Road Infrastructure Agency Supports the National Road Safety Campaign
Road Infrastructure Agency supports the National Road Safety Campaign which is part of the World Initiative of the Youth Organization of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the Road Safety Organization. The objective is to attract and enhance the attention of travellers through billboards and advertising materials to make driving safer.
The first billboards have already been placed in Sofia and from 6 July they will also be installed along the national road network, in the regional towns, etc.
The organizers of the campaign are the Bulgarian Association of Victims in Car Accidents and TIARA (Transport Indoor and Outdoor Advertising Association). Partners are the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Road Infrastructure Agency.
The statistics about the number of victims in road traffic accidents is rather worrying as young people aged under 30 constitute the biggest percentage of them. This is why the efforts of the Ministry responsible for the maintenance of the road infrastructure are directed at the creation of statutory preconditions and measures for the enhancement of the safety along national roads and the reduction to a minimum as far as possible of the number of road traffic accidents, the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Lilyana Pavlova, emphasized. She called for making joint efforts on the part of the executive power, the non-governmental organizations, the business and the society to reduce the number of serious road accidents.
We may cope with the war along the roads solely by undertaking severe penal sanctions. Let us make the needed changes as soon as possible, the Chairman of the Management Board of Road Infrastructure Agency, engineer Lazar Lazarov said. He indicated that by the repeal of the mobile cameras we went back years to the vicious practices and he provided an example with the year 2012 when the number of victims was rather smaller. engineer Lazarov announced that the placement of radars for average speed as a measure for the enhancement of the safety of the traffic was planned, and appealed that the fines for road traffic violations become irrevocable for the war along the roads to be won.
Minister Pavlova declared that changes in the Road Traffic Act were necessary to improve the control system. Along with the sanctions they are a precondition for the observation of the traffic rules, she said and added that the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works had made a commitment for the improvement of the subordinate legislation. An interdepartmental working group was created, in which scientific workers also participate. Their task is to propose updating of Ordinance No 1 on design of roads which concerns not only the national road infrastructure but also the street network in the towns, inclusive of bus and bicycle lanes, the Regional Minister announced. Work is also done on the improvement of the measures for safeguarding in urbanized territories through the introduction of speed bumps, light reflecting elements, pedestrian crossings and more traffic signs.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Krasen Kralev, announced that according to data from the United Nations each year 186 000 children die in road accidents and the figures for Bulgaria are above the average for Europe. This indicates that society should approach the matter in a responsible manner to reduce the number of victims in our country drastically, he added.