Bulgaria’s road death toll in 2020 was 466
A total of 466 people died in accidents on Bulgaria’s roads in 2020, according to provisional figures published on January 1 by the Interior Ministry.
This figure is 162 lower than the confirmed number of road deaths in Bulgaria in 2019.
The number of serious road accidents – those involving deaths or serious injuries – in Bulgaria in 2020 was significantly lower than in 2019, a total of 5708 compared with 6715.
A total of 7105 people were seriously injured, down from 8482 in 2019.
Bulgaria’s 2019 road accident death toll was 12 higher than in 2018, while that for 2018 was 71 lower than in 2017.
In all, a total of 10 056 people have died in road accidents in Bulgaria between January 1 2007 and December 31 2020.
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, the trend of fewer serious accidents, road fatalities and injuries, largely continued since then.
In December 2020 alone, there were 405 serious accidents, leaving 44 people dead and 498 injured. In December 2019, there were 540 serious accidents, with 42 dead and 498 injured.
Bulgaria had the second-highest road fatality rate in the European Union in 2019, the European Commission said on June 11 2020.
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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