Finland is one of the best performing countries when it comes to road safety. This is due to a long lasting tradition and determination to improve road safety, which started in the 1970s when road traffic deaths were four times higher than in 2014.

Since then, Finland has implemented a three-tiered action. The first step was the introduction of laws requiring the use of seatbelts and helmets, defining and forbidding drink driving and introducing speed limits. While this provided the necessary legal framework, the second step was to address the challenge of changing road users’ behaviours through the cooperation of various stakeholders. Finally, a commitment to long-lastingly eradicate road safety deaths has resulted in a set of guidelines being drafted, in which the remaining key issues are outlined and actions are proposed.

The Finnish government remains on the lookout for the most efficient ways to keep the road safety situation progressing, not only by relying on its own strategies, but also on the strategies of other European countries, which have shown great results over the past years. As a result existing laws are often amended and new legislation introduced.

Finnish road safety goals are based on the general European Union targets, often tailored to achieve even higher results. Finland is currently on track to halve road fatalities and reduce injuries by 25% by 2020. These goals have been divided into intermediary objectives by the government, allowing a step by step or sector by sector monitoring of the situation.

Road safety strategy and goals for the post-2015 agenda

Finland continues to set ambitious goals for road safety and has identified three specific axes essential to achieving these goals, with strategies to address each of them.

Modernisation of the vehicle fleet

Although the amount of new cars with a five-star NCAP safety rating is increasing within the Finnish vehicle fleet, the average age of vehicles on Finnish roads is too high, thus representing a higher risk of road crash injury or fatal outcome, due to an overall lower level of safety. Accordingly, the objective is to improve the overall condition of vehicles on Finnish roads by introducing annual regular inspections. Furthermore, Finland has introduced a modification in vehicle taxation and pricing, which now targets use instead of purchase price.

Lower the traffic accidents among new drivers

Even though over the past years the frequency of traffic accidents among new drivers has decreased, it remains a persistent threat for multiple reasons (general lack of experience, careless driving). To address the situation, Finnish transportation authorities have established a working group, which examined a possible reform of driver training, lowering the price of the driving licence and using alternative methods for driver training, such as simulator practice and web-based learning.

Use of new technologies

With vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication and automation now becoming more widespread and promising to lead to a reduction of road accidents by partially eliminating human error, Finland has removed strict national regulations that served as obstacles to automation. Additionally, Finland is improving the existing infrastructure and building new infrastructure when necessary, to provide real-time traffic information to road transport authorities, and users.