Police gave me a fine for endangered driving after my car skidded and crashed out of my driving lane?

[ddreset]

Hi,

Last weekend I had a car accident in Lapland where my car skidded, first the car skidded to right side, my first reaction was to pull the wheel to left, and I did not hit the brake because I know hitting brake will only make the skidding worse. But then the car skidded to left (oncoming traffic lane) and was totally out of control, fell off the road and hit a lamp pole. The lamp pole fell and blocked the traffic on that side. No one was injured and no one was on oncoming traffic lane when skidding happened.

I was driving 80km/h (the actual speed should be lower than 80), the speed limit was also 80, and there were also cars behind of me driving the similar speed as me. I was not talking to anyone, not distracted by anything, and both of my hands were on the wheel. Besides, before the accident I have driven 100km far, and there were cars driving also around 80km/h, as I was driving towards south, the road condition was getting better on the way, so I thought this speed was fine. Now I know I should be much more careful in winter driving, but at that moment I thought driving according to the speed limit was fine

Then the police gave me a fine according to RL 23:1 LIIKENNETURVALLISUUDEN VAARANTAMINEN MOOTTORIKÄYTTÖISEN AJONEUVON KULJETTAJANA LUISUI ULOS AJORADALTA SUUREN TILANNENOPEUDEN, HUOLIMATTOMUUDEN TAI MUUN VASTAAVAN SYYN VUOKSI JA TEKO OLI OMIAAN AIHEUTTAMAAN VAARAA TOISEN TURVALLISUUDELLE (ENDANGERING TRAFFIC SAFETY AS THE DRIVER OF A MOTORIZED VEHICLE SLIPPED OUT OF THE LANE DUE TO HIGH SITUATION SPEED, NEGLIGENCE OR ANOTHER SIMILAR REASON AND THE ACT WAS INTENDED TO CAUSE A DANGER TO THE SAFETY OF ANOTHER)

And fine is 14 pcs x Daily fines and crime victim surcharge.

I wonder if anyone has heard or experienced similar situation? Should I just accept the fine?

[betelgeuse]

Last weekend I had a car accident in Lapland where my car skidded, first the car skidded to right side, my first reaction was to pull the wheel to left, and I did not hit the brake because I know hitting brake will only make the skidding worse. But then the car skidded to left (oncoming traffic lane) and was totally out of control, fell off the road and hit a lamp pole. The lamp pole fell and blocked the traffic on that side. No one was injured and no one was on oncoming traffic lane when skidding happened.

Quick and large corrective steering actions are dangerous.

” Vältä voimakkaita ohjausliikkeitä.”

https://moottori.fi/liikenne/jutut/osaa ... i-vinkkia/

[browndude]

Hi,

Last weekend I had a car accident in Lapland where my car skidded, first the car skidded to right side, my first reaction was to pull the wheel to left, and I did not hit the brake because I know hitting brake will only make the skidding worse. But then the car skidded to left (oncoming traffic lane) and was totally out of control, fell off the road and hit a lamp pole. The lamp pole fell and blocked the traffic on that side. No one was injured and no one was on oncoming traffic lane when skidding happened.

I was driving 80km/h (the actual speed should be lower than 80), the speed limit was also 80, and there were also cars behind of me driving the similar speed as me. I was not talking to anyone, not distracted by anything, and both of my hands were on the wheel. Besides, before the accident I have driven 100km far, and there were cars driving also around 80km/h, as I was driving towards south, the road condition was getting better on the way, so I thought this speed was fine. Now I know I should be much more careful in winter driving, but at that moment I thought driving according to the speed limit was fine

Then the police gave me a fine according to RL 23:1 LIIKENNETURVALLISUUDEN VAARANTAMINEN MOOTTORIKÄYTTÖISEN AJONEUVON KULJETTAJANA LUISUI ULOS AJORADALTA SUUREN TILANNENOPEUDEN, HUOLIMATTOMUUDEN TAI MUUN VASTAAVAN SYYN VUOKSI JA TEKO OLI OMIAAN AIHEUTTAMAAN VAARAA TOISEN TURVALLISUUDELLE (ENDANGERING TRAFFIC SAFETY AS THE DRIVER OF A MOTORIZED VEHICLE SLIPPED OUT OF THE LANE DUE TO HIGH SITUATION SPEED, NEGLIGENCE OR ANOTHER SIMILAR REASON AND THE ACT WAS INTENDED TO CAUSE A DANGER TO THE SAFETY OF ANOTHER)

And fine is 14 pcs x Daily fines and crime victim surcharge.

I wonder if anyone has heard or experienced similar situation? Should I just accept the fine?

You can try to contest it if you have conclusive proof that the fine is unjustified. Otherwise, you will have to accept the judgment and pay the fine. BTW, even if there is a set speed limit for a particular stretch of a road, you are expected to drive slower if the conditions demand it (e.g. if there is thick fog which limits visibility to a few meters, then you should not be driving at 120km/h even if you are in a stretch of road where the limit is 120km/h). The speed at which the other cars were driving at has no relevance to your case I would think.

[ddreset]

Last weekend I had a car accident in Lapland where my car skidded, first the car skidded to right side, my first reaction was to pull the wheel to left, and I did not hit the brake because I know hitting brake will only make the skidding worse. But then the car skidded to left (oncoming traffic lane) and was totally out of control, fell off the road and hit a lamp pole. The lamp pole fell and blocked the traffic on that side. No one was injured and no one was on oncoming traffic lane when skidding happened.

Quick and large corrective steering actions are dangerous.

” Vältä voimakkaita ohjausliikkeitä.”

https://moottori.fi/liikenne/jutut/osaa ... i-vinkkia/

Yeah.. I managed to get videos from my dash cameras, now I see it better what happened. Should have let it skid to right at the beginning, maybe it won't even have a scratch.. Ah winter driving..

[ddreset]

Hi,

Last weekend I had a car accident in Lapland where my car skidded, first the car skidded to right side, my first reaction was to pull the wheel to left, and I did not hit the brake because I know hitting brake will only make the skidding worse. But then the car skidded to left (oncoming traffic lane) and was totally out of control, fell off the road and hit a lamp pole. The lamp pole fell and blocked the traffic on that side. No one was injured and no one was on oncoming traffic lane when skidding happened.

I was driving 80km/h (the actual speed should be lower than 80), the speed limit was also 80, and there were also cars behind of me driving the similar speed as me. I was not talking to anyone, not distracted by anything, and both of my hands were on the wheel. Besides, before the accident I have driven 100km far, and there were cars driving also around 80km/h, as I was driving towards south, the road condition was getting better on the way, so I thought this speed was fine. Now I know I should be much more careful in winter driving, but at that moment I thought driving according to the speed limit was fine

Then the police gave me a fine according to RL 23:1 LIIKENNETURVALLISUUDEN VAARANTAMINEN MOOTTORIKÄYTTÖISEN AJONEUVON KULJETTAJANA LUISUI ULOS AJORADALTA SUUREN TILANNENOPEUDEN, HUOLIMATTOMUUDEN TAI MUUN VASTAAVAN SYYN VUOKSI JA TEKO OLI OMIAAN AIHEUTTAMAAN VAARAA TOISEN TURVALLISUUDELLE (ENDANGERING TRAFFIC SAFETY AS THE DRIVER OF A MOTORIZED VEHICLE SLIPPED OUT OF THE LANE DUE TO HIGH SITUATION SPEED, NEGLIGENCE OR ANOTHER SIMILAR REASON AND THE ACT WAS INTENDED TO CAUSE A DANGER TO THE SAFETY OF ANOTHER)

And fine is 14 pcs x Daily fines and crime victim surcharge.

I wonder if anyone has heard or experienced similar situation? Should I just accept the fine?

You can try to contest it if you have conclusive proof that the fine is unjustified. Otherwise, you will have to accept the judgment and pay the fine. BTW, even if there is a set speed limit for a particular stretch of a road, you are expected to drive slower if the conditions demand it (e.g. if there is thick fog which limits visibility to a few meters, then you should not be driving at 120km/h even if you are in a stretch of road where the limit is 120km/h). The speed at which the other cars were driving at has no relevance to your case I would think.

I see, I will just accept this fine then, thanks for the input!

[betelgeuse]

You can try to contest it if you have conclusive proof that the fine is unjustified. Otherwise, you will have to accept the judgment and pay the fine.

The burden of proof is on the state. The defendant is only required to make the court think that there’s reasonable doubt.

[network_engineer]

What caused the car to skid out of control? What were the road conditions like? If you can prove the weather conditions were bad (took pictures, video etc), and you can prove (how? camera) that you were driving at the speed limit, AFAIK, you could request a correction.

[mojo88]

how much was the fine?
and what condition was the vehicle?

[browndude]

You can try to contest it if you have conclusive proof that the fine is unjustified. Otherwise, you will have to accept the judgment and pay the fine.

The burden of proof is on the state. The defendant is only required to make the court think that there’s reasonable doubt.

OK, so if he can make the court think that there is reasonable doubt then he could contest the fine.

[riku2]

since you have dashcam video I think you should go to court and show that you were not driving excessively dangerously or way over the speed limit. unless the fine is higher if you go to court compared to paying it quickly (some countries have that kind of system) then I don't see that you have much to lose.

at that moment I thought driving according to the speed limit was fine

This is not the case even in the summer - there can be narrow single track roads with limited visibility but 80km/h limit and it would be madness to drive at the legal speed limit.
I have driven on the motorway at 30km/h in the winter because of freezing rain (meanwhile in the other direction there were six accidents in a 1km stretch due to people not adjusting their driving according to the conditions).

[ddreset]

Thanks for everyone's comments! I also talked with my colleagues and decided I will just accept the fine.

For this RL23:1, police could give a fine of 5-40 pcs * daily fines, and I got 14 pcs. Most important reason for this fine is that I went on the oncoming traffic lane.

I feel it's not worth the time and energy to go to the court, and this is not caused by someone else or a reindeer.. so most likely going to court won't change anything - this is what my colleagues told me.

Anyway, luckily no one was injured and now I'm back home, life is back on track. But on my way driving home, I have to say people are driving so fast.. Safe driving everyone! Next time I'm taking the car train to Lapland, it's much more relaxing

[hellofelicia]

I don't think you have a case unfortunately. As a driver, you're expected to be going at a speed where you are able to keep control of the vehicle, even if the speed limit is higher. If you lost control of the car, it will be deemed that you were driving too fast for the conditions.

[inkku]

There are also courses for winter driving but I am not sure if they are held in English or Finnish only.

[37yqp8098y5]

I'm curious, how much is the actual fine? You didn't say.

Also, I would contest it. Worst case they say no, best case they have to prove you were in the wrong and that takes time+effort.

[betelgeuse]

I'm curious, how much is the actual fine? You didn't say.

This would require to reveal the poster’s income.

Also, I would contest it. Worst case they say no, best case they have to prove you were in the wrong and that takes time+effort.

The original fine amount isn’t binding on appeal. However, I wonder if the poster already consented limiting the options to appeal.

” By giving his or her consent, the suspect agrees to the fine procedure and waives his or her right to an oral hearing at a district court. If no consent has been given to one or the other, the police may not resolve the case by imposing a fine. ”

https://poliisi.fi/en/did-you-get-a-fine