Important for drivers: Toll cameras will now also record speeding – Bulgaria

The software of the toll office has 50 mobile, 295 stationary and 100 weighted ones on-the-go checkpoints that already record speeding as well. This was said by the director of the National Toll Administration (NTU), Georgi Temelkov, at a briefing in the building of the National Toll Administration, where the working method of the electronic toll collection system was demonstrated.

The system monitors sales, traffic, traffic jams at border crossings, the axle load of each motor vehicle (MPV) and has recently captured the speed limit as well, announced the Chairman of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency (RAI), Eng. Yasen Yordanov. He explained that all innovations are used to reduce road trauma, because all stationary control points provide full coverage of roads throughout the country.

“500 are the kiosks at gas stations selling vignettes throughout the country. Every minute and every day information is received on the number of passes and sales, and the data is divided into categories and classes on a daily basis. This shows us how revenue and sales are developing. Until this hour today, the revenues from the toll system are BGN 696,467,200, with expectations that the figure will grow to BGN 800 million by the end of the year,” announced Temelkov.

He specified that the goal of NTU is to collect more proceeds from sales, not fines, but added: “Agree that without control there will be no sales.”

The photographic material that the system offers in the case of a speeding offence, it will include four photographs. “The tests showed that the program could be certified after minor software changes“, Temelkov also said and promised: “It will take us time, but we are on the way to success with this introduction as well”. The Bulgarian Institute of Meteorology is expected to certify the speeding software of NTU.

Prof. Georgi Balabanov, an external expert at the National Toll Administration visually demonstrates in real time how the toll monitoring control works and reports speeding offenders.

“Electronic enforcement of the hundred weighted-in-motion checkpointswhich monitor the overloading of the axle of the cargo vehicle on the road, will be put into operation very soon,” Balabanov also said.

It showed a truck moving in real time and system showed out of permissible road loadaccounting for 54 tons.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the Customs Agency, the National Revenue Agency (NAA) also have this data from the system, Temelkov specified. The main task of the system is to monitor tolls, but other functionalities such as speed limit and load enforcement are useful and we use them, Balabanov explained.

“According to the recognition of other European colleagues, Bulgaria has one of the most modern toll systems, manages to process a huge volume of data, entered enforcement and verification, we also have a call center for consumers and for the fourth year in a row we are doing quite well according to the changes and dynamics that follow the needs of society,” said Temelkov.

The software of the national toll administration also helps with information on winter cleaning, provides timely data on queues at the country’s customs border points, it became clear from the briefing.