Dangerous Roads: Bulgaria

The roads in Bulgaria have one of the highest death tolls in Europe, second only to Romania. Every day, two drivers lose their lives on Bulgarian roads – twice the rate of many other European countries. It’s a tragic statistic for the country.

Most dangerous of all is the Trakia highway. The traffic is heavy; the road carries 100,000 vehicles per hour. This trunk road has become the most dangerous in Bulgaria. The road itself is poorly maintained and peppered with potholes. Bulgaria is the poorest country in the European Union. Unfortunately drink driving and speeding are common, despite legal restrictions.

The road has an average of 250 accidents and 42 deaths every month. In November 2021, Bulgaria suffered the deadliest road accident to happen in Europe in the past ten years. Forty-four people died in a bus after it hit a guardrail and then caught fire on the highway. From survivors’ stories and archive we will tell the inside story of this tragedy.

Finally, Bulgaria is plagued by another evil – corruption. Bribes are commonplace here. They are used to cheat the roadworthiness tests for vehicles, as well as to settle police stops for speeding or using the phone while driving. So it isn’t just a problem caused by irresponsible drivers, but by the underlying corruption that creates the situation. We will explain the situation in this most dangerous region of Europe. We have access to the police and to Bulgarian emergency services, but we also talk to ordinary drivers as well as accident victims.