– It is worrying and a major crisis that so many have lost their lives in road traffic this year, says communications manager Cecilie Bryner of Trygg Trafikk. – The number of deaths has been decreasing for many years. Last year, 80 people died in road traffic, which was the lowest number fatalities for several dozen years.
We have to go back to 2008 to find the month of May in which it is 28 people lost their lives in road traffic, compared to 21 fatalities in the last month. It is still too early to say what is causing this disappointing growth.
Multiple accidents where only one vehicle is involved
In May, there were many individual accidents, ie accidents in which only one vehicle was involved. "It's often caused by inattention or too high speed," explains Bryner. More than 70 percent of fatal accidents are single accidents or collisions.
- Modern touch screens in new cars and the use of mobile phones are factors that can create life-threatening situations. It doesn't take many seconds of inattention for an accident to happen, explains Bryner. If you look away for only two seconds, you can travel a long distance in the blind.
Sharpen your senses and focus on traffic
Traffic is becoming more and more demanding, and interaction is critical to safety.
- We all have a responsibility to pay attention, be aware and act responsibly. Now we need to sharpen our senses and be more alert when we move in traffic jams. This is the only immediate measure we can all do to avoid any new fatalities, Bryner encourages.
The Norwegian Police and the Norwegian Public Roads Authority have decided to act. It was decided that the speed cameras, which had previously only been operating for part of the day, would take photos of people speeding almost 24 hours a day. On Norwegian roads there are 413 speed cameras.
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