Bulgaria’s 2017 road death toll reaches 347 as August summer holiday peak season begins
A total of 347 people have died in road accidents in Bulgaria since the start of 2017, according to statistics released by the Interior Ministry on August 1.
Between January 1 and July 31, there were 3673 accidents on Bulgaria’s roads. Apart from the dead, a total of 4616 people have been injured.
In July 2017 alone, as the summer holiday season got underway in earnest, there were 667 accidents, leaving 64 people dead and 872 injured, according to the Interior Ministry figures.
Bulgaria has the worst road accident fatality rate in the European Union, at 99 per million inhabitants. This is almost double the EU average.
Bulgaria’s road accident fatality rate has generally declined since 1991, when it was 129 per a million. But the decline has not been at the same rate as the EU average.
In spite of the overall decline, some years have been worse than others. While in 2001, a total of 1011 people died in accidents on Bulgaria’s roads, that figure rose to 1061 in 2008, the worst figure in the past 15 years.
In 2012 and 2013, the number of dead in each year was the same – 601. The number of road deaths in Bulgaria rose to 660 in 2014 and again to 708 in 2015.
In 2016, there were 7355 accidents on Bulgaria’s roads, leaving 703 dead and 9306 people injured.
In all, in the years from 2007 to 2016 inclusive, a total of 7674 people died in road accidents in Bulgaria.
(Photo: Gabriela Fabbri)
/Panorama
