The police conducted a nationwide monitoring operation on 16-22 September 2022 targeting in particular the use of seat belts, protective helmets and the use of mobile phones. A total of 1,095 drivers received a traffic penalty fee for failure to wear a seat belt in front or back seats and 28 guardians or drivers received a traffic penalty fee for failure to use safety equipment for children.
Protective helmets were in active use in motorised vehicle traffic and there were only 15 incidents of violation in this respect.
A total of 606 drivers were talking on their handheld mobile phone and 350 were texting or otherwise used a handheld mobile phone when driving.
“It’s worth pointing out the large share of texters in the numbers of drivers using a handheld mobile phone. Texting while driving is far more dangerous than speaking because it distracts the driver from paying attention to driving,” says Chief Superintendent Tuomo Katajisto at the National Police Board.
In other respects, there were no surprises. Considerably more penalties were written than in the control in the spring, but Katajisto says this is mostly because the police were able to allocate more working hours to the control than in the spring.
According to Katajisto, a particularly positive detail was that preliminary information indicates that there were no fatalities on Finnish roads on European Day Without a Road Death, which took place on 21 September.
