Listen to the news

When you enter the territory of a country and are going to transport children, you should find out about the rules that apply there.

The crashed Serbian bus is precisely in the hypothesis of Art.

23A of the Road Transport Act, which regulates the transport of children.

This is what Diana Rusinova, chief expert on road safety at the European Center for Transport Policies, said in the "The Day Begins" studio.

She noted that the specialized control should be exercised by the Executive Agency "Automotive Administration", and emphasized the fines: "Yes, in 2020 the fine for the driver was BGN 1,000 for the first offense and BGN 3,000 for the second.

Suddenly, in 2020, someone reduced the fine to BGN 500 for the first offense and BGN 1,000 for the second offense, BGN 10,000 for the carrier company for the first offense and BGN 20,000 for the second.

And we have a problem - we have sanctions, but how many times have sanctions been imposed?

We will ask for the data and it would be nice for the Executive Agency to answer us, because these rules have been in force since 2007 in Bulgaria, this law has been valid for more than 15 years."

The doctor-rescuer of the children from AM Trakia: The sight was terrible, but over 100 cars stopped to help

According to Rusinova, the rules for transporting children are systematically violated and no one monitors whether they are followed.

"There is some logic in not transporting children at night - they fall asleep, unbuckle their seat belts, in the event of a road accident in the dark it is more difficult to work with them.

Is it being followed and is someone monitoring it?

My answer is rather "no".

It is observed to the extent that the Executive Agency "Automotive Administration" works after 17:30 in the evening.

The agency works from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., in rare cases in Sofia region and Sofia city they work from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. and they do not work on Saturdays and Sundays," the road safety expert emphasized and added that this problem for the implementation of specialized control.

She was categorical that there were no problems at the scene of the accident with the Serbian bus carrying children on AM "Trakia" and everything was according to the legal requirements.

rules of the road

transporting children