Winter speed limits come into force this week

The speed limit on roads and highways will be lowered from Friday as winter speed limits will come into force, said the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency in a press release on Wednesday.

The local Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre), however, may start changing speed limit signs earlier as per the requirement of the condition but the change will be completed by October 29.

The winter speed limit is normally lowered by 20 kilometers per hour compared to the summer speed limit.

The limit will be lowered to 80 kilometers per hour or 70 kilometers per hour on some roads where vehicular movement is higher than normal.

On the highway, the speed limit will be lowered to 100 kilometers per hour from the 120 kilometers per hour but on few wider roads the speed limit will remain 120 kilometers per hour until the end of November, if the weather condition allows.

Meanwhile, according to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom), winter tyres must be used in Finland between 1 November to 31 March, if the weather so requires.

The use of studded tyres is allowed during this time and they can also be used outside of this time span if the conditions require it.

Motorists, however, started to switch to winter tyres in some places, particularly the northern part of the country where snowfall already started.