The Finnish capital has recorded its first year without a single traffic-related casualty, with the last death occurring in early July 2024.
This remarkable achievement for a major urban centre is the result of years of targeted efforts by the city authorities. At the heart of Helsinki’s strategy lies a simple yet highly effective measure: reducing speed limits. Today, over half of the city’s streets have a speed limit of 30 km/h.
“Many factors have contributed to this, but speed limits are one of the most important,” said Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer in the Urban Environment Division of the city council.
This focus on reducing speed is particularly relevant in a country where 25% of urban journeys are currently made on foot, 9% by public transport, and 7.5% by bicycle – figures which are even higher in Helsinki. Lowering speed limits from 40 km/h to 30 km/h has been shown to halve the risk of pedestrian fatalities. In 2021, the city implemented this change across residential areas and the city centre.
However, the effort goes beyond speed. Helsinki has reshaped its mobility infrastructure to reinforce safety and reduce car use by narrowing lanes, planting trees and designing roads that feel less ‘comfortable’ for drivers.
“We deliberately have narrow lanes, so the driver doesn’t feel comfortable. We also use trees and bushes to push people to go slower”, explained Reetta Putkonen, the director of Helsinki’s transportation planning division, cited by Bloomberg.
Pedestrians now benefit from safer crossings and better-separated pavements. Cyclists have gained 1,500 km of new or improved cycle paths with clear physical buffers between bikes and vehicles. Public transport has also been expanded with new tram lines, partly thanks to funding from the European Investment Bank, and zero-emission buses.
“Public transport in Helsinki is excellent, which reduces car use and, with it, the number of serious accidents,” added Utriainen.
Between 2003 and 2023, traffic-related injuries in the city plummeted from 727 to just 14. In order to further reduce risk, Helsinki has expanded its network of speed cameras, deploying an additional 70 across the city. A fine for speeding up to 20 km/h over the limit is €200.
Helsinki benefits from Finland’s national system for crash analysis. By law, all crashes resulting in fatalities or serious injuries are reviewed by a multidisciplinary investigation team coordinated by the Finnish Crash Data Institute (OTI). Each case follows a formal methodology that assesses the road environment, human behaviour, and vehicle and system factors in order to issue safety-oriented recommendations.
Helsinki’s long-term commitment to its ‘Vision Zero’ policy – the ambition to eliminate all road fatalities – appears to be paying off. The city first achieved zero fatalities in 2019 and now aims to replicate and sustain this outcome year after year.
Despite its modest size – fewer than 690,000 residents and 1.5 million commuters – Helsinki’s achievement stands out. In 2023, there were 7,807 road deaths in the EU, including 55 in Berlin and nine in Brussels.
Helsinki’s progress has caught the attention of European policymakers. Earlier this year, EU Transport Commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas warned that most member states were not on track to meet the EU’s goal of halving road deaths by 2030.
