Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications

The Minister of Transport Peter Mutafchiev opened today a Municipal Center for methodical, educational, and sportive activities on road safety in the District Social Complex for Work with Children – Vratsa; he gave also a start to the new school year on road safety. The complex has started its activity two months ago.

Children’s life and health protection in the traffic is a priority for the government activities on road safety said Minister Mutafchiev during the opening. He reminded that this priority was approved at the end of the last year, when the government endorsed a long-term National Strategy for Protection of Children’s Life and Health on the Road for the Period 2006-2010.

The Ministry of Transport participated actively in the realization of the strategy and a special program was developed for that reason, emphasized the Minister. The main target of the program is to reduce the number of the children casualties on the road. Special attention has been given to the safe urban transportation of the passengers by means of mobile transport in the country and abroad. Minister Mutafchiev pointed out the main priorities of the program:

• Improvement of the vehicle driver’s initial and the following training, with special attention to the children safety in the traffic. The organization of additional urban transportation driver’s training on the specific issues of children’s life protection in the traffic.
• Launching of measures for improvement of the vehicles safety level and ensuring of fast and systematical information for the passengers, in regard of new technologies implementation and guaranteeing of children’s protection in the transport means.
• Freight and passengers urban transportation drivers control, as preventive measure on the specific issues of children’s life and health protection on the road.
• Effectiveness increase of the national campaigns on children’s protection on the road.
• With regard to this, during the opening, Minister Mutafchiev declared that the Ministry of Transport responded to the request of Municipality Vratsa to support the realization of the activities on traffic participants training, and donated a set of multimedia projector and mobile computer. These modern technical means will increase the quality of the education, and also will give a possibility for suitable illustration and realization of the “life” children participation in the education.

The statistic shows that nearly 60 percent from the children died in road accidents have been sitting inside a vehicle, so the transportation of children must be carried out with suitable baby-seats. Researches show that the casualties risk by road accident diminishes with 90 percent, when babies are being transported correctly. This percent is 60 by three and four years old children. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport bestowed on Municipality Vratsa twelve baby-seats for automobile, for each of the three age groups of children – under 15 months; under 3.5 years and under 12 years.