How deadly are Bulgaria's roads?
At least twelve people were killed and many more injured on Tuesday in a pile-up on a Bulgarian motorway involving around 50 cars and lorries in thick fog. Bulgaria – along with Romania – has the highest road accident statistics in the EU, with 81 road deaths per million inhabitants per year. Bulgarian commentators take a dim view of the general attitude towards road safety in the country.
Save driving is a civic duty
Road safety is not taken seriously enough in Bulgaria despite the frequency of serious accidents, criticises fakti.bg:
“The issue of road safety has been under discussion in Bulgaria for years, but the outcome is always the same: empty talk and minimal measures to make the roads safer. ... Whenever we witness a serious accident, we always tell ourselves: 'That won't happen to me.' But no one knows whether they might not find themselves in such a situation one day. ... As always after such huge tragedies, we talk about what should have been done. Let's start taking action instead. Let's work together to ensure that we are calmer and more tolerant towards one another on the road.”
Lawless roads
The Bulgarians are racing to the grave through their reckless driving, Tribune laments:
“We get behind the wheel aggressively, with a sense of invincibility, under the illusion that we ourselves are invulnerable. ... Everyone overtakes on the right. Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere, as if it were up to them to save the world, but in reality they are merely rushing headlong to become the next name in the grim statistics. For the system has taught us that there are no rules. ... The tarmac is a thin layer of corruption, marked by cold-hearted indifference.”