Driving

A draft bill foreseeing changes to driving tests is to be submitted in Parliament soon following a delay of several months that has resulted in a backlog of hundreds of would-be drivers waiting to sit tests amid strike action by instructors.

Electronic vignette stickers will be sold at 500 terminals in the country. Drivers will be able to buy them via a mobile application or through the Road Infrastructure Agency website. The first tests of the terminals were made in the presence of journalists yesterday, 18th of September, and the system will come into effect from the beginning of next year.

Drivers in Greece aged 74 years old and above will have to renew their licenses to prove that they still have the knowledge and reflexes to drive safely.

As of Friday, drivers who have had their license plates confiscated by police for minor offenses can reclaim them ahead of the August 15 national holiday, traditionally when Greeks set off for their summer vacations, many traveling large distances by road.

Motorists can retrieve their license plates after paying the corresponding fine.

The grandfather of the 11-year-old boy who drove a car in front of a Sofia supermarket, said what happened is a mistake. "I am guilty, I have intuitively made him move the car," said Lachezar Odev to NOVA.

He admitted that the video, which shows his grandson driving, has troubled his whole family: "I had a little family trouble, the parents are not delighted."

The authorities detained a drunk and under influence of drugs bus driver in Varna before embarking on an excursion with children.

According to the Interior Ministry, about 8:30 am, when a compulsory police check-up on a bus owned by a private company commencing a school trip, it was found that the 41-year-old driver from Varna had used alcohol at a concentration of 1.27 per mille.

Police have discovered a Turkish man has been driving a car without a driver's license and without hands for more than a decade.

There will be new psycho tests for drivers next year after frequent cases of aggression on the road - scientists from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences are developing new criteria to determine if the drivers have a good psychological condition, NOVA reports.

A 64-year-old truck driver was on Thursday to answer to criminal charges of manslaughter through neglect after a crash he caused in Athens in the early hours of Wednesday, while under the influence of alcohol, resulted in the death of two motorists.

The crash occurred on Kifissou Avenue when the 64-year-old lost control of his truck, which veered into two cars, killing both drivers.

The driving licenses of 254 people were taken away by the Traffic Police because of unpaid fines.

Penalties were imposed during a five-day action in which police officers checked whether drivers and passengers in cars had paid earlier fines. During the period from May 2nd to May 6th, 8468 people were checked, of whom 2,074 were passengers, reported Ministry of Interior.