The road safety program is currently hollow and Estonia has fallen far short of its national road safety target," said Auditor General Janar Holm.

The objective of the road safety program by the end of 2025 is to have an average of no more than 40 road fatalities per year over a three-year period. However the National Audit Office says this is unlikely to be achieved by the end of next year. The three-year average for the number of fatalities has remained at around 55 for the past three years and that target is slipping out of reach.

"For many years, road accident fatalities in Estonia have decreased but in recent years these improvements have stagnated and Estonia is moving away from the goal. Although praiseworthy goals have been set on paper, the money or activities intended to achieve these goals is far from sufficient," said Holm.

The National Audit Office's audit showed that the activities that are expected to have the greatest impact on improving road safety have either not been implemented or have been implemented but to a lesser extent than planned.

A total of 15 actions at a combined cost of around €26 million are included in the still unapproved Road Safety Program for 2024-2025, for which there are currently no finances available. The 2024-2027 Road Maintenance Plan for instance, envisions €1.5 million during the period between 2024 and2025 period for the upgrading of road safety hotspots. However, the Road Safety Program states that €12.3 million will be needed over two years.

The Estonian Transport Administration (Transpordiamet) has estimated, based on various studies, that doubling the enforcement of speed limits would reduce both the number and severity of road accidents, save approximately 3.6 lives a year and prevent 21 people from being seriously injured. One measure that has been suggested is a tender for the development of police cars equipped with self-monitoring cameras. However, the funds needed have not been planned within the state budget strategy.

The National Audit Office said that in order to increase the speed of passenger trains on the railways to 160 km/h by 2028, certain safety requirements will need to be met, but the budget for doing so is current €126 million short.

The action plan for the development of Estonia's railway infrastructure between 2021 and 2028, which was approved by the government, states that passenger trains should be able to reach this speed by 2028. However, the action plan includes no funding to improve the safety of level crossings

While the 2018 safety assessment planned to equip six level crossings with signals and audible alarms or other active information systems, according to Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railways), the new regulations now require that these crossings be built on a grade-separated basis to increase the speed of passenger trains.

Elron's new passenger trains will arrive by 2025, but infrastructure management company Eesti Raudtee estimates it will only be possible to meet the requirements for level crossings by 2028. For pedestrian crossings this will not be possible before 2033. This means  Elron's new trains would only be able to travel at 141-160 km/h on sections where there are no level crossings, and that the journey from Tallinn to Tartu would take longer than the target of 1 hour and 40 minutes. According to Eesti Raudtee, the sections of railway infrastructure that will be renovated by 2028 and where traveling at speeds of 141-160 km/h would be possible, will be short and few in number.

In the National Audit Office's view, road safety's dependence on cybersecurity has thus far been underestimated. There should be more awareness of the potential cyber risks in relation to traffic management, both on roads and railways. There is an increasing need to mitigate cyber risks so that road signs which contain different information at different times convey the right information to road users. It is also necessary to ensure that railway traffic control systems, including traffic lights and barriers, function correctly.

Traffic control systems play an increasingly important role on railways and national roads. Manipulation of the input data used to ensure the safety of infrastructure and breaches of its integrity can lead, for example, to traffic stoppages or serious traffic accidents.

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n the National Audit Office's view, road safety's dependence on cybersecurity has thus far been underestimated. There should be more awareness of the potential cyber risks in relation to traffic management, both on roads and railways. There is an increasing need to mitigate cyber risks so that road signs which contain different information at different times convey the right information to road users. It is also necessary to ensure that railway traffic control systems, including traffic lights and barriers, function correctly.

Traffic control systems play an increasingly important role on railways and national roads. Manipulation of the input data used to ensure the safety of infrastructure and breaches of its integrity can lead, for example, to traffic stoppages or serious traffic accidents.

The National Audit Office recommends that the Minister of Climate either plan the funding necessary for the implementation of these actions or adjust the objectives of the Road Safety Program to match actual capacity. The National Audit Office also recommends adding only actions to the program where the impact has been previously assessed, along with the preparation of a plan for funding the activities, which includes the cost of each action.

The National Audit Office recommends the Minister of Climate conduct an analysis into whether it would be possible to make the investments in railway level crossings to increase speeds on the railways to 160 km/h by the time outlined in the action plan (2028). The necessary funding should also be planned in cooperation with railway infrastructure companies. If necessary, the objectives of the action plan for the development of public railway infrastructure should be adapted to account for actual possibilities.

The National Audit Office recommends that the director general of the Estonian Transport Administration conduct an assessment of the possible impact of reducing the volume of actions and abandoning certain actions on road safety. These assessments should be presented to the government's traffic and, if necessary, changes to the target levels should be initiated there.

Background

The National Audit Office analyzed whether the adopted decisions and actions do ensure road safety on Estonian roads and railways and whether they contribute to the reduction of the number of traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries.

In order to consistently improve road safety and reduce the number of people killed and injured on roads and in traffic accidents, the Road Safety Program 2016–2025 was prepared. The goal is that by 2025, the three-year average for fatalities will not exceed 40 and that no more than 302 people per year are injured in road accidents. According to the Transport Administration, 54 people on average were killed on Estonian roads each year from 2021 to 2023. In 2023, there were also seven vehicle and train collisions and 13 pedestrians were hit by cars, resulting in nine fatalities and eight people being injured.

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