Helsinki Achieves Full Year With No Traffic Deaths

Helsinki, Finland just achieved a full year with zero traffic deaths, reports Mihai Andrei in ZME Science. As Andrei explains, “It’s not accidental progress nor is it an unusual year, it’s the culmination of a decades-long, systematic implementation of a road safety philosophy.”

Helsinki’s Vision Zero approach — which prioritizes safety above all else — employs a broad strategy that includes lower road speeds, automated cameras, and pedestrian-oriented urban design. “The evidence is unequivocal: speed is the single most critical factor in determining the outcome of a crash.” In Helsinki, over half of the city’s streets have a speed limit of 30 kilometers (around 20 miles) per hour.

The city also actively works to reduce car dominance and improve its public transit options. “The goal should be to build a complete network of segregated facilities — such as curb-protected bike lanes and wide, unobstructed sidewalks — that allows a person to travel from any origin to any destination in the city without being forced into mixed traffic.”