Bulgaria took a positive step by allowing foreigners to take driving tests in English. But like so many good steps, it has been followed by missteps.

As The Sofia Echo reports this week, the system has become entangled in red tape, and the problem compounded by corruption.

Reflecting Bulgaria law that applies to all newly-licensed drivers, those who have passed the test are required to produce proof that they are literate. This proof may take the form of a school-leaving certificate or a diploma or degree from a tertiary education institution, but this must be translated into Bulgarian and officially certified as an accurate translation. This process takes months, we are told, and so those foreigners who do their best to comply with Bulgaria’s driving laws find themselves barred from the roads by red tape. To have a system so cumbersome is astonishing, and depriving drivers of licences to prove that they are legally at the wheel makes no sense at all. It would seem more logical to introduce a somewhat swifter method, such as accepting a document from the foreigner’s embassy, or for that matter, incorporating a simple literacy test as part of the driving test. Greater efficiency and flexibility are needed urgently. The example given in our story of engineers being asked formally to prove that they can read and write highlights the absurdity of the current system.

Swift adjustments to the system to make it more practical and swift could enable law-abiding and licensed drivers to go on their way without a costly and time-wasting burden on them or, for that matter, on the traffic authorities.

It is disappointing, but not surprising, that already the new system has become the prey of the corrupt. Apart from it being morally wrong to pay or to accept a bribe, in this case those who have done so obviously have not even got value for money. Paying for a certificate of having passed driving tuition, without having done so, has profited no one except those who pocketed the money. It is clear that there is a need for stricter monitoring and control of those who offer driving tuition, and for strict penalties on those who fraudulently issue certificates of competence.

Further, it can be a matter of no small frustration that those who work as part of the driving tuition system have seen the difficulties and have approached the authorities to seek reforms, but thus far have got no response. No one gains by this lack of responsiveness and the lack of transparency on the part of the authorities, and in all, the venture into the system of driving licences for foreigners appears to be yet another potentially good idea that was simply not fully thought through.