In a 24-hour speed limit enforcement marathon by the police on 22 to 23 August, more cases of speeding were measured than in last year’s corresponding exercise.
“The number of speeding cases rose from just over 4,000 cases last year to around 5,500 within a twenty-four hour period,” says Chief Inspector Dennis Pasterstein , the head of the Police Traffic Safety Centre.
The Police Traffic Safety Centre activated all 120 of the available automated surveillance cameras, and all of the police units’ 22 surveillance vehicles were on the move. The police used more working time and hours of surveillance in this year’s speed-limit enforcement marathon than in the previous year.
Enforcement was particularly targeted at areas where accidents have occurred and speeding is a frequent problem. It was also targeted on the basis of feedback and speed surveillance requests received from members of the public.
The speed enforcement marathon attracted high media coverage. Chief Superintendent Kari Onninen of the National Police Board comments that neither wide-scale publicity nor information on the location of surveillance cameras could persuade some motorists to slow down.
“We will continue to provide high-profile publicity for many of our theme-based enforcement exercises. On the other hand, in order to raise the effectiveness of surveillance, we will also engage in enforcement without prior notice in order to reveal so-called hidden crime,” says Onninen.
Pasterstein and Onninen hope that drivers bear in the mind the need for careful and safe driving in the autumn rain and forthcoming slippery conditions.
