Speeding in Finland is becoming more than just a traffic offense. It’s a deep-rooted habit that continues to put lives at risk. In 2023 alone, three out of every four Finnish drivers admitted they drove faster than the limit, whether inside cities or on rural roads. These results come from the ESRA3 survey carried out by the Finnish Road Safety Council. Compared to the rest of Europe, Finnish drivers are speeding more often, and it’s raising serious safety questions.
Automatic speed camera data collected by Fintraffic shows the same trend. People speed year-round, whether in summer or on icy winter roads. For many, it’s just part of daily driving, not something they give a second thought.
But these small habits have big consequences. What seems like a harmless five or ten kilometers over the limit can be the difference between life and death.
Let’s keep this simple. If you’re driving 30 kilometers per hour and suddenly need to stop, you can probably do so safely within one second. Now imagine you’re going 40 kilometers per hour. When you hit the brakes after that same second, your car is still moving at over 30 kilometers per hour. That might not sound like much, but it’s more than enough to kill a pedestrian, a cyclist or someone riding an electric scooter. This is exactly what Assistant Police Commissioner Pasi Rissanen is trying to get across.
Many towns in Finland have already taken action. They are lowering speed limits, especially in areas with a lot of foot traffic. But just putting up new signs is not enough. Police say their job is to enforce the law, not decide what the limit should be. That’s up to road planners and city councils.
Speeding in Finland is also a problem for the environment. Cars burn more fuel at higher speeds. That means more pollution and more CO₂ in the air. The World Health Organization reports that cutting average speeds by just five percent can lead to a thirty percent drop in traffic deaths. That’s huge. Less fuel used, fewer crashes, more lives saved.
The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland runs the Safe Traffic 2025 program. Their research shows that even a small bump in average speed can make road accidents worse. It’s not just about how many crashes happen, but how severe they are. Higher speeds lead to more injuries, more hospital visits, and more funerals.
Police believe that just handing out more tickets won’t solve the problem. People need to understand why speeding matters. It’s about mindset, not just rules.
If you drive in Finland, think twice before pushing the pedal a little harder. Ask yourself if getting there one minute faster is worth risking someone’s life. Police are calling on drivers to follow the speed limits, not just to avoid a fine, but to protect the people around them.
Small changes in driving habits could lead to a big shift in road safety across the country. Let’s not wait for more headlines before we decide to slow down.
