Estonian police offer ‘road breaks’ for first-time speeders

Police in Estonia have been offering drivers caught speeding with a choice between taking a break from the road instead of paying a fine.
October 30, 2019 Read time: 1 min

A report by ERR.ee says drivers exceeding the speed limit by 20 km/h must wait 45 minutes in a parking area next to the road and 60 minutes if they drive between 21 and 40 km/h over the limit.

The method only applied to drivers with no previous traffic offences travelling on the Tallinn-Rapla road.

Spokesperson Elari Kasemets is quoted as saying: "We are investigating how speeders perceive the fine and the impact of the lost time. We know from interviews with motorists that some people consider having a conversation with a police officer and the time they take to intervene more effectively than fines."

"We are analysing the impact of different interventions to find more effective solutions, because the goal is for perpetrators to actually change their behaviour, not to punish them for the sake of punishment," Kasemets adds.

Enforcement

Related Content

  • Here’s why WiM is value for money
    January 23, 2025
    Weigh in Motion systems are not new. What is new is their ability to collect more data and – importantly – more accurate data about axle loading and vehicle weight. Despite the obvious benefits, including safer highways and possibility of automated legal weight enforcement, obstacles remain for faster uptake. David Arminas reports on the manufacturers’ perspective…
    Read More
  • Esri maps cause and effect
    September 26, 2024
    The work of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center means engineers can concentrate on developing more effective safety measures, rather than having to sort out raw crash data
    Read More
  • Traffic monitoring and hard shoulder running
    March 1, 2013
    Hard shoulder running is on the increase – and the detection and monitoring of incidents on affected roads is occupying the minds of experts across Europe and the US
    Read More
  • Debating the future of in-vehicle systems
    December 6, 2012
    Industry experts talk to Jason Barnes about the legislative situation of current and future in-vehicle systems. Articles about technology development can have a tendency to reference Moore’s Law with almost indecent regularity and haste but the fact remains that despite predictions of slow-down or plateauing, the pace remains unrelenting. That juxtaposes with a common tendency within the ITS industry: to concentrate on the technology and assume that much else – legislation, business cases and so on – will m
    Read More

Highlighted Content