It began as an agricultural necessity and grew into a beloved rite of passage for teenagers in rural Sweden. Invented in the early 1900s by farmers who were short on equipment, the A-traktor lives on as the vehicle of choice for motorists as young as 15.
But the cars, which are supposed to have been modified to have a maximum speed of 30km/h (19mph), are increasingly causing concern. Guidance introduced in 2020 made it easier to convert almost any car into an A-traktor and the change appears to have led to a sharp rise in related injuries and deaths.
Despite the vehicles’ popularity, there are growing calls for them to be banned. Petter Magnusson, the head of traffic police in the Swedish city of Karlstad, which has a high number of A-traktors, said he could see “no other solution”.
Between 2020 and 2022 there were 931 A-traktor accidents, almost 2.5 times the number recorded in the previous three years. The risk of dying or getting injured in an accident with an A-traktor is more than four times higher than with a regular car, Guardian analysis of 2022 data from the Swedish authorities shows. Eight in every 10 injuries involve a person under the age of 17.
Experts put the rise down to a rule change that made it easier to convert almost any car into an A-traktor with a couple of simple interventions. To the naked eye, the only thing that identifies an A-traktor on the road is an orange triangle at the rear marking it out as a slow-moving vehicle.
This, in turn, made it easier to alter an A-traktor to go as fast as a normal car, giving some inexperienced drivers access to powerful vehicles.
The effect was noticeable: by the end of 2022 there were 52,711 A-traktors registered with the Swedish Transport Agency – more than double the 25,419 registered in 2019.
While deaths remain rare, they are not unheard of: in the past six years, 10 people have died in accidents involving the vehicles, most of whom were drivers or passengers of an A-traktor. Last year four Swedes died in crashes involving A-traktors, the highest annual number on record, although deaths resulting from A-traktor accidents have only been documented separately since 2016.
Malin Lundgren, of the independent National Traffic Safety Association, said: “There are now more people driving A-traktors than before and the accidents have also increased. This is clearly connected. We have also seen many more serious accidents, where drivers are certainly driving faster than 30km/h in manipulated vehicles.”
Swedish police are also concerned. Magnusson said: “Speed is a decisive factor. It’s almost impossible to flip an A-traktor if you are driving at 30km/h.”
The vehicles inspected by police are often subtly altered, with teenagers trying in various ways to hide their modifications. “It can be anything, really. Like the button that turns on the fog light makes the A-traktor go as fast as a real car. It’s about us having to find these modifications,” Magnusson said.
He wants a total ban of the hybrid vehicle to protect teenagers from further accidents. “Given that so few drivers are observing the rules, I don’t see another solution. If there was a foolproof way to stop the manipulation that could work, but on the other hand, whatever requirements exist, they will try to circumvent them,” he said.
Such a move would be hugely controversial in rural areas. “They mean mobility for our young people,” said Andreas From, the head of the local government in Åsele, a small municipality in northern Sweden. Data from the Swedish traffic analysis shows that Åsele has 29 A-traktors for every 1,000 citizens, the highest ratio in the country.
“It’s a culture that fulfils an important function, I think it is very important that they are allowed to remain,” added From.
There are signs that more oversight is creeping in. The Swedish government has adopted some changes after the transport agency published several suggestions to reduce the number of accidents, including a change that helps police enforce the 30km/h limit, along with a requirement to use a seatbelt and to have only one passenger per seat.
“You might think that is obvious,” said Josefin Hallenberg, an investigator at the Swedish transport agency, “but no such rule existed before.”
The transport agency has not yet produced data on what effect the new rules have had. It says it is also working on how to make it harder for people to alter the vehicles.
