The road accidents causing personal injuries, reported to the Police in January and February of the current year, as well as traffic deaths (preliminary data) were down by about one third, compared to the same period in 2020.
The number of pedestrians and private car passengers injured in traffic accidents was almost half of the numbers in the corresponding period last year.
- During the two first months of the year, only one pedestrian died in traffic which is significantly less than during the same period in the past few years. The number of injured car was 81, which is about 53 percent less than in January and February 2020, the Police Data Analyst Mika Sutela reports.
Traffic volumes about one fifth smaller than in 2020
According to the Police, the favourable traffic safety situation is probably explained by diminished traffic volumes, increased Police controls and relatively wintery conditions, among other factors.
Based on the data from the automated traffic survey points (so-called LAM points) maintained by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, the traffic volumes in January-February 2021 were roughly 20 percent lower throughout the country, compared to 2020.
Higher Police working hour input in traffic control
According to Chief Superintendent Heikki Kallio of the National Police Board, the Police put six percent more time to traffic control, compared to the previous year.
Correspondingly, the working hours allocated to automated speed controls were about five percent down from the year before.
Based on the data obtained from the Finnish Meteorological Institute, the average temperatures in Helsinki, Jyväskylä and Rovaniemi were about five to nine degrees centigrade lower than last year.
- In the past few months, the road conditions have, in fact, been more wintery than usual, and partly they have also been more challenging. This will also have impacted the traffic volumes, speeds and thereby also the seriousness of the injuries, Chief Superintendent Kallio adds.
