Road safety

The driver of a car that collided with an electric scooter ridden by a 12-year-old boy, leaving him hospitalized in intensive care, told authorities Friday that she did not run a red light at an intersection in Athens' Holargos suburb, insisting the boy crashed onto her vehicle. 

Temporary traffic restrictions will be in place on Vouliagmenis Avenue, a key route from central Athens to the southern seaside suburbs, starting Saturday and continuing until November 22 due to ongoing roadwork.

The measures, which will affect traffic 24 hours a day, will be implemented in stages. 

In a sweeping move to curb traffic violations, Athens will install 388 cameras at major intersections across the Attica region to capture red-light violations, aiming to reduce accidents and enhance road safety.

Bulgarian taxi drivers are set to stage a national protest on November 20, planning to halt traffic for about an hour in major cities across the country, as well as on highways and roads leading to border crossings. The demonstration aims to draw attention to what drivers describe as a drastic surge in mandatory "Civil Liability" insurance costs, which they say have increased tenfold.

The Thessaloniki Misdemeanor Court on Tuesday sentenced a 51-year-old school bus driver to a 34-month suspended prison term for his role in a fatal traffic accident in November 2021.

The court found him guilty of negligent homicide and negligent bodily harm.

Bulgaria's toll system now has the technical capability to track average vehicle speeds, as announced by the National Toll Management following a meeting with Regional Development Minister Violeta Koritarova. Initial testing of the system on Sofia's Northern Speed Tangent revealed one vehicle traveling at an average speed of 203 km/h.

Traffic units across the country have recently begun using an AI-driven speed radar system produced under the coordination of the Turkish defense industry.

This new system allows for simultaneous ticketing for automobiles, trucks, pickup trucks, motorcyclists or other vehicles traveling on a four-lane road.

In September, over 28,000 drivers were caught violating the speed limit of 70 km/h on Sofia's "Bulgaria" Boulevard. The highest recorded speed was 193 km/h, highlighting serious concerns about compliance with traffic regulations in this area.

In Sofia, 588 serious road accidents have occurred this year, 11 fewer than the same period last year, according to Commissioner Valentin Krusharski, head of the "Road Police" at the Capital Directorate of Internal Affairs (SDVR). There have been 693 injured, a slight increase by two, while fatalities decreased to 25, which is 14 fewer compared to 2023.

A woman lost her life in a traffic accident in Sofia this afternoon, as reported by BNT. She was standing at a traffic light at the intersection of "Vladimir Vazov" Blvd. and "Vasil Kanchev" St. when she was struck by a vehicle involved in a collision between two cars.