Police in Estonia are increasing the use of “cool-down stops,” offering some speeding drivers a 45-minute break instead of a fine, with about 90 such enforcement operations planned nationwide.
If last year the police directed 172 speeding drivers to cool down, this year there have already been nearly as many — 160.
A cool‑down stop means that if a driver exceeds the speed limit by up to 20 km/h, an officer may offer them the option of spending 45 minutes calming down instead of receiving a fine. Taavi Kirss, head of traffic supervision at the Police and Border Guard Board, said that people have generally responded well to the measure.
“Overall, quite positively, whenever possible. We have a few typical cases where people don’t accept it: if they’re in a hurry or have a set schedule somewhere, they prefer to just pay the fine. Or sometimes foreign visitors on a tourism trip are willing to pay the fine instead. But in general, our own Estonian residents are actually quite willing to take part in the cool‑down stops,” Kirss said.
So far, the highest number of participants has been in Harju and Viljandi counties.
“We’re glad to offer this. We want to introduce more non‑punitive measures into traffic safety. During these cool‑down stops, officers give participants the chance to complete various traffic‑safety tasks: you can take a reaction test in a mobile app, and also review different traffic‑safety case studies that may make you think more about the dangers of speeding,” Kirss explained.
Taavi Kirss added that, based on the numbers, last year was the safest year for traffic in Estonia, and that trend has continued this year.
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