The Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ivan Ivanov announced that he has ordered immediate action to be taken to secure the section of the Byala - Botevgrad road, where 12-year-old Siyana died in an accident. He has also ordered the removal of the entire management of the Pleven Public Works Department and an inspection at the "Road Infrastructure" Agency (API) to clarify the overall situation, with results expected within a week. Inspection, results, but there is a death on the road… Diana Rusinova from the European Center for Transport Policies spoke to FACTI about the topic, because they had filed signals to the "Road Infrastructure" Agency (API) exactly for this section.
- Ms. Rusinova, which road are we talking about after the death of a child on the road?
- I stopped counting them a long time ago, because I don't have the opportunity to remember them. There are simply too many of them.
- It turns out that several times you - from the European Center for Transport Policies, have submitted signals to the "Road Infrastructure" Agency for exactly this section, where the accident occurred and Siyana lost her life. What signals did you submit…
- We have submitted two signals specifically for this section, and otherwise, specifically for the I-3 road between Pleven and Lukovit, there are over 10 signals. Specifically for this section between Telish and Radomirtsi, we have submitted two signals. Both signals are related to the fact that there are bumps on the road, including potholes. Some repairs were carried out later, but then holes formed again and there was lateral displacement of the asphalt, and accordingly a hole was formed. Our signals are from last year, because we received signals from citizens on our platform. Our first signal is from July 2024, and the second is from August. We received a response from the RIA at the end of November that the road markings would be repaired. In truth, we simply mentioned about the road markings that there were sections where they were missing. We did not pay that much attention to the markings, but the people from the RIA answered us that way. But even that turned out to be unfinished later. It is not clear whose fault it is for the poor condition of this road. What outraged me was the inadequate reaction of this organization. Instead of coming out and saying that they would do an inspection to see why this happened, because they had two signals, what the problem was, they simply replied that the road was “… in good operating condition“. And so they quite rightly incurred the wrath of the people. We all see that the condition of our roads is not good, it is terrible.
- And because you have an answer that the road is in good operating condition, the regional minister Ivan Ivanov dismissed the entire management of the Regional Road Administration in Pleven?
- He did not dismiss him, he removed him and an inspection is still to be done. Yes, that is the more correct way to do it, to see what and how was worked. It may turn out that the problem is not in the Pleven Regional Road Administration, but somewhere else.
- Okay, will this shifting of blame between institutions ever end…
- Look, the Pleven Regional Road Administration, the “Road Infrastructure“ Agency and the MRDPW are not separate institutions – they are one in order to shift responsibility. They shift it because for this road, as became clear from the official statement of the Ministry of Interior, they too have filed reports.
- That is exactly what I was going to ask. The Ministry of Interior has also filed reports for this section. And …
- The owner of the road is one - the “Road Infrastructure“ Agency. There are not two owners, three or five. The ownership of the road belongs to the “Road Infrastructure“ Agency. Whether the fault lies with the Pleven Regional Office or with the management of the RIA - this will be clarified by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works. Let's do a real good and thorough inspection to really show where something in the system is squeaking. This is not the only road on which we have this recurring problem. We will soon raise the alarm about another road on which two accidents occurred on the same day, thank God without casualties.
- The day before yesterday, on the same section where Siyana lost her life, a new accident occurred…
- Yes, unfortunately it is. Before that, in November, a woman wrote to us that she was injured in more or less the same place. Two weeks ago, there was another fatal accident on this section. This means that there is some problem. And now the question arises why no institution is responding properly. This is a systemic problem that needs to be solved. If there is no money to repair the roads, let someone come out and say why there is no money. Why does this ministry, which collects money from tolls and vignettes, because we all want good roads and for them to be maintained, keep saying that there is no money and people are dying. Let someone come out and say, is the budget broken, can't we fix our country, because there is still no money? I am tired of being asked by the media to solve problems that are basically assigned to them by law, because that is their job. I am a citizen – yes, I represent a non-governmental organization, but I can only pray that the state takes care of Bulgarian roads and the traffic on them. Let's talk about roads like Pleven-Ruse, Sofia-Pleven, the "Hemus" highway, Lom-Kozloduy, Byala Slatina-Iskar... These are not roads in our country, this is a suspended death sentence, because you never know exactly when your fate will overtake you.
- You were at the scene of the accident where Siyana died. What is specific about this section that causes so many accidents?
- There is a very long longitudinal slope there. This is a road that has not been repaired for a long time. It is normal for the asphalt to be worn out, it is possible that it does not have good traction. But the condition of the asphalt does not exonerate the driver. Here I want to emphasize the following very strongly. The truck driver is a professional driver. He should have seen the road conditions, that the pavement was wet, that there were conditions for aquaplaning, that the road was not in very good condition, that his trailer was bouncing on the potholes. He should have taken precautions and driven at a speed at which, if something went wrong - as it literally did in this case - he could have taken adequate measures and prevented what happened. This is his obligation by law. His guilt, of course, the court will say whether it is indisputable or not. I think there is no way we can ignore his guilt, but here comes the other question. Okay, he is guilty, we will convict him, but we will not return the child, right? So could we have made the asphalt have better traction, the slopes be better, there would be an emergency stop area on the side of the heavy trucks, because obviously the road is very busy. Could we have made it so that if this driver made a mistake, there would be some kind of backup plan for responding in the given situation, so that this trailer would not roll over. What should we have done preventively, so that it would not end up with a dead child and finding fault with this or that driver. No one goes out on the road to hit a 12-year-old child in a car and kill him?
- Yes, but in our country it happens, as we have seen, too honestly. We have somehow become accustomed to such incidents…
- This is precisely the problem, that such serious accidents have started to happen too often, that we talk about such serious accidents too often. Let us remember the incident on the Kyustendil-Yabylkovo road, where an 18-year-old child died in an accident with a horse that had come out onto the road. When we sent a question to the RIA about the condition of the road in this case, we again received the same sentence – “… the road is in good operating condition, but needs major repairs“. They said the same thing about this section where Siyana died. What comes out of this - that our roads are in good operating condition, but drivers, who are different people, with different motor vehicles, make the same mistakes in the same place. After all, we are talking about people with different education, different perceptions, different beliefs, but they make the same mistake on the same road. So whether the reason is in the person, or we should think a little that our roads, after all, are not in such good condition and need money to be repaired. And it is important that the money for roads is used for roads, and not redirected for this or that, for some other things that are bought. And, still, let's not forget that in the last five years the roads were a little forgotten by the state, they were left to the mercy of fate. This is a fact, because we did not have a stable government, we had temporary, regular cabinets for a few years, and the roads were simply not maintained.