Sat, Feb 11 2012

CEE countries to get tough with foreign drivers - report

Tue, Jun 02 2009 11:02 CET

byClive Leviev-Sawyer

1432 Views 2 Comments
CEE countries to get tough with foreign drivers - report

Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer

Bulgaria is among eight Central and Eastern European countries that have signed a mutual agreement on stricter penalties for offences by drivers visiting one of the group of countries.
 
Hungary’s MTI, quoting Hungarian justice minister Tibor Draskovics, said that it was in the countries’ common interest that foreign drivers should face sanctions equivalent to those faced by local drivers.
 
He said that the system would take effect in the next few months. The agreement was signed at a meeting in Warsaw on May 29 2009.
 
The countries involved are Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
 
In September 2007, Bulgaria brought into effect a system allowing road police to confiscate the driving licences of motorists from other European Union states who violate Bulgarian driving regulations.
 
At the time, The Sofia Echo reported that foreign drivers usually received only minor fines for violating driving rules in Bulgaria. The new convention's text says that the violator's home country has no right to replace the confiscated driving licence with a fine or any other penalty. 

  • Print
  • Send via email
  • Translate to
  • Share:

Comments

Anonymous SuperGadger Wed, Jun 17 2009 11:55 CET
Report Comment

I'm from the UK and the general standard of Bulgarian driving is amongst the worst in the world and the death toll in relation to the number of vehicle drivers is proof of this. The Bulgarian police would be better employed fining and banning the people responsible for this death toll ..i.e., Bulgarians.

Anonymous muahaha Wed, Jun 03 2009 17:05 CET
Report Comment

dont you just love the picture :))))))))


To post comments, please, Login or Register.


Please read the The Sofia Echo forum comments policy.

Ministry and branch organisations to review driving instruction practices

Corruption and unfair competition were among the industry's biggest problems.

Do not call traffic police for minor road accidents

Officers of the traffic police would stop responding to reports of minor car accidents, but they would arrive if there was a suspicion that the driver causing the accident was driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the press centre of the Interior Ministry announced on its website on January 30 2009.

Border control on traffic fines

Foreign nationals charged with traffic violations will not be able to leave the country without paying their fine, under a new scheme linking the traffic police database with the border police network. An inquiry by The Sofia Echo showed that foreigners either visiting or living in Bulgaria and who commit traffic violations are charged on the spot, but are not obliged to pay the fine immediately. Instead, they

BULGARIA'S ROAD POLICE TO TAKE AWAY EU DRIVERS LICENSES

Bulgaria's road police now has the right to take away the driving license of EU citizens who violate Bulgarian driving regulations. Bulgarians who fail to observe local driving regulations while abroad in the EU will have their driving licenses confiscated in accordance with relevant legislation of the country, Bulgarian daily Monitor said. The changes in Bulgaria's driving regulations became valid as of September 1 2007.

Foreigner on the fast lane to fear

Allow me to tell you a little story. When I first settled in to my former village house about 15km from the heart of Veliko Turnovo, one of the joys of Bulgaria seemed to be the thrill of the open road. Let me explain. In Britain, if a car advertiser wants to persuade you that their model should be your car of choice, they often produce a TV commercial showing their car serenely driving along a deserted and invariably

More in this category

Bulgaria, Romania lambast Dutch anti-immigration website

Foreign ministries criticise website that calls on visitors to lodge complaints against immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe.

European Commission meets target for recruiting Bulgarians, Romanians

‘I am delighted we managed to identify and attract some of the brightest and best people from Bulgaria and Romania to come and work at the European Commission,’ EC Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič said.

Cold spell should ease its grip on Europe next week, World Meteorological Organisation says

The current ‘negative Arctic Oscillation’ – a weather phenomenon which leads to cold conditions in Europe and relatively warmer conditions in the Arctic – should shift into a more neutral pattern within the next two to three weeks.

Cold snap hits Europe; thaw a threat

The extreme cold has been blamed for almost 400 deaths across Europe. In Ukraine, where temperatures have fallen below minus 30 degrees Celsius, the cold is blamed for at least 122 deaths. Many of the victims were homeless.

Bulgaria among EU’s lowest government debt-to-GDP ratios – Eurostat

At the end of Q3 2011, the highest government debt to GDP ratio was in Greece, at 159.1 per cent.

© 2000-2012, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

Sofia Echo Media is part of the Economedia Group.
The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.