The most authoritative source to reading the traffic signs is
Tieliikenneasetus 5.3.1982/182, especially
Chapter 3, which defines legal traffic signs and their meaning and usage.
There’s also
this PDF guideline by the Transport Agency for road developers and maintainers, traffic planners etc., giving detailed descriptions of the proper, officially recommended usage of traffic signs.
The Transport Agency maintains
a website in English where the traffic signs are presented in English.
Finally, there’s also
this English language guide to reading the signs, published by the City of Helsinki, and
an English language website about parking in Helsinki maintained by the Public Works Department.
Some basics:
- All Finnish traffic signs have an official numeric code for easy reference. You often see these numbers in discussions where people want to refer to the signs unambiguously. For instance, the number of the STOP sign is 232. You can find these numbers e.g. in the decree linked above. When discussing traffic signs, it’s best to adopt this custom of referring to them by their number.
- Signs warning about a danger are triangular whereas prohibitory/restrictive signs and mandatory signs are round. Informative signs are rectangular or square.
- Warning signs and prohibitory signs have a red outline, yellow background and black markings. (Except for signs restricting parking where the main background color is blue but the outline and the diagonal bars are red!) Mandatory signs and informative signs generally have a white outline, blue background and white markings.
- Designated, marked parking lots are one thing. Parking on the side of a street is another thing. So there’s different signage for these two basic cases.
With that out of the way, the actual parking lots are indicated with an informative sign (
sign 677, a capital letter “P”) whereas parking on the side of a street is
not indicated as it is allowed by default.
Restrictions to that default rule, such as “Parking prohibited” and “Standing and parking prohibited”,
are indicated... with the respective prohibitory signs (
sign 372,
sign 371.)
• • •
So, if you see this sign alone...
Sign 677: “Parking”
...it’s an area set apart from the street traffic; a designated parking lot. Feel free to park there.
If you’re driving on a street which does not have any signage at all (that would apply to parking), feel free to park there, too. Parking on the side of a street is allowed by default.
Then again, if you see one of these alone:
Sign 371: “Standing and parking prohibited”
Sign 372: “Parking prohibited”
...parking is not allowed at all in the section of the street they apply to.
• • •
The section of the street to which the prohibitory signs apply can be indicated by using these additional arrow panels (they’re not to scale and usually smaller in size than the main sign):
Sign 827: “Regulation begins from the sign”
Sign 828: “Regulation ends to the sign”
There are a couple of other arrow panels with numbers in the same range. Check them out
here.
In absence of the arrow panels or other additional panels indicating the range of the prohibitory sign, the signs apply from the place where they’re erected all the way to the next intersection (or until another sign reverts them.) Signs prohibiting parking or standing the car only apply to the side of the street where they’re located.
• • •
The original prohibition can be made more specific by including some additional panels. (Prohibitory signs can only be made
less prohibitive than a stand-alone sign by adding such panels, never
more prohibitive.) When such panels are added to a sign, they follow the color scheme of the main sign. Here are some of the most common ones:
Sign 814: Distance to which the [original prohibitory] sign applies
Self-explanatory.
Sign 851
Black numbers. The prohibitory sign applies between 08:00 and 17:00 hours, Mo—Fr. (Regular workdays)
At other times, it does not apply, and you’re free to park there.
Sign 852
Black numbers in parenthesis. The prohibitory sign applies on Saturdays between 08:00 and 13:00 hours.
At other times, it does not apply, and you’re free to park there.
Sign 853
Red numbers. The prohibitory sign applies on Sundays
and public holidays between 08:00 and 14:00 hours
At other times, it does not apply, and you’re free to park there.
Signs 851, 852, and 853 can be combined.
• • •
But watch out for this one:
Sign 854: “Time limit”
This additional panel effectively says: “The effect of the prohibitory sign is postponed until the indicated amount of time has passed since you first violated it” (...if you’re still found violating it.) So equipped with this panel, the sign does
not limit your parking unless you violate it for a longer time than indicated in the panel.
This, too, can be combined with the above-mentioned hour ranges, in which case it limits the length of continuous parking
within those hours. (The sign does not apply outside those hours. Parking is allowed again outside those hours.)
• • •
There can also be additional panels pertaining to metered parking:
Sign 855a: “Parking against fee”
So, when that one is combined with the sign 372: “Parking prohibited”, it says: parking is prohibited during the indicated hours except when you pay for it (get a receipt from the machine and display it on your windscreen.)
• • •
Then there is...
Sign 856a: “Obligatory use of parking disc”
...which means the prohibition will apply to you unless you limit your stay to the indicated length of time
and use the parking disc. Again, this could be combined with certain hours (to which the prohibition will apply.)
• • •
With designated parking lots...
Sign 677: “Parking”
...it’s the same, except now the additional panels have a matching blue color scheme, and the times and time-frames place additional restrictions on free parking (free parking is the default if the sign appears alone, with no additional panels.)
For instance, when the “P” sign is combined with...
Sign 855b: “Parking against fee”
...it means parking is metered during the indicated times. (Free at other times.)
Or if there’s the panel...
Sign : “Obligatory use of parking disc”
...with no further hours panels, you’re always expected to use a parking disc, and even with a disc, you’re not allowed to park for a longer time than indicated in the panel.
• • •
If you have other additional panels, either textual or images, such as...
Sign 831: “Passenger car”
Sign 832: “Bus”
Sign 833_2: “Vehicle combination”
...they further limit the effect of the sign to the indicated class of vehicles, specifically.
Sometimes there’s also a text panel starting with the words
Ei koske... (“Does not apply to...”) — a negation. For example,
Ei koske mopoja (“Does not apply to mopeds”) or
Ei koske talon asukkaita (“Does not apply to the residents of the house”). Or it could be of the form
Sallittu mopoille (“Allowed for mopeds”.) Text panels are used both for including and excluding certain classes of drivers or vehicles whenever there’s no standard sign for communicating the intended effect. They could also contain arbitrary free-form text limiting the effect of the main sign by some other special criteria.
And wouldn't want the price of the car rental to increase to cover the salary of someone explaining things to me.