Finland has approved a national law permitting limited speed passenger cars for young people
In Finland, the Parliament has approved the modification of small and safe M1 category passenger cars fitted with speed limiters into tractors, so that the modified vehicle could be driven with a light quadricycle licence. The legislative amendment was adopted on 18 January 2019 and the new Act is due to enter into force on 1 November 2019.
The legislative amendment will introduce a new vehicle category with a maximum driving speed of 60 km/h. These limited-speed passenger cars could be driven by a person at least 15 years of age holding a driving licence for light quadricycles. The aim of the reform is to improve the safety of young drivers and provide young people with options for independent mobility.
The vehicle category of the limited-speed passenger car is tractor category T1. A driver of a limited-speed car has to be at least 15 years of age and hold a driving licence for light quadricycles (AM121). A limited-speed passenger car can be converted from a passenger car (M1) that has been taken into use after 2014. The maximum permissible unladen mass of a limited-speed car is 1,500 kg and, in case of an electric car, 1,800 kg. Limited-speed cars cannot be driven on motorways or express roads.
In order to convert a passenger car into a limited-speed passenger car, a modification inspection must be carried out. The taxation of limited-speed passenger cars will be the same as that of passenger cars.
When adopting the act, the Finnish Parliament required the Government to very closely monitor the safety of limited-speed cars as well as the effects of the regulation and, if necessary, take immediate action. The Parliament also required the Government to report on the situation to the Transport and Communications Committee by the end of 2021 at the latest.
During 2019, the Ministry of Transport and Communications and Traficom (the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency) will be preparing decrees and technical regulations related to the accessories for limited-speed cars (such as the regulations pertaining to towing hitches, the limited passenger number and transmission type) as well as requirements regarding the speed limiter. The EU Commission will still need to notify the regulations that refine the legislation.
Limited-speed passenger cars have been assessed to improve road safety
The new law has been assessed to improve road safety for young people, since the active and passive safety of passenger cars is considerably superior to that of light quadricycles and agricultural tractors that many young people today drive.
Passenger cars are considerably safer on the road than mopeds, motorcycles or light quadricycles. According to a report by Trafi (Finnish Transport Safety Agency), limited-speed cars would decrease the total number of victims in road accidents caused by persons between the ages of 15 and 17 by 28–62 injured people in a year. The greatest safety impact would be created by limited-speed cars replacing the kilometres driven with mopeds.
The safety features of a limited-speed car (compared to those of a light quadricycle) are particularly important in Finland, which has challenging weather and road conditions during its long and dark winter season. Finland has winter road conditions from October to April and the winter season lasts two months longer in the north of the country.
A limited-speed passenger car can be converted from a passenger car that has been taken into use after 2014
A limited-speed car can be converted from a passenger car that has been taken into use after 2014. The proposed age limit ensures that inexperienced drivers will have access to the latest active and passive safety equipment. The age limitation is appropriate with regard to road safety effects, because, for example, the electronic stability control system has been mandatory for all car models since 2014. A limited-speed car must be converted back to a passenger car by performing a modification inspection at the latest when the car is 10 years old.
Newer car models offer a wide range of active safety equipment to benefit many inexperienced drivers, including automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, emergency brake booster, collision warning, cross-traffic alert and lane-departure warning or lane-keeping assist. These safety features are available as standard equipment for about a third and as an optional accessory for about 75% of the compact, A and B segment passenger car models on the Finnish market.
Independent mobility reduces the need for drop-off traffic
Young people make about a quarter of their journeys as car passengers. Pick-up and drop-off traffic (being given a ‘lift’ as a car passenger) is by far the most popular mode of travel amongst young people within their own living environment. Public transport accounts for around 40 percent of the kilometres travelled by young people, but most of these involve long journeys that would not be replaced by a limited-speed car. Most shorter car journeys by young people are made as passengers: the overall distance driven would be reduced markedly if young people could make such journeys on their own initiative. Outside urban areas in particular, where public transport services are poor, reducing the number of pick-up and drop-off journeys would markedly reduce the number of kilometres driven.
Limited-speed cars would increase the mobility of both youths, and of adults without B-category licences, on the peripheries of urban areas and in rural areas. Such cars would mainly tempt moped, small motorcycle, and light quadricycle users, and young people receiving lifts, to switch mode of transport.
EU legal background
For several years now Finland has been looking into the possibility of introducing a national vehicle category that would allow for the use of passenger cars with limited speed. For example, agricultural tractors and light quadricycles are often used in Finland by younger drivers on their daily trips. The preparatory work for the Act started in a concrete manner in, after Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska stated her in response to a question by Mrs Merja Kyllönen, MEP, in July 2017, that "Member States may limit the speed of vehicles. However, limited-speed vehicles are approved according to national rules. The approval and enforcement of the related legislation falls within the responsibilities of Member States.” The new vehicle category remotely resembles a national vehicle category EPA tractor in Sweden.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications prepared the legislation between 2017 and 2018 and submitted a draft to the EU Commission for notification in the autumn of 2018. The Commission's notification did not raise any obstacles to further drafting of the legislation and in October 2018, the Government submitted a proposal on the legislative amendment to the Parliament. The notification of the EU Commission drew attention, for example, to the compatibility of vehicles with the technical characteristics required of the tractor class and to the fulfilment of the requirements of the Driving Licence Directive.
Furthermore, the Commission has been concerned about the potential distortion of the market for vehicles in the moped and light quadricycle categories. Mopeds and light quadricycles (vehicle category L6e) will remain part of the range of vehicles available in Finland, but the new law would introduce limited-speed passenger cars as an alternative for youths, and for adults without a B-class driving licence. The law allows flexible practices because a speed limiter could be installed in any small passenger car meeting certain technical requirements. The car would then be placed in the limited-speed passenger car category after passing a modification inspection. The new law will in no way restrict the import, sale or use of light quadricycles, and will thereby not contravene the rules or spirit of the internal market.
Finland is marginal in the EU’s light quadricycle market. In Europe, the most important markets for L6es are France, Italy and Spain. The EU’s light quadricycle market is extremely small compared to the moped, motorcycle and passenger car markets. In 2012, there were an estimated 340,000 light quadricycles in Europe, 17,000 of which were given their first registration as new. Around 11,000 of these were registered in France. In these countries, light quadricycle drivers are most often rural adults without B-class driving licence, who do not have access to suitable public transport services.
Finland’s light quadricycle user base is clearly different to those of other EU countries. In Finland, light quadricycles are chiefly used by young 15–17-year-olds and are mainly driven in small townships and rural areas. In Europe in general, on the other hand, the user base is growing among elderly drivers.
The Association of Automobile Industry in Finland has presented the proposed law to the technical division of EU DG Grow and to the members of the Vice President Katainen’s and Commissioner Bieńkowska’s cabinet. Proposal has also been presented to the technical and safety advisors of ACEA.
The market of speed-limited passenger cars has been assessed to be 12,000–40,000 cars
It is predicted that the limited-speed vehicle category would have only a minor effect on the vehicle stock in Finland. An estimated number of 12,000–40,000 limited-speed cars are expected to be introduced. The Association of Automobile Industry has assessed that the new vehicle class would on the long run increase the demand of new passenger cars annually by 2,000–3,000. During 2020–2021 the effect on new registrations is likely to be somewhat larger. Although the number is small, the change will have a welcome effect in terms of rejuvenating the vehicle fleet since, for road safety reasons, modification inspections of limited-speed cars would approve only relatively new cars. On average, Finland has an old car fleet – the average vehicle age was 12,1 years in 2018. In Finland, few cars are sold in segments A and B compared to the rest of Europe. For example, only 1.4% of newly registered cars in 2018 belonged to segment A and 18.4% to segment B. The introduction of limited-speed cars would bring more small cars into the car stock.
According to the assessment of the automotive branch, the limited-speed cars would reduce emissions from the car stock, as they would replace mopeds, agricultural tractors, light quadricycles and pick-up traffic by passenger cars. Almost all light quadricycles in Finland are diesel powered. Newer passenger cars meet the Euro 5 or Euro 6 standard exhaust emission requirements and their regulated emissions are small compared to two-stroke mopeds and diesel-powered light quadricycles. Light quadricycles are not equipped with modern emission control systems, such as diesel particulate filters or SCR systems. The Euro 4 standards have only applied to light quadricycles since 2017–2018, and the Euro 5 standards will not enter into force until 2020–2021. The Euro 5 standards were introduced for passenger cars in 2009–2010.