blame those who carry out the snow removal because they only carry out what they have been assigned by their employers.

Nicklas Jansson believes that the problem lies in the clients cheating to save money – and that it is based on a system error.

– It’s fucking stupid. The entire procurement chain from the Swedish Transport Administration to the main contractors is a disaster. You have to do a proper review and carry out stricter checks. You have to carry out really hard fines if the road holding is not taken care of, he says and continues:

– In short, the Swedish Transport Administration bears the blame, because they are ultimately responsible. They can try to come up with whatever evasions they want – but that’s just it.

More complex than that

Bengt Olsson, the Swedish Transport Administration’s press manager, listens to the criticism but says that there are many parameters that come into play and influence the outcome of the situation.

– It is more complex than you think. The hauliers are in a difficult position and they have to go out and drive, I have full respect for that. But to blame the plowing is a bit simple, says Bengt Olsson.

According to him, everyone must be a little more aware of what an orange warning means, regardless of whether you drive a truck or a passenger car, and have a foresight for how to act and prepare in the best way.

He also points out that similar events – such as those on E22 in January and now on E4 – have also occurred in previous years. The only difference is that they have not received as much attention, he says.

– It is always difficult to pinpoint a single cause. But we can state that the damn thing is that trucks are stuck, you can’t say anything else.

But having said that, Bengt Olsson expresses that the door is not closed for more measures to be taken.

– We are not against that. We have an ongoing dialogue with the contractors if there is something that can be developed. If we can find new tools to develop the business, that is welcome, he says.