The Institute for Road Safety warns that the average speed control system, which was "long advertised", actually started with "critically low coverage and lack of real effect". The organization points out that currently only one section has been certified – between the "Iliyantsi" and Chepintsi road junction in both directions, with a length of about 10 kilometers in each direction, located on the Northern Speed Tangent of Sofia.
Six more short sections located in different parts of the country are pending certification:
Vakarel – Ihtiman
Tsalapitsa – Radinovo
Sandanski – Damyanitsa
Telish – Dolni Dabnik
Bulgarian Spring – Sopot
Strujno – Shumen
They are detected in both directions. The total length of the planned sections is about 120 kilometers, which represents only 0.6% of the entire republican road network, amounting to over 20,000 km, according to the Road Safety Institute. The NGO also points out that they have warned for a long time that the cameras of the toll system were not designed for speed control, but for charging, and that attempts to re-set them to detect average speed will create serious legal problems and will lead to limited effectiveness, limited to a few sections.
According to road safety experts, the effect of the "large-scale media campaign" of the section control has not been intimidating for drivers, but rather public trust is weakening. According to the Road Safety Institute, the structural and personnel changes announced three months ago by Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov are needed to restart the system, instead of failing "even before its actual start".