Around 200 school pupils from Orkland in Trøndelag have now undergone a safety course for ATVs. This is the exception, because today there is neither a separate driver’s license class nor separate training that is specific to four-wheelers and six-wheelers. – If someone is going to drive an ATV, they will receive training on a tractor or class B, says Pål Andersen, senior adviser at the Norwegian Traffic School Association. He says that you can, for example, drive without a helmet if the vehicle is registered as a tractor. – There is great frustration for our traffic teachers around the country who know that the students are not really interested in the tractor training, but that they are taking it because they will be driving an ATV. Andersen says there are big differences between tractors and ATVs. Therefore, he believes that there is a need for separate training for that type of vehicle. Photo: Morten Karlsen / news Because there are differences between the type of vehicle, tractor and car. – This means that the skills required may not be as good or suitable for driving an ATV. It is a completely different type of vehicle than, for example, a moped or two-wheeler, says Christoffer Solstad Steen. He is press manager at Trygg Trafikk. Increase in the number of injured – The rise we see in the number of injured worries us. This is a type of injury that they will probably carry with them for the rest of their lives. That’s what Svein Erik Gjølmesli, assistant district manager for the emergency police in Trøndelag, tells us. Gjølmesli says that they saw a positive decrease in the number of accidents on four-wheelers from 2021 to 2022. But so far in 2023, the figures show that there has been an increase of 60 per cent in the categories of severely injured and slightly injured. 16- and 17-year-olds are dominant in the statistics on those who are seriously injured on ATVs. – I think that should worry our society. It is obviously a public health challenge. Gjølmesli believes that a change of attitude is what is needed to change the statistics. Photo: Karoline Opsal / news Change of attitude – What can be done with those statistics? – I think a lot here is about attitudes, accountability and respect for driving characteristics and the physical laws, says Gjømesli. Both Gjølmesli and Steen indicate that it is also very common for people to trim their four-wheelers. The combination of the vehicle not being made for such speed, in addition to the driver not having the skills to drive at such a speed, is dangerous. Hallgeir Jordet who was one of the instructors on the course in Orkland. He believes that the municipalities must get involved, as they have done here. – We cannot sit around and wait for a regulatory change to be made where there will be separate training on ATVs.
ttn-69
Traffic teachers want their own driver’s license class for ATVs – news Trøndelag – Local news, TV and radio
