Espoo is the second largest city in Finland and it is situated on the southern coast next to Helsinki. The current population is 235,019. The city administration divides into Central Management and three sections: Education and Cultural Services, Social and Health Services and Environment and Technical Services. Environment and Technical Services tends to cleanliness, cosiness and safety of the urban environment. The section has 2,000 employees.

 

1.         We will improve road safety in residential areas by means of speed limits and traffic calming actions. For this, we will build speed-reducing elements such as bumps and will plan the road nets and the geometry of the roads in new building areas so that the roads do not enable high speeds.

We have written guidelines for the use of speed-reducing elements and we take part in a national project to make guidelines for planning and use of speed-reducing elements. We will use the guidelines that the national project produces. We develop the planning of the geometry of the roads in connection to town planning and to the general municipal engineering plans. We follow the development of road safety in residential areas in relation to new planning and building practices.

 

2.         Because of insufficient road safety near schools and day-care centres, we will enforce speed limits, build speed bumps etc. near schools and day-care centres accordant with the plans for road safety, and collect feedback on realized measures.

We have made questionnaire surveys among school pupils, elders and teachers. The surveys have given us plenty of proposals for road safety improvement, that are presently carried out. We will have new surveys to follow up the effects of the measures.

 

3.         We continue to execute other measures in the city's plan for physical accessibility in order to promote road safety for physically disabled.

The city has a steering group for physical accessibility. The group consists of city officials and representatives of people with disabilities. The group has made a plan for physical accessibility in the city. The Technical Department has a physical accessibility -responsible, who is the secretary of the steering group and who oversees that the proposed measures are implemented and who otherwise promotes physical accessibility. The cities in the Helsinki metropolitan area in cooperation have made model plans for road junctions and bus stops where special attention is paid to the needs of physically and visually handicapped. Similar work will be continued and intensified.

 

Number of schools affected: 110

Number of children affected: approx. 32.000