The problem is complex. This was said in the program "From the Day" on BNT by the former Minister of Regional Development Nikolay Naydenov in connection with the topic of safety barriers on the roads in our country, which came to the fore after the series of serious accidents with victims, in which heavy trucks cut through the facilities and entered the oncoming lane.
Road safety is a combination of the quality of the infrastructure and traffic on the roads. Trucks must be equipped in some way – there should be greater control, technical inspections, and the behavior of drivers should be monitored, he emphasized.
There are rules adopted by the RIA for the safety barriers that meet the European standards for the design of the safety barriers. In 2024, a regulation on the subject was adopted, which was copied one to one from the German one. In practice, we see that this is not exactly the case. The biggest problem is public procurement, where there is a strong distortion, Naydenov pointed out.
According to him, the responsible institutions do not have a plan for how to replace the guardrails in Bulgaria over the next 10 years, whatever the requirement.
The public pressure and people's expectations are quite fair. The task for the type of these fencing facilities must be changed very carefully and concrete fencing facilities must be introduced in places - where it is most critical. Because concrete fencing has a greater deterrent effect, but their disadvantage is that they are not flexible and in the event of an accident, the trauma to the people in the crashed car is greater. Since most cars in our country weigh up to 1,500 kg, such fences should not be installed everywhere, as there will be a noticeable increase in injuries and there will still be those responsible, Nikolay Naydenov also commented.