1,051 road traffic accidents occurred in Bulgarian in the first three months of 2021. They claimed 72 lives. A total of 1,307 people were injured during the accidents. According to statistics of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, between January and March 2021, the number of road traffic accidents has decreased as compared to the same period last year. However, the number of road accidents increases as the weather gets warmer, warns the Road Safety Institute.

“We have been sounding the alarm bells for several weeks that the number of road traffic victims has increased by leaps and bounds recently. Since the beginning of May this year, the number of road traffic victims has increased by 40% as compared to May-June 2020. Unfortunately, this problem does not pull on the heart string of any institution”, Engineer Bogdan Milchev from the Road Safety Institute said in an interview for BNR-Stara Zagora.

In his words, Bulgaria lacks an adequate and long-term road safety strategy and the Road Infrastructure Agency, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Transport have not expressed the wish to change the current situation. Bogdan Milchev has criticized the authorities that the institutions notice the problems when a heavy road traffic accident occurs.

The Road Safety Institute has been preparing a map with the sections with high rate of accidents (black spots). It has confirmed the data announced by the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior that Plovdiv district tops the ranking in terms of the number of road traffic victims and people injured in car accidents.

“According to preliminary data, Trakia motorway is among the roads with highest concentration of traffic accidents which is not typical of a motorway. Road traffic accidents that occurred on Trakia motorway have claimed more lives than the road accidents that occurred on all other Bulgarian highways. Secondly, we are no longer talking about separate black spots with high concentration of road traffic accidents. There are entire roads, on which fatal road traffic accidents have occurred on literally every intersection. Traffic management is the most serious and important problem in this country- badly deployed traffic signs, the lack of road markings and road safety systems, poor road maintenance and repair, which are prerequisite for a number of driving mistakes”, noted Bogdan Milchev.

It is the responsibility of all traffic participants to ensure road traffic safety until all roads in this country become safe for travel. In this regard, the Sofia City Branch of the Bulgarian Red Cross organizes an outdoor celebration in Knyazheska Garden in Bulgaria’s capital. The event goes under the motto “Give Way to Life”. It aims to lay the emphasis on systematic and effective actions to improve road safety and protect the health and life of the students in Sofia. On the occasion of the National Traffic Safety Day marked on June 29, volunteers in Bulgaria’s city of Pleven (Central North Bulgaria) are to demonstrate how to provide first aid.

Compiled by: Elena Karkalanova (based on Interview by Toshka Sabeva, BNR-Stara Zagora)

English version: Kostadin Atanasov