Close to 19 000 motorists caught speeding in Bulgaria in just one week
Close to 19 000 motorists were caught exceeding the speed limit in Bulgaria in just one week, from August 21 to 27, according to Interior Ministry figures.
The speeding fines were handed out as Bulgarian traffic police took part in a regular EU-wide operation against breaking the speed limit.
The number of cases was 6000 higher than in April, the previous time such an operation was held.
Police said that of the close to 19 000 speeding violations, just more than 12 500 were registered with mobile cameras in police cars.
According to Bulgaria’s police, changes to the country’s Road Traffic Act that legislated the removal of warning signs ahead of mobile speed checks had had a positive effect.
In Bulgaria, excessive and inappropriate speed continues to be the biggest cause of severe accidents with the highest number of casualties.
Bulgaria has the highest rate of road deaths among EU countries.
Earlier in 2017, Bulgaria’s National Assembly legislated substantially higher penalties for various road traffic violations, including speeding. However, as frequently observed this summer on the country’s roads linking Sofia to the Black Sea cities of Varna and Bourgas, exceeding Bulgaria’s 140km/h motorway speed limit remains commonplace.
According to the Interior Ministry, by August 30 – with a day left to the month – there had been 619 accidents on Bulgaria’s roads this month, leaving 56 people dead and 822 injured.
Since the start of 2017, there have been 4332 road accidents in Bulgaria, with 406 people dead and 5304 injured.
In all, in the years from 2007 to 2016 inclusive, a total of 7674 people died in road accidents in Bulgaria.
(Photo: Peter Suneson/sxc.hu)
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