Speed limit enforcement

Joint teams of the Ministry of Interior and the Directorate of "Automobile Administration" are conducting inspections on 22nd of August to check if vehicles and drivers adhere to the road traffic rules, according to the Bulgarian National Television. The checks are focused on the most frequent offences such as speeding, use of alcohol and narcotic substances.

With the initiative of TISPOL, the European Road Traffic Police network, from 21 to 27 August 2017, enhanced monitoring of compliance with the permitted maximum speed will be carried out in all Member States, the Ministry of Interior said.

In just one week, traffic police have identified 18,000 road violations, the number being significantly higher than the weekly numbers of violations in the last two months, they were around 10 000-13 000. Reported by Mediapool.

Around one thousand offenders on the road every week are caught by the police. They drive without driving license or under the influence of alcohol and drugs. This was reported by chief inspector Rossen Rapchev from traffic police. Only about 10% had their registration numbers removed from their vehicles.

Traffic police will be increasing routine checks for drink and drug driving and driving licence, as well as for the most dangerous offence - speeding, police officer Nikolay Krusharsky, Sofia Directorate of the Interior, told reporters, as cited by FOCUS News Agency.

"There are fewer cars on the roads at weekends, which encourages drivers to speed up," Krusharsky said.

Operation "24 hours speed" initiated by TISPOL started this morning, April 19 at 06:00 Bulgarian time on the territory of Bulgaria.

A total of 153 employees of the road police took part, monitoring the roads for speeding. Stationary and mobile cameras were placed at 176 sites. This was announced by the press centre of the Ministry of Interior.

Speed limit enforcement will be strengthened on Bulgarian roads, announced BNR.

The measures are in the framework of an operation within the European Traffic Police Network - TISPOL and will continue until April 23.

In many European countries, including Bulgaria, a large percent of serious road accidents are caused by speeding.

A few nights ago, I was about to step off the sidewalk to cross the road outside my home when a car hurtled past me. I was startled - not because I was more distracted than usual but because the vehicle was speeding illegally up a one-way street. I caught a glimpse of young people inside. They may have been laughing. I don't know if they even saw me. I felt despair and anger.

The registration plates of 30 vehicles have been taken off on the first day alone after the new harsher penalties stipulated in amendments to the Road Traffic Act entered into force, announced on bTV the deputy from the Reformist Bloc Nastimir Ananiev, who is also chairman of the Parliamentary Transport Committee.

The amendments to the Road Traffic Act which provide for new harsher penalties will enter in force on Saturday.

The fines for speeding in a residential area are as follows: when speeding at between 31km/h and 40 km/h the fine is BGN 400, for speeding over 40 km/h, the fine is BGN 600 and for speeding over 50 km/h - BGN 700.