Youngest drivers cause one fifth of fatal accidents in Finland

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As many as one in five of all fatal motor vehicle accidents that have occurred in Finland annually in the four first years of this millennium have been caused by drivers younger than 21. According to a preliminary report by the Finnish Motor Insurers’ Centre, the number of young-driver fatalities was 49 of the total of 261 fatal accidents recorded in Finland last year. The number of drivers younger than 21 includes three categories, 18, 19, and 20-year-old drivers.
     
Measured by the total number of all injury accidents, the category of drivers aged 18 years ranked the first, says Jukka Vierimaa of Liikenneturva, Finland’s expert organization in traffic safety. According to last year’s statistics, 18-year-old drivers caused 346 injury accidents in the course of the year. The next largest group was 19- to 20-year-old drivers who caused over 100 personal injury accidents. The numbers of the injury accidents caused by all other age-cohorts each stayed below 100.
      "The driving school does not prepare young drivers for everything. It takes time to get used to traffic. Particularly boys are like young birds who have to learn how to fly", Vierimaa notes.
     
On the other hand, driving is young people’s favourite pastime, particularly in the countryside. "Unfortunately, the name of the game is to drive unbelted", says Vierimaa.
      According to a survey by the National Public Health Institute in Finland, only 87% of young males use seat-belts. The corresponding figure for young females is 92%. On the other hand, in some regions of the country, less than 50% of all young people are reported to use seat-belts.
     
Professor of Traffic Psychology at the University of Turku Esko Keskinen observes that while driving at weekends is a problem in terms of traffic safety, it is a normal pastime activity for the young. In old times young people used horses and carriages.
      Moreover, in a sparsely inhabited country like Finland, it is not possible to restrict driving.
     
According to the study results, boys drive faster if they have passengers. Moreover, if the passengers are other boys, the situation is worse than with a group of both boys and girls or with just one girl or girls. Typically, girls as passengers have a restraining effect on young male drivers, says Keskinen.
      The forthcoming study indicates that if the driver does not use a seat-belt, neither do the passengers.
     
Mika Peltola of Finland’s Mobile Police thinks that older drivers should be aware of the risks caused by young drivers and avoid driving on weekend nights and in bad road conditions, thus minimising the risks involved. After all, cars are an important element in the lives of the young.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Seven die in collision in poor road conditions in Southern Finland (24.1.2005)

Links:
  The Finnish Motor Insurers Centre
  Liikenneturva
  National Public Health Institute in Finland

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