Emma Lehto, resident in Marks municipality, drives Landvetter–Skövde every day. On Tuesday she was late with the exit due to the storm, on her way back from Skövde she got stuck in the queue at 3.30pm.
— I’ve been out driving in bad weather before. I have cargo on the truck, and it needs to get out. Already in Falköping, the roads started to get bad. There were trucks, buses and cars in the ditches, she says.
It was a long wait. The information was insufficient, and the timings were constantly postponed on the Swedish Transport Administration’s information site, she says.
— We received no information whatsoever anywhere. Passenger cars start turning around after a few hours and driving back towards the direction of travel, she says.
The snowy weather creates traffic chaos on the E20
“Been at full throttle”
A man whose car broke down had to get into the cab and warm up. They were not given any water or supplies. Toilet visits had to be carried out in the snow-filled ditches.
Only at 04:00 in the morning could she slowly start rolling home again, a nervous journey that usually did not go faster than 40 kilometers per hour.
— I’ve been sitting at full throttle for the past 24 hours. I still haven’t been able to relax, she says.
She agrees with the Transport Confederation in its demand for stricter rules regarding when you can go out on the road in extreme weather situations, and also thinks that the requirements for the quality of the tires should be tightened. The Swedish Transport Administration highlights that trucks with worn tires may have caused the kitchen chaos, which Lehto agrees with.
“I have no doubt that a big contributory factor is cash tires,” she says.
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Don’t venture out
But she is also critical of the Swedish Transport Administration’s actions.
— When SMHI issued this warning, the Swedish Transport Administration with its cars could have been more prepared and gone out early and plowed and skid control.
— When it’s weather like this, it’s impossible to get the roads spotless. But I think they could have done a much better job.
A new snow storm is expected to move in during Thursday. But then Emma Lehto stays at home.
“I don’t dare go out,” she says.