Winter is at the gates, and with it comes also the obligation to adapt some driving rules to harsh weather conditions and to excessive ice, snow and darkness.
According to the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency (FTIA), winter speed limits will start to take effect on Tuesday 29 October and will be in force nationwide next weekend.
The change will last for approximately the next five months and in general will oblige drivers to reduce summer speed limits by 20 kilometers per hour.
Thus, the speed limit will generally be reduced to 80 kilometers per hour in Finland's major roads. However, this limit will be lowered to 70 kilometers per hour on some sections of the road. Lower speeds are affected, for example, by poor road conditions or high volumes of traffic, FTIA says.
100 Km/h on motorways
On motorways, speed limits will drop to 100 kilometers per hour. The one hundred kilometer speed limit will generally apply to all motorways and other sections of the main roads where driving directions are separated.
Again, there are sections of the motorways with variable speed limits depending on weather conditions. Such roads may allow higher maximum limits in good driving conditions and during daylight hours until the end of November.
Other traffic rules
FTIA stressed that, in addition to traffic signs, other traffic rules also influence the maximum speed limit.
For example, drivers should take into account aspects such as traffic and road conditions, weather and visibility. "Wise drivers know that safe driving can sometimes require much lower speeds than traffic signals allow," says FTIA.
Summer speed limits will return between March and April, when days start to get longer and the weather improves.
