Lorry drivers ignore night-time traffic ban

Lorry drivers have been ignoring the ban on late-night heavy vehicle traffic in the capital, and none have been fined for doing so.

On Tuesday, signs were placed at all roads leading to the city, saying that lorries weighing 24 tonnes or more are banned from driving through the streets of Tórshavn, with the exception of the Yviri við Strond road, Monday-Saturday 10pm-7am and all Sunday.

Wrong signs

This did not stop any lorries, though, as it turned out the wrong signs had been put up.

The signs were then replaced by new ones depicting a different type of lorry and a ’26 tonne’ specification, along with the hours covered by the ban (see photo above).

But that didn’t stop the lorries either.

Regulatory complications

According to police chief Michael Boolsen, the problem is that these signs do not comply with the road signage regulations.

“The regulations do not allow for sub-signs with specific conditions such as we are seeing here, with a picture of a lorry on one sign, a weight specification on a sign beneath it and then the banned hours on a third sign at the bottom,” he says.

“For that reason, we are not authorised to issue fines for lorry drivers passing through the city.”

Blanket ban needed

With the current specifications and limitations of the ban, he adds, there is nothing to stop lorries from driving through the city at night.

“As I understand the road signage regulations, the only way this ban can be properly enforced is by introducing a blanket ban on all lorries during the period in question.”

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

Translated by prosa.fo

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