With two months remaining to 2020, Bulgaria’s road death toll is 381
A total of 381 people died in accidents on Bulgaria’s roads between January 1 and October 31, according to provisional statistics announced by the Interior Ministry.
The death toll is 147 lower than in the first 10 months of 2019, the ministry said.
From January 1 to October 31 2020, there were 4913 accidents on Bulgaria’s roads in which there were deaths or injuries. A total of 6136 people were injured.
In October 2020 alone, there were 550 accidents, leaving 47 people dead and 690 injured.
These figures represent an improvement compared with October 2019, in which there were 606 accidents, leaving 70 people dead and 725 injured.
The trend of a downturn in road deaths in Bulgaria in 2020 began in March, when Bulgaria declared a State of Emergency because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Several weeks of intercity travel restrictions, along with other measures to contain the spread of new coronavirus, contributed to a reduction in traffic on motorways and other major thoroughfares.
The intercity travel restrictions were lifted in early May. However, this year’s trend of fewer road fatalities largely has continued since then, with the October figures as an example, on the basis of a month-by-month comparison.
Bulgaria had the second-highest road fatality rate in the European Union in 2019, the European Commission said on June 11.
As in recent years, Bulgaria was in second place behind Romania. Up until 2017, Bulgaria had the highest road fatality rate in the EU.
(Photo: Erich Kasten/freeimages.com)
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