Six dead in horrific crash on Highway 1

Accident follows closely on grim weekend on Finnish roads

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Six people were killed on Tuesday afternoon in a head-on collision involving a motorhome and a tanker truck carrying grain. The accident took place on Highway 1, close to Salo in south-west Finland.
      Five of the dead were in the motorhome, and represented three generations: a couple in their sixties, their adult daughter, and the daughter’s two children, both under the age of six. The driver of the truck was also killed instantly.
     
While it is not yet completely clear what caused the collision, it appears that the motorhome strayed across the road, swerved back to its own lane and then swerved out directly into the path of the oncoming truck.
      The force of the collision was massive, leaving the motorhome a barely recognisable heap of twisted and shattered metal and also causing the articulated truck’s cab to become separated from its trailer. Survival of any of those involved was out of the question.
      The road was dry, and visibilty on the slight left-hand curve was reasonable.
      One theory put forward, apart from the possibility that the driver of the motorhome had some kind of seizure, was that the driver believed he was still in a section of the road with three lanes. An overtaking section ended just 200 metres before the crash site.
      It was sunny, and it is also possible that glare could have been a contribtory factor. An accident investigation team was set up immediately, as is the case with all fatal incidents.
     
Rescue officials were quickly on the scene, but there was nothing to be done. Even the most experienced members of the fire and ambulance crews were visibly shocked at the carnage, and counselling was arranged at the Turku Fire Department in the evening.
      The accident blocked Highway 1 for several hours, with traffic diverted around the crash site. A large queue of trucks nevertheless built up, as the long vehicles were unable to turn around and seek new ways around the debris.
     
Tuesday’s accident comes hard on the heels of a grim weekend on Finnish roads, in which a total of seven people lost their lives and at least eighteen others were injured.
      On Saturday evening, a head-on collision between two cars near Elimäki saw two young people killed instantly, and a third victim died later in hospital. Five other young adults were injured.
      An elderly couple died on Sunday at around midday when their car left the road near Jokionen and hit a tree. The couple’s daughter was injured and taken to hospital.
      Late on Saturday night a 27-year-old motorcyclist was killed after hitting a safety fence on a bridge in Parainen, and late on Friday night another motorcyclist died in an accident in Rovaniemi. A third motorcycle death occurred on Monday on the Helsinki-Tampere motorway, as we reported in Tuesday’s edition.
     
The latest figures will do nothing to turn around a disturbing increase in road accident fatalities over the first five months of this year.
      According to Matti Järvinen, the managing director of Liikenneturva (the Central Organsiation for Traffic Safety), who was quoted in Turun Sanomat, by the end of May 2007 as many as 129 people had died this year on Finnish roads, an increase of 40 on the same period in 2006.
      Head-on collisions and in particular cars careering off the road have increased sharply. Järvinen noted that the latter cases often point to excessive speed or driving while drunk. During the summer months, accidents involving young people are typically concentrated at weekends, and often in the early hours of the morning.
     
With thirteen deaths in a matter of a few days, there are bound to be calls for tighter discipline on the roads, especially just ahead of one of the busiest traffic weekends of the entire year, when thousands head for the summer cottage to celebrate Midsummer, and in many cases to begin their summer vacation.
      In June 2006, a total of 32 persons died in road accidents. The chances are that this figure will be exceeded, if it has not already been.
     
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Finland was one of the sick men of Europe in terms of road accident casualties, with roughly 1,000 killed each year between 1964 and 1973, after which speed limits were introduced.
      Even as recently as 1989, the annual death-toll was over 700, but since 2003 there have been four straight years in which fewer than 400 died, culminating in 2006, when "only" 330 fatalities were recorded.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Police urged to investigate asphalt after fatal motorcycle crash (19.6.2007)

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