Ministry puts forward impact plan to curb repeat driving violation offenders
A broader impact plan for drink drivers and other repeat serious traffic violation offenders has been proposed in Estonia.
The program, proposed by the Ministry of Climate and the Transport Administration (Transpordiamet), would be instead of a proposed penalty points system.
While drivers in this category make up a very small portion of the population, the plan notes, their role in accidents resulting in death or serious injury is significantly greater than the average.
Also, "traditional" supervision and deterrence-based initiatives seem to have little effect on the actions of this demographic.
Deputy Secretary General for Mobility at the Ministry of Climate Sander Salmu said that the state now plans to review all measures intended for repeat driving offenders.
"We do also have certain intervention measures today, but with the activity proposed in this traffic safety program, our wish is to review comprehensively whether all existing elements already address these systematic offenders or whether there are still some elements that need to be added, precisely with the idea that repeat offenders would understand the consequences of their actions," Salmu said.
"Even today, in the case of drunk drivers and speeders, people take part in training, [and] these have an effect. As do social programs or treatment. These elements exist. We do not want to create new elements, but the most important thing is precisely that these people would go into those programs," Salmu went on.
The plan would stop short of a penalty points system, however.
Salmu cited data protection concerns here.
"The principle of the demerit point system is that each violation would be recorded in a national system and then depending on how many times a person violates, points would be accumulated. Our aim, however, is not to put all the hundreds of thousands of road users onto a system nor to keep records on them. That would certainly be disproportionate," he said.
The climate ministry has sent the traffic safety program for its coordination round with stakeholders. If it receives government approval, the ministry also plans to complete an intention to develop an impact system for systemic offenders. This, along with a draft bill, could be ready as early as 2026.
According to the statistics, traffic fatalities in Estonia had surged by 18 percent over the five years to 2024, while accidents overall had rise by as much as 30 percent, bringing to a close a long period of improvement in road safety over the preceding years. There were 70 fatal road accidents in 2024. Speeding offences have also been on the rise.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mait Ots
