Deputy Minister of Transport, Information Technology and Communications, Anguel Popov together with the M.P. from the respective select committee, Stanislav Ivanov, the Executive Director of Executive Agency “Automobile Administration”, Boyko Ranovski and experts from the Agency hold a meeting with the representatives of the technical services on verification of the vehicles’ reliability. The main topic of the discussion was the forthcoming amendment to the Road Transport Act concerning the technological proposals on the mandatory requirement for equipment of buses with safety belts. It is about the buses with route schedules of more than 30 kilometers.
Of a total 17 000 buses that have passed technical inspections, less than 6 000 were manufactured in the period before 2006, when there was no requirement for belts in the buses, said Deputy Minister Popov. In his words, some of them technologically have the possibility of equipping with safety belts.
During the meeting, vehicle-testing laboratories offered to do free analysis of buses that are currently without belts in order to make estimates of how much time and resources are needed for the re-equipment. Representatives of the technical services have been firmly arguing that putting belts on buses can save most potential road accident victims. They gave an example with the bus driver who crashed near Svoge at the end of August - he only used a seat belt and survived with minimal injuries.
The exchange of information between the Executive Agency "Automobile Administration" and the technical services will continue.
