Nearly 200 active police officers in our country work illegally as instructors of candidate drivers in their free time, reports the program “Outside the script“ on “Eurocom“ TV. Systemic corruption in the Executive Agency “Automobile Administration“ (DAI), fictitious exams and compromised technical inspections are the direct cause of the growing number of victims in accidents. These data were presented by former Deputy Minister of Transport Angel Popov and the Chairman of the Association for Driver Training Krasimir Georgiev.
The two experts reveal large-scale abuses in the acquisition of driver's licenses. According to them, the gray sector in the industry reaches 90 percent, and state control is practically absent.
Angel Popov: “Currently, there are about 200 active police officers in the training cars. They work as instructors. The time that the state has given them for rest, they spend working“.
Specialists categorically claim that law enforcement officers do not have the legal right to carry out such activity, but the institutions turn a blind eye. The dependencies in the system reach the point where owners of fictional driving schools collect unregulated fees between 5,000 and 10,000 euros per month, while instructors use their personal cars, fictitiously renting them out for 5 euros.
Experts criticized the management of resources in the State Traffic Safety Administration, pointing out that brand new control cars with modern equipment are gathering dust in garages, while inspectors deliberately use old cars without surveillance cameras. The guests in the studio also highlighted abuses in public procurement, including fictitious re-registration of old buses from the Euro 3 category to Euro 5 in order to meet the requirements for tenders.
According to the data, the so-called “driving tourism“ continues to flourish, in which candidates are taken to smaller towns for an exam before pre-arranged examiners. The structures of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate in towns such as Pernik, Kyustendil, Vratsa and Montana were identified as problematic.
The lack of adequate training and the sale of exams lead to bloody consequences on the roads. In April alone, 32 people died in accidents in the country. A tragic example from the day the interview was broadcast is a serious accident near Botevgrad, in which five people lost their lives. The accident occurred at around 07:30 in the morning after their car entered oncoming traffic and hit a TIR head-on. The impact proved fatal for all passengers in the passenger car.
Instead of the responsible officials suffering real punishment for the chaos on the roads, they often receive promotions in other state sectors, experts warn. They are preparing a detailed report with specific violations, which will be handed over to the new Minister of Transport, insisting on immediate reforms.