Young people’s indifference in traffic concerns police

The number of speeding cases, in other words, violations of the 50-kilometre-per-hour speed limit, has substantially increased during the year in progress.

The police are particularly concerned about the neglect young men are showing to their own and others’ safety in traffic, said the National Police Board in a press release.

During the coronavirus epidemic (weeks 12–21), the police have issued 1,395 fines for serious threats to road safety, the largest number of which are for speed limit violations. The number was 924 in the same period in last year.

According to Chief Superintendent Heikki Kallio, the police are very worried about this development.

“Being charged is highly excessive speeding is not the result of accident, rather, this is the consequence of quite conscious choices made by drivers. In other words, the attitude toward traffic safety just isn’t right,” said Kallio.

He said the sanctions against endangering traffic safety are also considerable. The most usual penalty is a fine (in over 80 per cent of all cases), as well as a lengthy driving ban. On an average, about 60 day fines are imposed.

In Kallio’s opinion, legislators should consider how young men’s indifference could be addressed by legislative means, since public education and other tools do not appear to be bearing fruit.

According to the chief superintendent, the incidence of drunk driving amongst young people is also worrying.

Driving under the influence of intoxicants by those under the age of 25 has increased during the first part of the year by almost 14 per cent compared to that in the corresponding period of last year.

Drugs are linked with drunk driving by those under 25 in up to 61.5 per cent of all cases.