Ministry of Transport to investigate fatal car crashes from past two
weekends
Several traffic accidents on Finland's roads claimed fifteen lives over the past two weekends, and dozens were injured.
The accident investigation boards of the Ministry of Transport and Communications have begun to investigate the fatal crashes.
Slightly over one week ago, two teens were killed in Kuopio when the drunken driver of their vehicle crashed the car into a tree while speeding. The driver did not have a licence. The teens had been spotted speeding around Kuopio earlier in the evening.
In Kotka, two students drowned and one was critically injured last weekend after their car fell into the water at the Kotka harbour. The young men had accidentally backed their car over the edge of the wharf.
Matti Roine, the Director of the Ministry's Traffic Safety Unit, explains that the ministry will investigate if there are any factors that are common to the accidents. "The aim is to find out if this is a momentary concentration of risk factors, or a structural problem."
According to Roine, it would be no surprise if the typical risk factors associated with young male drivers would be found behind the recent fatal crashes.
The Central Organization for Traffic Safety in Finland and the Ministry of Transport have identified the typical characteristics of accident-prone drivers: young men who drink, speed, and have numerous traffic violations in their files.
The recent accidents have taken place primarily in small towns and Eastern Finland.
New ways to control negligent driving have been proposed by the authorities. The Ministry of Transport has suggested longer bans on driving for offenders, and the union of driving schools advocates a points system for driver's licences, with drivers losing their licences after a certain number of points have been deducted.
Representatives of the Central Organization for Traffic Safety also tour schools and garrisons with teens who have been crippled in car accidents. This method has been found to be quite effective in changing attitudes.
Helsingin Sanomat
