Georgi Gvozdeykov: Safe driving polygons should become part of driver training

Safe driving training should become part of driver training. We are starting studies to implement them in the training program. This was said by the Minister of Transport and Communications Georgi Gvozdeykov at a meeting with parents of children killed in road accidents and representatives of the initiative comittee ‘Together against the madness on the roads’.

‘As someone who has been involved in professional motorsport for many years, I know that the main component in driver training is practice and this is our main focus at the moment,’ Georgi Gvozdeykov said. He explained that the State has its own land where these types of polygons can be built and the funding is to be provided through road safety funds. ‘This is about facilities that offer simulation of various extreme conditions and situations for better driver training,’ Minister Gvozdeykov explained.

In the words of the transport minister, the digitisation of the driver training process will make it significantly more transparent and increase control. ‘All documentation related to the practical training of candidate drivers should become electronic and all paper documents should be completely abolished. In this way it will not be possible for one driving instructor to train two students at the same time and the fictitious training of drivers will be discontinued, as cases have been detected by the Executive Agency Road Transport Administration during inspections in various driving schools,’ Gvozdeykov stressed.

Parents of children killed in crashes have demanded urgent legislative and administrative measures to stop road crime. They insisted on the provision of at least one road safety expert in each district town, because the current lack of such specialists is extremely slowing down the progress of cases. Another request that was made during the meeting was that driving privileges be phased in as drivers gain experience.