Prime minister Rumen Radev must name the minister in charge of road safety as early as Monday, said Bogdan Milchev, head of the Road Safety Institute (IPB), on the Bulgarian National Radio show "Sunday 150". Milchev, a former head of traffic police in the Sofia police directorate (SDVR), accused the cabinet of doing nothing after the deadly crashes in fog on the Trakia motorway. He asked the president to call the Consultative Council for National Security (KSNS).

Milchev said the prime minister should set a clear, measurable goal for 2027 and 2028. He also wants steps with a shorter deadline, by 1 January. The institute has proposed a programme to cut road deaths by at least 150, and Milchev calls it a "responsibility plan". The government should hold a contest for a concept and see who is ready to take responsibility, he said.

Milchev said he is ready to take responsibility himself. He said he would give his own pay and that of his team to research on road safety. He asked why the Council of Ministers had not decided to give away its November pay. He added that the government is buying itself indulgences with taxpayers' money.

"It turns out that all the ministers in this government are spineless," Milchev said.

The first sign came on 26 September, Milchev said. In two days of rainy weather, 13 people died in separate crashes and more than 70 were hurt. He said the events show that a person can die anywhere. The IPB has sent the prime minister seven letters of warning. Four months ago in parliament, Milchev told ministers Demerdzhiev and Peev and the MPs that the transport system is collapsing and that what has now happened was coming.

Since 13 November, Milchev has counted more than 40 "experts" giving advice, while 8 more people have died on the roads. He asked whether €8,000 will be paid out for these 8 victims too.

The IPB says that on the day of the crash Radev and Demerdzhiev blamed the previous rulers, the fog and the drivers. Milchev says the government refuses to change the road environment, even though the state provides the road, the rules and the enforcement. Drivers always carry the responsibility, he said: they die or are put on trial. The state, which has run the transport system for years, refuses to take its own. "In Bulgaria we do not die because we are stupid, but because the transport system makes us behave this way," Milchev said.

Quick results are possible only by managing risk, and police should not act haphazardly, the IPB head said. Deaths fell in August after active police work over the summer, but then traffic police decided the job was done, he said. In his view, minister Shishkov has no right to ban road markings.

Milchev insisted that the heads of the Road Infrastructure Agency (API) and the Motorways company resign after the crashes on Trakia, so that the next candidates think twice. A resignation should be handed in out of honour and dignity, or be taken, he said. He believes nobody would apply in a contest where candidates take responsibility for managing risk. He called the tender for guardrails opaque and said its aim is to steal money.

On 11 November we reported that after the pile-up in Yambol region, police closed the Sofia-bound carriageway of the motorway, and drivers from Burgas used a detour via Karnobat and Petolachkata.

He accused the government of arrogance and self-satisfaction over the "slaughter" on the Trakia motorway. Milchev said there has been nothing like this before, the rulers have no shame, and the IPB and the media must keep people informed. The institute has been urging governments to take action since 2018.