Several successes in police traffic safety work in 2024

Traffic safety concerns the whole of society. The purpose of police traffic safety work is to maintain and promote general law-abiding behaviour on the roads and to promote traffic safety. It is influenced by legislation, traffic planning and enforcement. 

Under chapter 1, section 1(1) of the Police Act (872/2011), the duty of the police includes securing the maintenance of public order and security, the prevention, detection and investigation of crimes, and submitting cases to prosecutors for consideration of charges. Traffic enforcement is an important part of ensuring public order and safety. 

The credibility of traffic enforcement is enhanced by the success of the police in this duty. If the police are successful in their broader traffic safety work, road safety will improve and the police will have an impact on society. The Police Strategy 2024-2028 has prioritised improving the efficiency and effectiveness of police traffic safety work as one of the measures.

The number of police traffic enforcement measures, effectiveness indicators, the police's new traffic monitoring indices and the number of road traffic fatalities all indicate the credibility and success of police traffic enforcement last year. All the key figures mentioned have shown a positive trend compared to 2023.  

The police contribute to reducing road deaths, in particular by targeting traffic enforcement on key risk factors. Reducing road deaths and serious injuries is a key social impact issue for the police and all actors in society. The Traffic Safety Strategy 2022-2026 has set an intermediate target of halving road deaths and reducing serious injuries by 2030 compared to the level in 2020. This means a maximum of 100 deaths in 2030. 

Achieving this objective by 2030 will require significant additional efforts from all traffic safety actors in society. This means, for example, legislative work to promote traffic safety, safe roads and infrastructure, safe driving speeds, high quality and accessible paramedic services and safe vehicles. The police contribute to this objective through their traffic safety work. According to preliminary data from Statistics Finland, 171 people lost their lives in road traffic in 2024. The number of fatalities will rise when the figures are finalised, but the trend should continue to be positive. Unfortunately, however, the trend will not be as marked as has been the case in previous years.

Police monitor traffic every day of the year

Last year, the police focused traffic enforcement on factors affecting driving ability (including intoxicants, medicines, driving health and fatigue) and driving behaviour. Speeding and intoxicants continue to be the main risk factors involving road deaths. The police use analysis to target traffic enforcement in different areas and on different groups of road users at times when the data indicates that the highest risk of traffic crashes. Enforcement is also carried out randomly on a wide range of roads and at different times. This means that there is always a risk of being caught if the rules of the road are not respected. Whereas the police cannot control traffic everywhere and at all times, they do control it every day!

Last year, there were nine thousand more police traffic enforcement measures (excluding breathalysers) compared to the previous year. In enforcement of drink driving, the number of breathalyser tests alone was more than 78,000 higher. At the same time, the number of drink-driving offences reported to the police decreased. We might wonder about the role of increased enforcement in reducing the number of drink-driving offences. As noted above, intoxicants are a key factor in road deaths. Enforcement is a means for the police to influence a reduction in drink-driving. The number of deaths in drink-driving accidents has also been lower in the last couple of years than usual over the past decade.

The number of victims of drink-driving accidents is at its highest during the summer. The police carried out intensified drink-driving enforcement campaigns in July 2023 and 2024. Statistics Finland's road traffic accidents database show that drink-driving accidents in July between 2015 and 2022 almost invariably claimed at least 70 victims (76 on average). The number of people killed and injured in drink-driving accidents in July 2023 and 2024 fell sharply, amounting to around 40-50, compared to previous years. This can be seen as a strong sign that the targeting of enforcement has been successful.

In 2024, the number of serious road safety incidents reported to the police is expected to be close to the level in previous years. The number of automated traffic surveillance measures increased compared to 2023. Automated traffic surveillance is mainly speed enforcement. Because speeding is a key factor in road crashes resulting in death and serious injury, it is important to further strengthen and increase speed enforcement.

The police use a number of indicators to monitor their own traffic safety work. The police disturbance index has been much in the news in recent months. In addition to the disturbance and law enforcement indices developed in 2023, the police have created their own indices for traffic safety, the traffic enforcement index and the traffic offence index. Both these indices have shown a clear positive trend for the police in their traffic safety work.

In 2025, the police will continue to contribute to reducing road deaths by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their traffic safety work. Traffic enforcement will be specifically targeted at the above-mentioned risk factors that cause road deaths. This is because there have been no changes in the main risk factors for road fatalities and serious injuries since last year, even though the police have managed to reduce them. There is still work to be done by all those working in the field of traffic safety and we must also look at the space between the steering wheel and the driver’s seat.

Sources

Halmela, Tero: Road Policing: huumeita tiellä (narcotics on the road). Huumausainerikollisuuden paljastaminen liikenteen valvonnassa Sisä-Suomen poliisilaitoksessa (Detection of drug-related crime in traffic control at Central Finland Police Department). Thesis. Police University College 2016. https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/117854 

Hyyti, Jari: Liikennepsykologia. Teoksessa Jasmin Kaunisto (ed.): Poliisityön psykologia (Traffic psychology. In Jasmin Kaunisto (ed.): Psychology of Policing). Police University College 2021, 117-182.

Kiiski, Kimmo & Tolvanen, Matti: Uusi tieliikennelaki 2020 (New Road Traffic Act 2020). Edita Publishing Oy 2021.

Rintamäki, Iivo, Huotari Vesa & Sutela, Mika: Vaikuttavuuden indikaattorit poliisin liikenneturvallisuustyössä (Indicators of effectiveness in police road safety work). Police University College reports 141. https://www.theseus.fi/handle/10024/746457 

Statistics Finland: Road traffic accident database. https://tieliikenneonnettomuudet.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/Tieliikenneonnettomuudet/ (accessed 19 February 2025)

Statistics Finland: Statistics on road traffic accidents. Official Statistics of Finland (OSF). https://stat.fi/en/statistics/ton (accessed 28 January 2025)