The self-employed truck driver, Niclas Nordström, found himself stuck in snow on Sweden’s E22 motorway for an exhausting 20 hours this past Wednesday and Thursday. He described the conditions as the worst he has encountered in his 30 years of driving.
Nordström operates his own road freight business and had anticipated that the congested traffic would be cleared by the time he took the E22 on Wednesday. However, he quickly realized his mistake, along with around 1,000 other drivers, when he came to a halt near Linderöd around 1:45 PM.
“I assumed that the authorities had already responded to the blockage and redirected traffic, so I didn’t give it much thought,” the 58-year-old told The Local. “In hindsight, a bit more quick thinking could have prevented this massive backlog.”
Roughly 1,000 vehicles were trapped on the E22 between Hörby and Kristianstad as a fierce blizzard hit Sweden. The Armed Forces were called in to assist, evacuating people from their cars and delivering essential supplies.
Nordström’s truck is equipped with only a day cab, lacking a sleeping area, forcing him to sleep upright at the wheel. He found himself better off than those in smaller passenger vehicles, but was still unprepared, lacking food and medicine for his journey to Lund in Skåne and then home to Olofström in Blekinge.
Among those stuck was a couple from Holland who offered him coffee and a sandwich after he expressed his hunger. Throughout the long night, Nordström kept checking the Swedish Transport Administration’s website for updates on when the road would reopen.
The reopening time kept changing, first set for 8 PM, then moving to midnight, 2 AM, and finally pushed to 2 PM the following day. Ultimately, at around 10 AM, the Dutch couple found assistance from a local farmer, who carved out a three-meter-wide path in the snow. They then drove the wrong way down the opposite lane, with flashing lights, until they reached a usable road.
“We managed to exit through that opening, driving against the traffic, which wasn’t risky given the absence of other vehicles. If we hadn’t taken the initiative to leave, we’d likely still be stuck there,” Nordström remarked. He noted that he had never faced such severe snow conditions in his extensive driving experience, recalling that the last time Skåne saw such heavy snowfall was back in 1979.
