site.btaRoad Safety Agency Proposes Drivers with Unpaid Fines to Be Denied Administrative Services

September 19 (BTA) - The State Agency for Road Safety
(SARS) Thursday published on its website a report on the state
of road safety in Bulgaria. Some of the recommendations made in
the report include the adoption of new methods for investigating
 serious traffic accidents, quick and efficient collection of
fines, and the creation of a public registration regime for
companies providing motor vehicle service.

The report, which the SARS describes as the first thorough
analysis made in Bulgaria of the level of road safety, lists
specific measures and actions that the competent institutions
should take. The document will also serve as a basis for the
elaboration of a road safety strategy for the 2021-2030 period.
  
To improve fine collectability, the report recommends that
drivers with unpaid fines be denied administrative services by
all institutions and that citizens, including foreign nationals,
 be checked for electronic ticket fines at border control
checkpoints upon leaving Bulgaria.

According to the analysis, the last ten years have seen an
active development in the area of road construction, but the
majority of the network still consists of roads built more than
20 years ago.

The report also shows that last year, there were 77 sections of
Bulgaria's republican roads with a high concentration of traffic
 accidents. The technical failures that most often cause
accidents are a flat tire and brake failure.

RY/DS