This article reports on a study undertaken to determine the current prevalence of personal car usage for holiday trips among Finnish conscripts (n = 259) and to analyse conscripts' fatal road accidents. As more than 80% of men in Finland complete compulsory military service, injuries occurring during military service are seen as a public health issue. The study included data on 46 fatal road accidents caused by conscripts during the years 1991-2004, extracted from the Finland national database of fatal road accidents. The results showed that 35.9% of young Finnish conscripts had used personal cars to travel to or from the garrison in the preceding 2 months. More than half of them reported driving while fatigued; indeed a majority reported several occasions of such driving. In addition to those driving themselves, 41.6% of the conscripts rode at least occasionally as a passenger in a car driven by a fellow conscript. The fatality data showed that falling asleep was the main cause of all conscripts' accidents (34.8%), with the largest proportion occurring when departing for leave (42.9%). Haste (including speeding) was the second greatest factor contributing to accidents occurring on the way to or from the garrison (26.1%), whereas drunk driving (22.7%) and suspected suicides (18.2%) were typical of accidents occurring on leave. The authors conclude that, despite the safety precautions taken by army authorities, young conscripts still expose themselves and their travelling companions to a high risk of road accidents.
Abstract