Pedestrian fatality already reported in 2026, bringing road safety into focus
The big freeze is putting road safety in sharp focus, the Transport Administration said, with one pedestrian fatality already reported just weeks into the year.
The agency is reminding the public of the importance of reflectors (Estonian: Helkur) at this time of year. These can make pedestrians far more visible to drivers, and from quite some distance.
A 2025 survey found around two thirds of adults said they always wear reflectors during the hours of darkness, but nearly 10 percent of respondents said they never wore one.
Drivers, too, have a responsibility to pay attention, to not use their phone while driving, and to adjust speeds according to conditions.
"In wintry road conditions, taking braking distance and visibility into consideration is key. When driving at 50 km/h in dry conditions, a driver's reaction distance is approximately 14 meters, the braking distance is also approximately 14 meters, and the stopping distance a total of 28 meters. In wintry conditions, however, the stopping distance can rise to nearly 62 meters. This can mean the difference between life and death," said Maria Pashkevich, head of the Road Safety Department at the Transport Administration.
"For pedestrians, this means that before crossing the road, they should always stop for a moment, look both ways, and make sure that the vehicle has stopped or is far enough away. For drivers, it means that when approaching a pedestrian crossing, they must choose a speed at which they can stop safely if necessary," Pashkevich went on.
Traffic accident statistics for 2025 show that pedestrians are still one of the most vulnerable groups of road users, the administration noted.
2025 saw 258 traffic accidents involving pedestrians in Estonia, in which 248 people were injured and 15 lost their lives. Of these, 65 of the injuries took place while crossing unregulated pedestrian crossings, and five of the fatalities occurred on crossings too.
So far in 2026 one fatal accident involving a pedestrian has already been reported, and the arrival of strong wintry conditions with the new year has made the need to be safety-conscious even more important.
As well as ice and snowfall, roadside snow banks created by snowplows can hinder visibility, including at crossings. Drivers must remain aware that pedestrians and particularly children approaching a crossing may be obscured by banked up snow, while pedestrians must remain aware that drivers may not see them until stopping in time is not possible.
Additional care must be taken when driving past schools and kindergartens.
In any case, pedestrians must wait and make sure an approaching vehicle is stopping to let them pass, as there is no guarantee this will happen even if there is plenty of stopping time.
The 2025 traffic behavior survey conducted by the Transport Administration shows that drivers gave way to pedestrians at unregulated crossings in an average of 70 percent of cases, meaning that nearly a third of the time, they did not do so.
Pedestrians, too, do not always follow the rules: the same survey found just under 90 percent of pedestrians heed the "red man" and other red traffic lights, meaning the remaining 10 percent do not.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
