2000 drivers fined for seat belt rules violation, using mobile phone

About 2000 drivers were fined for violating seat belt rules and using mobile phone while driving during a nationwide monitoring operation conducted by police from 16 September to 22 September, said the National Police Board on Monday.

A total of 1,095 drivers received a traffic penalty fee for failure to wear a seat belt in front or back seats and 28 guardians or drivers received a traffic penalty fee for failure to use safety equipment for children.

Protective helmets were in active use in motorised vehicle traffic and there were only 15 incidents of violation in this respect.

A total of 606 drivers were talking on their handheld mobile phone and 350 were texting or otherwise used a handheld mobile phone when driving.

“It’s worth pointing out the large share of texters in the numbers of drivers using a handheld mobile phone. Texting while driving is far more dangerous than speaking because it distracts the driver from paying attention to driving,” said Tuomo Katajisto, Chief Superintendent of the National Police Board.

Considerably more penalties were written than in the control in the spring, but Katajisto said this is mostly because the police were able to allocate more working hours to the control than in the spring.

According to Katajisto, a particularly positive detail was that preliminary information indicates that there were no fatalities on Finnish roads on European Day Without a Road Death, which took place on 21 September.