Since the beginning of 2025, Estonian drivers have already paid 6.8 million euros in fines, which is 2.8 million euros more than in the same period last year, writes “ERR News”.
The increase is mainly due to the increase in the amount of one fine unit from two euros to four euros, effective from the 1st of January, 2025.
In the first half of 2024, the police issued fines for 15,212 violations totaling four million euros. In the first half of this year, 14,395 violations were detected, and the total amount of fines is 6.8 million euros.
The average fine per violation has increased from 264 to 470 euros. Former Justice Minister Kalle Laanet, who introduced the changes to the penalty system, said that one of the goals of increasing fines was to reduce the number of traffic violations. He said at the time that one important aspect was the deterrent effect, because
knowing what the costs could be would encourage people to behave more carefully on the road.
However, this has not materialised, and the total number of traffic violations has increased from 43,782 to 46,659. Taavi Kirss, head of the traffic department at the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board (PBA), said that the police are responsible for traffic monitoring and intervening in cases of violations, and unfortunately, driving culture and people’s habits change slowly. The police are trying to use non-punitive approaches as much as possible, such as enforcing a 45-minute “cooling off” period, but that this is not always possible.
Statistics show that in the first half of 2025, there were 187 fewer drunk drivers, but the number of speeders increased by 1,417.
Read also: Estonian police to reintroduce “cooling-off” for speeders