Deliberately driving in the wrong direction on the new E39 Bergen-Os motorway. The speed limit is 100 km/h – news Vestland

Something frightening appears on the Norwegian Public Roads Administration’s surveillance camera. Three dark cars stand side by side. The speed limit is 100 km/h, but the cars are standing still. They roll down the squares. It looks like they are talking to each other. Then they turn, one by one. They continue driving against the direction of travel. And this is neither the first nor the only time something like this has happened on the new road between Bergen and Os. Here the turnaround is underway. Photo: Norwegian Public Roads Administration It only took a week – Unfortunately, there have been several incidents, says Svenn Egil Finden, director of operations and maintenance at Norwegian Public Roads Administration. They have not kept statistics on how many times it has happened since transport minister Jon-Ivar Nygård opened the new motorway, opened on 31 October 2022. The Svegatjørn-Rådal road system consists of tunnels that cut the journey time between Bergen and Os by 17 minutes, and reconstruction of roads in the area. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Just one week later, it was caught on film that a man in his 80s drove four kilometers the wrong way before turning around. Then project manager Kelly Nesheim Iversen in the National Roads Administration said that not everyone has experience of driving on motorways. Four months later, they have seen many more examples. Now Finden says that there is no indication that it is a big problem that people drive onto the motorway incorrectly, but rather that they drive against the direction of travel on purpose. – Very frightening – In the situation we see three relatively new, nice BMWs driving by. They stand next to each other, right in front of the toll sign, Finden describes. Then they turn around and drive back where they came from. – Three people do the same thing at the same time. It is clearly a very deliberate act. Finden points out that the speed limit means that the risk of serious collisions is high. The cars are heading towards the direction of travel. The speed limit is 100 km/hour. Photo: Statens vegvesen – When you drive at 100 km/h, you don’t expect to see a car in the opposite direction. Inside the tunnels there are systems that close them automatically if someone drives in the wrong direction. In addition, cars already in the tunnels must be notified. So far, there have been no accidents on the E39 between Bergen and Os, but elsewhere in the country there are examples of fatal accidents. Svenn Egil Finden in the Norwegian Road Administration. Photo: Gunnar Grindstein / news – It is very frightening. I think of the danger they expose themselves to, and not least the danger they expose others to. You can have serious collisions, says Finden. news has been in contact with the police in Bjørnafjorden, but they have not had the opportunity to answer questions about this case on Friday. Drove against the traffic in a 100 zone: – The potential for damage is great The emergency police are critical of missing speed cameras: Here the 18-year-old rushes past the police



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