site.btaUPDATED Bulgaria Had 376 Road Traffic Deaths in First Ten Months of 2024

On the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, commemorated on the third Sunday of November each year, Bulgaria reported 376 people killed and 7,594 injured in 6,032 traffic accidents in the first ten months of the year. In 2023, 525 people died and 9,101 were injured in 6,993 accidents, Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov said on the Minstry's website.

"Let us change our life together and unite to protect life. On November 17, let us honour the memory of crash victims and stand with those bereaved," Ilkov said.

The Interior Minister also said: "It is only with the joint efforts of the state and local authorities, NGOs and a change in our behaviour that we can control the factors leading to fatal traffic accidents and the loss of loved ones. One way to change what has become a sad everyday reality is to adjust our mindset, become more mindful of road safety and improve our skills to act in risky situations."

Ilkov, who attended a prayer service for crash victims in Plovdiv's St Marina Church, said some 600 speed cameras would go into operation in 2025. Of them, 300 will be placed on toll roads and 293 will be mobile or will be installed elsewhere across the country.

On October 26, 2005, the World Day was adopted, unanimously, by the UN General Assembly as "the appropriate acknowledgement for victims of road traffic crashes and their families".