site.btaParliament Adopts at First Reading Five Bills to Amend Road Traffic Act

Lawmakers passed at first reading on Friday five of the six bills tabled to amend the Road Traffic Act. The amendments come in light of public discontent over the poor conditions of the roads in Bulgaria that allegedly led to the death of a 12-year-old girl near Pleven, North Central Bulgaria.

Both bills sponsored by the Council of Ministers passed. One regulates in detail the maximum speed limits in and outside populated areas, on highways and expressways for various categories of motor vehicles.

The legislation stipulated that average speed offences can be detected by bodies of the Interior Ministry through the technical means of the Road Infrastructure Agency.

The draft law proposes the possibility of control by police officers performing their duties in uniform but in unmarked vehicles. The bill establishes a Council for Cooperation with the Scientific and Academic Community, the composition of which shall be determined by order of the head of the State Agency Road Safety.

The other bill tabled by the Council of Ministers refers to a European directive on the approval and market surveillance of agricultural and forestry vehicles by redefining the vehicle categories, with wheeled tractors now being defined as T1 vehicles. A committee's report states that the road safety risk potential of wheeled tractors when driven on roads open to public use is comparable to that of lorries, which is why such tractors should be treated the same way as lorries while undergoing roadside checks.

The bill tabled by GERB-UDF, which was also adopted at first reading, provides for the granting of additional powers to local self-government bodies and local administration to determine traffic rules within the settlements.

The bill tabled by Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) MP Bozhidar Bozhanov and a group of other MPs, which was also adopted at first reading, provides for changes aimed at reducing the administrative burden, increasing service and control, removing all stickers from the car windscreen and replacing them with automated references in centralized registers, granting the possibility to pay fines online without having to be served in person first, and lowering the number of repeat offenders on the road.

The bill introduced by another CC-DB MP, Yavor Bozhankov, which also passed at first reading, aims to address the problem of increased cases of DrugTest5000 field tests for drivers reporting a significant percentage of false results. The proposed amendments provide that a motor vehicle registration will not be suspended, when a driver has voluntarily provided a sample for a chemical toxicology laboratory test and has undergone a medical examination in conjunction with that test, pending proof of liability. The amendments are intended to restore the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise to limit the occurrence of significant consequences for drivers before their guilt is proven or disproved beyond reasonable doubt.

The only rejected legislation had been tabled by Vazrazhdane. It provided for a faster conversion of confiscated motor vehicles in favour of the state by selling them at public auction or by giving them to budgetary organizations. The bill was rejected by 83 votes in favour, 26 against, and 67 abstentions.