Attiki Odos highway: The responsibilities for trapped motorists during severe weather front “Elpida”

With the platform for the payment of compensations from Attiki Odos having been closed since yesterday at noon, counting, in fact, about 9,500 applications when, according to the Ministry of Transport, the vehicles that were trapped during the severe weather front “Elpida” did not exceed 3,000, “TA NEA” newspaper brought to light the findings of the commission of inquiry into the causes of the fiasco.

The snow removal plan was not implemented on Attiki Odos! The traffic on the highway should have been stopped by 11 in the morning of January 24th at the latest. This did not happen. The company did not show the required reflexes and when the Attiki Odos Traffic Police closed the road, at 2 at noon, it was already too late for the thousands of trapped drivers. This is the conclusion of the report drawn up by order of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, who is expected to receive it within the next few days or hours.

Five hours for a distance of three kilometers

Characteristic is the fact, as mentioned in the conclusion, that snow machines that started from Peania, took five whole hours to cross a distance of three kilometers. According to the experts who drafted the report, they had snow machines in Elefsina and Aspropyrgos, because they were afraid that the highway would be closed at the level of these areas (as happened in 2004), but not in the Ymittos ring road. There, according to the same sources, at some point, at least 10 snowplows were trapped, but they did not bring other snowplows from Elefsina and Aspropyrgos, not even after 12 noon when things were already very difficult.

No salt on roads

In addition, in several sections of Attiki Odos, the officials had not scattered salt. In particular, the conversations revealed that at 9 in the morning – that is, before the heavy snowfall began – no proper salt was dispersed along the highway. In fact, according to sources with knowledge of the findings, at some point, in the direction heading to the airport, the commander of the Attiki Odos Traffic Police ordered the snowplows to enter in the opposite direction, however, this was done after a very long delay. “The ridiculous thing is that three snowplows ran out of fuel and the Civil Protection Agency had to supply them,” they added.

At 8 in the evening they just gave up…

“The company never addressed the Attiki Odos Traffic Police – in writing or orally – to stop the traffic. They assured us until the evening that they were in control of the situation, that they would be able to free the drivers and at 8 o’clock they raised up their hands”, say sources who are well aware of the matter and add: “They did not clean the emergency lane either”.

What Nea Odos (National Highway concessionaire) did and what Attiki Odos did not

According to people who were close to the events, after a joint assessment of the commander of the Attica Traffic Police and the officials of Nea Odos, at 8 in the morning, on January 24, it was decided to close the highway for trucks and to recommend to drivers to move with snow chains. “Such a thing did not happen on Attiki Odos. Not at 8 in the morning, not even at 10 when the situation was still under control”, they report.

Then it was already too late

The conclusion points out that the blocking of the entrance of vehicles to Attiki Odos is done after a positive suggestion of the company and approval of the Attiki Odos Traffic. “There was no proper assessment of the situation. “And when 10 minutes after 1 at noon, they opened the bars, it was already too late because many vehicles were stuck in the snow,” they emphasize.

One million euro fine

The administrative fine provided for these cases (based on law 4663/2020) starts from 5,000 euros and can reach one million euros. It is obvious, say sources, that due to the extent of the problem created, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport will impose the maximum fine provided, on Attiki Odos. At this point it should be clarified that the legal framework for the assignment of responsibilities to concessionaires, in cases where highways are closed, was established in 2020, in order to put an end, as the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport said, to the phenomenon of problems on the road network and then no sanctions are imposed on anyone.

In order to draw its conclusion, the commission of inquiry gathered the material from the traffic management cameras and all the recorded conversations between the Attiki Odos Management Center and the Attiki Odos Traffic Police. Also, the data collected by the members of the committee include the entire chronology of the work of the Attiki Odos Management Center on January 24 from 7 in the morning until 8 in the evening, all the details of the vehicles as well as the snowplows that operated, the use of salt, but also all the electronic files that were there.

As for the triple compensation claims that were imposed, the same sources point out that the identification – which is always done in such cases – will be delayed and those who applied without any problem, will delay the payment of compensation to those who were trapped and really suffered.