Map identifies schools near the most traffic accidents

Schools near busy, multi-lane roads often have the most dangerous pedestrian crossings, according to an investigation by Yle. Unsignalised crossings are particularly risky when one car stops but another in the next lane does not.

Yle mapped reported accidents near crossings by primary and lower secondary schools, upper secondary schools and vocational schools. The map includes accidents involving a motor vehicle and a person travelling on foot, by bicycle or on a light electric vehicle.

The ages of those involved are not known, so the people in the accidents may not have been schoolchildren. The data covers only accidents reported to the authorities, meaning many dangerous situations and minor accidents are not included.

Eight-year-old Hugo Leino attends Vallila Primary School in Helsinki. The school is surrounded by three busy, multi-lane roads: Mäkelänkatu, Hämeentie and Sturenkatu. Local residents call the area between the roads the “Bermuda Triangle”.

Many of the school’s pupils cross one of the main roads on their way to school. Several pedestrians have been injured at crossings near schools in Vallila and the neighbouring Käpylä district, according to Yle’s investigation.

Leino said he likes walking to school, although traffic can sometimes be frightening. His mother, Inka Norros, said he is accompanied when he needs to cross Mäkelänkatu. Roadworks in the area have made traffic even more unpredictable.

Norros said the most dangerous crossings were unsignalised crossings over busy roads with several lanes travelling in the same direction. She said dangerous situations and near misses occurred constantly near the school because not all drivers stopped to let pedestrians cross.

Tomi Niemi, a planner at the Finnish Road Safety Council, said the most dangerous crossings were places with what he called a “penknife effect”. The risk is greatest when a road has two or more lanes in the same direction.

Routes that pass over or under a road, as well as traffic lights, significantly reduce accidents. However, signalised crossings can also be difficult when turning vehicles have the same green light as pedestrians, particularly for children who may struggle to notice turning traffic.

Vehicle speed has a major effect on both the likelihood and severity of accidents. The Finnish Road Safety Council recommends a speed limit of 30 kilometres per hour near schools.

“We still have many urban areas where the speed limit is 50 kilometres per hour and children’s journey to school crosses such a road,” Niemi said.

Helsinki has decided to lower speed limits near schools, but this has not happened outside every school. On Hämeentie, for example, the speed limit remains between 40 and 50 kilometres per hour.

According to Niemi, about 60 per cent of Helsinki’s street network is covered by speed-limit zones of 30 kilometres per hour or lower. In Lappeenranta, the corresponding figure is about 12 per cent.

The Finnish Road Safety Council’s latest measurement found that 83 per cent of drivers did not comply with the speed limit at crossings near schools. Niemi said adults bear most of the responsibility for children’s road safety.

After schools reopened, two children were reported to have been hit by cars at crossings in Karkkila and Lohja. Statistics Finland recorded five deaths and 130 injuries among primary school-age children in road traffic in 2024.