During week 11, between March 10 and 16, the police conducted a national traffic week around Sweden. The focus was on speed in densely populated areas, for example around schools, in city centers and near parks.
– It is not uncommon for children to start cycling themselves to school at an early age, even before they are completely ripe. This places great demands on motorists’ behavior in these environments, have Ursula Edströmtraffic strategist at the police, said in a press release.
At schools, you usually have a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour and keeping this speed can be a matter between life and death, according to Edström.
– In residential areas, for example, there is often no pavement, which means that both motorists and pedestrians have to use the same surface. At 30 kilometers per hour, chances are that you as a driver will be able to stay in time, but that as an unprotected road user be hit by a car for 50 kilometers per hour, however, corresponds to a fall from the third floor. Keeping signposted speed is an easy way to help save lives.
And those who have been stopped during the national traffic week come with all sorts of excuses to explain why they have been driving too fast. It testifies Peter HenrikssonGroup Manager for the Traffic Police in Eskilstuna, OM.
For P4 Sörmland Henriksson tells about some of the most common apologies they hear from speeds.
Often these are trivial things, he says.
– Like now when someone was going home to their dad with some cucumber or something. Some dog should be left. You are often stressed and these are often meetings. You should go to some meeting and “just”.
Furthermore, Henriksson states that not only checks at schools.
– We were told yesterday when we stopped one that “I drive slowly because I know that this week you should do what we schools”. Then we thought that: then maybe we should not just stand at schools, but some other place.