Last year, 1,815 people were injured and 43 were killed in traffic accidents, which is significantly less than in 2024 when 2,156 people were injured and 69 lost their lives.

"The number of fatalities, which was 43 last year, is the lowest figure of this century and most likely in the entire longer history," said Maria Pashkevich, head of the traffic safety department at the Transport Administration.

She said there was a "positive decrease" in traffic accidents involving property damage, traffic accidents with casualties, the number of fatalities, the number of injured and also the number of seriously injured.

However, Pashkevich said two risk groups stand out in otherwise positive statistics — motorcyclists and electric scooter riders. While previously there were problems among 20- to 30-year-olds, last year the number of accidents involving 11- to 15-year-olds doubled.

Taavi Kirss, head of traffic supervision at the Police and Border Guard Board, said the problems can lie with parents,

"From the perspective of light vehicles, a concern for us is the outskirts of larger cities, where various light vehicles are in private use. Parents have bought various vehicles to make getting around more convenient, whether electric motorcycles or light vehicles, and in many cases children are not allowed to use them," he said.

Pedestrians are also a cause for concern and there were 15 deaths last year.

"Ten died on roads within populated areas, and more than half of them were related to crossing the road. Eight of the deceased pedestrians were elderly. This means that greater attention than before is needed for crossing safety," Pashkevich said.

While this problem has previously been seen in larger cities, pedestrian fatalities at crossings were registered in Türi, Võru and Jõhvi last year.

Five pedestrians were killed in accidents that occurred on or in the immediate vicinity of a crosswalk, four of whom were elderly, aged 77 to 81. Accidents often occurred at locations with long crossing distances, multiple lanes, and median strips.

"Our environment is still somewhat inherited from the old Soviet era, and the more we rebuild it to be safer — crosswalks with shorter crossing distances and more user-friendly for pedestrians — the more we reduce casualties and injuries in traffic," Kirss said.

Last year, there were 18 days when no one was injured in traffic, which is six more than in 2024. On average, five people were injured in traffic each day.

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