Sir
Rory Parsons' ranting article about Bulgarian traffic passes over the one and only important aspect: that road mortality in this spacious country is about four times as high (related to population) as in overpopulated and bicycle-ridden Holland. And of course, it is the weak and not so rich who pay the highest price, such as last week, when a BMW X5 killed a family of three by overtaking where it shouldn't.

Life on the road is no fun in Bulgaria. Rather it is something out of Hobbes (no, not the cartoon tiger): brutish, nasty and sometimes short. On one 40-minute trip from Sofia into the country, I saw at least five cases of extreme tailgating (including a Willy Betz lorry in a 60km zone), countless cases of overtaking where it was not allowed or was dangerous, more than 10 cases of extreme speeding (in two cases flashing lights to scare away others), a car going from the left lane to the right one right across my front, only to go into a petrol station, and someone coming out of a petrol station s-l-o-w-l-y edging into the road with oncoming traffic. By the way, I only saw that technique in Bulgaria and Romania - do they teach it in driving courses?

Should someone think I'm a sissy, well, I've been on the road from the Irish to the Black Sea, including inner-city Paris, London and Milan, have riddden motorbikes through force 10 gales and peas-soup fog and driven a belt-drive DAF over black ice. It takes something to scare me. But I have never seen so much aggression, callousness and downright stupidity as on Bulgarian roads. If their behaviour on the road is a measure for their general character, I would not want the majority of Bulgarians as neighbours, guests in my house or as collegues. I don't feel well in a place where total disregard for the rights and safety of others is the rule.

But the big laugh comes at the police post east of Sofia on the Botevgrad road: a hundred yards before a sign says 60. But all those Socially Unacceptable Vehicles, top range BMWs and Mercedeses will slow to a creep. That shows a nation of bullies who will stoop in the face of power.

Of course, I must remain politically correct and say that I know many nice, caring Bulgarians. I do, but most don't drive cars.

Huib van den Doel, The Hague and Sofia