site.btaPM Borissov Argues that Role of Family is Crucial in Averting Road Accidents Caused by Street Racing

PM Borissov Argues that Role of Family is Crucial in Averting Road Accidents Caused by Street Racing

Sofia, August 14 (BTA) - The role of the family is of crucial
importance in averting illegal street racing, Prime Minister
Boyko Borissov said on Friday, approached by a reporter about
the frequent cases of street racing recently which claimed the
lives of a number of children. Borissov said that the parents of
 the perpetrators taking part in such chases are to blame as
they shirk their parental duty and "do not care where their
children are".

Borissov made the comments at the opening of a new sports
playground in Sofia.

Asked whether the traffic regulations should be changed, the
Prime Minister said that legal amendments cannot be adopted "on
a daily basis". "There is no law that allows speeding," he said,
 adding that there are enough speed cameras on roads, the police
 is doing their job but "are at a loss how to counteract
offenders".

Borissov said he allowed the Interior Ministry to have roadside
police patrols this month to stop offenders "because the police
cannot catch up with collecting the tickets for various breaches
 of road traffic regulations".

Meanwhile, speaking at a news conference, Head of the Traffic
Police Department in the National Police Directorate General
Commissar Boiko Ranovski said that seventeen children were
killed in road accidents in the first seven months of the year.
The main cause of the accidents were speeding and wrong
overtaking.

Ranovski said that of the 17 killed children, eight died as
passengers in cars during road accidents, seven died in
pedestrian accidents and two as unlicensed drivers.

He said that a working group with people from the Interior
Ministry, the Regional Development and Public Works Ministry and
 the Transport Ministry is preparing urgent measure for rapid
improvement of the traffic situation. The measures include
suspension of vehicles, confiscation of number plates in serious
 accidents, stricter penalties for unlicensed driving and drunk
driving and faster payment of fines.