With a month left to 2020, Bulgaria’s road death toll is 422
A total of 422 people died in accidents on Bulgaria’s roads between January 1 and November 30 2020, according to provisional statistics published by the Interior Ministry.
Compared with the final statistics for the same period of 2019, Bulgaria’s road death toll is 160 lower.
In January to November 2020, there were 5303 serious accidents on Bulgaria’s roads, that left people either dead or injured. The figure in January to November 2019 was 6162.
A total of 6605 people were seriously injured in road accidents in the first 11 months of 2020, down from 7783 at the same point last year.
In November 2020 alone, there were 379 road accidents in Bulgaria, leaving 37 dead and 458 injured. The figures for November 2019 were 552 accidents, with 49 dead and 685 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.
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.
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