site.btaBulgaria Ranks First in Number of Road Traffic Fatalities per Mln Population in EU

Bulgaria continues to rank first in the European Union (EU) in the number of road traffic fatalities per million population, said Chief Inspector Yordan Milushev from the Traffic Police Department of the National Police Directorate General. Driving slower or faster than conditions allow and right-of-way violations remain the main causes of serious crashes with fatalities.

Milushev took part in the 10th annual conference on road safety Vision Zero which took place in Plovdiv on Thursday. The conference was opened by Regional Development and Public Works Minister Violeta Koritarova-Kasabova and Deputy Interior Minister Lyubomir Yosifov. 

The statistics show that a total of 22,620 traffic accidents occurred in Bulgaria between January 1 and August 31, 2024, causing 298 deaths and injuring 5,962 traffic participants.

In 2023, the EU average road death rate was 46 deaths per million population. Bulgaria and Romania have the highest death rates, with 82 and 81 road deaths per million population, respectively.

In 2023, there were 525 road traffic fatalities in Bulgaria, while in the previous year they were 531, with a decrease of about 1%. In 2019, the EU set a target to reduce the number of road fatalities by 50% by 2030, Milushev recalled. From 2019 to 2023, the number of road fatalities decreased by 10% within the EU and by 16% in Bulgaria. Poland and Cyprus have a significant reduction of 35%. An increase in road deaths is seen in 11 countries. 

On September 18, there were no traffic accident fatalities in Bulgaria. The day has been declared a Day without Road Traffic Fatalities and is celebrated across the country as part of the Roadpol Safety Days, an annual campaign to raise awareness for road safety across Europe.