838 fined for seat belt rules violation, 601 for using mobile phone

A very large number of persons were found without seatbelts fastened both in the front and back seats of vehicles during the nationwide weeklong monitoring of the use of safety equipment, use of mobile phones and other distraction factors in traffic from 16 September to 22 September.

The Police issued 838 fines for traffic violations related to seat belt regulations while the number of fines issued for the use of the mobile phone during driving were 601, said the National Police Board in a press release on Friday.

Moreover, 18 fines were given to drivers for the violation of pedestrian crossing rules and 35 fines to those who ignored the STOP sign and red lights.

Violations related to the crash helmet resulted in 15 fines. The number of vehicles unsuited for traffic were 77.

“The seatbelt saves lives in crash situations, and nobody can exclude the change of potentially finding themselves in such a situation, either through their own fault or due to an error of judgement by others,” said Chief Superintendent Heikki Kallio of the National Police Board.

He also reminds that the use of ITC equipment in traffic, while driving, causes lack of attention and often danger to others on the roads.

“If the phone is in use during driving, it must always be in handsfree mode and must not be held in the hand,” Kallio said.

Those sitting on a front seat without their belt fastened were 803 while the unlatched passengers on back seats were 35. Children’s safety equipment violations accounted for 27 of the total.

Tuesday 21 September 2021 was the Roadpol (European traffic police network) Safety Days campaign day. The objective was to have at least one day in a year without somebody dying on European roads.

In Europe, the average of 70 people lose their lives in traffic in one day. Together with ten other Roadpol member countries, Finland reached its objectives and nobody died in traffic accidents on that day.