The data from black statistics - for the last two years nearly 2000 people died in accidents involving young drivers with experience behind the wheel for up to two years. However, apparently with good self-confidence and poor judgment, because a large number of these incidents are on straight stretches of road with dry pavement and good visibility. This summed up BNT.
Unfortunately, I cannot report a positive trend for the reduction of accidents involving young drivers, because for 2022 and 2023 the number of these accidents, of the dead and of the injured, is approximate. Let's take last year for example. The data shows nearly 1,000 serious accidents involving drivers with up to two years of experience behind the wheel. Their number represents as much as 13% of all serious accidents. The dead are 59, and the injured - nearly 1400. Now something that sounds both startling and surprising - nearly 300 of the drivers in these accidents were without a seat belt. Many of them have crashed alone, without a collision with another road user. Against the background of these data, the police call for careful driving at an appropriate speed, and the non-governmental sector again emphasizes the need for urgent measures.
No serious increase and no serious decrease. This is shown by the analysis of accidents involving young drivers over the past two years. And if the fact that there are not many more victims sounds reassuring, the lack of positive change remains worrying.
"The strongest impression is that the number of self-crashed vehicles in these accidents is very large, or in other words, they self-crash - only one vehicle is involved in these accidents,' said Chief Inspector Lachezar Bliznakov - Traffic police.
The young driver, who becomes a participant in a serious accident, most often presses the gas hard and does not consider others. Often the fatal collisions are outside the populated areas, on straight and dry sections.
"Truly excessive speed is the scourge that contributes to such a high rate of trauma in these accidents. Followed, of course, by failure to provide priority, sudden change of direction of movement and other violations," said Chief Inspector Lachezar Bliznakov - Traffic Police.
And if speed is the leading cause of accidents, the Accident Victims Association highlights a serious problem:
"In the second largest city in Bulgaria, there are zero stationary speed cameras in the city. The traffic police has four mobile cameras and they change them in certain periods when they do actions, but there are no stationary cameras in the city", said Vladimir Todorov - Association of Accident Victims.
And they again remind the need for legislative changes: "To limit the use of powerful cars for the first two years, to make restrictions on night driving for the first two years, to reduce the permissible speed for the first two years, to reduce the permissible alcohol concentration the first two years. All these measures and similar ones work in many European countries", said Vladimir Todorov - Association of Accident Victims.
After serious accidents, there are inevitably appeals to both young drivers and their relatives: "To buy a young driver a jeep, a powerful jeep, huge and he has very little experience, to me this is not filial or daughterly love, it's giving him a weapon in the hands of a child", believes Vladimir Todorov - Association of Accident Victims.
"If they limit their speed and drive within the permissible limits, even if an accident occurs, it would not have serious consequences," warns Chief Inspector Lachezar Bliznakov - Traffic Police.