Local residents worry about rush-hour traffic on Viikintie

Parents want tighter speed-monitoring measures in the area of last week’s hit-and-run incident

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Something should be done about this road.
      The wish is evident on the faces of two mothers as they stare at the dense morning rush-hour traffic on Viikintie in East Helsinki.
      One youth runs across the street in front of a moving car, which sounds its horn. Another boy whisks by on a bike lacking any reflectors - naturally at this hour it is still dark in winter Finland. .
      ”The district of Viikki has been advertised as an ecological and safe neighbourhood, but a lot should still be done when it comes to traffic planning”, Katri Laukkanen laments.
      Laukkanen has an 11-year-old child, as does Karoliina Periäinen.
      Their kids are the same age as the girl who got killed by a drunk driver at the eastern end of the same stretch of road a week ago.
      “People coming from the Itäväylä thoroughfare often continue on this road at high speed, as there isn’t really anything here to slow them down”, Laukkanen continues.
      “There is more than a kilometre of straight asphalted road here that tempts the foot onto the gas pedal”, she says.
     
The comments by the two angry mothers reflect the general sentiments in Viikki.
      Even if last week’s hit-and-run incident took place in the neighbouring district of Herttoniemi, it did hit home with parents in the child-rich Viikki.
      In homes, on the streets, and in the social media a people’s movement for safer roads and streets is now brewing.
      But the City is not listening, sighs Viikki Society secretary Heikki Poroila.
      “For years we have tried to push through even the simplest of traffic issues, but it seems that for the city engineers it is difficult to accept safety as the number one priority.”
      The society is now considering if it could do something about this. The Herttoniemi Society has not discussed the issue.
     
Traffic engineer Harri Verkamo from the City Planning Department says that there are many target areas for traffic improvements, but very little money.
      For example the queue of speed bumps to be built has at times extended to 200.
      “This may all seem painfully slow. Even if a particular spot may seem bad to a local resident, one has to look at the entire city. There may be dozens of more serious problems.”
      In Verkamo’s view, Viikki’s central area of Latokartano’s traffic risks are small compared to many nearby areas.
      Still, all traffic-related complaints are looked into.
     
The mothers suggest a speed display, a speed camera, or speed bumps for Viikintie.
      The speed bumps cannot be built as the route is a main road. The other restraints are possible in principle, Verkamo estimates.
      “The locations of speed displays are checked annually. This could be suggested during the next inspection.”
      In the near future, a central divider with traffic lights to be set up at the eastern end of Viikintie will contribute to safety on the stretch.
      Two roundabouts have also been planned near the place where the hit-and-run incident took place.
      Traffic in Viikintie quietens as the day progresses.
      The empty road is the worst, Periäinen says. She lives in a building nearby and sees from her window how risk-drivers floor it on the stretch.
      “The children are conscientious. They wait for the green light for the pedestrians, but what good is that if a driver in heat runs a red light?”


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Court remanded Helsinki hit-and-run drunk driver on Friday (9.1.2012)
  Police investigating movements of drunk driver who killed girl in Helsinki (5.1.2012)
  Hit-and-run drunk driver kills 11-year-old girl in Helsinki (4.1.2012)

Helsingin Sanomat