What are the aims of the new Road Traffic Act?
The new Road Traffic Act entered into force on 1 June 2020. The new Act improves the flow and safety of traffic and creates conditions for the digitalisation and safe automation of transport while simultaneously reducing regulation.
The reformed Road Traffic Act creates a framework that ensures the smooth flow and safety of traffic also in the future. The Road Traffic Act reform streamlines regulations and is a significant deregulation project.
Several decrees will be repealed in connection with the new Act’s entry into force. These include the Road Traffic Decree (182/1982) and the Decree on the Use of Vehicles on the Road (1257/1992). In practice, this means that in the future, traffic signs, road markings, traffic lights, vehicle speeds, and dimensions and masses, for example, will no longer be regulated by decree but by law.
The new Road Traffic Act also meets the requirements set by international agreements and EU legislation.