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Driving in Sweden: How to avoid wildlife collisions

Doing a road trip through Sweden this autumn? Here's how to avoid wildlife accidents, which have hit record figures in the Nordic country in recent years.

Published: 15 October 2019 08:31 CEST
Driving in Sweden: How to avoid wildlife collisions
It is peak season for wildlife accidents in Sweden. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

More than 62,000 drivers are involved in wildlife accidents on Swedish roads every year, according to official statistics by the National Wildlife Accident Council, and the figure just keeps rising.

There are several reasons believed to be behind the rise.

For one, a warmer climate with mild winters and dry spells in summer is forcing the animals to travel longer distances in search of water.

Another reason is a growing population of wild boar in Sweden, which adds to the statistics. A total of 4,553 accidents involving wild boar were reported to the police between January 1st and September 31st.

Accidents involving roe deer have also increased in recent years.

On average, there is a wildlife accident every eighth minute in Sweden and the months of October and November tend to be particularly bad.

This is because there are more people and animals out and about in the forests: it is the season for mushroom and berry foraging, and it is the animals' mating period when they are out looking for romance.

The animals also tend to move from one place to another during dawn and dusk, which this time of the year happen to coincide with the times most Swedes are driving to and from their workplace.

So how do you avoid getting involved in a wildlife accident?

Perhaps it goes without saying, but keeping to the speed limit is a good idea.

Watch out for warning signs, but also make sure you are constantly scanning the sides of the road for any movement.

And keep your distance to the car in front of you, so that they have time to hit the brakes.

Keep the animals' behaviour in mind, and remember that many of them, for example roe deer and wild boar, tend to travel in larger groups, so if you spot one there are probably more nearby.

Source: National Wildlife Accident Council and TT

Vocabulary

elk – (en) älg

wild boar – (ett) vildsvin

roe deer – (ett) rådjur

accident – (en) olycka

behaviour – (ett) beteende

We're aiming to help our readers improve their Swedish by translating vocabulary from some of our news stories. Did you find it useful? Do you have any suggestions? Let us know.

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TRAVEL NEWS

How to avoid taxi scams at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport

Taxi prices in Sweden are not regulated, so the cost of your journey can vary wildly depending on the company you travel with. How can you make sure you're not getting ripped off?

Published: 5 September 2024 09:12 CEST
How to avoid taxi scams at Stockholm's Arlanda Airport

Check the comparison price

Tourists and foreigners are often the target of unlicensed taxi operators, so if you’re getting a taxi in Sweden, always check the window for a yellow and white sign with the jämförpris or comparison price, as well as yellow registration plates at the front and back of the vehicle.

This is a legal requirement and will show you the price of a 10 kilometre journey taking 15 minutes at different times of day, although beware that they are allowed to add an extra fee for pickup/dropoff at stations or terminals, as well as a waiting fee. 

Don’t be tempted to get in a taxi without these yellow registration plates – it’s an illegal taxi and can be expensive, or in the worst case scenario, dangerous.

Keep an eye on the company you’re travelling with

At Arlanda, there are different sections in the taxi queue for different companies. The first queue, closest to the exit, is for friåkarna, or the independent taxis. The second queue has small companies which are linked to a central ordering station, followed by Taxi Kurir, Sverigetaxi, Taxi Stockholm, with taxis to Uppsala and Västerås in the last queue. You don’t have to take the first taxi in the queue.

The taxi companies in this zone have an agreement with Swedavia, who run Arlanda Airport, which means that the maximum price for journeys in the marked zone below is regulated – 800 kronor for a standard-sized car for 1-4 people, or 1,275 kronor for a larger car.

The taxi zone at Arlanda – journeys within the dotted line shouldn’t cost more than 800 kronor for a small car. Photo: Swedavia

As you can see, there are many Stockholm suburbs which are not included in the taxi zone. So if you’re going to be travelling to a destination outside of the taxi zone area, you’ll be paying the meter rate – which is why it’s important to check the jämförpris before you get into the car.

Do the prices really vary that much?

Yes.

A number of taxi passengers have in recent months complained of extremely high prices when travelling to destinations just outside of the taxi zone area. Many of these passengers thought they were getting into a Taxi Stockholm cab (with a basic jämförpris of 349 kronor), only to realise upon arrival that they’d actually got into a cab run by a different operator with a much higher jämförpris.

“Some people come into our reception crying because they’ve paid five or six thousand kronor,” Taxi Stockholm’s CEO Pernilla Samuelsson told public broadcaster SVT.

According to Samuelsson, the company has had issues with so-called “copycabs” for a number of years. In 2022, Taxi Stockholm sued a copycat company which was using a name and logo which was almost identical to theirs and won. The company was forced to change its name and pay Taxi Stockholm six million kronor in damages.

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