Police to notify Estonians of traffic tickets

The police plan to dispatch notifications of traffic violation to Estonian motorists who have committed such offences in Finland but do not live in the country, reported the Finnish media.

The notifications give the motorists the options to either pick the traffic ticket from Finland or inform the police of a Finnish address, for instance, an address of an employer where the ticket can be sent.

According to the head of police traffic centre Dennis Pasterstein, if the motorist does not respond in time, the car and its owner will be considered wanted. If the police happen to come across the car or its owner, the car and the person will be stopped and investigated.

The proposal is aimed at improving road safety and to ensure that Estonian motorists also come under traffic camera monitoring, said Pasterstein.

Currently, there is no legal provision which allows sending traffic tickets to another country.

This year, the traffic police have had 12,000 cases of foreign motorists violating traffic laws of which the majority have been committed by Estonians, said Pasterstein. The majority of the fines have not been addressed as they could not be sent to the recipients.

The goal is to have the first batch of notifications sent before the end of the year.