Finland
PIN Talk: Road Safety Strategies: Saving lives Directorate General for Traffic, Calle Josefa Valcarcel 44, 28027 Madrid, Spain 7 July, 2022. 9:15-13:00 This PIN Talk focussed on the role of road safety strategies in helping to reduce road deaths and serious injuries. Following words of welcome from the Deputy Secretary of State at the Spanish Ministry of Interior, Isabel Goicoechea, and PIN partner Toyota Motor Europe, there were presentations from […]
A Finnish research team investigating e-scooter related injuries has said their data show a higher rate of e-scooter injuries compared to other transport modes analysed in earlier studies. The new research identified 331 patients with e-scooter-related injuries who were admitted to the accident and emergency department in Tampere, a city of some 226,000 people in Finland, between April 2019 and April 2021. Data from scooter rental companies operating in the […]
As the purchase and use of e-scooters continues to grow significantly across Europe, several governments are looking again at the rules governing their use. In Finland, in consultation with the government, rental scheme operators have agreed to limit e-scooter speeds to 20 km/h, and 15 km/h at night. There have been calls in Austria and Italy to limit the top speed of e-scooters at 20 km/h. In the city of […]
The French capital has introduced Europe’s largest 30 km/h zone, covering the entire city for the first time with the exception of several main roads, such as the Champs Elysée and the main ring road. 30 km/h limits already covered two thirds of the city, but the zone has now been extended in a further bid to reduce collisions, noise and pollution. The southern city of Montpellier also introduced a […]
The current EU approach to assessing whether drivers are medically fit to hold a licence needs substantial revision, according to a new report by ETSC. The report examines the current state of play in European countries regarding the assessment of medical fitness to drive, with reference to current EU rules. The EU is currently reviewing the Directive on driver licensing and a revised legal proposal is expected in 2022. The […]
The entry-into-force of a new law in Finland to permit children as young as 15 to drive regular cars fitted with speed limiters has been withdrawn following drawn-out discussions with the European Commission about the legal and road safety implications of the scheme. The proposals, put forward two years ago by the Finnish government, would have allowed children to drive cars up to 1500 kg at speeds of up to […]
Collisions caused by drink-drivers who only use alcohol, and drug drivers differ in terms of timing and types of accidents and it is common for drug users to use several intoxicants at the same time according to new research by the Finnish Crash Data Institute (OTI), an ETSC member. The latest OTI substance abuse report looked at fatal collisions investigated in Finland over the period 2014–2018 and drivers who had […]
Two European capitals, Helsinki and Oslo, achieved the milestone of zero pedestrian and cyclist deaths last year. Remarkably, Norway also reported zero child road deaths nationally for the first time, based on ages 0-15. ETSC’s most recent PIN report (based on 2018 data) showed that Norway had the lowest road mortality in Europe, at 20 deaths per million inhabitants. The country also recorded the largest drop in road deaths since […]
The entry-into-force of a new law in Finland to permit children as young as 15 to drive regular cars fitted with speed limiters has been postponed following an intervention by the European Commission. The proposals, put forward last year by the government, would have allowed children to drive cars up to 1500kg at speeds of up to 60 km/h and with only an AM category license – normally reserved for […]
In this briefing, ETSC outlines its recommendations on the key EU road safety policy dossiers to be steered by the Finnish Presidency of the European Union in the second part of 2019.