The Institute for Road Safety (IB) is sounding the alarm that the road safety crisis is not being controlled, but is deepening. In its position, the organization gives an example of the number of deaths on the road, which have almost doubled since May.
They point out that several serious accidents occurred in July. Road accidents this month claimed the lives of 55 people. IB emphasizes that this is the month in which the Ministry of Interior reported its most extensive inspections. The organization adds that paradoxically, in July there were 11 days without victims on the road.
The institute points out that this is typical of an unstable transport system in which risk is not managed, and tragedies come in waves and institutions only take into account the consequences. The IPB believes that instead of the state talking about risk management, society is being flooded with populist slogans. The organization points out that this may bring political dividends, but does not save human lives.
It does not matter whether the police car is behind a bush, on a bridge or in the open, if the control is not aimed at the behavior and places with the highest risk, the IPB believes. The institute adds that this populism discredits tacit control - one of the most effective tools that the law allows. It is through tacit control that European countries establish the use of mobile phones, aggressive driving and other high-risk violations. The goal is not for the driver to see the policeman, but for him to know that he can be controlled anywhere and at any time.
The IPB notes that in our country risk management is being replaced by media campaigns. Digital control does not change behavior on the road. It is changed by professional risk analysis, tacit control and the inevitability of the sanction. Politicians are declaring en masse that road safety is a non-partisan cause and a purely expert issue that should not be politicized. In practice, however, they themselves do the exact opposite - they use every serious incident or statistic for cheap PR, political witticisms, inter-party attacks and self-promotion.
According to the IPB, it is time for the government to admit that the current model is exhausted and to seek external expert help. The organization emphasizes that the trend cannot be reversed with political populism, corruption addictions and refusal to apply proven risk management methods, comments news.bg.