On August 5, the latest changes to the Road Traffic Act were published in the State Gazette. The latest changes, which are claimed to reduce traffic accidents, injuries and deaths on the roads... Whether this will happen remains to be seen based on numbers.
This is what Carlos Contrera wrote on "Facebook".
Any attempt to limit dzhigits on the roads is commendable. However, the concerns are that the creation of the so-called. "Catalan feeders" do not solve the problems of road safety, but simply fill the budget, and that is if they get caught.... After 3-6 months we will be able to comment on the basis of data whether the changes are successful. By successful I mean a reduction in the number of violations found, a reduction in the number of accidents, and respectively the number of deaths and injuries.
What worries me is that once again a major problem is not identified - the movement of vehicles with foreign registration and the violations committed by their drivers. In the summer we observe columns of Romanian cars, some of which are headed to our Black Sea coast, and others transit to Greece. In a day we can count dozens, if not hundreds of violations of cars and trucks with Romanian registration.
It is symptomatic, because apparently their drivers are not worried that they may be sanctioned by the Bulgarian authorities. Therefore, it is a daily occurrence for cars (light and heavy goods vehicles) to drive at excessive speed, to undertake improper overtaking maneuvers, to violate road markings, including unauthorized U-turns, entering unregulated places in the oncoming lane, etc. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of cars from neighboring Romania enter and exit Bulgaria every day. It is striking that over the years, mass violations continue. This means that, in general, Romanian drivers believe that they will not be sanctioned. This outlines a weakness in our road control system.
Another emblematic example is the Turkish heavy goods vehicles, which also move between Kapitan Andreevo and Kalotina with numerous violations - speeding, improper overtaking, loss of priority, etc.
In both cases, the question is why, with constantly increasing sanctions and control under the Road Traffic Act, these two categories continue to commit atrocities on Bulgarian roads? Some of the violations and serious accidents are precisely the work of representatives of the Romanian and Turkish driving schools. And they continue to move in the same way like motorized bashibozuk regardless of what fines change and how much control is supposedly tightened. Apparently, our system allows loopholes that allow foreign citizens not to be sanctioned for their violations on Bulgarian roads.
It is precisely this problem that creates the feeling that the authorities are weak and negligent when they cannot easily take your money or your driving license. That is why I am sending written questions to the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clarify the mechanisms for sanctioning foreign citizens who have committed violations of the Road Traffic Act. I also want reporting data for the last three years on how many violations have been established, what they are, how many were sanctioned and how. If road control is going to be strengthened, the rules must apply to absolutely everyone, otherwise they will become meaningless and the expected effect will not be achieved!