How's Their Driving? Police Promote Use of Hotline Number
14900, Estonia's nationwide telephone number for reporting traffic violations, is receiving close to a thousand calls a month, say police, who despite the workload are encouraging callers to make even more use of it.
Most of the callers report fellow drivers who execute dangerous maneuvers and disregard traffic signals.
In the seven months that the line has been open nationwide, the police has resolved 8,646 reports, police spokeswoman Ragne Keisk said on uudised.err.ee.
Operators say there is a contingent of regular callers, but few who misuse the system. The police also took a non-punitive tack from the beginning, letting the public know that it would as a rule not launch misdemeanor procedures on the basis of the reports. A police official determines the identity of the driver in the report and contacts him or her for a chat.
"The hotline has a network of regular callers who pick up the phone time and again having spotted various traffic violations and let us know about them," said Alik Säde, an operator.
Open from 7:00 to 19:00 daily, the hotline is meant for cases that do not merit a call to the emergency number 110.
The hotline was first opened in southern Estonia in 2007 after a particularly accident-filled summer.