In France, cars without a license are accessible from 14 years old. In Sweden, the rule is even more flexible because an old agricultural law from the 1930s allows people aged 15 and over to drive a car or truck without having a license. You just need to respect a few conditions: vehicles must be limited to 30 km/h and equipped with a triangular warning sign at the rear indicating a slow vehicle and a trailer hitch ball. The rear seat must also be removed so that only the driver and one passenger can be transported there.
Called A-Traktor, this device has become so popular that some families even give their child a car for their fifteenth birthday… And in the rich neighborhoods of Stockholm, it is not uncommon to come across young Swedes. behind the wheel of luxury cars, such as Porsche Cayennes. The number of A-Traktors has doubled to 50,000 in just two and a half years in a country of 10.3 million people.
Increase in the number of accidents
Surprisingly lenient in a country known for its rigor in terms of road safety (the three-point seat belt is a Swedish invention, the blood alcohol level tolerated while driving is 0.2 g per liter of blood), the system has was further relaxed in mid-2020, when it became possible to electronically limit the maximum speed of cars, making it much easier to modify a modern car.
The European Commission criticized the system in early March and proposed that a simplified driving license become compulsory. But Sweden seems ready to take on the European Union. For many teenagers in rural areas, the A-traktor symbolizes their dream of independence. It is also at the center of a growing subculture focused on custom cars and a new music genre that is very popular in Sweden called “EPA Dunk”.
But the Swedish government is starting to see the harmful effects of this legislation because accidents involving A-Traktors are increasing sharply, a consequence of the increase in new registrations since 2020. Insurers and the police are concerned about the more than five-fold increase in accidents involving A-Traktors: the number of injuries has exceeded 200 per year and there have been four deaths in 2022 alone…
