How Finland Put Traffic Crashes on Ice
The Nordic nation’s rate of vehicle fatalities is a fraction of the toll in the US, despite a harsh climate and ice-covered streets. Here’s how the Finns do traffic safety.
A little snow doesn’t stop cyclists in Helsinki.
Photographer: Vesa Moilanen/AFP via Getty Images
The 1960s were a boom time for Helsinki, Finland’s capital and largest city. Rising postwar incomes enabled a growing number of residents to purchase a car; the number of vehicles registered in the city tripled in just seven years. Gridlock inevitably followed.
To manage traffic and plot its future, the city of Helsinki commissioned a transportation master plan, co-authored by the US company Wilbur Smith & Associates and the Finnish firm Pentti Polvinen ky. In 1968, the consultants delivered their eye-watering proposal: nearly 200 miles of new highways in the Helsinki region, with much of downtown leveled to create space for high-speed motorways. The city’s existent streetcar system would be scrapped.