Fatal accidents on highway 4: – She lost her husband: the prayer of Kamilla (30 years old).

National Highway 4 is used daily by many commuters, as well as heavy-duty and other traffic.

In eight years, six lives have been lost on this road. All in the same ten kilometers.

This makes the section, in terms of fatal accidents, one of the most dangerous national roads in the country.

Those who died on Route 4 are included in the statistics, but there are no aftermath statistics for those left behind.

Once again there are broken families desperately asking for the road to finally be fixed and asking “How many lives must be lost before politicians choose to do something?”

Kamilla Engen Lundby (30), a mother of three, is one of those who works to ensure that mourners are heard.

Now he is calling for politicians to turn words into deeds and take responsibility for improving the road.

From wedding to funeral

– There is some confusion here, but you just have to ignore it.

Dagbladet meets Kamilla at home in Brumunddal. At first glance it looks like an ordinary house for small children, with toys in every room, wet winter boots to dry in the hallway and family photos on the walls.

Oppland Arbeiderblad also mentioned this problem

– Henrik was my rock. We met when we were 13 and 14 respectively, she says, looking at the wedding photo.

– I was very pregnant when we got married. The wedding was planned long before the baby. He was so handsome in a suit and tie, she recalls with a smile.

Their happiness was perfect when, a few months after their wedding, in September, they welcomed their first child. Now it would be the three of them, for the rest of their lives.

Then the thing happened that shouldn’t have happened.

– Words are not enough

The calendar marked September 23, 2014. It was a completely normal day, recalls Kamilla.

– Henrik was on his way to work, I breastfed our son when he went out in the morning. There was nothing that could prepare me for what he awaited.

On his way to work, Henrik collided head-on with a truck on National Highway 4 and died.

– seethe earth rushed together. She had her second day of work after her maternity leave. The last thing I said to him before he left was “I love you too. Drive carefully.”

Henrik only had 18 days with his son.

– Shocks

Kamilla remembers seeing patrol cars with police parked outside the house that morning. But since there had been several break-ins in the area where they lived, she didn’t react.

– It was only when I saw that they were holding their uniform cap in their hands that I realized that something was seriously wrong.

He will never forget the message he received that day:

“There’s been a fatal accident on Route 4. It’s Henrik.”

Kamilla was only 22 and a new mother. Suddenly she too was a widow. The days of the wheat bread and the all-consuming baby bubble quickly turned into bottomless pain and despair.

– I was shocked. It was surreal and you can’t imagine yourself in such a situation. If it wasn’t for our son, I wouldn’t be here today.

Kamilla says she doesn’t remember much about the first period after the death.

– We were in the hospital, and then we had him placed in the chapel. I was there until the funeral. I took care of him, fixed his jewelry – just being with him.

– Mother-in-law and mother took care of our son. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it, she says.

Openness and transparent responses were absolutely crucial for the future, both for her and for her son, says Kamilla.

On October 1, she buried her husband in Furnes, the same place where they had said yes a couple of months earlier.

– Invaluable

Kamilla took care of everything from the car Henrik was in when he died. The license plates and “trinkets” that were on the seats.

Subsequently, the incident was reconstructed for the family, which was of great importance to them. It gave them the opportunity to understand what had happened.

Received the shocking news about Hedda (10)

– One of the people who reconstructed the accident even took the time to meet us at the hospital to explain what had happened. For me, this was invaluable so that I wouldn’t be devoured by questions I would most likely never get answered, Kamilla says.

She still struggles with the trauma after Henrik died, she says.

A year and a half after his death, Kamilla met someone who reminded her of him. Together they had two children, a boy and a girl.

Kamilla praises her father and says he cares for both her and her eldest son, but admits she still misses Henrik.

– It’s probably a loss that will never go away.

The child’s father is familiar with the mention in this case.

– Just nonsense!

This fall has been eight years since Henrik’s death. Since then, there have been six more fatal crashes on Route 4, as recently as November of this year.

Kamilla tells Dagbladet that she spoke to the municipality shortly after Henrik’s accident. She says that they had promised to broadcast the proposal to improve the stretch of road, which so many people travel every day.

Still no one has taken responsibility for improving the road.

Attention: – It is blood red

Which causes Kamilla:

– After every accident, politicians pretend to improve the road and protect those left behind. There are only trifles and empty words!

He believes it is only a matter of time before another fatal accident occurs on this stretch.

– It’s a life-threatening trait. Every time there’s an accident there, no, I collapse. I know what those left behind have to go through and how painful it is. And I wouldn’t want my worst enemy to go through this.

– Pickles

Torvild Sveen is mayor of Gjøvik municipality. He stands behind Kamilla and believes the time has come to improve the road.

– As mayor and local politician, you feel almost anxious whenever the weather changes: you are afraid of what you might experience on Highway 4, Sveen tells Dagbladet.

In 42 years there have been 179 traffic accidents with personal injuries. All within the same 15 kilometres, he says.

Sveen points out that there have been several accidents on the specific section, but adds that these “only” resulted in material damage.

Died six weeks after the heartbreaking news

– It is a highly accident-prone road, where dangerous traffic situations occur every day. I ride this stretch every day and have witnessed several near misses. Safety on the way to work is not particularly high among those who have to use this road.

The mayor says Nye Veier AS will improve the stretch of road, but it is currently unknown when it will start.

– We wish that a report will be presented in the new year. The challenge here is that everyone is pointing to each other – you have to switch from pointing game to planning game to make progress on this project.

Sveen says he has tried on several occasions to speed up development planning, but stresses that it is the state that has to do the work.

Nye Veier AS confirms to Dagbladet that it does not currently know when the development of National Highway 4 will start.

– We have many avenues to improve, but the economy dictates that we cannot take everything at once, unfortunately.

Dagbladet is in contact with the press office of the Swedish Road Administration, respectively with the departments “Transport and Society” and “Development”.

They report to Nye Veier AS, as they are now responsible for the development of National Highway 4.