Eesti in brief - 2011-03-03

The ice cover on the Baltic Sea is now at it widest extent since 1987 and it is expected to freeze over even more, according to Finnish meteorologists, reports YLE. According to the meteorologist from Finnish news portal YLE, Toni Hellinen, the extent of the ice cover now being seen on the Baltic Sea is relatively rare, “only about once every quarter of a century,” he says. “There is quite a lot of ice, from a few centimeters to 20 meters. The thickest ice cover is in places where ice shelves have piled up on each other and formed walls of packed ice,” explains Jari Haapala, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

Southern Estonian police checked trucks and their drivers last week, in the process finding numerous violations, reports ERR. South Prefecture traffic enforcement head constable, Kaido Iste said a total of 77 semi-trailers were inspected and violations were found in 29 cases. “There was one driver with signs of being under the influence, instances of speeding were documented, there were vehicles that did not meet inspection requirements as well as moving violations,” Iste noted. A number of accidents involving heavy trucks occurred last year in Estonia. One of them claimed two lives. Much of the truck traffic is transit and some drivers apparently hope to cross the country in a single day without adhering to rules on rest time. The February 14 to 20 inspection blitz was organized by the European traffic police network, TISPOL.

The winner of the Estonian Song 2011 contest, Estonia’s entry for the Eurovision contest in Dusseldorf, Germany this year is Rockefeller Street, performed by young singer Getter Jaani and written by veteran songwriter and Eurovision participant Sven Lohmus, reports National Broadcasting. Out of 10 finalists, the jury and people in phone voting selected two: ‘I Wanna Meet Bob Dylan’ by Outloudz, and ‘Rockefeller Street’ performed by Getter Jaani. The people then chose Jaani with 62 percent of the votes versus 38 percent for Outloudz.