Losses of more than 1.4 billion euro and economical damage of deaths and injured estimated at between 300 and 400 million euro, were the costs of road hazard over the past six month, according to a report presented by the World Bank on December 10 2007.
The report had been prepared by Danish specialists.

Financial damage caused by road accidents in Bulgaria were estimated at around 2 per cent of GDP, which was said to be comparable to other EU countries. According to estimates by the World Bank, around 1 per cent of the Bulgarian population would be involved in a road accident, which in economic terms translated into 4 per cent of GDP, Dnevnik daily said.

Each year, in Bulgaria, in around 80 000 accidents, around 1000 people die and more than 10 000 are wounded. The most serious accidents take place outside the city limits because of a higher speed of driving.

Bulgarian accidents caused 20 per cent more fatalities than the average in other EU countries, and it was even 2.5 time more than in Sweden and Denmark, Dnevnik daily said.

According to Alen Ross, one of the Danish experts, the problem could be solved by repairing existing roads and by a stricter implementation of the law. This way the number of fatalities could be reduced by 25 per cent, specialists said.

The inefficient analogue equipment in use by Bulgarian road police would have to be upgraded, authors of the report said, and road police would have to be better trained. In many places in Bulgaria speed limitations were high and did not take into consideration road quality, while clear road markings were often missing, the report said.

Transport Minister Petar Moutafchiev said that several changes to road safety laws were being prepared. In the second half of 2007, the number of fatalities in road accidents was lower, compared to the year before, but for the whole year it would be comparable to 2006, he said.