The topic of road safety is once again at the center of the political conversation, and the idea of creating a new mega-agency that would unite the information and functions of various state structures raises a number of questions. Is there really a lack of data exchange between institutions, or is the problem that the available information is not used effectively? What will be the role of the Ministry of Interior, the National Toll Administration, RIA and the “Automobile Administration“ and will the new structure not simply duplicate existing units? Tencho Tenev, who has many years of experience in the Ministry of Interior system and is a former head of the Traffic Police - Sofia, spoke to FACTI.
– Mr. Tenev, the topic of road safety and that is why Rumen Radev's cabinet intends to create a mega-agency so that all data from different structures related to road safety and compliance with road rules can be unified. What do you think about this?
– In general, the information about the new agency is so contradictory that I would allow myself to ask a few questions about what is happening. There are many things that are unclear. When we talk about a mega-agency, this somehow sounds to me like something that many people will be responsible for, but in the end no one will know what happens at the end of the process.
And all this comes with another request to improve road safety in order to collect money from fines. And over the years we have seen that this is not the best solution. So far we have always seen that the budget is somehow filled with funds from fines, but road safety itself - this money does not reach it.
I can even give an example of the money from the road safety fund, which went for new patrol cars from an elite German brand, and in reality, many more cars could have been bought for the same amount, if they were at a lower price. And in reality, this money could have satisfied the needs of the entire Ministry of Internal Affairs system with cars.
It is very interesting how the entire new structure arises on the Toll Administration itself. The Toll Administration itself collects money from taxis and in my opinion, its place is in the Ministry of Finance, not to be a leading factor in road safety.
I would add that the Ministry of Finance has an interest in collecting fines and all the other things that will fill the treasury. The National Toll Administration is exactly such a system. We are talking about fines, taxis, vignettes and in my opinion, this should be under the care of the Ministry of Finance.
But since now we are talking once again that the purpose of this new mega structure is for various state institutions to talk to each other, which have not fully exchanged data so far, now all data from the Toll Administration, from the State Traffic Inspectorate, from “Automobile Administration“ will enter this mega structure.
– It is said that the goal is precisely to unify the data and for a police officer, for example, to be able to see information from different institutions through his tablet?
– Yes, that is exactly what we commented on and that is what we heard – that when a police officer opens a given reference for a registration number of a motor vehicle on his tablet, he will be able to receive data and see information from a variety of agencies related to roads.
But this has been done for a long time. There is such integration. The “Customs“ Agency, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Toll system already communicate, so when a traffic police officer carries out an inspection, he can see photos. He sees a lot of things.
Here the question is simply to implement the law. This exchange of information between different state bodies has existed for more than a year. And we hear that it will probably only now be unite.
No, this works. The question is that after it works, after this information is available, it should be used and the law should be applied. And here I want to draw attention to something very important about the role of toll cameras and how vehicles are monitored on the roads.
I am referring to the case of “Petrohan“.
There, it was very concretely seen how the toll cameras work selectively.
Because there were moments when one of the cars throughout the case was detected by one camera, then continued on a certain road, and another camera did not see it. Will this thing continue? Because when we have selective presentation of information and when we have the opportunity to hide something, things are not good. In this sense, I am interested in why Minister Demerdzhiev commented on how this will only be done, since this exchange of information between the different ministries, I repeat, exists.
It is worth noting that the Agency “Road Infrastructure“ (API) is the owner of the roads in Bulgaria. I did not hear anywhere in the new concept what their function will be in this new road safety strategy.
The RIA publishes a bulletin on the traffic situation every day, monitors incidents. This is information that both the “Traffic Police“ and the State Agency “Road Traffic Safety“ work with. It is published in BTA and most media outlets receive it from there, respectively.
Now in this new mega structure, who will provide this data? Who will analyze it? What will be the role of the RIA in this entire system? Another very significant problem is why there is no source that provides 24-hour information on the traffic situation. This is not just a deficit of information, but a violation of several European directives. According to European directives, information on the state of the traffic situation must be provided 24/7.
– How do you view the role of the Ministry of Transport and the “Automobile Administration“ in this new structure?
– The most interesting thing is that the Ministry of Transport has so far been the umbrella of the Executive Agency “Automobile Administration“. And that's where the biggest scandals were.
I'm a little startled by the fact that Minister Demerdzhiev called it a state agency. I don't think this is an innocent mistake.
This agency is known by its previous name - DAI, and it was the source of some of the biggest scandals, when we talk about technical inspections, about driver's licenses, about the racket that happened with the trucks of the singer Robin Williams when he came here before his concert. Why is the Ministry of Transport becoming a hub for these activities? And I just have the feeling that more of the same will come out of all this. If all the control goes to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, what will these over 800 people from the Executive Agency and the National Toll Administration do? Will they be laid off? Will they be made police officers? Who will pay for either of these two ideas?
Who will control all freight traffic? This is very time-consuming. When, if this is transferred to the Ministry of Interior, will it have time to check other road users? I would be glad if someone could answer these questions.
– But the general idea is for all these structures to start talking to each other, because each of them is responsible for a specific thing, and when an accident occurs, the transfer of responsibility begins…
– But currently there is a National Coordination Center for Road Safety, which, for better or worse, does exactly this coordination across the entire republican road network. If in this case there is a duplicate structure when creating this new mega-agency, then what will this structure do? As the old fable says – when snow falls, because winter is a critical period, the rules of fair weather do not apply there.
The National Coordination Center encompasses all these structures – and the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, and the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
We have this center. Now what are we doing - a second such center? With many more employees, with more people? I can't understand what the idea is here. The State Agency "Road Traffic Safety" should simply be closed. Otherwise, what do we get at the moment? Not a mediocre one, but another agency that will eat up money without a clear effect on road safety. I have the feeling that Prime Minister Radev, whom I respect a lot, has atypically trusted someone else's judgment and it would be good for him to take all these processes under a little more serious control.
Don't trust magical promises for such mega-agencies, because big plans often fail due to petty interests and intentions.
The State Agency for Road Safety was established during the time of Tomislav Donchev and all these personnel - chiefly, we are talking first about Malina Krumova, now about her colleague, who heads the State Agency for Road Safety“, are GERB personnel. I can't understand - we will clean up the oligarchy, we will get rid of people from previous party structures, and what does it turn out? These people sit around and continue to govern. And what comes out? That Tomislav Donchev's people are currently running this state road safety agency.
– You often talk about the personnel policy in the Ministry of Interior system. What is the problem in your opinion?
– The entire leadership of the state at the moment – Prime Minister Radev from Plovdiv, the Chief of Staff from Plovdiv, the Secretary for Security Plamen Uzunov from Plovdiv, the Minister of Interior Ivan Demerdzhiev from Plovdiv, the Director of the Directorate of the Ministry of Interior Vasil Kostadinov, who was a good friend of mine, and the Chairman of the Commission for Internal Order and Security, the former Secretary General Petko Todorov – from Plovdiv. And what does it turn out to be? That Plovdiv is the most criminal city in the state at the moment. I am referring to the recent incidents that occurred there. Where is the connection lost for such a thing to happen? I want to touch on another very important problem that I see, because apparently Mr. Demerdzhiev, apparently not against his will, someone dictates to him who to appoint to certain structures. I am talking about the Ministry of Interior because I have worked there for many years and I know the system very well. Corrupt officials are being appointed in the Ministry of Interior system. I'm talking about those who have been proven to have committed gross violations, violated the law and gone against the state. And instead of filling the state treasury, they have taken money and distributed it left and right into personal pockets and for personal interests. Currently, Nikolay Krusharski has become the head of the "Traffic Police". It turned out that the owner of Lokomotiv Plovdiv Hristo Krusharski is a good friend of Minister Demerdzhiev and for this reason, during one of the caretaker governments, when Demerdzhiev was again a minister, he terminated the disciplinary investigation against Nikolay Krusharski, who was accused of destroying over 2,000 videos. And now again, Mr. Demerdzhiev appoints Nikolay Krusharski as the head of the "Traffic Police" for the entire country. How do you see these things? This is not normal. At least that's what I think. We say that we will fight the oligarchy, and what does it turn out to be? The oligarchy is still within the structures of the state.