The first Bulgarian Road Safety Forum with international participation was held on December 4, 2013 in "Serdika" hall of the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan.

More than a hundred experts from Bulgaria, Belgium, Hungary, Greece and the Netherlands took part in the forum. The chosen theme for 2013 was "Road Safety - Challenges and Solutions". We have tried to minimize the handling of dry statistics in the program and involve less discussed issues concerning infrastructure (road safety audit), insurance ("bonus-malus" system), economics (financial impact of the problem), ISO 39001:2012 (safety certification), and innovations in the field of prevention of risks on the road.
Interesting conclusions from the Forum:
Mr. Daniel Vankov: „We need to be more and more creative in securing funding for prevention of traffic related risks on the road, because the issue is becoming less “sexy” on European level.“
Commissioner Anton Antonov: „The main aim is not achieved: Changing people’s mentality!“
Prof. Hristina Nikolova: „The total amount of external costs, caused by road accidents in the period 1996-2012 is 9,325 billion euro, which is equal to 25% of the Bulgarian external dept.”
Prof. Rumen Milanov: „The road safety inspections, when planned correctly, done well and on timely manner, are a powerful tool to reduce road traffic traumatism in Bulgaria.“

On the Forum one could see:
1. Presentation of Mr. Daniel Vankov, Chairman, "Open Youth" association, entitled „Prevention or how to turn the pancake“ stressing on the achievements and the forthcoming activities of the project „Road Safety in Southeast European regions”. For it Mr. Vankov shares „Despite attempts the road risk prevention in Bulgaria to be channelled into a common policy, it is still difficult to say that such is a fact. Many organizations, companies and institutions work on the issue, but we are left with the feeling that the subject is a trademark for a number of them. Individuals rarely have the opportunity to express themselves and collaboration is often hampered by lack of expertise or resources. Let's look in the direction of what "Open Youth" was able to achieve in 2013 to improve the situation and, more importantly, into what we plan to do in 2014. “
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2. Presentation of Commissioner Anton Antonov, Head of "Traffic Police", Directorate General "National Police", Ministry of Internal Affairs, entitled „Prevention and control – challenges and development“.
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3. Presentation of Mr. Johan Chiers, Director, TOP -25 (Belgium) entitled „ Alcolock barrier“. For it Mr. Chiers shares „The Alcolock barrier is a special barrier placed at the exit of the parking of nightclubs and festivals. The barrier opens only after the driver tested his BAC in an alcolock. If the driver is drunk, the barrier will not open.“
Watch the presentation or the “Alcolock barrier” movie!

4. Presentation of Prof. Dr. Rumen Milanov, Department "Roads”, University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, entitled „Expected contribution of the road safety inspections“. For it Prof. Milanov shares „Road safety inspections must comply with the state of the accidents. They are targeted and linked to the categorization of the road network. The evaluation criteria are relative indicator of accident record, its cumulative distribution curve and severity of accidents.“
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5. Presentation of Dr. Christina Nikolova, Deputy Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development, University of National and World Economy, entitled "Road safety and the sustainable development of transport." For it Prof. Nikolova shares "The aim of the presentation is to present the impact of road safety on the main directions of sustainable development and to provide value-estimation of the external costs caused by road accidents to the whole society. Based on the application of analysis and assessment of external costs, I will present how road safety impacts the sustainable development of transport."
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6. Presentation of Mr. Nikolaos Bakas, Quality and Security Ltd. (Greece), entitled „Reduce and prevent accidents with a road safety system“. For it Mr. Bakas shares „ The presentation will  introduce Quality & Safety Ltd. -Road Safety Consulting Experts- and will illustrate what elements a road safety system includes, how it is implemented, and what the benefits are for all road users, companies and society.“
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7. Presentation of Mr. Peter Folkertsma, Director, Responsible Young Drivers (Netherlands), entitled „Drug testing in nightclubs“. For it Mr. Folkertsma shares „The presentation will start with the situation on drugs in the Netherlands. Then it will explain what kind of test is applied to detect drugs. Finally, the drug testing process in nightclubs will be explained.“
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8. Presentation of Mrs. Albena Alexieva, Insmarket.bg, entitled "Insurance, new technologies and driving as a responsibility". For it Mrs. Alexieva whares "Over 11 000 people in Bulgaria have died in road accidents in the last twelve years and the black statistics continues in 2013. So far we have no adequate way to assess the behavior of drivers. In Europe a variety of initiatives successfully operate. One of them is the application of the “bonus-malus” system in determining the price of motor vehicle insurance. In response to the desire to assist in limiting the “war on the roads” an insurance conference was organized."
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9. Presentation of Mrs. Mila Todorova, Marketing Director, Intertek BA Ltd., entitled „ISO 39001:2012 - a step towards the safety of the road." For it Mrs. Todorova shared "In support of the efforts of international institutions and the Global Plan of the General Assembly of the United Nations Decade of action for road safety 2011-2020, ISO published the new standard ISO 39001:2012 - Road traffic safety (RTS) management systems - Requirements with guidance for use“.
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10. Presentation of Mr. Imre Enyedi, Director "European projects", Association of Students and Civil Society (Hungary), entitled „ CityZen – Let’s make the CityZen“. For it Mr. Enyedi shares „The CityZen project was an international project support by DG Justice - Daphne III Programme. The project generate low level preventive street actions in major European towns. Our aim was to reduce the violence on the street. The CZ volunteers pursuit on the streets and helping the people and youth with drug, alcohol consumption, addiction, lifestyle advise, road prevention topics. The video clip will present the street work by one of our partners Open Youth from Belgium.“
Watch the presentation or the CitiZen movie for Bulgaria!

11. Presentation of Mr. Vladimir Todorov, Chairman, Bulgarian Association of People Insured and Victims in Car Accidents, entitled "Emergency medical records save lives in road accidents". For it Mr. Todorov shares "Every year people die in this country due to lack of essential medical information necessary for emergency treatment or resuscitation. Emergency medical record is designed to help in situations where one cannot give information to the treating physicians. If one is injured in a car accident or finds oneself in a situation where language is a barrier the emergency medical record will speak for you. The information contained therein includes the most important indicators such as blood group, presence of allergies, medications, diseases, diabetes and other indicators that will help the medics.“
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The initiative was carried out within the project “Road safety in South East European regions” (ROSEE), which is supported by the European Union South East Europe Transnational Cooperation Programme. The content provided reflects only the respective author's views and the SEE programme is no liable for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.