In addition to traditional surveillance methods, the police use automatic traffic surveillance equipment on heavily trafficked roads and urban areas. Besides monitoring speeds, the equipment is used to monitor observing traffic lights and the use of mobile phone during driving, for instance. Road signs indicate the presence of fixed automatic traffic cameras. No prior notification is given about surveillance using mobile equipment.
A traffic penalty fee is an administrative monetary penalty issued for petty traffic offences, such as exceeding the speed limit by no more than 20 km/h. A traffic penalty fee can also be issued for the use of mobile phone during driving or not wearing a seatbelt, for example.
A vehicle-specific traffic penalty is issued for a traffic offence detected in automatic traffic surveillance and it is based on holder’s liability. That means that a vehicle-specific traffic penalty fee is sent to the registered owner, holder, or the person in charge of use of the vehicle without first finding out who was actually driving the vehicle. However, the registered owner or holder of the vehicle is free from liability if they provide sufficient evidence that they did not commit the offence. The person in charge of use of the vehicle is free from liability if they report who was using the vehicle at the time of the offence or that the vehicle or its registration plate has been stolen.
A vehicle-specific traffic penalty fee is sent to the party as standard delivery, that is either as a Suomi.fi message or a regular letter within 30 days of the date of the offence. In order to get free from liability, the party must request an administrative review to the decision on the traffic penalty fee within 30 days from receiving the decision.
You can request an administrative review of a traffic penalty fee decision through the police’s online services. You can also fill out the form attached to the traffic penalty fee decision and return it to the Police Traffic Safety Centre by post or e-mail. You must submit the request for an administrative review in writing within 30 days from receipt of the traffic penalty fee decision or it will be ruled inadmissible. In the request, you must state what kind of amendment you seek and the grounds for requesting a review.
If you request an administrative review of the decision, the traffic penalty fee must not be paid before the matter has been resolved. When your request has been considered, you will receive a written decision on the request for an administrative review. If you are unhappy with the decision, you can submit an appeal against it to the competent administrative court according to the instructions for requesting a judicial review that are attached to the decision.
If a vehicle-specific traffic penalty fee is rescinded during an administrative review or if no vehicle-specific traffic penalty fee could be issued to begin with, a traffic penalty fee matter can be considered in regular traffic penalty fee procedure.
The driver reported in a request for an administrative review or identified in some other way is provided with an opportunity to be heard, after which they will be issued a traffic penalty fee of their own with new payment information. A regular traffic penalty fee issued to the driver is delivered as a verifiable service, which means either a Suomi.fi message requiring a confirmation a receipt or a letter with advice of delivery. If the party tries to avoid service, service by publication can also be used to serve the traffic penalty fee decision.
If the driver is guilty of two or more traffic offences at the same time, one traffic penalty fee is issued for them all. The amount of the traffic penalty fee is determined so that the traffic penalty fee issued for the most serious offence, that is the most severe traffic penalty fee, is increased by EUR 40.
For example, a traffic penalty fee of EUR 70 is issued for driving without wearing a seatbelt. Using a mobile phone during driving so that you hold it in your hand can lead to a traffic penalty fee of EUR 100. If you drive 59 km/h in an area where the speed limit is 40 km/h, you will be issued a traffic penalty fee of EUR 200. Out of these three offences, the severest traffic penalty fee would be issued for speeding. If you are found guilty of all three offences at the same time, you will be issued a traffic penalty fee of EUR 200, plus an increase of EUR 40. Thus, the total sum you will have to pay is EUR 240.
Traffic penalty fees issued for the pettiest traffic offences do not affect your right to drive. If you receive a traffic penalty fee decision for an offence that someone else has committed using your car, you can just give it to the actual driver for payment without requesting an administrative review of the decision.
If you don’t request an administrative review, it is your responsibility to make sure the traffic penalty fee will be paid. By the right of regress granted by section 179 of the Road Traffic Act, the owner or holder of the vehicle who has paid the traffic penalty fee has a right to the fee from the driver who committed the offence unless the payment has been returned. That means you can also pay the traffic penalty fee yourself and then charge it from the driver – even by going to court, if necessary.
Traffic offences detected in automatic traffic surveillance that do not affect your right to drive include
Some of the traffic penalty fees will affect your right to drive. A driving ban based on repeated offences can be imposed on the driver if they have committed three traffic offences affecting the right to drive within one year or four within two years. If the driver has held a driving licence for less than two years, the limit for assessing their right to drive is two offences within one year or three offences within two years.
Offences affecting the right to drive include
It is always stated in the traffic penalty fee decision whether the offence in question will affect your right to drive or not. If the offence affects the right to drive, it will be recorded in the Transport Register under the name of the person who received the traffic penalty fee. It is recommended to always make a request for an administrative review if you get a vehicle-specific traffic penalty fee for an offence you did not commit yourself.
Traffic crimes punishable with day fines include exceeding the speed limit by more than 20 km/h, failure to observe the red traffic light in a way that causes a traffic hazard, and operating a vehicle without a licence. The amount of a day-fine is determined according to the driver’s income.
The processing of traffic crimes detected through automatic traffic surveillance is subject to the same legal provisions as other road traffic crimes. Before conducting a pre-trial investigation, the police send a letter to the registered owner, holder, or person in charge of use of the vehicle, requesting the identity of the driver photographed with a traffic safety camera. The letter states that there is a photo of the incident. If no answer is provided even after a reminder, the police will proceed with the investigation through other methods.
Once the drive has been identified, Traffic Safety Centre will transfer the rest of the proceedings to the driver’s local police department. Usually, the driver is summoned to a police station, where the fine matter will be processed and the fine is served personally. Electronic service can also be used, if the driver consents to it.
If the suspect does not consent to fine procedure or if the crime is such that fine procedure cannot be applied, the case will be transferred to the prosecutor for consideration of charges once the pre-trial investigation has been concluded.
The easiest way to become free from liability is to request an administrative review and report who was using the vehicle at the time of the offence. There are instructions for requesting an administrative review attached to the traffic penalty fee decision. If the traffic offence in question affects your right to drive, you should request an administrative review so that you will not be issued a driving ban based on repeated offences later.
If the offence does not affect your right to drive, you can give the traffic penalty fee to the driver for payment without requesting an administrative review.
If you don’t request an administrative review, it is your responsibility to make sure the traffic penalty fee will be paid. By the right of regress granted by section 179 of the Road Traffic Act, the owner or holder of the vehicle who has paid the traffic penalty fee has a right to the fee from the driver who committed the offence unless the payment has been returned. That means you can also pay the traffic penalty fee yourself and then charge it from the driver – even by going to court, if necessary.
No, it cannot, because traffic penalty fees and inquiry letters are always first sent to the registered owner, holder, or person in charge of use of the vehicle. Contact the vehicle’s owner or holder and wait until the police contact them. After that you send the police an answer or a request for an administrative review.
If the traffic penalty fee is issued for an offence that does not affect your right to drive, there is no need to request an administrative review and you can pay the traffic penalty fee directly.
According to the law, a vehicle-specific traffic penalty fee decision must be sent without delay and at the latest within 30 days from the date of the offence. We process all new cases as quickly as possible, at best on the very day of the incident. If you have activated Suomi.fi messages, you will receive the possible traffic penalty fee electronically. In case of a traffic crime or if you don’t use Suomi.fi messages, we will send you a letter.
We cannot give any information about the matters before they have been processed, so please wait until we contact you. If some weeks have already passed from the camera flash and you think the letter may have been lost in the mail, you can contact our customer service for more information.
The easiest way to report the driver’s information is through the police’s online services. If you wish, you can also enter the driver’s details on the response form and return the it to the Police Traffic Safety Centre by post or email. If you do not report the driver’s details, prepare to be summoned to the police station for interrogation.
You are not required to comment on the incident. Any further proceedings can be taken care at a police station of your choice, if necessary.
Day fines issued for traffic crimes are usually served personally. Electronic service is also possible if you have activated Suomi.fi messages. If you wish to have the fine electronically in Suomi.fi messages, please call the Police Traffic Safety Centre’s customer service (tel. +358 295 541 7917 (Mon–Fri 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.).
Yes, you can, if you contact the summoner and agree on a new time.
We can send you an archive copy of the traffic penalty fee decision or the fine order, if you contact our customer service (automaattivalvonta@poliisi.fi or tel. +358 295 541 7917 Mon–Fri 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.).
Yes, you can. You can pay the traffic penalty fee in instalments using the same reference number until the Legal Register Centre sends you a payment remainder of the sum that is still left. The payment reminder is usually sent approximately two months after the original due date if the traffic penalty fee has not been paid in full by then. If you have received a payment reminder and still need more payment time, please contact the Legal Register Centre by email (tpasiat.ork@om.fi) or phone (+358 29 566 5662, Mon–Fri at 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.). The Legal Register Centre does not make payment schedules before sending a payment reminder.
You can email your request to automaattivalvonta@poliisi.fi. When you make the request, you must include the matter number of the traffic penalty fee, case number of the traffic crime, or some other details so that the correct picture can be identified.
In order to eliminate a possible measurement error, the police make a technical reduction from the measured speed before issuing a penalty. The reduction is usually 3 km/h, but if the speed is over 100 km/h, the reduction is 3% rounded up.
For example, if you drive at a speed of 72 km/h in an area where the speed limit is 60 km/h, your speed will be recorded as 69 km/h on the traffic penalty fee which will be issued for exceeding the speed limit by 9 km/h. If you drive at 74 km/h in the same area, your excess speed after the technical reduction will be 11 km/h.
If the speed limit sign speed is covered with snow and you do not know the speed limit, you must follow the default speed limit. In urban areas, the default speed limit is 50 km/h, and outside them it is 80 km/h. You can clean a snow-covered road sign if you can do it without causing a traffic hazard. You can also take a picture of the snow-covered speed limit sign to attach a possible request for an administrative review.
The road user’s duty to exercise care includes the obligation to find out the prohibitions, orders, provisions and restrictions set for the road using traffic control equipment. As a rule, this duty has been considered demanding. The scope of the duty to exercise care that can be required from a road user encountering a snow-covered traffic sign is always assessed case-by-case and taking the prevailing conditions and any evidence presented in the matter into consideration.
If you get a fine or a traffic penalty fee that affects your right to drive three times in one year or four times in two years, you can lose your driving licence for a fixed period. If you have held a driving licence less than two years, the limit for assessing your right to drive is two offences in one year or three offences in two years. The decision on a driving ban will be made by your local police department.
The most serious speeding offences (causing a traffic hazard in a manner indicating gross negligence or causing a serious traffic hazard) may lead to a driving ban even without previous offences.
As traffic penalty fees issued for slight speeding are not counted as repeated traffic offences, they will not affect your right to drive or lead to any other consequences.
According to section 90 of the Vehicles Act, if a legal person has a car or several that have no natural person registered as its holder, the legal person must register a person in charge of use of its cars. Possible vehicle-specific traffic penalty fees are issued to the person in charge of use of the vehicle, who is free from liability by reporting who was using the vehicle at the time of the offence.
A person in charge of use of cars is a natural person who is of age, lives in Finland, and has at least a category B right to drive. They must have information on the drivers of the cars of the legal person. The person in charge of use is specified by business ID, which means that each legal person can only have one person in charge of use of its cars. You can notify a person in charge of use of a legal person on the Finnish Transport and Communication Agency Traficom’s website.
Failure to notify a person in charge of use of cars is an offence for which a traffic penalty fee of EUR 70 can be issued.
There are 1 164 fixed control points for automatic traffic surveillance in Finland, covering approximately 3 890 km of the road network. (The total length of the network of paved roads in Finland is approximately 51 000 kilometres.) When locations for new traffic control points are chosen, road accident statistics are among things that affect the decisions. The road keeper is responsible for the planning, construction, upkeep and maintenance of control points.
In addition to the fixed control points, the police have 27 automatic traffic surveillance vehicles with which surveillance can be directed wherever it is most needed and requested by citizens.
The police are responsible for the use and upkeep of traffic safety cameras as well as processing the traffic offences and crimes photographed with them.
