There were beautiful blue skies again today but it's quite cold, despite the sunshine. White frost heavily coated the ground this morning, just reminding us that the potential for a swift cold snap is still very real. But nothing can dampen our spirits as Lars-Göran's daughter, Madde returns from her three month stint in India tomorrow. If you hear a loud cheer coming from the vicinity of Arlanda airport tomorrow, you'll know that she has arrived safely - we can't wait to see her again. The whole family is getting together on Sunday and she has already emailed through her request for the dinner menu - I guess there were some foods that she missed while away from home. Boy, do I know that feeling. While Sunday is Easter, we will also use it to welcome her home and celebrate her birthday, so it will be an extra special family gathering. I guess I better shop early and avoid the last minute Easter shopping crush - dinner for a crowd will require a bit more than I'm used to buying.

There are a few Swedish words that raise a smile among English speakers when they first come to Sweden and I was reminded of one of them recently when I spotted this newspaper headline in the kiosk by the railway station.




That's a word that you never see in print in Australian headlines. I guess you are wondering what kind of technology they have in Sweden to photograph a fart and why anyone would want to do it. But in Swedish the word fart means speed, so now you can see that the headline referred to some new kind of speed cameras to be installed on the main highway leading into Nynäshamn - along the stretch of notorious "death roads", also known as väg 73 and väg 225. As an aside, I saw that somewhere we are going in summer has advertised a classic speedboat racing event that they have called "Classic Fartshow" and I want to go and let a few classics rip, but Lars-Göran won't let me near the place. I was hoping to find a link to the race, but there wasn't one - though when I googled "Classic Fartshow", they asked if I meant "Classic Artshow" - what a laugh.

Of course, we all know that police need the speed cameras - why? Well, ask an Australian:




You've just got to love Australian humour!

Speed cameras are an increasing part of the road scene over here as the fight to reduce accident rates continues. Looking at the new maps released by the highway department, it looks as though the Nynäshamn roads will be among the lucky recipients of the new fleet of cameras. There is no doubt that there are horrific accidents on the road between Stockholm and Nynäshamn. The road is narrow and windy and not made for the volume of heavy traffic it now carries because of the ferry traffic between Nynäshamn and Poland, Latvia and Gotland. People are either killed or badly injured on this road nearly every week.

A recent exhibit at a motorcycle show showed a graphic example of reckless speed and its tragic consequences.




Of course, you can see that the car has been cut apart with the jaws of life and now reassembled, but the damage is total. So what happened?

The accident took place at an intersection at Upplands-Bro and involved a car and a high performance motor bike. The Honda rider was apparently travelling at such a high speed, that his reaction time was not sufficient enough to avoid this accident. The Swedish Traffic Police estimated a speed of ~250 KM/h (155mph) just before the bike hit the slow moving car side-on at an intersection.




At that speed, they predicted that the rider's reaction time (once the vehicle came into view) wasn't sufficient enough for him to even apply the brakes. The car had two passengers and the bike rider was found INSIDE the car with them. The Volkswagen actually flipped over from the force of impact and landed 10 feet from where the collision took place. All three people involved (the two in car and the bike rider) were killed instantly.

This graphic demonstration was placed at the fair by the Swedish Police and the Road Safety Department. The sign above the display also noted that the rider was inexpierenced, having only recently obtained his license.




At 250kph (155 mph) the rider was travelling at 227 feet per second. With a normal reaction time to SEE-DECIDE-REACT of 1.6 seconds, the above rider would have travelled over 363 feet while making a decision on what action to take. In this incident the Swedish police indicate that no action was taken. I guess all three of them didn't know what hit them.



Anyway, it was a powerful image, though I can't imagine being the police and rescue force that had to attend such a horrific scene. One of our friends here works for the rescue service and they are often called out to these sorts of nightmares - I don't know how you can ever learn to look at it dispassionately enough to help out. I know I'd be a wreck myself.

With the Easter break coming up at the end of the week and thousands of people out on the roads for the holidays, please be very, very careful!