The most serious road traffic accidents typically occur within 80 km/h speed limit zones

Recent years have seen roughly half of Finland as the focus of fatal road traffic accidents. As the map below shows, the majority of fatal accidents on Finnish roads in 2022–2023 occurred outside of Lapland. Based on Statistics Finland data (2024b), roughly one fifth (N=67, 18%) of the 379 fatalities in these years occurred in Uusimaa alone. The regions of Uusimaa, Southwest Finland and Pirkanmaa together account for around one third (N=128, 34%) of all road traffic fatalities. However, relative to the population, the region with the lowest number of road fatalities per 10,000 inhabitants is Uusimaa, whereas South Savo and Kainuu have the highest.

Fatal road accidents 2022–2023. Source: Ramboll 2024.

Of the 451 lives claimed in road traffic accidents in 2022, 2023 and January-June 2024, 191, or around 42%, were caused by accidents within an 80 km/h speed limit (Statistics Finland 2024b). This speed limit has been by far the most common speed limit where lives have been claimed in road traffic accidents, with the period from November to January being the most typical period for these fatalities.

Finnish drivers often speed. According to an international ESRA (E-Survey of Road Users' Attitudes) survey, three out of four Finnish drivers have been speeding in the last 30 days, which is above the average for the respondent countries. 

Based on police system data, the police recorded the offence of causing a serious traffic hazard in 41% of road traffic fatalities between 1/2022 and 6/2024 as the most serious offence. The behaviour underlying these fatalities therefore met the constituent elements of causing a serious traffic hazard under chapter 23, section 2 [545/1999] of the Criminal Code, i.e. the driver of the vehicle was driving well above the maximum speed limit, either intentionally or through gross negligence. Around 40% of fatalities occurred in the regions of Uusimaa, Southwest Finland and Pirkanmaa. At a national level, around 39% of the fatalities caused by accidents involving suspicion of behaviour causing a serious traffic hazard occurred in an 80 km/h speed limit zone.

Alcohol and serious accidents

Individual risk factors identified by investigation teams in accidents involving substance abuse include intoxication, as well as not wearing a seat belt and drivers' general disregard for the rules of the road. Speeding is also a typical risk factor in accidents where substance abuse is involved.

Overall, road traffic fatalities in Finland have decreased by about 20% over the past ten years. According to Statistics Finland data (2024a), over the same period, an average of around a fifth, or in some years as high as a quarter, of the lives claimed in personal injury accidents in road traffic were in drink driving accidents. In other words, the percentage of lives lost in drink driving accidents among all road traffic fatalities remains more or less unchanged from year to year. Last year, however, the percentage of fatalities in drink driving accidents was only around 11%, i.e. 20 people, compared to an average of around 50 in previous years (Statistics Finland 2024). Relatively many young people die in drink driving accidents. According to the Finnish Crash Data Institute OTI, 27% of the main contributors of fatal drink driving accidents between 2018 and 2022 were under the age of 25 (Räty 2024).

The percentage of driving while seriously intoxicated cases (blood alcohol concentration, BAC, level of at least 1.2 per mille) of drink-driving offences has long been around 60%. The risk of being the cause of a fatal road accident is around 100 times higher with a blood alcohol level of 1.0 per mille, and about ten times higher with a BAC level of 0.4 per mille. (Luoma 2022.)

Narcotics and serious accidents

According to a wastewater study by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), amphetamines are the most commonly used stimulant drug in most parts of Finland. Its use, as well as that of cocaine, has increased outside the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. (THL 2024b.) As a rule, the results of the wastewater survey for Finland as a whole in 2012–2022 have been very consistent with statistics on drug-impaired driving and seizures by the police and customs (THL 2024a).

In an Yle interview, Juha Oksanen, a substance abuse physician, stated that mixed substance use is a characteristic of problem substance use in Finland and that "when and whatever is available is used" (Koskelo 2024).

According to a 2024 substance abuse report by the Finnish Crash Data Institute OTI, fatal traffic drug accidents between 2018 and 2022 averaged approximately 16 a year (Räty 2024). The development of accidents has been broadly in line with the number of drug-impaired driving incidents reported to the authorities, which peaked in 2020. In 2022, there were 5,788 drug-impaired driving incidents compared to 9,272 in 2020. According to police statistics, around one-fifth of drug-impaired driving suspects in recent years have been aged under 25. According to OTI, a slightly higher percentage, well over a quarter, of the main contributors of fatal drug-impaired driving accidents have been under the age of 25 years.

Speeding beats even drugs

A study by Luoma (2022) showed that approximately 10% of passenger car drivers causing a fatal road accident were speeding. The risk of causing a fatal accident is approximately ten times higher if you drive at 105 km/h, or up to a hundred times higher if you drive at 130 km/h on a road where an 80 km/h speed limit is in force.

Speeding plays a significant role in fatal accidents. Speeding reduces reaction time and also has an impact on the severity of the accident. Fatal accidents occur frequently at high speeds and remarkably, even surprisingly, in 80 km/h speed limit zones.

Although intoxicants have long been a challenge in traffic, and the situation is unlikely to improve with the increasing use of drugs, there is little variation in per mille spread and a strong state of intoxication is common in drink driving, speeding can nevertheless be considered a significant, and currently an even higher risk of road traffic fatalities than intoxicants. Why a person speeds, even if the risks it poses are known, is the sum of several factors. However, the same person can influence the factors themselves and adjust the speed of the vehicle they drive to the level required by the rules of the road and road conditions. An appropriate speed may not necessarily be the maximum speed indicated by a speed limit. 

Sources

Koskelo, Maaria: Satamakaupungissa metamfetamiinin käytön ennätystulos – käyttäjät eivät usein edes tiedä, mitä käyttävät. Yle Uutiset 18.7.2024. [Record methamphetamine use in port city – users often don't even know what they're using. Yle News 18.7.2024] https://yle.fi/a/74-20099912

Luoma, Arto: Kuolemaan johtaneisiin liikenneonnettomuuksiin vaikuttaneita taustatekijöitä 2005–2014. [Background factors contributing to fatal road traffic accidents 2005-2014] Finnish Crash Data Institute OTI 2022. https://www.lvk.fi/document/318710/2CAFA6300EEB9C65FE7EFA1D90729276024F44EDE293FEB6435E3C075A4E1EEC

Ramboll: Map showing accidents. https://mobilityanalytics.ramboll.com/onn/poliisi/ Accessed on 6 August 2024.

Räty, Esa: OTI-Päihderaportti [Substance abuse report]. Finnish Crash Data Institute OTI 2024. https://www.lvk.fi/document/551159/00D93F3E8A11D4285C3D28CD9BEE7DE17FD1C71DFA770EE4647E0D06C64859D4

Terveyden ja hyvinvoinnin laitos THL: Jätevesitutkimus: väestötason huumeiden käyttö. Page updated 27.6.2024. https://thl.fi/tutkimus-ja-kehittaminen/tutkimukset-ja-hankkeet/jatevesitutkimus (2024a)

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare THL: Wastewater study: Use of cocaine increased outside Helsinki Metropolitan Area, increasing use of amphetamines in most of Finland. News 28.7.2024. https://thl.fi/-/jatevesitutkimus-kokaiinin-kaytto-lisaantynyt-paakaupunkiseudun-ulkopuolella-amfetamiinin-kaytto-kasvussa-suuressa-osassa-maata (2024b)

Statistics Finland: Road traffic accidents. https://tieliikenneonnettomuudet.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/en/Tieliikenneonnettomuudet/ Accessed 6.8.2024 (2024a)

Statistics Finland: Statistics on road traffic accidents. Official Statistics of Finland (OSF). https://stat.fi/en/statistics/ton Accessed 6.8.2024. (2024b)

Pasi Rissanen    
Assistant Police Commissioner
National Police Board of Finland

Mika Sutela
Analyst
National Police Board of Finland