Speed cameras flash every five minutes as empty poles deter drivers

Fixed speed cameras in Finland flash an average of once every five minutes, with one of the country’s busiest cameras located in Nerkkoo, Lapinlahti, Yle reports. The camera issued a traffic penalty or fine to drivers 1,136 times last year and ranked fifth nationally for the number of flashes this summer.

Finland has about 1,200 fixed traffic safety poles, commonly known as speed camera poles. A single municipality can have several of them. Lapinlahti has 12.

The Nerkkoo camera is located on Highway 5, where the speed limit drops from 80 kilometres per hour to 60 well before a school. The camera is positioned shortly afterwards and photographs vehicles travelling from north to south.

Police reject claims of a speed trap

The location of cameras has prompted suspicions among drivers in different parts of the country. Tita Poikonen, a senior constable with the Eastern Finland Police Department, acknowledged that more than 1,000 flashes a year sounded like a high number but rejected the idea that the Nerkkoo camera was a speed trap.

Automatic traffic enforcement brings the state millions of euros each year. In 2024, drivers were issued traffic penalty fees totalling about 18.9 million euros, of which approximately 15 million euros resulted from camera images. The money goes to the state as general revenue, not to the police.

Kaisa Sedig, a commissioner at the police Traffic Safety Centre, said cameras were placed where they could prevent accidents and influence driving behaviour. She said enforcement was typically focused on roads leading into cities and areas near schools.

Cameras are moved between poles

The police have about 300 traffic enforcement cameras, which are rotated between the approximately 1,200 poles. Each camera has an alarm that must be switched off before the equipment can be handled. Cameras are lowered and raised using a rope.

The Traffic Safety Centre decides which cameras are active at any given time. Police say that an empty camera pole can also improve road safety because drivers generally reduce their speed when passing one.

To make empty poles appear active, police place a compact disc inside them. Poikonen calls these decoys.

Most violations lead to penalty fees

Images taken by the speed cameras are sent wirelessly to the police Traffic Safety Centre, which processes about 150,000 observed traffic violations and offences each year. The images show the vehicle, registration number, driver and identification details for the image.

Most speeding offences detected by fixed poles and police camera cars fall below the threshold for a day-fine. In those cases, the driver receives a traffic penalty fee.

Many drivers brake just before reaching a camera pole. Poikonen said this showed that drivers were checking their speed and slowing down when necessary. She warned that sudden braking could be dangerous when vehicles were travelling in a line.

Poikonen said the state revenue was not the main purpose of automatic enforcement. The aim was to make drivers notice their speed and adjust it, rather than to generate large numbers of images or fines.

The current camera systems, sometimes known as birdhouse cameras, are gradually being replaced by radar-based cameras.