Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård (Labor Party) said it was too early to say whether the hike was random or the new normal.

On Monday, a motorcyclist died in Twilight.

On Tuesday, a man died when the tractor he was driving hit a train.

Throughout this year, there were 46 traffic fatalities.

That’s almost double from last year.

And summer is usually the worst.

– There has been an alarming number of deaths in traffic recently. We know that in summer there is often an increase, so this is worrying, said the Minister of Transportation to VG.

– If this development continues, 2022 will be a dark year for traffic safety, he stressed.

Incredibly high numbers

Then the big question is why. Neither the Norwegian Public Road Administration nor Nygård have a clear answer so far.

It could be random – or the start of a new normal.

– We really hope that’s not the case, said Nygård.

Last year there were 8 deaths in May, in 2022 there were 20:

– We did not lose anyone in traffic, this is quite a dramatic number, said the Minister of Transportation.

20 of the fatal accidents this year were encounter accidents, 11 were downhill runs.

Most of the dead were among the riders:

And that’s obviously mostly men.

On May 15, a man and woman in their 50s died from Germany after a traffic accident on the E16 in Voss. Then four comrades lost their lives in an accident in the Steigen tunnel. The man who died at Twilight on Sunday and the tractor driver from Trndelag was male:

A total of 39 people who died this year were men – against 7 women. Most of the deaths occurred among men between the ages of 45 and 64.

– I strongly encourage you to follow the speed limit, have your full attention on your duties and act responsibly as road users, stressed the Minister of Transportation.

– It’s mostly about driver error and inattention, it’s an important error in crash pictures. This means that the group that has the most accidents must be honed and something has to be done, said the Minister of Transportation and Communications.

The Norwegian Public Road Administration has previously pointed to as a possible explanation that many moved after the coroner’s restrictions were lifted.