That's an old Estonian saying meaning literally "hold onto your pipe and eyeglasses". It's customarily used in the situations where things advance in such a speed that one could truly loose these pretty personal items when not exercising the care.

We seldom have hurricanes here in Estonia but autumn winds may casually unroot old trees and roofs here and there, not to mention some personal belongings, too. Yet more often the things may change without any notice in one area - the traffic. 

My latest "piip ja prillid" situation took place on a major interjection of Tartu. There was about 10 people there crossing it - my Mom, me and young lady with baby carriage in the front when suddenly out of nowhere BMW appeared. I don't know why and how could the driver decide that it's safe to take a left turn having pedestrians on her way. She was truly lucky not to hit any of us, and most importantly the baby carriage.  What a pity it would be for a lady who's Grandma's age herself! Ok, sorry, I know it's not polite to discuss anyone's age, especially age of ladies and artists.

Anyways I was trying hard not to curse out loud. I mentioned it to my Mom but she as the others, includig baby's Mom proceeded as nothing unusual had happened. You see, there are more than dime a dozen of rude, impatient and careless drivers in Estonia. It is commonplace, it is business as usual that any visitor would notice on the very first 10 minutes in Estonia.

According to the stats there are annually about 50-60 victims of traffic accidents per 1M capita in countries such as UK, Holland or Sweden, while in the Baltic States the figure could be as high as 200 (Estonia is only little bit better than record setting Lithuania).

On our first visit to Tartu, my kids were amazed by a speed eager drivers were manipulating their cars on the narrow streets of downtown mainly reserved for pedestrians. They appear suddenly and act viciously like wasps. My kids were frowning when I explained to them that it's pedestrian's responsibility to remain alive in a traffic situation. To make things easier for them I told them to practice "vaata paremale" (look to the right) and then to "vaata vasakule" (look to the left) and then "mine üle tänava" (cross the street). That's how we proceeded on the streets of old Tartu and remained happily alive thereafter.

Coming back to the relationship between the drivers and pedestrians it surely isn't equal nor mutually respectful. The way they operate their vehicles, Estonian drivers seem to position themselves higher than pedestrians, those slow beings who keep them arriving timely to their destination.

It is pity that there's economic downturn and government is laying off people, including traffic cops. I would not be amazed if they would turn off the traffic cams as well in order to save some of their pet projects, let's say about importance of healthy living that enables government officials go abroad and study practices elsewhere (I will tell this story later!). Meanwhile Estonians don't have anything else than resort to the proven age-old remedy of holding onto their "piip and prillid" before venturing out to the jungle of Estonian traffic. 

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