Bulgaria’s road death toll in 2019 was higher than in 2018 – Interior Ministry

Bulgaria ended the year 2019 with a road death toll of 623, twelve higher than the figure for 2018, the Interior Ministry said on January 1, citing provisional statistics.

In 2019, there were 6715 accidents on Bulgaria’s roads in which there were deaths or injuries, the Interior Ministry said.

The number of people injured in road accidents in Bulgaria, as at midnight on December 31 2019, was 8482.

In December alone, there were 540 accidents, which left 42 people dead and 681 injured.

The 2019 road death toll in Bulgaria is in sharp contrast to that for 2018, which was 71 lower than the year before. The figure for 2018 was 611.

In all, a total of 9590 people died in road accidents in Bulgaria between January 1 2007 and December 31 2019.

Bulgaria had the second-worst road accident fatality rate in the European Union in 2018, according to official EU figures released in April 2019.

Leading causes of road accidents in Bulgaria include speeding, dangerous overtaking, drink-driving and failure to maintain a safe following distance.

Bulgarian National Television reported on January 1 that on New Year’s Eve, more than 50 motorists were caught drink-driving. They included a 23-year-old motorist who rolled his car in Hissarya, and was found to have a blood-alcohol level more than three and a half times above the legal limit.

(Photo: pixabay)

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