No irregularities have been found in the documentation of the vehicles involved in the chain crashes on the Trakia Motorway. This was announced by Transport Minister Georgi Peev during a hearing before the Parliamentary Transport and Communications Committee.
The inspections were carried out by the “Automobile Administration” and covered all vehicles involved in the incidents, in which 12 people died. However, the documentation data do not answer the question of whether the rules governing drivers’ driving and rest periods were breached.
Truck Tachographs Under Inspection
Separately from the document checks, action was taken regarding the tachographs of the freight vehicles. Three devices were physically removed from the trucks because they had no power supply.
Data was extracted from another eight tachographs and handed over to the investigating authorities. Around 20 devices were seized directly by them.
Peev did not comment on whether there had been violations of the drivers’ driving and rest regime, as this issue is part of the investigation.
Developing 31 Road Safety Measures
The Ministry of Transport is working on 31 measures to improve road safety. A special working group is meeting on the proposals and convenes daily.
According to Georgi Peev, the problem is not limited to vehicle inspections. He said that the road safety system is fragmented and that responsibilities among the dozens of institutions are not distributed clearly enough.
“There is a very large volume of information that exists, but there are no protocols for its distribution and, accordingly, when someone receives this information, it is not clear what should be done with it. We need to work in a focused and targeted manner,” the minister said.In his words, the problems that have accumulated over the years will not be resolved immediately. Implementing the measures will require coordination among all institutions responsible for road safety.
Sources: bnrnews.bg