In a statement on its website, the Norwegian Truck Owners Association said it wished to react to comments by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, who recently highlighted growing problems with lorries ill-equipped to navigate the country’s roads in winter.
According to Norway’s Public Roads Administration, statistics show that in the period from 1 January to 21 March 2023, there were 869 road closures due to incidents involving HGVs.
Reacting to the figures, and the words of the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, Norwegian Truck Owners Association Managing Director Geir A. Mo suggested that the people responsible for managing the roads should also get their house in order:
“SVV [Norwegian Public Roads Administration] is responsible for ploughing, salting and gritting. We all too often experience that they do not have enough preparedness for the worst weather days. Heavy goods transport is a socially critical function that ensures that business and society continues, and it is thus unsustainable that the road network is impassable at times, said Mo.
Mo then used stats to argue that the majority of Norwegian HGV drivers ensure that their vehicles have good tyres and chains, and also have good experience when it comes to winter driving.
“The figures [from 2022] showed that from January to December in the same year, 67,417 checks were carried out on lorries along Norwegian roads. If we look more closely at the distribution of those who were banned from driving due to bad tyres and missing chains, foreign drivers accounted for 85% of these,” added Mo.
Mo continued:
“It is a big problem that foreign trucks and trailers with poor tyres, without chains, and a lack of experience in winter driving, are allowed to enter Norwegian roads.”
The Managing Director of the Norwegian Truck Owners Association then went on to argue that checks should take place at Norway’s border, or at the entrance to mountainous areas, in order to ensure lorries are equipped properly during the winter months.
“I don’t know how many times I have driven over the mountains and been behind Norwegian, three-axle trucks that drive over the mountains without problems, while foreign, two-axle trucks “are strewn” all over the roads, claimed Mo.