AGAINST a background of a spate of horror traffic accidents in Sofia, which left four dead and about 10 injured in five days alone, Parliament adopted several amendments to the Traffic Act.
The most important new rule introduced with the amendments is that motorists are to be obliged between October 1 and March 31 to drive with headlights on, but not necessarily on full beam, even in daytime.
The proposal was based on the fact that low visibility during daylight hours made driving dangerous.
The MPs failed to reach agreement on a new requirement for renewal of all car registration documents.
According to the head of the traffic police, Colonel Alexi Kesyakov, the current requirements on car documents would remain in effect. He rejected as “nonsense” reports in some media that all cars would have to have new documents by July this year.
This means that by July 1 this year all vehicles with more than eight seats plus the driver’s must have the new documents (a small yellow laminated one to be carried by the motorist and a detailed one to be used for sales, etc.) and registration plates with a blue field on the left-hand side of the plate.
By December 1, 2005, all trucks and trailers of more than 10 tons must also have new plates and registration documents.
The MPs rejected a proposal by an MP from the National Movement Simeon II (NMSII), Penka Peneva, that all children up to 14 years of age should be made to wear clothes with reflector elements, with the argument that one cannot make children wear particular clothes.
A proposal that all cyclists must wear helmets was also overruled with a similar argument.
An MP from the Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria, Petar Zhotev, said all these amendments were “absolute stupidity” and they should all be abandoned because they would not lower the number of traffic accidents on the roads of Bulgaria.
The MPs did not manage to discuss the implementation of new stiffer fines and other penalties for driving under the influence, mandatory registration and requirements for driving schools, and new regulations for the mandatory yearly technical inspections of the vehicles.