Winter roads in Finland. Finland and Norway in winter
I don’t understand how they ride on them and how they are still alive in general. Whether it's winter roads in Russia - sprinkled with salt, reagents, sand or granite chips. And here?
In Lapland, completely covered with snow, no one sprinkles anything on highways or streets in cities. Solid snow on the road, on the roadside, no dirty dumps and porridge under your feet, all cars are clean, shoes on your feet do not fall apart and do not have white streaks when you come home. And everyone drives normally, no accidents, for a week I have not seen a single car lying in a ditch, as you know where ...
How does it work? And the roads are not polluted with all these mixtures, and is it safe to drive in winter? Riddle... What do you think, how do they do it?
1. The only thing they do with the roads here is that they clean it from freshly fallen snow all the time. Dangerous powder, hiding the true state of the road and slippery bald spots, is almost never found here. Ice - yes, it occurs, but ... accidents are not visible! Maybe the reason is that if there is a sign of 80 on the highway, everyone goes 80, not 99, and even more so they don’t rush under 130.
2. The road at the entrance to one of the Lapland cities.
3. This is how the roads inside the towns and cities in Lapland look like.
4. Below is a photo of how the route from Rovaniemi to Ivalo looks like.
6. On descents, dangerous turns or road intersections, it is not uncommon to see lighting lights. Naturally, these measures reduce the likelihood of accidents.
Finns sometimes find quite successful solutions to various everyday issues. Finland is a northern country, so here, as in Russia, there is a lot of snow in winter. Too much snow and ice. This makes it difficult to ensure safe driving in winter. Nokian winter tires alone are not enough here. In addition, there are pedestrians and bicycles in addition to cars. Many believe that the only way to deal with ice and snow on the roads is to spray the roadway and sidewalks with chemicals that melt the snow and ice, ensuring that the tires of the car are in direct contact with the road. However, there are other interesting ways that are used in Finland and which we will tell you about today.
Various chemical reagents, even such as salt, certainly clear the road, but at the same time cause significant harm to the environment: they spoil the cars themselves, shoes. Many are very unhappy with the fact that their car rots faster, and their boots are constantly in white stains in winter.
Gravel instead of reagents and sand
You can sprinkle sand on the road, but the sand litters the city, which is already full of dust in spring. Finns very often use fine gravel instead of sand and reagents. The size of gravel crumbs that are sprinkled on roads in Finland ranges from a few millimeters to a centimeter, that is, it is not sand or dust, but small sharp pebbles.
This is how the pebbles with which the Finns sprinkle roads in winter look like
Pebbles work very effectively. The pebbles are sharp and cut into both the ice and the sole of your shoe or the tread of your car or bicycle tire, providing good traction on both snow and ice. Pebbles do not need to be poured every day, but only when it snows, or because of the weather conditions there is ice on the road. Sprinkled with stones and they lie until the next snowfall. I don’t know how often I have to pour stones, but it seems to me that on average it turns out no more than once a week. The stones work quite well, providing good contact with the road for pedestrians, bicycles and cars moving at low speeds in the city.
The stones have another significant plus. In addition to being natural to the environment, unlike chemical reagents, stones can be collected and used a second time. Pebbles are quite heavy and, unlike sand, remain until spring in the place where they were poured out. In the spring, as soon as the frosts stop, pebbles are collected very quickly all over Finland.
Several tractors in a couple of hours can collect stones on the whole street ...
Pebbles are collected, firstly, to be used next winter, because the Finns are very economical. And secondly, to clean the roadway. As soon as the snow melts, the pebbles on the road become somewhat dangerous. A pile of pebbles scattered on the pavement behaves like a pile of small balls. If you brake sharply on pebbles on asphalt without ice and snow, then the car or bicycle will roll further. At low speeds up to 40 km / h, this is not critical, but at high speeds it becomes dangerous.
In the spring, pebbles can even become dangerous, as they behave like balls on asphalt...
Pebbles are very effective, especially in the city center where there are many pedestrians and cars move slowly. Pebbles do not work on long highways, therefore, in Finland, reagents are also poured on the roadway on high-speed highways.
The spring sun heated the pebbles and they fell through the ice...
And the pebbles are all under the ice...
In the spring, pebbles almost do not work for some time ...
Also, the pebbles do not work in the spring, when the ice melts. In the spring day, black stones, unlike white snow, quickly heat up and “fall through” through the ice cover on the road. By night, frosts again, there are no stones on the road, but solid ice. But this situation does not last long. At this time, you just need to be a little more careful. But in winter, in general, you need to drive and walk more carefully. Therefore, in our opinion, Finnish pebbles are a very effective environmentally friendly solution to the problem of traffic safety in winter for a small city.
In spring, all sidewalks and roadways in Finland are covered with a layer of stones...
In Finland, almost all cities are quite small. Are pebbles suitable for a big city? In our opinion, quite, especially in the city center, in pedestrian areas. How expensive is this gravel to use? It seems to us that it is no more expensive than chemicals or sand. In both cases, a machine is needed to pour the reagent and scatter sand or stones. So the cost of the procedure of throwing stones is the same. Perhaps the stones are more expensive, but they can be used repeatedly. A special technique collects stones very quickly. Several Finnish tractors can clean an entire street in a couple of hours. Watch our video show for yourself and see how easy it is:
Avtostolitsa found out how the Finno-Ugric brothers fight snow in their cities
An ordinary day in an ordinary Finnish city Lappeenranta. The photo clearly shows that the rotary nozzle of the tractor throws snow from the roadway over the sidewalk. Neither the road itself nor the pedestrian path has been cleared to asphalt
In Russia, winter is traditionally the time for complainers. The population complains about snow and ice on the roads. Special services are struggling with ice, abundantly sprinkling transport and pedestrian arteries with a mixture of sand and salt. Complainants are unhappy with either one or the other. Salt, in their opinion, corrodes cars and shoes, sand becomes the main stain. Complainers traditionally nod to neighboring Europe and, in particular, Finland, whose climate is similar to Russia's. In this regard, DENIS TYURKIN became interested in the road services of the Finno-Ugric brothers: how do they deal with ice? Do they sprinkle sand? Or salt? Or something else?
Interlocutors
With complex intricate schemes, thanks to religious figures, book publishers and the World Wide Web, corr. "C" came across two residents of blessed Finland, who are our experts in this material. Mentally shake hands with them. Yucca Repo. He is engaged in the automotive business, he has his own company for the production of numbers. By the way, he lived in Russia for some time - in St. Petersburg and ... Saransk. Now he lives in the village of Muukko near the city of Lappeenranta. This place is remarkable for the karting track, named after the great Finnish racer Kimmi Raikkonen. The Formula 1 pilot trained in Lappeenranta in his youth, so the personal karting track there by the way ...
The second expert is Matti Himmi, something like a chief road engineer in the municipality of Lappeenranta. On it lie the cleaning and maintenance of all local transport arteries. Lappeenranta in terms of the number of inhabitants - about 80 thousand - is inferior to Saransk, but significantly surpasses it in area. If the capital of Mordovia occupies 71.6 square kilometers, then the Finnish city - more than 1700 "squares"! And even if we subtract 200 square kilometers of the water surface, then the remaining area should impress a resident of Saransk. “There are more streets in Lappeenranta, which means that there is much more work for special services than in Saransk,” says Jukka Repo.
Saving
As Matti Himmi explains, in Finland they take into account how expensive the snow removal will be. We can say that economic feasibility is at the forefront. In this regard, there are three ways. The first is the cleaning of the roadway by two trucks with dumps. The first goes in the middle of the road, the second cleans up the remains behind the first, raking the snow to the side of the road. The method is considered the most effective and economical. The second is harvesting by tractors with a rotary nozzle, which throws snow several meters away. And if the trucks are the property of the municipality, then the tractors belong to private owners. In winter, the city enters into an agreement with the owners of such vehicles. In the summer, snow removal equipment is removed from tractors and used in agriculture. It is also considered effective, because the technique is used all year round, bringing benefits and not standing idle in the garage. The third method is considered the most expensive. It is associated with the removal of snow outside the city by trucks from those areas where it is necessary.
Now about what roads and sidewalks are sprinkled with in Finland. Significant highways and major streets are treated with pure salt. True, as Matti Himmi notes, this technology is gradually being excluded from life in the country, since it is harmful to the environment: artesian sources are polluted, soil is damaged ... Sidewalks, pedestrian and bicycle paths (yes, Suomi residents do not leave two-wheeled transport even in winter! ) are sprinkled only with granite chips and nothing more: they are not treated with salt! As for the sand. It can only be used on small village roads, it is not used in cities.
With and without spikes
On secondary rural paths, snow is specially left to prevent damage to the coating during cleaning. Other transport arteries try to clean up to the asphalt, but without fanaticism, so as not to damage the coating. In cities, there is generally no direct requirement for road builders to clean roads down to asphalt. It's just not necessary, since the vast majority of passenger cars in Finland are equipped with studded tires in winter. According to Yukka Repo, such motorists help those who drive on friction tires without studs. How? Metal loosens the ice, improving the hold! Such is the opinion. And here is an interesting trend. Recently, in Nordic countries like Sweden and Finland, the number of cars on non-studded tires has been on the rise. Local drivers thus try to minimize the damage caused by spikes to the road surface. And officials also explain to them that buying cheaper tires, which are friction tires, is economically beneficial. But there are no strict legislative restrictions in this regard yet, so most people drive the old fashioned way - on spikes.
The main conclusion our experts draw is not how well roads are cleaned in Finland. And what car tires the Finns use, making their trip safe. That is, the emphasis is on the consciousness of the driver and his attitude to winter driving. By the way, in this country there is a rule prohibiting the operation of winter tires with a residual tread depth of less than 6 millimeters. If you don't do it, you'll get a big fine! For comparison, in Russia, only from January 1, 2015, the "winter tire standard" began to operate, but it is much softer. In our country, the residual tread depth can be 4 mm.
Speed
Does the speed limit change on Finnish highways in winter? Yes. According to Jukka Repo, on highways where the speed limit is 100 km/h in summer, it is forbidden to accelerate more than 80 km/h in winter. On new major highways built in the last five years, the limit is flexible depending on the current weather. There, in some areas there are their own miniature weather stations. According to their testimony, the road builders set speed limits and warn drivers about this using interactive electronic scoreboards that are on the track. For example, during a conversation with Finnish experts, which took place on February 2, it was freezing rain on the outskirts of Lappeenranta and there was poor visibility. The situation was difficult, so the road workers decided to set a low speed limit. In cities, nothing changes in winter, there is a limit of 30 to 60 km/h. “Obviously, if it's slippery, people try to drive quietly,” says Jukka Repo. - When I lived in your country, I was amazed by some Russians who, even on ice, allowed themselves to accelerate to 100 km / h and more. This is unacceptable".
By the way
According to Jukka Repo, in Finland there is such a procedure: if, for example, you broke your leg when you slipped, then your treatment is paid by the company responsible for cleaning the area where you were unlucky enough to fall.
“People in Finland are responsible for their work,” says the businessman. - Personal responsibility motivates. If I work well, then no one falls on my territory and I will not need to pay compensation. But if it’s bad, then I won’t have money to live on.”
Every high-rise building in this country has a building management board, which includes active residents. They enter into contracts with third-party cleaning firms and make decisions for their neighbors.
Winter speed limits
Finland has special restrictions in winter. The maximum allowable speed on the highway is 80 km/h, on the highway - 100 km/h.
The Finnish transport agency estimates that winter restrictions save 14 lives every year.
The Finnish traffic regulations can be found in Russian at the Finnish Road Safety Education Organization Liikenneturva.
Watch your thermometers
The weather in Finland likes to “pamper” drivers with unpleasant surprises. Therefore, the national road administration pays special attention to studying the condition of roads and warning drivers.
Thermometers are installed on the roadsides, which show the temperature of the air (ilma) and the road surface (tie). If the road temperature is below zero, and the air temperature is higher, the drivers themselves slow down: they know that in these conditions the formation of “black ice” is possible - a thin crust into which moisture turns, condensing on a cold road.
This ice is almost invisible, and it is difficult to distinguish a wet road from an icy one. The car, hitting the strip of "black ice", instantly loses control. "Black ice" most often occurs at the beginning of a thaw.
You can learn about the air temperature (ilma) and the road (tie), as well as traffic on-line, on the website of the road authority alk.tiehallinto.fi (images from 146 video cameras installed on the roads of Finland).
Another dangerous phenomenon is freezing rain. Drops of water falling through a layer of cold air cool down to sub-zero temperatures, but do not freeze. However, at the first touch with tree branches, wires or a road, they instantly turn into an ice crust.
A sharp drop in temperature, a glassy sheen in the headlights of roadside bushes and a changed knock of drops on the windshield warns of the appearance of freezing rain - it becomes hard.
MEMO Finnish authorities on the Rules of the road in Russian
All roads in Finland are divided into three categories according to the quality of their service. Roads of the highest category are removed from snow first of all, then secondary roads are cleaned, and only then are the country roads, which by the middle of winter are under a compacted snow crust. Such roads are generously sprinkled with granite chips, which gives better grip on the road than river sand. The most difficult sections are also sprinkled with crumbs - entrances to bridges, road junctions, intersections - in general, those places where cars are rebuilt and change speed.
spikes
By order of the road administration in winter, that is, from December 1 to March 1, it is necessary to drive around Finland on winter, preferably studded, tires. Studded tires are effective when driving on roads covered with a layer of compacted snow. The use of friction rubber ("Velcro") or all-season is allowed, but the Finns prefer to use studded tires in winter, as they consider it the most reliable.
Winter tires(or tires designed for year-round use, without studs). Mandatory application from 1.12. to 29.02. The use of winter tires without studs is allowed all year round. The depth of the pattern is at least 3 mm. This applies to all foreign-registered passenger cars and pickup trucks with a total weight not exceeding 3,500 kg.
Application of spikes allowed only during the period from 1.11. March 31 or the second Monday after Easter if that Monday does not fall on a date earlier than March 31. The exception is when the use of winter and / or studded tires is due to weather conditions. For non-compliance with the rule, a forgetful driver can pay a very high fine.
Summer tires
Application allowed from 01.03. to 30.11. The depth of the pattern is not less than 1.6 mm. Sometimes at the border, the Finns measure the tread, and due to the seasonal mismatch of tires, you may simply not be allowed into the country.
Driving style
Finnish driving style surprises Russians with its regularity. And he gives the result: the death rate on the roads of Finland is three times lower than in Russia.
In Finland, there are special courses where drivers learn the features of winter driving. In short, they boil down to well-known rules:
always try to anticipate the development of the situation;
slow down before entering the turn;
do not make sudden movements with the steering wheel, gas, brake; do not make rash overtaking.
In winter, special attention should be paid to snow removal. Snowplows block most of the roadway, and overtaking such a vehicle on a normal road often ends up in a collision with an oncoming vehicle. Sometimes it makes sense to wait for the snow blower to go into the "pocket" at the bus station and let the "tail" of the cars pass.
Remember that the alarm in the car is set not only to indicate a stop in the wrong place or after a collision. In case you feel insecure, if a loss of control is possible, in any uncertain situation, turn on the “emergency gang”, demonstrating to others that something is not right with you.
It is also necessary to monitor the condition of the car - in particular, the “wipers” must be in good order and cleared of ice growths, an anti-freeze liquid must be filled into the windshield watering tank.
Website of the Finnish Road Administration www.tiehallinto.fi
Website of the Finnish Road Safety Service www.liikenneturva.fi (there are pages in Russian).
The number of the duty officer of the Finnish road service is 0200 2100 (English).
In the event of an accident, call the emergency service by calling 112 (English).
February 2012
My husband and I have prepared a short note about the roads in Finland, as we ourselves love to travel by car. Danya (my husband) has been to Finland about 10 times. Most often - by car. In this joint post, Danya talks about the roads of Finland (briefly and dryly, like a real man), gives useful advice to former and future travelers, talks about parking and elementary rules... in general, shares his experience. And I add a little female thoughts :)
Use of dipped beam, foglights
The dipped beam on the car must always be on while driving.
Fog lights are allowed to be used only when they are really needed (in fog, snow).
Anti-radar
Banned as a class, in case of detection when passing through the border, there is a big chance not to cross this very border.
Speed mode
Standard speed limit - built-up area 50 km/h, outside the built-up area 80 km/h. Signs indicating the permitted speed are often, very often.
Road speed control
In many places, cameras are installed that fix the speed and take a photo of the car in case of violation. They are honestly warned about by signs hanging 200-300 meters before the camera installation site. But there are also completely inconspicuous and unadvertised cameras. If you see a flash, it is almost 100% that you have broken something.
Changing signs of speed depending on conditions
Depending on road conditions, the speed may be automatically limited. On major freeways, speed limit signs are electronic and can change their numbers.
Parking on the highway
Parking on the side of the road is not allowed - special parking lots are made along the entire route after about tens of kilometers.
Parking outside settlements on the road with the sign "main road" is prohibited, for parking there are specially designated places for this, marked with the letter P. This may simply be a widening of the carriageway, or it may be a road branching away from the main road with a platform at the end , toilets, gazebos, benches, information about the region.
Roads in winter
The roads are more slippery but cleaner. The road surface feels more slippery, especially in the city. There is no salt on the roads, they are sprinkled with granite chips. But omyvaykoy used 2 times for the entire journey. After returning to the territory of Russia, the washer reservoir ran out at 100 kilometers.
Pedestrians
Pedestrians are sacred! They may not look when they cross the road. In Finland, there are no crossings on roads with a speed of more than 60. Pedestrians are either very fond of, or very afraid. We did not meet a single pedestrian crossing on the highway where the speed limit was more than 60 km/h. If you still need to cross the highway, then a few hundred meters from it, a sign is placed that limits the speed to 60. Outside the settlements, crossings with an island in the middle are very common, and when it is dark, this island is highlighted.
Circular motion
Many intersections of equivalent roads are organized in roundabouts. It's pretty convenient. The main one is the one who is already on the circle, and not the one who enters it.
Left Lane
No one drives in the left lane - it is only for overtaking.
When driving on roads with two lanes in one direction (to be honest, we have not met roads with three lanes), the left lane is always free, no one is driving along it, it is only for overtaking. Overtook and back to the right lane.
Did turn signals invent panties?
Everyone always uses a turn signal. Unfortunately, in Russia it is becoming almost indecent to use it. The only car that did not show a turn signal during our entire trip had a region number 177 rus :)
Rapidly changing traffic lights in the city
Traffic signals change unusually quickly (especially in cities). The yellow signal is almost invisible, and the green signal does not blink.
A traffic light with an arrow is a separate traffic light
On our way there were no so-called traffic lights with arrows. The arrow is a separate full-fledged traffic light with its own red, yellow and even green color.
About parking
You can not get up in the yards - a fine of 40 euros.
The courtyard of the house is considered a private area and the entrance to it is decorated with signs warning that parking in the courtyard may result in a fine of 40 euros.
For 600 km of movement in Finland, we met only one police car, and that one at night, though shamelessly violating speed limits :)
Violate all kilometers by 10.
Of course, no one observes the speed limit literally, almost all kilometers break the speed by 5-10.
Another observation - the farther the country is from Russia, the less conditional porshikayens are found on the roads. During my approximately 10 stays in Finland, I met only 1 Cayenne and 2 Audi Ku7 with Finnish numbers. In Estonia, this number is already several orders of magnitude higher. Now let's look out the window...
In general, Yelopukki's relatives do not drive on novelties of the car market. There are a lot of old cars, but they are all in very good condition. In one of the parking lots next to us, there was an Opel Kadett, the car was finally discontinued in 1991, that is, now it is at least 21 years old. The main problem of these cars is the rusting rear arches, you can easily see this when you meet such an instance on our roads - either there will be a bunch of welding marks in this place, or a bunch of rust. The Finnish cadet had everything native, according to the sensations at least.
And now I took away the computer from Dani and I want to say a few words as a navigator.
Maps and navigator
In fact, the real navigator in our car is the Tom-Tom navigator. He knows all the roads (even country roads) in Finland and takes us everywhere excellently. Therefore, when going on a trip, I advise you to get a navigator and fill it with places of interest. We call our navigator Natasha (he has a female voice), we lovingly disobey him, if we know better where we need to go ... and we take him on walking tours around the city! Very comfortably. Of course, we always have a paper road map of Finland with us (somehow we bought it on Nesta) and maps of the region and city where we are going. First of all, when we get to a new place, we go to tourist information - we collect maps and booklets on interesting places. Sometimes cards can be found in the parking lot.
Points of interest signs
The whole of Finland is full of signs. But not traffic signs, but informational signs - where there is something interesting.
White monogram on a brown background with the name of the attraction and how many kilometers to the place. Eh, there would be more guidebooks, where all these places are painted.
Good luck on the roads!
poppismic
24/02/2012 02:57
The opinion of tourists may not coincide with the opinion of the editors.