With inappropriate speed, 2 weeks of driving experience and already proven road violations - what comes next after the 21-year-old driver crashed his car into a public transport bus? We recall that one person lost his life in the serious accident, and six others were seriously injured.
“In this case, we cannot blame only the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but if such restrictions are imposed, not only for ownership, but also for driving powerful cars, such tragedies can be avoided”, said Vladimir Todorov from the Association of Accident Victims in the program ”Hello, Bulgaria”. Todorov appealed to the National Assembly for legislative changes in this direction.
„If the municipal cameras had detected speed, as they are already allowed to do by law, this incident would most likely have been avoided. However, these cameras have not yet been certified and the data does not reach the traffic police”, Todorov also pointed out. According to him, our country is still lagging behind in terms of key points for road safety. As the main problems, he highlighted the connectivity between the individual units, the infrastructure and incorrectly directed investments in terms of the work of the force units.
„In this particular case – "if the driver had driven a car with 130 hp, but at the same high speed, the damage probably would not have been so severe," Todorov also said.
“In the temporary road safety committee that was formed in Parliament, we gathered over 10 organizations and submitted more than 25 proposals for changes”, said Petar Vutov from the Association for Qualification of Motorists in Bulgaria. According to him, there are also many gaps in the system under which the course participants are currently trained.
“One of our proposals was that for young drivers - with up to two years of experience - there should be stricter sanctions and if no violations are committed during this time, the respective driver should be officially issued a license”, Vutev pointed out. According to him, despite the existence of rules, there is a lack of transparency and sufficient monitoring of their implementation.
"The regulations and curricula of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, respectively, describe how the training and exam should be conducted, but unfortunately we are not a control body and cannot impose sanctions in case of violation", he added.
"According to the same regulations, the car is equipped with a device that models the route and issues visual and voice commands – we call it a navigator. However, this rule is often not followed and the examiner becomes one,", explained Petar Vutov.