Mastodawn

Dorothy Bishop Mar 1

“Helsinki hasn’t registered a single traffic-related fatality in the past year…Citing data that shows the risk of pedestrian fatality is cut in half by reducing a car’s speed from 40 to 30km/hr, city officials imposed the lower limit in most of Helsinki’s residential areas and city center in 2021.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/helsinki-no-traffic-death-roads-eu-accident-finland-driving-transport/

Helsinki just went a full year without a single traffic death

The capital city is Finnish’ed with car-related fatalities.

POLITICO

Tor Lillqvist Mar 1

@BrentToderian That was a statistical fluke. Between June 2024 and July 2025 there indeed were no fatal accidents. But that didn’t last. Not sure why this suddenly now, over half a year later, is doing the rounds again.

Instead of reporting statistical flukes, responsible journalists should report long-term trends. Those indeed are positive here in Helsinki. *That* is the good news here. Not that there happened to be a 12-month interval (not a calendar year) without a single fatal road accident.

Tor Lillqvist Mar 1

@BrentToderian For instance in September 2025 there were four traffic deaths. Which also was a statistical fluke, sure. https://yle.fi/a/74-20181711

Helsingissä hätkähdyttää neljä liikennekuolemaa kuukaudessa, kun vuoteen ei menehtynyt kukaan

Kuukauden sisällä kuolleet ovat menettäneet henkensä hyvin erilaisissa onnettomuuksissa.

Yle Uutiset

Fabian Egli Mar 1

@tml @BrentToderian It is very relevant still - because this means that the overall incidence is so low that this "statistical fluke" can happen without waiting a million years.

Decrying it as purely a "statistical fluke" is dishonest.

After reading your post again, what puzzles me the most, is how you come to the conclusion that a 12 month period without fatalities is somehow not the good news.

Juho Mäntysalo Mar 1

@fabianegli @tml @BrentToderian

>how [- -] 12 month period without fatalities is somehow not the good news.

Because while 12 months without deaths is "a" good news, it's not the "the" good news. If it were "the", there wouldn't have been deaths after those 12 months, either.

Thus "the" good news is that long-term statistics on traffic deaths are falling.

(Also note that Tor and me spend time at Helsinki, so we know what the realities are: there are still improvements to be made.)

Fabian Egli Mar 1

@iju @tml @BrentToderian I do not subscribe to this level of criticism of the story. Both effects, the longer term decline AND the 12 months are good. There's absolutely no need to play one against the other. They are connected. I also didn't read anything about there being nothing left to improve.

And if it helps you read my comment as more than just some replyguy on the internet: I have recently spent time walking the city of Helsinki. It's fine. Some places are great, others not - yet.

Juho Mäntysalo Mar 1

@fabianegli @tml @BrentToderian

Well, that's how I read the first post in the thread. And Tor too, I guess. It might not be well-deserved, but even at worst it's good to note that Helsinki didn't permanently resolve the problem.

Also for additional context: if you've spent time in Helsinki, then you surely know that one of t he big demarcations in the Helsinki City Council is if actions toward pedestrian safety are killing the city centre?

½

Juho Mäntysalo Mar 1

@fabianegli @tml @BrentToderian

2/2

For example, the city is removing pedestrian crossings from the Mannerheim Road (the four-lane main path to and through the centre) to improve car speeds.

Experiment to carve out more space for pedestrians at the famous Esplanade by temporarily removing cars from one lane was highly critised, and the project to turn #1 pedestrian crossing (in front of the railway station) into a pedestrian zone is often named as the death blow for the area's stores.

Fabian Egli Mar 1

@iju @tml @BrentToderian The Article doesn't state Helsinki solved the problem. It's a bit more substantial. Reading only a headline and an excerpt may lead the sharpest mind astray.

As for the rest, I can't comment on the local politics of Helsinki. I also think this is getting off topic for this thread.

Juho Mäntysalo Mar 1

@fabianegli @tml @BrentToderian

Well, you did ask why I would think as I did, so I explained.

@tml
Yes, totally agree. A rolling five year average makes more sense to report, smoothing out those statistical one-offs (flukes) & better enabling sight or understanding of real change over time. Still an impressive achievement as it’s often said (in public health circles) that it can’t be done).

#publicHealth #roadToll #roadFatalities #roadTrafficAccidents #rollingAverage

@tml @BrentToderian this account has misreported that statistic previously and I pulled them up on that occasion. Now I am very much in favour of traffic calming but Reform/Trump style misrepresentation is not the way to go about it.
https://www.ukroed.org.uk/helsinki-four-traffic-deaths-in-a-month-after-none-in-a-year/

Helsinki: four traffic deaths in a month, after none in a year | UKROEd

The Finnish capital Helsinki has had an exceptionally grim month of August in terms of traffic deaths, according to Chief Inspector Dennis Pasterstein of th ...

@tml @BrentToderian for the record I flagged that someone calling themselves Brent Toderian reposted this same out of date article on 17th November 2025. This isn't Twitter!

@BrentToderian meanwhile idiots who despise ideologues (i.e. likes of current #nz govt) increased 30km/h zones back up to 50 km/h. Few more fatalities is not a biggie for them...

Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦Mar 1

That piece of cherry picked statistics was followed by a traffic fatality about a month later.

https://mas.to/@osma/115757898033930977

https://mas.to/@osma/115769708539361551

Osma A 🇫🇮🇺🇦 (@[email protected])

Mm-hmm. There was a pedestrian death in June, and a deadly car accident in August. Plus several cases of pedestrians struck and hospitalized, at least one bicycle accident leading to death, and numerous incidents involving e-scooters where people have been badly injured. All that this year. @[email protected]

mas.to

ahhbriese Mar 1

@BrentToderian na ja - schon toll, aber: https://www.pd-h.polizei-nds.de/verkehr/verkehrssicherheitsbericht-2024-der-polizeidirektion-hannover-116779.html

Beachtenswert die Unfallsursachen. Und dazu hel.fi Bevölkerungsstatistik und Hannover Statistik (beachte y-Achse) muss umgerechnet werden.

@BrentToderian The hardest part of this idea is getting people to drive at that speed. They certainly don’t obey the speed limits here despite automated speed cameras etc. When my city had a population of around 3 million there was a slogan, “let’s declare war on 1034”, that being the road toll. Now we are some 5 million and our road toll is around 300. Still not zero. But I think Finns are probably more socially-minded than our lot.

Sami Määttä Mar 1

@original_peterm @BrentToderian some might argue that pedestrians have learned to watch out for speeding cars on crosswalks.

To be fair, maybe every country views their driving culture as being the worse one, but we do have our share of problems.

Luckily Helsinki is taking lessons from school street initiatives and is going to build one next year - as a trial though.

millennial fulcrum Mar 1

@BrentToderian Heavenfloati 🤌🤌💛

@BrentToderian hi @greenparty_ie

nikolar 🏕Mar 1

@BrentToderian if this would be suggested in sweden (ie less speed )it would be such a bad vibe political. Moderaterna, Sverigedemokraterna and the rest of the government would be so pissed

@BrentToderian My not exactly progressive city apparently had that in 2024, but it is also less than 1/6 the population of Helsinki :^)

PedestrianError

@BrentToderian Meanwhile, bring up the same statistic to a US traffic engineer and you will get a reply (especially if said engineer benefits from male privilege and you do not) that "speed limits must be set based on data, not emotions." That literally happened in a discussion about the speed limit through a rural village center with a school and library.

Molly in Missouri Mar 2

@PedestrianError @BrentToderian theyre trained by capitalists, they know only what theyre told to know... until they learn better by being educated by the public. Repeatedly.

Catherine Schmidt Mar 1

@BrentToderian all the western nations are so much more civilized than we are….maybe someday.

Frost, wolf of winter 🐺🎄

@BrentToderian Wow, that's not a huge speed difference. Surprised it makes that huge of a difference.

And here in the US about the lowest it gets down to is 35 mph which is about 55 km/h...

Iαη 🍺Mar 2

@BrentToderian
It's good to know that road traffic deaths are optional. Most places choose the deaths option, rather than no deaths.
This is the way it should be framed to authorities elsewhere. And hold them to account at each death they chose to cause.

Gitanjali Mar 5

@BrentToderian we should try with 10km/h to cut in half even minor injuries