Police to monitor safety equipment rules in traffic

The Police will control the use of safety equipment and also focus on inattentive driving throughout the country from March 6 to 10, said the National Police Board in a press release on Friday.

Looking at traffic fatalities in 2021, 65 of those who died in accidents involving motorised vehicles did not wear their seat belt.

Had they had their seat belts on, 33 might have survived, depending on the probability factor employed.

“The use of the seat belt does not cost anything but the charge, i.e., the fine for not using it, is 70 euro. In the worst case scenario, the cost may be the driver’s or the passenger’s life,” said Chief Superintendent of the National Police Board Tuomo Katajisto.

The control campaign’s other target, i.e., inattentiveness, refers to the lack of the driver’s attention, focused on something else.

Using a technical equipment in the vehicle or tram in a way to disturb or endanger driving amounts to prohibited inattentiveness. The driver must not hold communication equipment in the hand to use it while driving.

According to Katajisto, texting while driving is particularly dangerous because the driver might not be looking at the road for quite a while.