Speed limit

An unpopular but necessary measure - this is what the French government argues about the decision taken yesterday evening to reduce the permitted speed on the minor roadways in the country from 90 kilometers per hour to 80 kilometers per hour, the France press reported.

Eight people lost their lives and 550 were injured in a total of 300 road accidents across Turkey in the first two days of the extended 10-day long Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) holiday, the Interior Ministry has announced.

On the first day of the holiday, on Aug. 26, four people died and 290 were injured in accidents across the country. 

Fatal traffic accidents in Turkey decreased by 53.3 percent from July 1-19 compared to the same period last year, thanks to a newly-introduced monitoring and imaging system for traffic, Turkish national police announced on July 20.

Thirteen people were killed, another 13 sustained serious injuries and 473 walked away with limited damage from a total of 499 traffic accidents that were reported in the region of Attica last month.

According to the Traffic Police's May report, the majority of the 499 accidents were caused by carelessness and violations of basic traffic code rules.

Speed limit enforcement will be strengthened on Bulgarian roads, announced BNR.

The measures are in the framework of an operation within the European Traffic Police Network - TISPOL and will continue until April 23.

In many European countries, including Bulgaria, a large percent of serious road accidents are caused by speeding.

A video of a horrific accident on the Athens-Lamia national highway on Sunday, which left four people dead, has gone viral, exposing the dangerous problem of speeding on Greek roads.

The video showed a Porsche, driven by Giorgos Vakakis, the son of Jumbo toy store owner Apostolos Vakakis, plowing into a parked car and roadside restroom, causing an explosion.

Traffic of all vehicles along the Trakia highway in the direction of Burgas in the section of the hub Zimnitsa - Burgas has been restored.

Drivers must pay attention and stick to the speed limit of 80 km/h, warned the Road Infrastructure Agency.

Traffic of all vehicles through the Obzor pass has been restored as well.

No prison time will be served for speeding. This was decided by Parliament in a vote at second reading of the amendments to the Penal Code proposed by GERB.

The proposal was for prison time of up to three years to be served when breaking the speed limit by over 60 km/h in populated areas.

The proposal was rejected with 15 votes "for", 62 "against" and 54 abstentions.

Lawmakers in Bulgaria voted on a first reading to approve new fines imposed for speeding.

Under proposed changes to the Road Traffic Act, anyone driving at a speed of 31-40 km/h beyond the limit in an inhabited area will have to pay BGN 400 (EUR 200), up from BGN 200, and BGN 600 for speeding more than 40 km/h, up from BGN 300.

More than 37,000 car drivers have been fined for violating speed limits in Sofia over the past 12 months, Nova TV reported on Tuesday.