The Transport Administration plans to install the camera in the village of Liiva, on the island of Muhu.

Muhu is adjacent to Saaremaa and connected to it by a causeway. Muhu also hosts the main port, Kuivastu, which connects both islands to the mainland.

This makes the road through Liiva busier than much of those in the rest of Saare County and the stretch of the Kuivastu-Kuressaare highway there an accident hotspot; two fatal traffic accidents have already occurred in the settlement this year so far, including one involving a child.

Rainer Antsaar, the head of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) station in Kuressaare, Saaremaa's capital, said: "Since 2020, not a single year has passed in Saaremaa without someone dying in traffic. The total number of traffic accidents has also increased steadily every year, and this year too, there have already been 11 traffic accidents," the latter figure nearly twice that of previous years.

Antsaar noted that traffic culture in Saare County has deteriorated in recent years, and that unfortunately part of the cost from that has been measured in human lives.

The Transport Administration's traffic danger spots working group this week proposed installing the stationary speed camera in Liiva, and also reducing the speed limit there even lower than its existing level of 50 kilometers per hour.

Janno Vilberg, an expert on traffic hazard spots with the administration, said: "The experts' view was that the speed limit in that area could be reduced to 40 kilometers per hour and that, to ensure that this is adhered to more, a speed camera could be installed there that specifically checks the speed of drivers."

He added that in the longer term, traffic calming measures could be installed at the approaches to the settlement.

"Currently, this is at proposal stage. For this, we also need to look at where to get additional funding, as installing such a speed camera booth costs around €80,000. We have currently discussed the possibility of installing this speed limit together with the establishment of this speed control," Vilberg added.

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