TO THE EDITOR: Road rage

10:00 Fri 03 Oct 2008

Sir
Rory Parsons’ ranting article about Bulgarian traffic passes over the one and only important aspect: that road mortality in this spacious country is about four times as high (related to population) as in overpopulated and bicycle-ridden Holland. And of course, it is the weak and not so rich who pay the highest price, such as last week, when a BMW X5 killed a family of three by overtaking where it shouldn’t.

Life on the road is no fun in Bulgaria. Rather it is something out of Hobbes (no, not the cartoon tiger): brutish, nasty and sometimes short. On one 40-minute trip from Sofia into the country, I saw at least five cases of extreme tailgating (including a Willy Betz lorry in a 60km zone), countless cases of overtaking where it was not allowed or was dangerous, more than 10 cases of extreme speeding (in two cases flashing lights to scare away others), a car going from the left lane to the right one right across my front, only to go into a petrol station, and someone coming out of a petrol station s-l-o-w-l-y edging into the road with oncoming traffic. By the way, I only saw that technique in Bulgaria and Romania – do they teach it in driving courses?

Should someone think I’m a sissy, well, I’ve been on the road from the Irish to the Black Sea, including inner-city Paris, London and Milan, have riddden motorbikes through force 10 gales and peas-soup fog and driven a belt-drive DAF over black ice. It takes something to scare me. But I have never seen so much aggression, callousness and downright stupidity as on Bulgarian roads. If their behaviour on the road is a measure for their general character, I would not want the majority of Bulgarians as neighbours, guests in my house or as collegues. I don’t feel well in a place where total disregard for the rights and safety of others is the rule.

But the big laugh comes at the police post east of Sofia on the Botevgrad road: a hundred yards before a sign says 60. But all those Socially Unacceptable Vehicles, top range BMWs and Mercedeses will slow to a creep. That shows a nation of bullies who will stoop in the face of power.

Of course, I must remain politically correct and say that I know many nice, caring Bulgarians. I do, but most don’t drive cars.

Huib van den Doel, The Hague and Sofia

Comments

Comments by Paromita - 12:20 04 Oct 2008
	100% agree with you. Sad to think that if you have a British driving license you need to sit a test to get a Bulgarian license.. oh yes and before that you need to pay for 40 hours of lessons so that they can teach you the Bulgarian highway code; speed limits only apply if oncoming cars flash you, stop signs mean everyone else will stop for you, pedestrians can cross when there are no cars around and indicatind just unnecessarily burn out light bulbs!!! The list is endless and it could be funny if the outcome weren't so tragic for the often innocent victims.
Comments by Tony - 02:31 09 Oct 2008
	I have to agree 100% too. I have been a professional chauffeur in central London, I have driven across Europe quite a few times to and from Bulgaria and I have to say that I have never in my life seen such senseless, arrogance and a lack of respect for others on the roads. How could I possibly go and sit a driving test here, has anyone paid much attention to quite a few of the driving instructors here. I’m not sure about in Sofia but in some of the rural areas the instructor looks as if he just fell out of bed or from a local bar. On top of that you have (mainly guys) here who are driving vehicles that they do not understand the power of, all they know is, slam your foot down and it goes, usually into another persons car and ending that person or their family and friends lives.