Bulgaria participates in EU seatbelt check-up campaign
Bulgaria is among European Union countries taking part in a campaign from September 9 to 15 2013 in which traffic police will check whether drivers and passengers are wearing seatbelts.
Also to be checked as part of the campaign, under the auspices of European traffic police network Tispol, will be whether children are strapped into proper child safety seats and motorcyclists are wearing crash helmets.
Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said that traffic police also would check whether motorists had compulsory liability insurance.
The ministry said that a similar campaign in March 2013 had found an increase in failure to wear seatbelts compared to the previous check – in more than 37 000 checks, about 5000 people were not wearing seatbelts, an increase of about 13 per cent over the number of previous offences.
Bulgaria was close to the leading countries in Europe in motorists wearing seatbelts, but the use of rear seat belts and child restraint systems was still not satisfactory, the ministry said. In the leading countries in the EU, more than 90 per cent of passengers in the rear seats wore seatbelts.
(Photo: Leah Sawyer)
