WHITE PAPER ON ROAD TRAFFIC SAFETY IN BULGARIA

The Public Council for Road Safety demanded a new law on road traffic because of the increased number of road accidents and people killed in them in the recent 5 years. The Council drafted a White Paper on the status the traffic safety on the roads. It includes data about the vehicles, stretches of the roads, number of deaths and injuries in accidents in the country. The main goal is to seek solution to improve road traffic safety.

The document shows that in the recent years Bulgaria is one of the EU countries with the highest road fatality rates.

Dimitar Ganev, the Chair of the "Public Council for Road Safety" says that unfortunately, they do not notice tendencies for a change of the situation. They have even noticed a very disturbing trend. This is an attempt to manipulate the data to not see the truth about the accidents."

According to Ganev, the Road Infrastructure Agency does not provide complete and reliable information about the condition and maintenance of the roads, and the statistics by the Interior Ministry for the deaths and the injuries is incorrect. Therefore, the public council for road safety is pushing for a new law to distinguish responsibilities among the institutions, he said.

In his opinion, the fines for drivers who offended traffic rules should not be increased, but ways for increasing the collection rate should be sought.