One city in northern Europe went for a whole year without a passing death. Helsinki officials, Finland, confirmed the Finnish publication Yelle He has not been subjected to a deadly accident since early July 2024, which represents an impressive milestone for the Scandinavian coastal city.
The achievement does not come from any one major political transformation, but rather a handful of small changes that have been added to create a meaningful effect. Ronnie Evern, a traffic engineer in the Urban Environment Department in Helsinki, said, Yelle.
Earlier this year, Helsinki reduced the speed limits near schools to 30 km per hour (18.6 miles per hour). Now, more than half of the city’s roads carry the maximum speed. These streets were the same as a speed of 50 km/h (31 miles per hour) 50 years ago, according to what he said Yelle.
It is not just the limits of speed, of course. The infrastructure of bike and pedestrians has been significantly improved, while more automatic traffic enforcement systems (speed and red light cameras) have been added. This is integrated with more Watch traffic police, a strong public transport system, and active safety technology in the modern car, and the result is not deaths in 12 months.
The deaths are not the only measure that also decreased. The traffic related injuries in Helsinki also decreased from about 1,000 annual accidents on average in the 1980s to only 277 last year, he says. Yelle.
Utriinen is attributed to the efforts of city officials, but also for drivers, bikes and pedestrians. “The trend was positive for years,” he said. None of the pedestrians were killed in Helsinki due to traffic accidents in 2019, too.
Photo by: Getty Images
America, notes notes
The United States can learn from Helsinki. In 2023, more than 40,000 people died in America due to traffic. Car -related deaths were a pivotal point in major American cities for years, in an attempt to reduce injuries and deaths.
Annual data from the Eliminated Safety Institute shows a declining trend in traffic deaths since the 1970s, with a high death rate in 2014, where 10.3 people were killed per 100,000 people. Since then, this number has grown to 13 deaths per 100,000 people in 2021, and declined to 12.2 in 2023.
In 2014, New York City, the largest urban area in America, “Vision Zero”, is a series of policies designed to reduce traffic deaths. These policies seem to work, with deaths steadily decreased in the city to the Covid-19s, where deaths saw rise.
In 2024, 251 people were killed in traffic accidents in New York City. But so far, 2025 is The lowest year ever For traffic deaths on the metro, with only 87 deaths.
Mayor Eric Adams said in a press release earlier this month: “The decrease in the number of traffic deaths that we witnessed this year is historic by 32 percent.” “It is also evidence that our administration’s vision efforts are working. Strong enforcement against reckless leadership is to maintain pedestrians, bikers and drivers safe, and our administration will continue to use all available tools to reduce traffic violence and provide results that keep the New York residents safe in our streets.”
