A year without road traffic fatalities: European city sets a record for road safety thanks to 5 simple changes

One of Europe’s smallest capitals has gone a year without a fatal accident — the last one was recorded in July 2024, before local authorities introduced several safety changes.

We are talking about Helsinki, Finland. According to an interview with local officials given to YLE (via Politico), 5 simple changes helped:

• The speed limit is 30 km/h;
• Improved control of violations — 70 more cameras were installed and the number of traffic police increased;
• Expanding the public transportation network;
• Improving the infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists;
• Narrowing the roads and planting additional trees along the roads.

Gradual but effective reforms

This is not the first record of “zero deaths” in road accidents for Helsinki; the first case was recorded in 2019, and since then they have been doing everything possible to repeat the record.

The speed limit was lowered from 40 to 30 km per hour in residential areas and the city center in 2021 (now almost 50% of the streets are subject to this speed limit), and over the following years, the city improved its policing strategy and video surveillance system. The city has also invested in new pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure (including a comprehensive network of more than 1,500 kilometers of bicycle paths), expanded its public transportation network with decarbonized autonomous buses, and received funding from the European Investment Bank for a new tram line.

The last point about narrowing roads and planting trees, according to Roni Utriainen, a traffic engineer at the local mayor’s office, makes it more difficult for drivers to get around and makes them drive with more caution, which also has a certain impact on the statistics.

Reducing injuries in road accidents

Although Helsinki is one of the smallest EU capitals, with a population of just under 690,000, around 1.5 million people commute to work across the capital region. Therefore, a “zero deaths” rate in road accidents during the year is a great achievement. However, this is not the only record-breaking figure that has been achieved thanks to these changes: the total number of injuries in accidents has also fallen, from almost 1,000 annually in the 1980s to just 277 last year.

Positive dynamics are generally demonstrated throughout Europe — with a 3% drop in road traffic deaths in 2024 compared to a year ago, when 7,807 Europeans died.

What is the situation in Ukraine?

Pros data According to the Ukravtoprom association, which cites a report by the patrol police, 1,367 people (including 69 children) died in Ukraine from January to June 2025 and another 13,895 were injured. The situation is almost unchanged from a year ago.

The most common causes of death in road accidents were speeding, driving into oncoming traffic, and pedestrians crossing in the wrong place. The largest number of accidents occurred between 4 and 7 p.m., and Friday was the most dangerous day of the week.