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The Journal
6 days ago
- Automotive
- The Journal
Why did Helsinki have zero road deaths in the last year - and could Ireland achieve the same?
LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago IN THE 12 months to August, not one person died in a road traffic collision in Helsinki, Finland. The feat may sound impossible to Ireland, which has seen a steady increase in the number of road fatalities in recent years. So far this year, 95 people have died on Irish roads. In 2023, the Road Safety Authority launched their 'Vision Zero' campaign, which aimed to achieve zero road deaths by 2050. However, as people continued to lose their lives, the RSA pivoted to more provocative messaging. The most recent ad campaign shows blood on the hands of those who drink drive, as well as those who don't call it out. Helsinki, a city with a population of 690,000, really has achieved 'Vision Zero'. Advertisement It's come close before. In 2019, no pedestrians or cyclists were killed in road traffic collisions, and just two people in vehicles died. The city's authorities have been trying to replicate the feat for the last five years. Now, after a full 12 months with no fatalities, The Journal asked how they managed it – and whether they have any tips for Ireland. Need for (less) speed Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer with the city's Urban Environment Division, says a multitude of factors come into play, but perhaps the most transformative has been speed. More than half of the streets of Helsinki now have speed limits of 30km/h – a significant reduction on the 50km/h limits of the 1980s. Statistically, one in ten pedestrians hit by car travelling at 30km/h will die of their injuries. Whereas if a car is travelling at 50km/h, the likelihood of being killed is five in ten. Helsinki has also made other changes to discourage speeding. Narrower streets, Utriainen says, make a difference to a driver's boldness. As well as that, 70 new speed cameras have been installed around the city in the last seven years. Related Reads Irish car bonnets are getting taller every year, risking children's and pedestrians' lives - study Fianna Fáil TD says learner drivers should be allowed drive a car unaccompanied Dublin TD calls for SUV-free zones as study shows these cars are more likely to kill There are also fewer people driving cars. 'Helsinki has a rather good public transport network,' he says. 'This also reduces the number of crashes, because more people take a tram, or metro or bus line.' To expand on this, the city has plans to construct a so-called cycling 'super highway'. Utriainen says that another factor for the reduction in road deaths may be that residents of Helsinki have a better attitude to their fellow road users. 'I would say that drivers give way in most cases to pedestrians,' he said. 'It's more about overall culture and overall society.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Roya News
02-08-2025
- Automotive
- Roya News
Zero road deaths in a full year: Helsinki sets new milestone
Helsinki has completed a full year without a single traffic-related death, a remarkable achievement for a major metropolitan area and a model for urban road safety, municipal officials revealed this week. The last fatality in the Finnish capital's metropolitan area, which has a population of 1.5 million, was recorded in July 2024. The accomplishment is a result of a decades-long "Vision Zero" policy, which aims to eliminate all traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. A key factor, according to Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer with the city's Urban Environment Division, is the implementation of lower speed limits. Since 2021, most of Helsinki's residential areas and city center have a speed limit of 30 km/h, a reduction from the previous 50 km/h. Data from Liikenneturva, Finland's traffic safety entity, shows that the risk of a pedestrian fatality is halved if a car's speed of impact is reduced from 40 to 30 km/h. In addition to stricter speed limits, the city has pursued a comprehensive urban development strategy. This includes: Infrastructure investment: The city has built a comprehensive network of cycling paths spanning over 1,500 kilometers and expanded its public transportation system with decarbonized and self-driving buses. Urban design: Roads in many parts of the city have been narrowed, and trees have been planted with the deliberate aim of making drivers more cautious by creating more complex urban landscapes. Enforcement: The city has installed 70 new speed cameras and a policing strategy focused on its Vision Zero policy. The data confirms the success of these measures. Statistics show that between 2003 and 2023, the number of traffic-related injuries in the city dropped from 727 to just 14. Helsinki's success is being closely watched in Brussels, where the European Commission is pushing to curb road fatalities across the EU. Although road deaths in the EU as a whole dropped by 3 percent in 2024, most member states are reportedly not on track to meet the EU's goal of halving traffic fatalities by 2030. In 2023, 7,807 Europeans lost their lives in traffic accidents in EU cities, with Berlin recording 55 fatalities and Brussels nine. Helsinki had previously achieved a similar milestone in 2019, when no pedestrians or cyclists were killed in automotive collisions. The current achievement marks the first time the city has gone a full year without any traffic fatalities.
Motor 1
30-07-2025
- Automotive
- Motor 1
This City Just Went a Whole Year Without a Traffic Death
One city in Northern Europe just went an entire year without a traffic-related death. Officials from Helsinki, Finland, confirmed to the Finnish publication YLE that it hasn't had a fatal accident since early July 2024, marking an impressive milestone for the Scandinavian coastal town. The achievement doesn't come from any one major policy shift, but rather a handful of small changes that added up to create a meaningful impact. "A lot of factors contributed to this, but speed limits are one of the most important," Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer for Helsinki's Urban Environment Division, told YLE . Earlier this year, Helsinki lowered speed limits near schools to 30 kilometers per hour (18.6 miles per hour). Now, more than half of the city's roads carry that speed limit. Those same streets had a speed limit of 50 km/h (31 mph) 50 years ago, according to YLE . It's not just speed limits, of course. Infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians has been greatly improved, while more automated traffic enforcement systems (speed and red-light cameras) have been added. Combine that with more traffic police on watch, a robust public transit system, and modern in-car active safety tech, and the result is no deaths in 12 months. Fatalities aren't the only metric that's fallen, either. Traffic-related injuries in Helsinki have also plummeted from nearly 1,000 yearly incidents on average in the 1980s to just 277 in the past year, says YLE . Utriainen credits the efforts of city officials, but also of drivers, bikers, and pedestrians. "The direction has been positive for years," he said. No pedestrians were killed in Helsinki due to traffic incidents in 2019, either. Photo by: Getty Images America, Take Notes The US could learn from Helsinki. In 2023, over 40,000 people died in America from traffic-related incidents. Car-related deaths have been a focal point in major US cities for years, in an effort to curb injuries and fatalities. Yearly data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows a downward trend in traffic deaths since the 1970s, with the rate of death bottoming out in 2014, with 10.3 people killed per 100,000 people. Since then, that number has grown to a high of 13 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, back down to 12.2 in 2023. In 2014, New York City, America's largest metropolitan area, famously enacted "Vision Zero," a series of policies designed to drive down traffic fatalities. Those policies seem to work, with deaths decreasing steadily in the city until the Covid-19 pandemic, where fatalities saw a spike. In 2024, 251 people were killed in traffic-related incidents in New York City. But so far, 2025 is the lowest year on record for traffic deaths in the metro, with just 87 fatalities recorded. "The 32 percent drop in traffic fatalities that we have seen this year is historic," said Mayor Eric Adams in a press release earlier this month. "It's also further proof that our administration's Vision Zero efforts are working. Strong enforcement against reckless driving is keeping pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers safe, and our administration will continue using all tools available to drive down traffic violence and deliver results that keep New Yorkers safe on and off our streets." More Car Laws 'PSA:' Expert Says This State Will Soon Change Its Speeding Law. Then He Reveals Speeding Will Carry Jail Time Lamborghini Driver Fined Over Missing 'Supercar License' Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
