The current practice of hidden road control, known as “cop in the bushes”, is fundamentally wrong. Instead of increasing safety, it creates dangers, destroys public trust and has been proven ineffective. It is time for Bulgaria to abandon this outdated model and adopt proven European practices based on prevention and transparency. This is stated in a statement by the Institute for Road Safety and adds:
Key problems of hidden control:
1. It creates dangers instead of preventing them. The sudden appearance of a hidden patrol or camera provokes panic braking by drivers (the so-called “kangaroo effect”), which is a prerequisite for serious chain accidents. Thus, the control body becomes a source of risk.
2. It undermines trust and fosters fear, not responsibility. The Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself admits in its training materials that “all forms of covert control cause tension, irritability and alienation”. This approach turns police officers and drivers into enemies and encourages the mentality “it is important not to get caught”, not “it is important to drive safely”.
3. It is a financial failure.
4. Control is on “feeders”, not on dangerous places. Experts and citizens agree that cameras and patrols are massively deployed on straight sections convenient for fines, and not on real “black spots” with a concentration of accidents.
5. This proves that the goal is not safety, but collecting fines.
How do successful countries do it?
Bulgaria is among the countries with the highest road mortality in the EU (74 deaths per million inhabitants), while safety leaders such as Sweden (20/million) and Norway (16/million) have many times better results. Their success is due to a fundamentally different philosophy:
In Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark, cameras are ALWAYS visible and marked with road signs.
The goal is prevention, not punishment. The idea is for drivers to reduce speed throughout the entire section, realizing the presence of control, and not to be “caught red-handed”
Control is only in proven dangerous places, determined after a risk analysis. Our proposal: 4 steps to modern road safety
1. Full transparency and visibility. All cameras (stationary and mobile) and patrols should be visible and pre-marked with road signs.
2. Control only in “black spots”
The deployment of control means should only be done in places with a proven concentration of serious accidents, and not in “feeders” convenient for fines
3. Investments in prevention, not in repression. Invest in improving dangerous infrastructure (intersections, markings, lighting) and in driver training, instead of more hidden cameras.
4. Partnership, not war. The state must stop treating citizens as enemies. Dialogue and joint efforts are needed to achieve a shared goal - zero road fatalities.
It is time to replace the outdated model of fear with the modern European approach of
prevention and partnership. Only in this way can we achieve real and lasting safety on Bulgaria's roads.