This European capital city hasn't recorded a single road death in over a year
Image: Armand Tamboly / Connect Images via AFP
As difficult as it is to believe, given the daily carnage that we see on South Africa's roads, Finland's capital city, Helsinki, has not seen a single traffic fatality in more than a year.
Police officials confirmed the milestone this week, Finnish publication YLE reported, stating that the last known fatal vehicle accident occurred in early July 2024 in the city's Kontula district.
Helsinki's streets haven't always been this safe, with the city recording around 30 road deaths and 1,000 injuries per year in the late 1980s, according to reports. Traffic injuries in the city have been reduced to just 277 in the past year.
While city-specific road fatality data is not easily available in South Africa, consider that the province of Gauteng records around seven road deaths per day, equating to more than 2,500 per year, according to the Provincial Legislature.
But what is the secret to Helsinki's traffic safety success?
You're not going to like this.
"A lot of factors contributed to this, but speed limits are one of the most important," traffic engineer Roni Utriainen told YLE.
And we're not talking about the 60km/h and 80km/h zones that are common in Mzansi's cities.
He said more than half of the city's streets now have a speed limit of 30km/h, and this was recently extended to all areas near schools.
But enforcement also plays a key role, Utriainen said, with city officials recently installing more automated enforcement systems such as traffic cameras.
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Excellent public transport, which reduces car use, as well as recent significant upgrades to pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, also play a key role in the city's exemplary safety record, he added.
Overall, Utriainen attributes the zero-death rate to decades of sustained effort, and particularly the most recent traffic strategy, running from 2022 to 2026, which focuses on improving safety for pedestrians and cyclists with smarter intersection designs and safer crossroads.
This is all despite significant snowfall in the winter months.
Electric scooters recently became a problem in the city, Utriainen said, but this has largely been resolved through numerous measures that were put in place, the Helsinki Times reported.
But could it simply be something in the water that causes Finland to breed really good drivers?
Consider that Formula One drivers Kimi Räikkönen, Mika Häkkinen, Keke Rosberg, Mika Salo, Valtteri Bottas, Heikki Kovalainen and JJ Lehto all come from Finland. Not to mention successful rally drivers like Tommi Mäkinen, Marcus Grönholm, Juha Kankkunen and Jari-Matti Latvala.
It's hard to imagine that any of them regularly stick to the 30km/h limit in Helsinki.
Either way, there is a lot that can be learned from this city's remarkable achievement of one full year without a road fatality. If only the powers that be were willing to listen and act.
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