Road marking quality in Estonia has declined in recent years
The quality of road markings on Estonia's roads has deteriorated in recent years, leading to potentially dangerous situations.
The arrival of spring brings with it road marking season too, and the Transport Administration has €1.8 million this year. However, Jarmo Vooglaine, head of traffic management at the Transport Administration, noted the quality of this work has declined in recent years – an issue which is being addressed, with the most urgent cases given priority.
"We have even had cases on state roads where freshly applied road markings could be pulled off by hand in large strips. Today we are considering how we can better ensure in the future that the materials supplied to us are up to standard," Vooglaine said.
"For this year, we have allocated 1.8 million euros for Estonia's state roads, which as a network total about 17,000 kilometers. In recent years, since 2020, this amount has been significantly smaller — at one point even €900,000 in a year. Then it was €1.3 million, €1.6 million. Before that, the situation was better, even two to three million annually," Vooglaine went on.
The advent of newer cars with lane-keeping tech will not change the state's plans.
Vehicles sold since 2022 generally come equipped with lane-keeping systems, which use sensors to nudge the car toward the center of the lane. However, these require adequate road markings to function, and the lack of road markings can even lead to dangerous situations.
"Cars act differently. Some start bleeping, others don't. If a driver doesn't know their car very well, they can easily get confused," auto journalist Karl-Eduard Salumäe told "Aktuaalne kaamera".
This can be the case even with lane markings in place, however. "Let's say a cyclist is coming toward me in the opposite lane, and cars want to pass them. If I have space, I move toward the right edge within my lane, putting my wheels on the line or even slightly over it. But the car doesn't understand my intention and tries to push me back to the center of the lane, which isn't really reasonable," Salumäe went on.
A total of €1.3 million is to be spent on renewing road markings in Tallinn alone, with work starting mid-April.
"We can start when the weather is dry, humidity levels are low, the average daily temperature is above five degrees, and the streets have been cleaned of winter dirt and debris. The goal is that once we apply the markings, they will last for years," Deputy Mayor Joel Jesse (Center) said.
Areas around pedestrian crossings and near schools will take precedence, he added.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Marko Tooming
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
