On Monday, open the new access road on the E39 to Bergen from the south. Norway has no other such long tunnels with a speed limit of 100 km/h. One day after the opening, news was patrolling the stretch with a civilian police car. – This car is equipped with an average speedometer and video camera, explains police officer Tore Hagland. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news The Solberg government said no to speed cameras The tunnel of more than nine kilometers has no speed cameras. Neither this nor other newly built motorways have speed cameras for automatic control. That was decided by the government of Erna Solberg while Ketil Solvik Olsen (Frp) was Minister of Transport. – This road was planned under the previous government. It is arranged for photo booths here. But the Progressive Party did not want more photo booths. That’s according to the Utrykningspolitiet’s (UP) district manager for Western Norway, Terje Oksnes. In the same second, the police car is overtaken by a black car at high speed. Hagland starts averaging the car as it slows down a bit. – 132 kilometers per hour, he notes, but add that the car was probably up to 150 or more during the overtaking. He waits until they approach the tunnel opening before turning on the blue light. After the overtaking, the car on the left slowed down three times while the average speed was measured at 132 km/h. Photo: Utrykningspolitiet Completely new driver It is a young driver of 18 years who rolls down the window. – You haven’t had your driver’s license for a long time, I see. Three weeks, notes Hagland. He told the 18-year-old that the speed was far higher than the average speed, which was measured at 132 km/h. – This average measurement is a kind measurement. You would have lost the note if I had had a laser check. The young person ends up with a fine of over NOK 11,000 and six years on their driver’s licence. This means that for three years he must avoid a single new dot, or else pull the patch for six months. UP: – There should be speed cameras Oksnes says that manual radar control is too dangerous in a tunnel where the speed limit is 100 – both for the police and motorists. – It’s quite risky, so I don’t want to. It is too cramped and polluted to stand in the breakdown pockets in there, and dangerous to stop cars which then have to go up to a hundred again. But I can have laser control out between the tunnels, but then I have to have a car ready to follow. – Should there be photo booths here? – Yes, it should be, because manual traffic controls are a challenge. He believes that automatic average measurement will be the best. Chief of the Emergency Police in Western Norway, Terje Oksnes, has a serious talk with the two 18-year-olds in the car. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Frp: – Wrong medicine Storting representative Morten Stordalen (Frp) defends that new motorways do not have speed cameras. – That’s because these are the safest vegans. There have been no fatal accidents on vegans with four fields so far this year. It is the two-lane roads that are the most dangerous. He believes there are no good academic arguments for automatic speed control on new roads without a history of accidents. – Photo booths should not only be income-generating. They should only be used where there have been fatal accidents. Therefore, it would be strange to set up speed cameras at a new, safe four-lane motorway. – What about the risk of extreme reckless driving by young people who want to test their car? – The fact that some people do that should be dealt with severely, but that does not justify setting up photo booths along every road in Norway. It is completely the wrong medicine, replies Stordalen. Fear of accidents Oxnes in the Emergency Police confirms that there are few accidents on roads with a speed limit of 100 or 110. – But if the accident first happens at such a speed, the consequences will be very great. In order to reduce the speed, controls must be carried out. If we are going to do it on this road network, with these tunnels, there should be automatic controls, he says. And add: – But we drive civilian patrols like today. Photo: Leif Rune Løland / news Oksnes is also worried that the speed and number of accidents will increase on the old access road to Bergen. – Because there will now be much better space. If the speed increases and the road is as bad as before, I may have more accidents, so I will make it a priority to be there, too.
ttn-69
No speed cameras in the new motorway tunnel on the E39 between Bergen and Os – news Vestland
