Georgi Valentinov Georgiev, chairman of the Metropolitan Municipal Council, informed that this morning, he once again turned to the Ministry of Interior requesting to double the patrols in Sofia because, with 15 teams, the movement of 1 million cannot be controlled.
He made this request after the data which demonstrated that in April alone, 13,000 violations were reported on Sofia road arteries, with a record speed of 148 km/h. The data was reported from 32 mobile tablets installed after the decision of the Metropolitan Municipal Council.
Georgiev explained that the data is frightening and Sofia Municipality needs to increase the number of patrol teams in Sofia to reduce violations of traffic rules. Sixty cars in March were detected at over 200 km / h on the Ring Road, and another 10,000 vehicles were driving at over 100 km / h.
The Chairman of Sofia Municipality remarked that at the municipal video surveillance centre, there is a Road Police team every day. The municipality has given complete real-time access to all municipal cameras and the speed board.
He said, “Speed cameras, however, can be installed by the traffic police, so our bill, introduced by GERB-SDS MPs, provides that the police can also fine through the municipal cameras”.
Georgiev has encouraged the inhabitants of Sofia to comply with safe speed limits while driving. As per the law, the permitted driving speed is 90km or 56 miles.
Driving above the speed limit is the leading cause of road accidents in the capital Sofia and also the cause of fatal injuries. In 2022, Bulgaria was considered the second EU country with most road fatality rate after Romania for the fourth consecutive year.