Dozens of Citizens Reported a Car in the Oncoming Lane on Trakia Motorway

Five people from Plovdiv — among them two children and a pregnant woman — narrowly escaped a fatal incident on the Trakia motorway. As they were travelling home from Sofia towards Plovdiv, a car suddenly appeared in the fast lane coming straight towards them in the carriageway for Burgas. It later emerged that dozens of other drivers found themselves in the same dangerous situation at that time.

Car driving on the oncoming lane on the Trakia motorway triggered major police response in Pazardzhik.

Dozens of citizens called the 112 emergency line on Sunday evening, at around 8pm, reporting a vehicle travelling against the flow of traffic on the Trakia motorway.

“We were driving normally, doing 100–110 km on the motorway, then suddenly thick fog — and I see cars pulling over to the right and headlights coming straight at me. I reported it. The man just kept going. It was terrifying,” said Vasil Borisov.

“If another car had been there and we couldn’t move right, it would have been fatal. There were two children in the car, and my partner is pregnant. Three children could have been gone just like that,” commented Aleksandra Chaousheva.

Behind Vasil’s car, there were a lorry and a coach. All of them had to make a sudden evasive manoeuvre to avoid a head-on collision with the oncoming car. The driver — a 70-year-old resident of the village of Kalugerovo — had mistaken the directions and, instead of joining the carriageway towards Sofia, went against the traffic heading for Burgas.

“A critical situation, which thankfully ended without injuries or casualties thanks to the swift and adequate response of a Road Police patrol covering the Trakia motorway at the time. Immediate measures were taken to safely intercept and stop the dangerous driver. Our colleagues also coordinated with another regional police directorate in Sofia, so that traffic could be halted from their side if needed in order to ensure a safe arrest,” said Miroslav Stoyanov, spokesperson for the Pazardzhik Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry of Interior.

For several kilometres, patrol cars escorted the offender to to the turn-off at the Tserovo road junction. His driving licence was confiscated on the spot and he was accompanied home. Meanwhile, those who found themselves in the dangerous situation are calling for legislative changes.

“There should be a change in the law — for older drivers, for example, an annual psychological assessment, and additional tests to check reactions,” urged Vasil Borisov.

Last year, a European-level recommendation was adopted calling for stricter controls when renewing driving licences for motorists aged over 65, as well as more frequent psychological testing. Each member state should introduce the measure into its national legislation. Bulgaria has not yet adopted such regulation.