Compared to the 2020-2022 average, the number of traffic accidents involving casualties increased by 165 last year, and 177 more people were injured. As the situation on the roads has deteriorated, Director General of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) Egert Belitšev proposed doubling the fine rates. The police's proposal is to increase the fine unit from the current €4 to €8 and to raise the fines for speed violations caught by speed cameras from €5 to €10 per every kilometer per hour over the limit.

According to Juri Ess, a guest lecturer at TalTech and a traffic expert, it is questionable whether increasing fines will improve traffic culture. "What is the simplest and most logical reaction from the state to the disorder in traffic? The cheapest option is to raise the fine rates because one doesn't have to do much, but it shows that they are not passive and are dealing with the problem. However, whether this leads to actual results is another question," Ess said.

According to him, more important than the amount of the fine is whether police patrols are visible in traffic. Juri Ess explained that the risk of getting caught plays the most crucial role for a motorist. "It doesn't make much difference how high the fine is, but if you don't see the police anywhere while driving every day, then people probably don't consider the fine," he said. On the other hand, Ess also mentioned that it's not sensible to place police patrols on every corner, as they have more reasonable tasks to do than measure speed behind bushes.

Tallinn recently reduced the speed limit in the city center, including on Liivalaia tänav. Even with this measure, Ess does not believe it will lead to a calmer flow of traffic. Since Liivalaia is a main road, Ess considers it naive to expect that installing new traffic signs will change anything and make people drive slower.

"If we indeed need to reduce the speed on this specific road section, it means we have to implement more effective measures for calming traffic. One option could be to narrow the driving lane, because when driving on a narrow lane, a person does not feel as comfortable and will likely choose a lower driving speed," he said.

Ess mentioned that one cannot say that Estonia has very bad traffic conditions. "As a specialist in the field, it's extremely uncomfortable for me to see the number of fatalities increase. However, it cannot be said that on average we are doing very poorly. Of course, we wish the number of fatalities were even lower," he explained.

Here, the issue of funding is crucial, which should not be underestimated, according to Ess. "If we talk about not having enough money for road construction and traffic safety, we cannot talk about a bright future," the expert said. He pointed out that it's necessary to look in the mirror and realize that the set goals are not realistic.

Ess also mentioned that it's not reasonable to blame the motorists. "Sometimes it's said that various improvements have been made, but the motorists are bad and behave incorrectly. Unfortunately, we can't get other motorists from anywhere and must consider that humans are fallible," he said. From the viewpoint of an official or politician, Ess highlighted that there are broadly two options: to genuinely start addressing the problem or to do something just to check a box.

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