site.btaUPDATED Driving Instructors Divided over Driving School Reforms

Driving schools and instructors across the country are divided over new driver training regulations concerning the digitization of driver training. A protest followed a gathering expressing support for the changes earlier on Wednesday, as training vehicles converged on Knyaz Alexander Battenberg Square in Sofia.

Chair of the Bulgarian Driving Teachers Union Trendafil Marinov, part of the group protesting against the changes, voiced his concerns. "We want the regulations to be rewritten, with a new working group that includes industry representation. The updated regulations should match advanced technology and modern capabilities of vehicles," he said. "In five months, a system that hasn't even been developed or tested will come into effect. We don't know who is developing it, what we'll be working with, or how this system will function," he added, referring to the upcoming digitization of driver training. "The way things are done could suggest some form of corruption," Marinov noted.

Marinov believes that the planned GPS tracking of training vehicles is pointless. "I don't see how tracking us leaving Lyulin borough at 10:00 am and arriving in Mladost borough at 11:00 am will help improve road safety," Marinov said. He also pointed out the need to refine qualification requirements for instructors.

During the gathering in support of the changes, owner of a driving school and chair of the Bulgarian Association for Qualification of Motorists, Krasimir Georgiev, said the changes would help bring transparency to the sector. "Currently, the shadow part of our industry takes up 90%," Georgiev said. He noted that one of the main changes is the introduction of digitization in training.

"The primary change is the elimination of the paper form of training records, which has been a cornerstone of the shadow economy in this sector. Once everything is digitized and the information system accurately verifies whether the training hours are properly recorded, I believe the process will become fully transparent," Georgiev added. He announced that the organization also supports the proposed restriction that a trainee can take the exam up to four times in six months.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications is in constant dialogue with representatives of the organizations responsible for the training of drivers, the Ministry told BTA. According to the Ministry, the amendments will ensure greater transparency in the training of young drivers and more effective control by the state.