- Title: Estonian police put first-time speeders in time out
- Date: 7th October 2019
- Summary: RAPLA COUNTY, ESTONIA (OCTOBER 7, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE OFFICERS ON ROAD WATCHING FOR SPEEDING CARS POLICE OFFICER WAVING FOR CAR TO PULL OVER CAR PULLING INTO PARKING LOT, POLICE OFFICER WAITING TO SPEAK TO DRIVER POLICE OFFICER STANDING AS DRIVER EXITS CAR POLICE OFFICERS SPEAKING TO SPEEDING DRIVERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ESTONIAN POLICE AND BORDER GUARDS INNOVATION ADVISOR, ELARI KASEMETS, SAYING: "We did a bunch of interviews with car drivers and the time-out idea pretty much came from there. Because they said that fines today don't have this kind of impact anymore. Drivers usually take those as a bills, they just pay and forget it. But in the other hand, they were really annoyed that they have to spend time in police cars. So, we put those two together and thought let's try this kind of time-out solution." POLICE OFFICER WALKING TO CAR AND SPEAKING TO DRIVER DRIVER SPEAKING TO POLICE OFFICER CARS WAITING ON PARKING LOT IN TIME-OUT LINE SCREEN SHOWING CAR REGISTRATION NUMBERS AND COUNT-DOWN CLOCK ON SCREEN INDICATING TIME REMAINING IN TIME-OUT COUNT-DOWN CLOCK ON SCREEN INDICATING TIME REMAINING IN TIME-OUT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ESTONIAN POLICE AND BORDER GUARDS INNOVATION ADVISOR, ELARI KASEMETS, SAYING: "Almost all the drivers who spent time here, they were really calm. They even drive inside the speed limit, a little bit less, so I think it worked for them anyway." SIGN INDICATING 50KM/HOUR SPEED LIMIT, CARS ON ROAD POLICE CAR, POLICE OFFICERS PULLING OVER SPEEDING CAR POLICE OFFICERS TALKING TO DRIVERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DRIVER, RUDOLF PAJUSILD, SAYING "I was overtaking the bus, I speeded a little to make it safer. I think it's not reasonable to pay for something like that." SCREEN INDICATING TIME-OUT, NUMBERS TURNING GREEN INDICATING DRIVER'S TIME-OUT HAS ELAPSED CAR EXITING PARKING LOT ONTO ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (English) ESTONIAN POLICE AND BORDER GUARDS INNOVATION ADVISOR, ELARI KASEMETS, SAYING: "The fast-changing times needs more creativity and if we see something didn't work we have to think outside the box and try something different, something else. And right now, today the main approach is the people itself, we try for a more human-centred approach in traffic supervision also." CARS DRIVING WINDSHIELD VIEW FROM INSIDE MOVING VEHICLE
- Embargoed: 21st October 2019 15:12
- Keywords: Estonia police speeding tickets Estonian police traffic laws speed enforcement
- Location: RAPLA COUNTY AND PARNU, ESTONIA
- City: RAPLA COUNTY AND PARNU, ESTONIA
- Country: Estonia
- Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Crime
- Reuters ID: LVA001B03LO3D
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Police in Estonia have started a campaign which presents speeding drivers with a choice of either paying a fine or taking some time-out until they calm down.
According to police, regular fines are not enough of a deterrent and are often perceived by drivers as regular bills so more creative ways are required to decrease speeding violations.
Under the new campaign, if a driver chooses to take a time-out, they sit in their vehicle while a count-down clock indicates how much time has elapsed, with penalties ranging from 45 minutes for speeding up to 21 km per hour to 60 minutes for speeding 21-40 km per hour over the limit.
Police say that the time-out option, which is only extended to first time offenders, has come from drivers themselves, who are annoyed with the amount of time they spend in police cars filling out fine-related paperwork.
Some drivers claim that the time-out is very helpful while police say that it could have a positive impact with drivers slowing down and driving more reasonably after their time-outs.
According to official data in 2018, police in Estonia caught 36,677 drivers for speeding, with 25,081 of them driving 21-40 kilometers per hour over the limit, while cameras detected a total of 113,120 instances of speeding.
In a different project which ran in late 2018, Estonian police handed out organ donor cards along with fines to make drivers more aware of the risks associated with speeding.
(Production: Janis Laizans, Dominik Starosz) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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