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Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

helsinkitimes.fi

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Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#281

Post by Teever »

throwaway9832 wrote: post #278
sophia01 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UK is not that different by comparison. Do note that the UK is 15.6x as dense as Finland, and the climate is quite different: e.g. in Helsinki (southermost city) mean daily temperature is below freezing point 4/12 months of the year (very consequential for driving). E.g. in Scotland even the mean daily minimum does not cross freezing point in any month. OECD data has Finland at 0.36 fatalities per 10k vehicles…

[flagged]

You seem to be suggesting that frozen roads paradoxically make for safer driving?

Is that a fair characterization of your comment?

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#282

Post by strken »

throwaway9832 wrote: post #279
pavlov wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, in rural Finland 17-year-old boys who just got their license regularly end up killing themselves and their friends by reckless driving. I believe there is cultural issue with boys’ upbringing. Recently my 8-year-old daughter was spending a week with her mother’s relatives in middle Finland. One day she sent me a picture of an old Volvo in a ditch. “Guess what dad, my cousin drove it off the road and I was in the…

10 is plenty old enough to drive under supervision. We used to send people to war at 16. The idea of stopping people from driving until 18 is infantilisation.

There's a big difference between driving a car around the farm at 20kmph to collect wood and flipping your dad's Volvo into a ditch. We were driving from a relatively young age, maybe 13 or 14, but only in a paddock and with some degree of adult supervision.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#283

Post by Forgeties79 »

levocardia wrote: post #187
max_ wrote: post #35

"More than half of Helsinki’s streets now have speed limits of 30 km/h." This is the only secret. People over speeding is what kills.

I think you also have to enforce it. Helsinki also has many automatic speeding cameras. I doubt just putting up a 20 mph speed limit sign would make a big difference without more enforcement.

Maybe not but people tend to not go more than 5-10mph over unless they’re on the interstate/highway. If it leads to overall significantly slower traffic it’s worthwhile.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#284

Post by ekianjo »

tlogan wrote: post #171
silvestrov wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How people in Helsinki get to work: Car: 23% ; PublicTransport: 47% ; Walk: 12% ; Bike: 15% How pupils in Helsinki get to school: Car: 7% ; PublicTransport: 32% ; Walk: 45% ; Bike: 14% source: https://www.hel.fi/static/liitteet/kaupunkiymparisto/julkais...

I completely agree. Though implementing it is far easier said than done. Here in San Francisco (and much of California), things are incredibly complicated. Take this example: in SF, there’s a policy that prevents kids from attending elementary school in their own neighborhoods. Instead, they’re assigned to schools on the opposite side of town. In places that are practically inaccessible without a car. And there are n…

> in SF, there’s a policy that prevents kids from attending elementary school in their own neighborhoods

thats a solid reason to leave the place already

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#285

Post by 01HNNWZ0MV43FF »

Teever wrote: post #281
throwaway9832 wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You seem to be suggesting that frozen roads paradoxically make for safer driving? Is that a fair characterization of your comment?

People widely believe this about stick-shift cars, too. I don't, but people do.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#286

Post by ekianjo »

levocardia wrote: post #187
max_ wrote: post #35

"More than half of Helsinki’s streets now have speed limits of 30 km/h." This is the only secret. People over speeding is what kills.

I think you also have to enforce it. Helsinki also has many automatic speeding cameras. I doubt just putting up a 20 mph speed limit sign would make a big difference without more enforcement.

make cars not go faster than 30 mph at the engine control level. Problem solved and no need to put thousands of cameras everywhere.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#287

Post by squidgyhead »

throwaway9832 wrote: post #278
sophia01 wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The UK is not that different by comparison. Do note that the UK is 15.6x as dense as Finland, and the climate is quite different: e.g. in Helsinki (southermost city) mean daily temperature is below freezing point 4/12 months of the year (very consequential for driving). E.g. in Scotland even the mean daily minimum does not cross freezing point in any month. OECD data has Finland at 0.36 fatalities per 10k vehicles…

[flagged]

Speed enforcement has been extensively studied, and there are a lot of publicly available articles on the subject. The results are basically universally in favour of speed enforcement reducing motor vehicle collisions, reducing injury and cost.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#288

Post by chasd00 »

graemep wrote: post #148
PaulRobinson wrote: post #113

I was in Helsinki for work a couple of years ago, walking back to my hotel with some colleagues after a few hours drinking (incredibly expensive, but quite nice), beer. It was around midnight and we happened to come across a very large mobile crane on the pavement blocking our way. As we stepped out (carefully), into the road to go around it, one of my Finnish colleagues started bemoaning that no cones or barriers ha…

On the other hand the UK as a whole had a lower road traffic realted death rate than Finland did: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua... The UK is not that different by comparison. It is a pretty remarkable achievement though, and shows what can be done.

2hrs ago I was on switchbacks coming up into the mountains outside of San Jose Costa Rica. I come around one and bam there’s a 7-9 year old girl walking up the road in the middle of the lane. How the mountain roads in Costa Rica don’t run red with blood I don’t know.

Re: Helsinki records zero traffic deaths for full year

#290

Post by Symbiote »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #258
DFHippie wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't just put up a speed sign and hope people will magically abide by it. Off topic, but one of the more maddening things I see here in the US is signs which say "End thus-and-such speed limit." I don't want to know what the speed limit was. I want to know what it is!

In Ontario a new speed zone is always signed with "BEGINS" below it, which is very helpful if you missed the last sign. I wish this was standard practice across Canada. In much of Europe, including the UK, they have the concept of standardised "national" speed limits, which vary depending on the road type and which you are expected to know. When a road returns to the national speed limit, the sign is a white circle w…

There are at most three standard speed limits on Europe: built up areas, highways and motorways.

I find this easier to remember than the constantly changing limits in the USA. In my two weeks here, I've seen every multiple of 5 between 5 and 70mph.

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