Police warn of speeding trend without seat belts

Police are investigating whether speeding played a role in a crash that killed three young people on Krýsuvíkurvegur early Monday, mbl.is reports. A senior officer also says there is growing discussion about young people meeting in cars and driving without seat belts on little-used roads.

“There seems to be some kind of trend involving gatherings like these and, in some cases, more liberal driving,” Sævar Guðmundsson, a chief superintendent with the Capital Region Police, said. He stressed that it had not been confirmed whether such driving took place before the crash.

The crash was Iceland’s deadliest since December 2018. Speeding is among the factors being examined, and police plan to interview witnesses. They will be called in for formal questioning, which may not take place until after the weekend. The number of witnesses has not yet been decided.

Several other cars carrying young people were in the area when the crash occurred, and police believe those people probably knew one another.

Sævar said police had not received many complaints about speeding on the Krýsuvíkurvegur route and had not increased patrols there in response to the discussion. He described both Krýsuvíkurvegur and Nesjavallaleið as lightly travelled roads, particularly at night.

“It is unfortunate if young people, or people in general, want to find an outlet through driving and do not do so in areas intended for that purpose,” he said, referring to motorsport clubs.

Sævar said he could not confirm whether the victims had been wearing seat belts. He said, however, that police were aware of discussion about young people speeding on quiet roads without using them.

“We cannot confirm anything in this particular case, but unfortunately this is somewhat fashionable among quite a few people today,” he said, describing such behaviour as dangerous risk-taking.

He questioned whether authorities were doing enough to provide information about the risks and said police might need to step up their efforts in cooperation with the Icelandic Transport Authority and others. He added that a general lack of seat-belt use among young people in traffic had not been particularly noticeable.

Candles and flowers have been placed near the crash scene. Photographs taken there by an mbl.is journalist showed that the site had apparently not been fully cleared, with a tyre and other debris still visible. Sævar said he was not sure whether the tyre came from the car involved, adding that the usual practice was to remove all debris from the scene.