Automatic speed enforcement in Finland

In 2004, Finland extended its automatic speed enforcement from 280 to 800 road kilometres. Risto Öörni of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, explains the costs and the benefits. Automatic speed enforcement in Finland is operated by the police and is based on cameras installed on poles along main roads and mobile semi-automatic speed enforcement units installed in police cars.
February 1, 2012 Read time: 4 mins
Risto Oorni, Research Scientist at VTT Technical Research center of Finland

In 2004, Finland extended its automatic speed enforcement from 280 to 800 road kilometres. Risto Öörni of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, explains the costs and the benefits

Automatic speed enforcement in Finland is operated by the police and is based on cameras installed on poles along main roads and mobile semi-automatic speed enforcement units installed in police cars.

The system measured only point speeds until August 2010 when the first system with enforcement based on travel time measurements was put into use.

Until 2006, Finnish law required the police to identify the driver before issuing a written notification or a fine. At present, the police can issue a fine and send it to the owner of the vehicle who can then either pay the fine or appeal against it. In the latter case, the police will carry out normal pre-trial investigation for the offence.

The most common speed limits on the Finnish main roads are 80, 100 and 120 km/h. The coverage of automatic speed enforcement has been increased in the country, especially on road stretches or road links with high numbers of accidents.

Costs and benefits

In 2001, a governmental decision was made to extend the coverage of automatic speed enforcement from 280 to 800 road kilometres in Finland. The socio-economic benefits of the increase in enforcement by 520 road kilometres were calculated on the basis of the literature study, impact estimates (made by Mäkinen 2001), and unit cost values published by the Finnish Road Administration. The minor errors present in the original calculations (Öörni 2004) have been corrected in figures presented here.

When estimating the costs of increased enforcement, the initial investment related to roadside and back office systems was estimated to be about US$2.93 million. The annual operating costs related to increased enforcement were estimated to be of about the same magnitude as the initial investment if speeding offences less than 20 km/h over the speed limit could be handled by means of administrative process instead of criminal procedures involving the police and court system. If all speeding offences were handled according to criminal procedures, the costs were estimated to be slightly higher - US$3.6 million.

The estimate for the annual operating costs includes the operation and maintenance of roadside and back office systems, working hours needed for enforcement and costs to the police for investigating speeding offences and issuing fines or written warnings when necessary.

The increase in enforcement described above was estimated to reduce the number of the injured by 15 (15.1) and the number of fatalities by 4 (3.7) in a year. With the unit cost values published by the Finnish Road Administration (US$345,000 on average for an injury and US$2.69 million for a fatality), the annual socio-economic benefits were estimated to be about US$15.22 million.

References

Mäkinen, T. 2001. Poliisin liikennevalvonta liikennekäyttäytymisen ohjauskeinona, Autonkuljettajien informaatio- ja palautejärjestemät - osaraportti 1 (in Finnish).

Research report RTE 1733/01. VTT Transport and Logistics, Espoo, Finland.

Öörni, R. 2004. Eräiden joukko- ja tieliikenteen telematiikkasovellusten kannattavuus Suomen oloissa [Economic feasibility of road and public transport ITS applications in Finnish conditions].

FITS publications 35/2004.

ISBN 951-723-896-7. virtual.vtt.fi/virtual/proj6/fits/julkaisut/hanke2/FITS_TEKARI_final.pdf

The benefit-cost ratio of the system was calculated by assuming 10 years lifetime for the system and a 5 per cent discounting rate, and calculating the present values of both socio-economic benefits and costs of the system. The benefit-cost ratio for the increase in the coverage of enforcement from 280 to 800 road kilometres was found to be 3.91.

After 2004

The calculation presented above was based on the situation in 2004 when automatic speed enforcement was being extended to cover new roads and road stretches. Since then, the length of road sections equipped with automatic speed enforcement has increased and enforcement based on travel time instead of point speed has been introduced. The threshold of reacting to excess speed with mailed notifications or fines was also lowered in 2009. This has probably reduced the average and mean speed of the traffic flow further and increased the impact of enforcement on safety.
Enforcement

Related Content

  • Mexico improves road safety with speed enforcement programme
    June 7, 2012
    A programme of road safety education and enforcement in the State of Jalisco in Mexico has reduced speed related fatalities by 40% in nine months Speed enforcement equipment will appear in greater number and visibility around the city of Guadalajara over coming months, as the Mexican State of Jalisco expands its road safety campaign. This comes hot on the heels of an initial programme of traffic speed education and enforcement in Guadalajara, which has yielded remarkable results, reducing speed related fata
    Read More
  • SCATS study shows significant savings
    December 16, 2013
    Australian study quantifies the benefits of SCATS to the motorists, the environment and the economy. Opportunity weekday cost savings potential of some AUD16 million (US$15.2 million) has emerged from rigorous analysis of a one-day study of Australia’s Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) in operation. This represents 27% of the total cost of a real alternative semi-adaptive traffic control. The estimated indicative annual weekday-based value is AUD3,900 million (US$3,705 million) or 0.9% of t
    Read More
  • RAC Foundation: UK drivers receive 12 million penalties annually
    October 25, 2017
    Up to 12 million driving license holders receive a penalty notice each year – the equivalent of one every 2.5 seconds; meaning as many as a third (30%) of Britain's 40 million drivers now receive a penalty notice annually. The findings come from the Automated Road Traffic Enforcement: Regulation, Governance and Use - for the RAC Foundation by Dr Adam Snow, a lecturer in criminology at Liverpool Hope University. The penalty notices include the Fixed Penalty Notice (a criminal penalty issued
    Read More
  • Technology advances improve enforcement
    July 26, 2012
    Across the board, technology is being brought to bear to improve the efficiency of enforcement. Bus lane monitoring, parking and controlled access have all benefited from systems introduced in recent months. While speed and red light infringements tend to attract the most attention, there remain several other areas of enforcement where automation can bring significant operational and efficiency benefits. Lane monitoring and access control also continue to benefit from technological development.
    Read More

Highlighted Content