Fine in Finland - to pay or not to pay?

A trip to Finland in your own car can lead to serious consequences if you are not attentive to the observance of traffic rules and especially if you do not pay the issued fine. The consequences are in the future refusal of a visa.

Features of fixing violations

There are only 7,000 police officers in Finland. This does not mean that you can break traffic rules with impunity. Surveillance cameras are installed both on autobahns and on country roads. Unlike the cameras installed in the post-Soviet space and set up with a margin of 10-20 km, the Finnish ones record violations of the speed limit, starting from 3 km. Therefore, most compatriots receive receipts at customs when leaving the country or when re-entering.

Fines and their sizes

Going to Finland, it is worth remembering that you can get the ill-fated receipt not only for speeding, but also for some points that are rarely paid attention to in the CIS countries.

• For example, for a turn signal not turned on in a timely manner, it will be 50 euros.
• For parking in the wrong place - 60 euros.
• The fine for having a radar detector installed in the cabin is 110 euros;
• Unfastened seat belt - 35 euros. The amount is offensive, but not global. But, it will have to be paid for all non-passenger passengers. Including those sitting in the back seats. A child seat for a child under 135 cm is mandatory, and its absence is also punishable by penalties.
• Failure to comply with road signs or markings, overtaking in the wrong place, driving at a traffic light prohibition sign - 50-70 euros.
• Speeding will pull from 20 to 100 euros.
• Driving without a license is the most expensive - at least 120 euros.

By the way, in Finland it is forbidden to smoke if there is a child under the age of 15 in the cabin, and to turn on emergency lights to thank another driver who allowed to overtake or give way. 

For local residents, fines are calculated differently depending on the income level of the vehicle owner and the presence of minor children in the family. For foreign citizens, the amounts of fines are fixed.

And one moment. When violations are recorded by law enforcement officers, a fine is issued to the driver, and when the CCTV camera is triggered, a receipt will be sent to the owner of the vehicle.  

How to pay 

It is clear that it is quite difficult for residents of another country to track fines. But if the receipt was issued by a police officer, then it is better to pay it as soon as possible. This is especially true for municipal fines marked with the abbreviation "BR". Most often this is parking in the wrong place or speeding. And it's not about the evil Finnish police. And the fact that in the Russian Federation and the CIS countries the amount of the fee for making a payment sometimes exceeds the amount of the fine itself.

To pay or not to pay

Non-payment of a fine issued in Finland for residents of the Russian Federation does not threaten anything special. If they are not going to get a Schengen visa. Otherwise, an unpaid fine in a timely manner is practically a 100% refusal to obtain a visa. Especially through the Finnish embassy.

But payment does not guarantee that the visa will be issued without any problems. Depends on the type of violation. And although the Finnish police claim that paid fines are canceled and do not bear any consequences for foreign citizens, travelers say that this is not the case, and more than half of the refusals are due to traffic violations. This is especially true of the speed limit and insubordination to authorities. So when going on a trip abroad, you should remember the rules and respect the laws of another country.