Police controls safety of pedestrian crossings during next two weeks

Publication date 14.4.2022 14.17
News item

The Police continues its work to ensure the safety of vulnerable road users and has a two-week campaign of intensified nationwide controls from 18 April to 1 May to ensure the respect of relevant traffic rules.

The main focus on pedestrian crossings is on the operation of drivers of motorised vehicles and trams when they are approaching and at the crossings. 

– These violations are generally characterised as endangering of traffic safety since neglecting the pedestrian crossing rules can typically lead to accidents, Chief Superintendent Heikki Kallio of the National Police Board comments on the campaign. 
The controls also focus on cyclists and other non-motorised vehicle drivers. The violations of these drivers are mostly administrative traffic violations, with a minor fine issued as a sanction. 

Collaboration with municipal parking control authorities

The control during these days will also look into parking too close to the pedestrian crossings. General parking controls are made in collaboration with municipal parking control staff. 

–  The objective is to improve overall safety of pedestrian crossings, at the same time reminding drivers of their obligations related to crossings. 

According to Chief Superintendent Kallio, the controls will mainly focus on cases where the driver does not provide free passage to pedestrians already on the crossing or preparing to step on it. 

– Free or unhindered passage means that the pedestrians can cross the road without slowing down or increasing their original pace, he adds.

The operation will also pay attention to cases where a vehicle or a tram standing before a crossing is passed without stopping. Moreover, the controls will focus on situations where the visibility to a crossing is otherwise limited but the vehicle does not slow down or stop before the crossing.

Chief Superintendent Kallio reminds the road users of the rule that a pedestrian crossing is a part of the road, indicated with a traffic sign or road markings, intended for the crossing of the roadway, cycle lane or tram rails. Based on the new Road Traffic Act which entered into force in 2020, vehicles such as the bicycle, are also allowed to cross the road along the crossing but always without causing danger or inconvenience to pedestrians. 

Pedestrians account for 10% of deaths in road traffic

Based on the statistics published by Liikenneturva (Finnish Road Safety Council), as many as one in ten of those who died and seven percent of those injured in traffic were pedestrians. During the past three years, the annual average of deaths was 21 while 360 pedestrians were injured. One in five victims died on a pedestrian crossing. Sixty percent of injuries to pedestrians took place on pedestrian crossings.

– Two age groups play a major role in accident statistics: the young and the aged. In fact, the drivers of vehicles must be particularly alert when they approach crossings and see children, young and aged persons, Chief Superintendent Kallio points out.