Mothers of pedestrians killed on the road and injured in accidents started on Sunday, at 11.30 a.m., a national protest in front of the National Assembly building under the title – “Enough tolerance. Inaction is killing our children every day”. They were joined by residents of the metropolitan area “Ilinden”.
Today is the funeral of the two young people who lost their lives in the serious accident. Thus they lost their lives at the age of 20 and at the age of 24.
The tragic accident happened a week ago on the night of Monday in the area of the intersection of “Slivnitsa” Blvd. and “Ruse” Street. Officially, the Ministry of the Interior announced that the serious incident happened around 15 minutes after midnight. A light car with Sofia registration was moving along “Slivnitsa” Blvd. from “Melnik” St. to “K. Velichkov” Blvd. and in the area of the intersection with “Ruse” St. it hit two crossing pedestrians, a young man and a woman. who died on the spot.
The driver, 19 years old, was tested at the scene for the use of alcohol and drugs, and the results were negative.
The protest blocked “Slivnitsa” Blvd. for an hour
The start of the procession was at 11:30 in front of the Parliament building. There, relatives of those who died in accidents observed a moment of silence in their memory. After that, the participants in the protest continued to “Orlov Most” Square. It remained closed for 10 minutes. Finally, the protesters will gather in front of the Ministry of the Interior.
In the evening on Sunday, the protesters blocked “Slivnitsa” boulevard for about an hour. The citizens demanded retribution for Annie and Yavor.
Ivan Spasov is the organizer of the protest. He explained to Nova TV that the requests are related to immediate changes in the Criminal Code and the Road Traffic Act. Relatives of the dead want a death caused by a traffic accident to be treated as an intentional homicide. The changes to the law should happen by the end of the week. Otherwise, the protesters threaten to close major roads throughout the country, the organizer assured.
“Our goal is 0 road killers and 0 road casualties. We insist that this be accepted as a principle and goal by the state and society and that we work and make compromises with other factors for the sake of road safety.”writes in the position of the organizers.
Their requests to the National Assembly are rapid legislative changes within a week or two with full consensus from all political parties. Protesters want restrictions on young drivers, increased fines, criminalization of driving over 50 km/h without a license and the refusal to give a blood sample.
The requests to the Ministry of Internal Affairs are full mobilization of their personnel and equipment for traffic and speed control. Relatives of the dead want more urgent purchase of cameras and organization of a system and teams to unite all cameras in the country for traffic monitoring, for toll fees, etc., so that there is effective and strict control and quick imposition of sanctions .
A series of severe crashes
The tragedy on “Slivnitsa” Blvd. is another serious accident in recent years. On the evening of July 5, 2022, a powerful jeep swept away two girls, 21 and 26 years old, on Cherni Vrah Blvd. The 36-year-old driver Georgi Semerdzhiev still does not admit his guilt.
3 years ago, journalist Milen Tsvetkov was run over by a drugged driver while waiting in his car at a red light on Easter. The accused for the murder – Christian Nikolov, under the influence of drugs and exceeding the speed in urban conditions, hit Tsvetkov’s car at a red light in the area of the Paradise Center mall in Sofia on Easter 2020.
This is what protesters said to the BNR at yesterday’s protest on the capital’s Slivnitsa Blvd.:
“I will go to the funeral. It was very unfortunate for both of them. They are young people and this boy, where he was the driver and his is not easy…Drivers chase like mad, they drive drunk and drugged”;
“Protests will continue until we, the residents of the neighborhood and those who pass along this stretch, feel reassured that their lives will be preserved”;
“Every night we come with 2 small children. We are also active drivers. We want our children to grow up freely and there is no danger to their lives, both theirs and ours. And the saddest thing is that we are raising a generation that kills . Children killing children. This is the most sinister thing, and maybe we all have to set an example to teenagers that there is value, there are rules, there are laws, and there is no higher value than human life and it is inviolable.”
The results of the security check on “Slivnitsa” boulevard, which was carried out by teams of the European Center for Transport Policies with the assistance of the Metropolitan Municipality, will be ready in a few days. The municipality will implement the center’s recommendations, promised Deputy Mayor Doncho Barbalov.
2023-05-14 18:35:49
#Inaction #kills #Protest #front #parliament #deaths #accidents #Updated #Mediapool.bg
