A city in Northern Europe remained only one year without traffic. Finland’s Helsinki officials confirmed Finnish’s publication L Since July 2024, he has not had a fatal accident, which has identified an impressive milestone for the coastal town of Scandinavia.
This success does not come from a major policy shift, but a handful of small changes that have increased a meaningful effect. “Many factors played a vital role in this, but the limits of pace are the most important,” said Ronnie Uterinein, a traffic engineer at Helsinki’s Urban Environment Division. L.
Earlier this year, Helsinki reduced the speed boundaries near schools by 30 km per hour (18.6 miles per hour). Now, more than half of the city’s roads have this speed limit. As per the same streets, there was a speed limit of 50 km per hour (31 miles per hour) L.
Of course it is not just a speed limit. Infrastructure for cyclists and pedestrians has greatly improved, while a traffic enforcement system (speed and red light camera) has been added. Combine that more traffic police on the watch, with a strong public transit system, and a modern car active safety tech tech, and the result has no deaths in 12 months.
The casualties are not just matriculation that has fallen. Traffic -related injuries in Helsinki have dropped to just 277 in the 1980s, with an average of about 1,000 one thousand annual events in the 1980s. L.
Atriene supports the city’s officials, but also the efforts of drivers, bikers and pedestrians. “The direction has been positive for years,” he said. No pedestrians were killed in Helsinki due to traffic incidents in 2019.
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America, take notes
The United States could learn from Helsinki. In 2023, more than 40,000 people were killed in traffic incidents in the United States. Car -affiliated deaths have been a central point in major US cities for years, to try to prevent injuries and deaths.
Annual data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows the trend of traffic deaths since the 1970s, with the death rate in 2014, killing 10.3 people in every one million people. Since then, in this number, in 2021, every 100,000 people have been height of 13 deaths, which has been returned to 12.2 in 2023.
In 2014, New York City, the largest metropolitan area in the United States, which famously implemented “Vision Zero”, launched a series of policies developed to eliminate traffic deaths. These policies appear to be working, the city has a steady decrease in death as long as the Covade 19 pandemic diseases, where deaths have increased.
In 2024, traffic incidents in New York City killed 251 people. But so far, the Metro is 2025 years for traffic deaths, with only 87 deaths recorded.
“The 32 percent reduction in traffic deaths, which we have seen this year, is historic,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a press release earlier this month. “It is even more evidence that our administration’s vision is working to zero. Strict implementation against careless driving is protecting pedestrians, cyclists and drivers, and our administration will continue to use all the tools available to eliminate traffic on traffic and provide us with results.
