The Police and Border Guard Board says efforts should specifically target systematic traffic violators.

The concept of influencing hardened traffic offenders via a points system reached Estonia in the late 1990s, when then roads minister Raivo Vare told the Riigikogu that repeat offenders were one of the biggest problems areas in respect of traffic safety in Estonia.

Vare said at the time: "Handling cases individually has created a situation in which those who can afford it continue to violate with abandon."

Those MPs who opposed the points system complained that it would also negatively impact on those who occasional or accidental offenders.

Some MPs said they feared that a system like this would also increase the risk of corruption, while others worried that it would lead to an increased court workload.

Many then believed that focus should instead fall on the most severe violations.

In any case the Vare-proposed bill did not pass at the Riigikogu, and the idea meandered from one development plan to another, over the next quarter-century.

The arguments for and against have not changed much in the meantime, however.

Minister surprises the PPA

Until January this year, when the government's traffic commission convened once again. At that meeting, the Interior Ministry Secretary General Tarmo Miilits, quizzed Climate Minister Kristen Michal (Reform) over the current status of the proposed points system.

Michal responded: "We will not be implementing a points system, but rather a system to influence those who commit serious violations is under development."

PPA Director Genera Egert Belitšev then asked why the state would not be proceeding with a points-based system. "There is no political consensus on that," was Michal's response.

Meanwhile, Sander Salmu, Undersecretary for Mobility at the Ministry of Climate, told ERR that the points system would have, had it entered into effect, affected a quarter of all drivers.

Salmu said: "I think that this signal does not correspond to our current traffic situation."

In 2022, only five EU member states recorded fewer road fatalities than Estonia, in proportion to population sizes.

This means the points system "would be too broad an approach and too extensive," Salmu went on.

Ministry would focus on serious traffic violations

In 2021, a draft bill for a points system was prepared by the then Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, which again would have assigned points in proportion to the severity of the violation being penalized.

Accumulating six points would trigger offenders having to go on various training programs; twelve points would lead to the suspension of driving privileges, under that system.

"Any driver who speeds once should not feel threatened that they are under surveillance in some national system," Salmu said.

"This message that we have 165,000 offenders now, within a points system, and I think that is not the right approach," he added.

The new plan, the program to influence serious traffic offenders, should be formulated into a bill proposal before the end of June.

Discussions are currently underway about which traffic violations would lead to inclusion in the program, Salmu added, saying: "The goal is to influence these people through rehabilitation or additional training," adding that such tools are already available.

"We might simply focus also on those who do not reach the system today, yet should, due to their serious violations."

PPA: Current regulations do no help against hardened offenders

Salmu noted that the state already has tools it can use in respect of systemic minor traffic violators. "The system that is in place today will also remain so in the future," Salmu said.

However, PPA senior officer Sirle Loigo said the current system is inadequate.

She recounted that the force sends black Christmas cards during the winter holidays to those caught violating traffic laws at least four times in the preceding year.

"Our top violators commit double-digit violation numbers," Loigo said.

"Yet we actually do not have any measures in this country which would help improve the behavior in traffic of these people, since only a fine is prescribed as a penalty when it comes to summary proceedings."

Loigo noted that smaller violations lead to bigger ones. "A person who violates traffic rules daily will sooner or later cause an accident with very tragic consequences," she said.

The state already responds to serious traffic violations in several ways. "With drunk drivers, we have a rehabilitation program, and we also have a rehabilitation program for novice drivers who have committed serious violations. Sanctions for serious violations include revoking the driving license and, if necessary, arrest. We also consider confiscating vehicles," Loigo enumerated.

"In fact, we already have the measures for serious offenders in the country today," Loigo added.

In response to Salmu's argument that the points system would affect 165,000 drivers, Loigo said that a system of that kind would result in eight to nine thousand people losing their licenses. "That percentage of motor vehicle drivers is actually not very large," she went on.

In 2021, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications promised that implementing the points system would prevent up to 250 traffic accidents in which there are human casualties, plus damage to the health and well-being of 2,761 people, and would save up to 142 lives within a five-year period.

The results that can be expected from the Ministry of Climate's new approach will become clear once the development intent is completed, Salmu said

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