Minister: Estonia's traffic safety program has failed
The latest traffic safety program has failed, and fatalities have risen rather than fallen, Minister of Infrastructure Vladimir Svet (SDE.) A new program must improve both people's traffic behavior and road conditions.
Traffic statistics show the number of accidents has increased over the last four years: in 2021, there were over 1,500, while last year the number exceeded 1,900. The number of fatalities has risen from 55 to 69.
However, the national traffic safety program for 2016–2025 aimed to reduce the number of fatalities to 40 by the end of the period.
Svet acknowledged that the current approach to traffic safety has failed.
"What worked before no longer works. If we look at the reasons why people die on our roads, it comes down to speed, alcohol, and reckless driving. And, of course, there are places where infrastructure needs improvement and where more funding is required. It is a complex issue," said Svet.
The new program should be based on saving lives.
"It is a matter of laws, regulations, supervision, political decisions, and funding. But above all, it is a question of societal attitudes," Svet said.
The Transport Administration contributes to improving safety by overseeing everything from issuing driver's licenses to vehicle inspections and road maintenance.
Due to budget cuts, however, funding for preventive measures has been reduced tenfold. While more high-safety 2+2 roads need to be built, most accidents occur on secondary roads.
"In some places, dust-free road surfaces have been added, which may look like asphalt, but these roads were not built for high speeds as if they were actual asphalt roads. Perhaps these roads should have speed limits of 70 or 80 km/h. These are societal agreements," said Priit Sauk, director general of the Transport Administration.
Fortunately, the government has promised not to cut road maintenance funding or lower road maintenance standards, he added.
Traffic expert Dago Antov also stressed that the priority should be improving traffic behavior, reducing violations, and strengthening oversight.
"Speed cameras, as they currently operate, are no longer effective. It would be beneficial to switch to average speed measurement, which has yielded very good results in southern countries like Lithuania and Latvia," Antov said.
While primary road maintenance over the past 10 years has been satisfactory, the upkeep of secondary roads and streets has not, he added.
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Editor: Marko Tooming, Helen Wright
