‘Usually, winter comes as a surprise to people every year, but road maintenance workers are already alert in mid-October – we carefully observe weather forecasts and if there are any weather-related threats, we are prepared to work,’ said Peep Õun, member of the management board of Tariston AS. ‘Although the winter maintenance period officially begins on 1 November, we have prepared a critical amount of maintenance equipment and we have gathered the regular amount of spreading materials in our warehouses.’

‘The autumn and winter period, the most difficult period in traffic, is approaching. Attentiveness, choosing a safe travel speed, and keeping a sufficient distance between vehicles will ensure you will reach your destination without incident,’ said Peep Õun. ‘There is a lot of talk of good and better tyres in autumn, but the best way to stay on the road is by being reasonable.’

 According to him, black ice is the main issue for road users in late autumn. It is always unexpected, as it may occur in all places. ‘Unfortunately, the occurrence of black ice is essentially unavoidable in Estonian weather conditions,’ said Peep Õun. ‘I wish to remind all road users that regardless of the level of road maintenance, you should carefully observe road conditions, which may change very quickly. All maintenance levels have time limits, during which the respective road must reach the respective maintenance level. In the case of bad weather, difficult conditions may occur even on the main roads with the highest maintenance level – the ones that connect Tallinn to Tartu, Narva, and Pärnu.’