Plovdiv traffic police fine ambulances for speeding
Traffic police in Bulgaria’s second city Plovdiv have issued speeding fines to 10 ambulances transporting patients in critical condition in the past year.
The Plovdiv District Court has quashed all the fines.
A stationary speed camera regularly sends greetings to the director of Plovdiv’s emergency services, television station bTV reported on February 18.
“It’s a technical device. It probably can’t be adjusted,” Dr Ivan Stoynev, head of the emergency services in Plovdiv, said.
Although none of the fines were payable, the whole bureaucratic procedure takes time and is stressful. “I need to put it in writing, lodge the appeal in court,” Stoynev said.
The ambulances were transporting patients in critical condition, but on the photographs, it is not clear that the ambulance’s emergency light is flashing.
“We did an experiment, photographing ambulances when the light is on, but it doesn’t show up in the picture,” Stoynev said.
The traffic police said that they were obliged to respect the Road Traffic Act and issue fines to all cars that were speeding. There is a seven-day period in which to appeal against traffic fines.
(Photo: Rui Caldeira/sxc.hu)