Finnish police tighten speeding enforcement, fines surge

Finnish police have sharply increased fines for minor speeding offences, with penalties for exceeding the limit by up to 10 km/h rising by over 82% between spring 2025 and spring 2026, Yle reports.

Automated camera enforcement issued nearly 115,000 speeding penalties in the same period. The crackdown follows a policy shift in summer 2024, abandoning the previous threshold where speeds under 7 km/h over the limit went unpunished. Now, even slight excess speeds can trigger fines.

Mobile enforcement units saw a 123% increase in penalties issued, while fixed camera poles rose by 62%. Senior Constable Toni Iivonen of Central Finland Police stated the measures aim to reduce traffic accidents and injuries, calling the stricter approach a success for road safety.

Police continue to deduct 3 km/h from measured speeds to account for potential measurement errors. Despite the surge in fines, Iivonen noted fewer speeding incidents on the roads, attributing this to the stricter enforcement, weather conditions, and fuel prices. However, Finnish drivers tend to speed more in winter than summer, according to Fintraffic data covering summer 2024 and winter 2024–25.

Finland has 26 mobile enforcement vehicles and nearly 300 fixed cameras, alongside over 2,000 camera poles. All police vehicles, motorcycles, and boats also monitor speeding.