Several truck drivers are still stuck on the E22 in the snow chaos on Thursday evening. SVT Nyheter has spoken to several drivers who believe that the tires on the trucks are not adapted to the Swedish winter road conditions.
– It may happen that the tires just spin and spin. Not on my car, but you can see it on other people’s cars here that are stuck, says Walle, truck driver who is stuck.
Tougher rules were introduced
In 2019, it became law that all heavy vehicles driven on Swedish roads must have winter tires on all wheels to increase safety. When the Swedish Transport Agency together with the Norwegian Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, evaluated last year how the requirements are met and how the rules work, they concluded that the law does not need to be tightened further.
An investigation by the police and the Swedish Transport Agency also showed that the majority of trucks on Swedish roads meet the requirements for winter tires.
“Probably why we stand still”
But drivers who are stuck on the E22 believe that it can also be the case that the tires on trucks are too worn to cope with the snow on the roads.
– I think it plays a very important role. That’s probably why we’re standing still, says driver Martin, who is probably forced to stay another night in his truck.
Even the Swedish Transport Administration’s press manager Bengt Olsson points out that bad tires played a role:
– Of course, it has made the situation more difficult. When we made a hole in the railing yesterday, there were several trucks that couldn’t drive out of there themselves, so it clearly affected the situation.
Takes a long time to salvage
At 8 p.m., the recovery of trucks was still in full swing – a job that risks dragging on, according to SVT’s reporter Oskar Jönsson, who is on site along the affected stretch.
– Each truck takes up to an hour to unload, he says in Rapport.
SOS International received an order earlier in the afternoon for the recovery of 180 trucks that were still on the E22. See more in the clip below.