Reminder from the police: Please follow pedestrian crossing rules and give way to pedestrians crossing them
Next week, 9–15 March, police monitoring of adherence to pedestrian crossing rules, use of seatbelts and factors that may cause inattention in traffic, such as use of mobile phones, will be increased.
On average, 20 pedestrians have been killed and 400 injured annually in recent years. Almost two thirds of pedestrian deaths and 90 per cent of injuries occurred in urban areas. Last year, 7.4 per cent of those killed and 8.1 per cent of those injured in traffic incidents were pedestrians.
“Pedestrian crossings, unfortunately, are still not entirely safe, as one fifth of accidents leading to the death of a pedestrian occurred on pedestrian crossings. In addition, more than half of the injured pedestrians got hurt on a pedestrian crossing, comments Heikki Kallio , Chief Superintendent with the National Police Board.
Pedestrian crossings are most dangerous for the elderly and for children. Over half of the people that died and about 35 per cent of the people that were injured on pedestrian crossing were aged 65 or older. In more than one out of four cases in which a pedestrian was injured, the injured party was a child or young person.
“Consequently, we will be paying particular attention in our monitoring to the behaviour of drivers as they approach pedestrian crossings where children or elderly people are attempting to cross,” Kallio says.
Giving way to pedestrians at pedestrian crossings
Kallio reminds drivers that, when approaching a pedestrian crossing, they must be attentive and prepared to give way to pedestrians by approaching at a suitably low speed.
According to the law, a driver approaching a pedestrian crossing must drive at a speed that allows them to stop before they reach the crossing, should stopping be necessary. Drivers must give way to pedestrians who are either on or stepping onto, a pedestrian crossing.
“This is a part of our traffic culture where there is still significant need for improvement, as pedestrians are often not given way to cross pedestrian crossings and are forced to wait due to drivers who neglect their duty to slow down and to stop before a crossing and give way to pedestrians attempting to cross,” Chief Superintendent Heikki Kallio says.
“The risk of accidents occurring is further increased by lapses in drivers’ attentiveness to driving and their surroundings due to distractions such as mobile phones,” Kallio continues.
When monitoring for inattention in traffic, police monitor all activity that may have an effect on concentration during driving or on awareness of traffic. Kallio notes that the most typical distraction is the use of mobile phones while driving. According to an estimate by the European Commission, inattentiveness is a risk factor in 10–30 per cent of traffic accidents.
Seatbelts save lives
Road accident investigation teams have estimated that approximately one third of deaths in traffic accidents could have been prevented by wearing a seatbelt.
One positive sign for road safety is that the use of seatbelts has increased in recent years. However, seatbelts are still too often left unfastened, especially in urban areas, by those sitting in the back seats of passenger vehicles (87 per cent of people use seatbelts in the back seats of cars) and by those sitting in vans and lorries (81 per cent of people travelling in vans in urban areas use seatbelts).
“The risk of bodily injury in crashes that occur at speed limits common in urban areas can be as much as three times as great for those not wearing a seatbelt in the back seat of a car as it is for those who are. The methods police have available to them to increase seatbelt use are monitoring, sanctions and education,” Kallio specifies.
In connection with this type of monitoring last year, 1,400 summary penal fees were issued for failure to use a seatbelt and 740 were issued for use of a mobile phone while driving.
With the coming into effect of the new road traffic act on 1 June 2020, seatbelts must be used in all cars that have them installed. The rules for transporting children under the age of 3 are also changing, prohibiting the transport of such a child in passenger vehicles, vans and lorries without appropriate safety equipment.
Right of residence will be checked in the case of foreign nationals
During the week of intensive monitoring of traffic, the police will also supervise foreign nationals and whether they have the right to reside in the country. Monitoring is also carried out as part of day-to-day police work.
“In practice, this means that, when a person’s identity is confirmed in relation to a police assignment and that person is found to be a foreign national, their right of residence will also be checked,” Chief Superintendent Mia Poutanen says.
In addition to this, police stations can also make inspections of restaurants and other predetermined locations. In this kind of supervision, operations are based on tips or advance analysis.
“Police control and supervision can never be based merely on actual or implied ethnic origin. Instead, it must be based on tips or analysed data suggesting illegal residence.”
European Union and Schengen rules obliges police among others to prevent illegal immigration and residence within the Schengen area where there are no internal border controls. Supervision of aliens in Finland is based on the Aliens Act. According to the act, foreign nationals do not have the unconditional right to reside in the country, and rights of residence are separately defined in the act.
