One explanation for more drivers running red lights is that there are simply more drivers on the streets to do so. During the worst of the most recent economic recession in 2009, heavy road traffic fell by 16 percent. Last year it was up by 6 percent and has continued to rise.
Traffic police believe, however, that there has been a change for the worse in attitudes. Every though a study by police showed that 90 percent of drivers consider not stopping on red to be a serious or very serious offense, more violaters are being cited.
Police can issue drivers a warning or a fine that is income-based. There is no flat rate fine for running a red light. Chief Constable Tuomo Markoff of the Traffic Police says that the red light that an officer sees is often not the same shade as what the driver claims to have seen.
"People don't have full recall of the situation and say that the light was still yellow, even though when we are on watch, we only stop the certain cases, the ones we are sure ran a red light," Markoff explains.
The traffic safety organisation Liikenneturva has been monitoring driver behaviour at stop lights since 2002. It has found growing disregard for stop lights year after year. Its CEO, Matti Järvinen, says that on average one or more cars at an intersection run the light every fourth time it changes.