Nearly Invisible Ice on Hämeenkatu Causes Multiple Falls in Tampere Centre

Thin, nearly invisible ice made Hämeenkatu's pedestrian street dangerously slippery on Tuesday morning, sending several pedestrians and a cyclist to the ground. An Aamulehti reporter witnessed multiple falls, and the paper received a tip saying Keskustori had been washed with water before the frost.

Jussi Pesonen, site manager at Tampereen Infra oy, said Infra cleaned the square only with a dry brush and had taken its watering equipment out of use on Friday. Property owners have contracts with private service companies to clear their street-facing areas, and those contractors' machines may have used water. Infra does not control that.

Temperatures are expected to climb to about nine degrees Celsius during the day and Tuesday should be sunny. The incident comes after the city previously approved compensation for a wrist fracture suffered in a slip on Kyttälänkatu, underlining that ice-related falls have led to payouts in Tampere before the city's earlier compensation decision.