The Police intend to intensively monitor heavy traffic for a 24-hour period. Monitoring will begin at 6am Wednesday 15 May and end at 6am on Thursday 16 May. All police departments in Finland will participate in the operation.
During the monitoring of heavy traffic, with regard to freight transport the focus will be on compliance with regulations where deficiencies are still particularly noted. These are related to driving hours and rest periods, the technical condition of vehicles, and the securing of loads.
‘The Police carry out approximately 22,000 driving and rest period inspections annually, during which, in addition to warnings, fines are issued in about 2,700 cases,’ Chief Superintendent Kari Onninen from the National Police Headquarters notes.
Last year, approximately 900 transport units were inspected under a similar theme. Of these, significant problems were found in about 150 in observing either driving and rest period times or in the use of digital tachographs. Now the goal is to inspect the same number of transport units.
In the case of bus traffic, monitoring will focus especially on chartered coaches and compliance with driving hour and rest period legislation, professional qualifications, operating licenses, passenger volumes and the use of safety equipment.
‘People should remember that they must use seatbelts when available in the seats while they are travelling by bus. Only about half (52%) of the respondents to a survey on road safety in December 2015 reported, however, that they always or almost always buckle up,’ Chief Superintendent Onninen points out.
The most common reasons for not wearing a seatbelt included being used to travelling without one and forgetting to fasten it.
Seatbelts have been compulsory on coaches since 2006. The installation of seatbelts for all seats on new coaches has been mandatory since 1999. However, the requirement does not apply to buses designed for urban traffic, which also have places for standing passengers.
