European Transport Safety Council criticises Helsinki traffic safety record

Last year 11 people died in traffic accidents in Helsinki

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The European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) criticises Helsinki in its latest report. According to the ETSC, Helsinki has fallen behind the EU goal of cutting the number of traffic deaths to half of the level in 2001 by 2010.
     Most other European capitals have managed to significantly reduce the number of traffic deaths. According to the report, Lisbon and Oslo have made the best improvements in traffic safety.
      Olli-Pekka Poutanen, head of traffic planning at the City of Helsinki, says that the starting points of the report are questionable. The study has not considered that in 2001 there were only 12 traffic fatalities in Helsinki.
      On a per capita basis, this put Helsinki in third place among European capitals in traffic safety. Only Stockholm and Berlin had fewer traffic fatalities per capita in 2001.
     Last year Helsinki had slipped into fourth place.
     Poutanen feels that the best way to measure safety in urban traffic would be to look at the combined number of deaths and injuries, as Helsinki does.
     
Traffic researcher Esa Räty says that there is room for improvement in traffic safety in Finnish cities. Räty, who works at the Finnish Motor Insurerś Centre, says that improvements in traffic safety in Finland have lagged behind.
     “For instance, the urban speed limit of 40 kilometres an hour protects pedestrians and cyclists, but it should be enforced better”, he says.
     Räty also feels that more attention needs to be paid to the design of intersections.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  HS investigates: One in five pedestrians crosses streets on red (19.9.2008)
  Surveillance cameras improve traffic safety on Finnish highways (1.9.2008)
  Traffic discipline very slack in Helsinki (15.10.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat