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"Drive responsibly" 2011 results |
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The results of this year's campaign "Drive responsibly" were presented to the Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies Ivaylo Moskovski who is patron of the initiative.
Download the whole report from here!
"One of our priorities is the protection of life and health of people on the roads of the country. This is also the objective of the European Commission" said Minister of Moskovski. He explained that with the joint efforts of all involved in the problem institutions, NGOs and companies, the number of deaths from accidents was reduced by over 1000 people a year to 775 in 2010. "This shows that such campaigns and timely adequate actions of public and private sector have led to real results in road safety".
Minister Moskovski said that within its competence the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technologies shall take specific measures to help tackle road safety problems. The first is the introduction of electronic tests to be used for theoretical driving skills examinations. "This will ensure limiting the possibility of manipulating the results of theoretical exams," said Minister Moskovski.
Another measure is the introduction of new control procedure in conducting periodic technical vehicle tests. It will include - use of technical means for capturing and documenting the review, introduction of an electronic information system for the recording of periodic reviews, monitoring of roadworthiness tests in real time. "The expected effect - higher efficiency of control points, reducing errors of examiners in identifying violations and ensuring the real presence of the vehicle at the point," said Minister Ivailo Moskovski.
The campaign "Drive responsibly" is organized by "Open Youth" and is part of the "Road Safety in Action" project, which is co-funded by Diageo and the "Youth in Action" programme of the European Union.
The official launch of the campaign under the patronage of Minister Ivailo Moskovski was held on the parking lot of the SAI Sofia on June 13, 2011. The campaign visited the towns of Pleven (17 June), Ruse (20 June), Varna (23 June), Plovdiv (June 26th) and Stara Zagora (29 June).

The initiative aims to attract and retain the attention of more people to the problems of road safety. The project participants were able to acquire new knowledge in the field of road safety on three topics:
- aggressive driving: By using of driving simulator participants were placed in realistic risky road situations.
- alcohol abuse: Through special alcogoggles participants had the opportunity to feel the impact of around 1 promile concentration of alcohol on their reactions and perceptions.
- ecology: By using driving simulator and eco-"black box", which uses a special software to extract information from the computer of the car for a trajectory of motion, analyze it and show how each action affects the driver impact on the environment. The aim of this campaign part was the participants to understand that irresponsible driving is not only unnecessary damaging the environment, but also has a direct negative impact on the personal budget of each driver.
Each participant had the opportunity through a special postcard to send a personal message or a recommendation to Minister Ivailo Moskovski. 422 postcards with views of the participants were collected and were delivered to the Minister during the presentation of the campaign results.
The initiative was reached 1414 participants through the alcogoggles and 436 participants through the driving simulator. Within the actions participants had the opportunity to check their knowledge through a special survey of 18 questions related to alcohol use and road safety. 672 people took part in it. The survey results were compared with results of a similar Eurobarometer survey on European citizens' attitudes towards alcohol, commissioned by the European Commission and published in April 2010.
The survey results show that 86% of participants are not driving after drinking in the last month, and 14% have done it. 31% of respondents show zero tolerance to the combination of alcohol - driving.

When asked about their motivation to sit behind the wheel after drinking, respondents point the small quantity of alcohol used as the main reason (67%). 19% have the courage to say that alcohol is not a problem for them when driving. Only 14% noted an emergency as a reason.
81% of respondents had not been a passenger in a vehicle where the driver was under the influence of alcohol. 19% have dared to do so. What is more worrying is the refusal of those 19% to take responsibility. The common understanding is that after drinking only the driver has a problem, but many serious accidents on the road show whether that is true.
As a solution to road safety problems in the short term 42% of respondents indicate “increase in fines”, 23% - complete rewrite of the laws, 19% - preventive campaigns. According to 11% nothing can change, and 6% do not have an opinion.
In the long run 35% of respondents give priority to “complete rewriting of the laws”. Almost equal percentage of respondents see the solution as “increase in fines” (25%) and “preventive campaigns” (24%). According to 8% nothing can change, and another 8% have no opinion.
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