Police in Norway are sounding alarms over what they call a hazardous driving culture among foreign truck drivers. Many from eastern European countries have been found to be especially reckless on Norway’s narrow, two-lane roads.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) aired a frightening video on its national news program Dagsrevy Tuesday night, showing how a Lithuanian truck driver repeatedly passed slower vehicles at high speeds on two-lane roads under extremely risky conditions. Police called the video “hair-raising,” as did the head of Norway’s own professional truck drivers’ association.
The video was shot by the offending driver himself, apparently to document how recklessly he could drive. Other frightened motorists who witnessed his antics on the road called police to report him, and when he was eventually pulled over, he filmed his apprehension as well.
Researchers at Norway’s transport institute are in the process of documenting how many foreign truck drivers work on Norwegian roads, and what consequences they have. “There’s reason to believe they bring their own traffic culture with them to Norway,” Tor-Olav Nævestad of the transport institute told news bureau NTB.
Statistics from the state highway department show that 20 persons were killed and 195 injured, 24 of them seriously, in accidents involving foreign drivers between 2007 and 2011. Foreign truck drivers have also been cited repeatedly for failing to have winter tires or using chains when driving on roads covered with snow and ice.
newsinenglish.no staff
