Motorists still drive in the wrong direction in the tunnels

The tunnels were the most in the wrong direction during the summer months, at night and on weekends, with little traffic.

Driving in the wrong direction in road tunnels is still causing danger, says Fintraffic.

Fintraffic looked at the traffic of four busy tunnels between 2021 and 2024. These were the Rantatunneli of Tampere, the Keilaniemi tunnel in Espoo, the Vuosaari tunnel in Helsinki and the Lipola tunnel of Lahti.

In the wrong direction, every four tunnels were driven 55 times. In addition, the tunnels were canceled 84 times.

According to Fintraffic, there were eight times in the wrong direction in the Tampere beach tunnel, 26 times in Vuosaari, Helsinki, 18 times in the Keilaniemi tunnel in Espoo and three times in the Liipola Tunnel in Lahti.

Cancellation was most observed in Espoo, 48 times. There were 20 rectors in Helsinki and in Tampere on 14th in Lahti only twice were canceled in Lahti.

Rare but a big risk

– Yes, they are quite rare, though. Traffic volumes are tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and dozens of individual runs in the wrong direction. But when someone is in the wrong direction, it causes a danger every time.

The tunnels were the most in the wrong direction during the summer months, at night and on weekends. Friday, Sunday and Wednesday were emphasized from the days of the week. At that time there is little traffic, recalls Sauramäki.

– The driver may not notice that he is leaving the ramp in the wrong direction when traffic is not encountered.

According to Sauramäki, there have been no serious accidents from the reversing or in the wrong direction.

In exceptional circumstances, Fintraffic controls traffic, for example, by lowering speed limits, introducing bulletin, lane and spare routes, or closing the entire tunnel.

Last year, the closure of the tunnel has been blocked nine times in the wrong direction and thus rejected the incident.