Largest number of road accidents for 2018 were in Plovdiv region

Some 3,095 road accidents occurred in the territory of Bulgari’s Plovdiv region in 2018 and this ranks it at one of the leading places for road accidents in the country. The severe crashes were 919 and 74 people died.

The Ministry of Interior statistics show that the drivers were responsible for the road accidents in nearly 97% of the cases.

Botyo Girginov - spokesperson of the Directorate-General of the Ministry of Interior - Plovdiv: The main reasons for the traffic accidents are the inappropriate speed, the non-observance of distance, failing to give way and failing to give way to a crossing pedestrian.

According to Kornelia Petkova, who lost her husband two years ago in an accident on a large boulevard, the infrastructure in Plovdiv also contributes to the large number of road accidents.

Kornelia Petkova: I guess Plovdiv is not the only place in the world where the infrastructure allows high speed on certain stretches.

Every fifth person who died in a crash was a pedestrian. The New Year also did not start well, yesterday there was again a crash at a junction with four people injured.

Relatives of the road accident victims suggest that the wording of the act in the Criminal Code should be changed in the event of incidents related to use of alcohol, drugs and over speeding.

Kornelia Petkova: The wording of the unintentional murder should be changed. It should be treated as a premeditated murder because that’s what it is.

One reason for the many accidents in Plovdiv region is the flat terrain, which implies speeding. Many crashes also occurred on Trakia motorway, resulting in injuries.