A new agreement allows Bulgarian traffic police who fine foreigners from European Union countries for breaking traffic laws to forward the data to the foreigner’s home country for the fine to be collected there.
In turn, fines imposed on Bulgarian motorists in other EU countries may be collected in this country.
But in both cases, the new system, about which a joint agreement was signed on March 22, may not immediately work effectively.
On March 21, Interior Minister Roumen Petkov told a news conference that Bulgaria’s Traffic Police (KAT) were now able to fine foreigners who had violated Bulgarian traffic laws and send details of the fine to the foreigner’s country, which will collect the money.
The same will apply for Bulgarian drivers fined abroad.
At least for now, foreigners have nothing to worry about, going by what Petkov said.
“We need an information system to be set up between KAT’s computers and the Border Police computers so that when the foreigner leaves the country, the Border Police will know if a fine is due. This would enable them to forward the information to the foreigner’s country. This kind of data exchange is not possible right now, and a foreigner fined on Bulgarian roads will escape any sanction at all.”
It appears that this would be the case even if a foreigner were driving with an expired driving licence. As The Sofia Echo reported on March 2, the fine for driving with an expired licence in Bulgaria is up to 20 leva. The law forbids police from collecting the fine on the spot.
In Bulgaria’s case, getting the money from fines imposed on Bulgarian drivers would be a challenge, Petkov told journalists. This had been a problem for KAT for the past 17 years. There is no clear system for KAT to collect its money. Petkov said that he had pointed this out several times as one of the reasons for the high rate of road accidents in the country.
Currently, a driver pulled over for speeding is given a ticket. The driver must go to a bank and transfer the amount of the fine to KAT’s bank account. There is a deadline for doing so, but the sanctions for not meeting the deadline are so light that few drivers bother to pay fines on time, or at all. Most Bulgarian drivers simply do not pay their 20 leva fine or choose to do so when they pay their annual income tax.
There have been some changes in recent years. A person cannot be issued a document from any municipality unless s/he has paid all his/her financial obligations to the state. But this has proved ineffective, and the Interior Ministry has regularly released statistics showing that a low proportion of fines are actually paid.
The problem is that for KAT to change its system, Parliament must amend the Traffic Act. Petkov has been calling for such amendments for some time. The issue has arisen at the same time as a new spate of serious road accidents. Within just two days, on March 17-18, 14 people died in car accidents. In February alone, Sofia’s Pirogov emergency hospital treated 151 road casualties. The bigger problem is the four main reasons for the accidents: high speed, alcohol consumption, driving without a licence and most of all, the penalties for such offences, which in most cases are no more than suspended sentences.
Responding to public concern, Parliament’s committee on traffic laws met on March 21 to debate amendments to the Road Traffic Act. One of the amendments discussed was that a driver convicted for a second time of driving under the influence of liquor be fined between 1000 leva and 2000 leva along with a licence suspension of one to three years.
Bulgarian-language daily Trud quoted committee chairperson Yordan Mirchev as saying that the idea of a life ban on drunken drivers who cause serious accidents was “worth discussing”. Drivers continued to be irresponsible because fines were not enforced, Mirchev said. He said that it would be better to get tough on offenders than risk innocent lives.
Discussion of the amendments will continue in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, all Petkov and KAT can do is to step up checks of whether drivers have the mandatory third party liability insurance.
Petkov said that the EU was likely to sanction Bulgaria for not meeting this requirement. The percentage of drivers who bought the mandatory insurance has fallen to 92 per cent from 97 per cent last year. If the rate drops below 90 per cent, Bulgaria will face EU sanctions.
