Over 1500 offenders with manipulated license plates: new toll system measures

SOFIA — The National Toll Administration (NTA) is undertaking large-scale organizational and technical measures to gradually expand the functionalities of the toll system in Bulgaria. Since mid-July, a program has been underway, aimed at simultaneously increasing the collection of road fees and improving road safety in the country. These innovations, implemented without additional budget costs, are in response to continuous attempts to evade fees and violate traffic rules.

The new approach, developed by a joint team from the big data analytics group and the "Violation Verification" sector at the NTA, is aimed at effectively combating fraud with manipulated license plates. According to data provided by BG TOL, this new system is already showing results. In just one month, from July 15 to August 15, over 1,500 vehicle owners who attempted to evade paying road fees by altering their license plates were identified and sanctioned. All of them have been fined in accordance with the provisions of the law.

In parallel with the fight against non-payment of fees, the NTA is also focusing efforts on improving road safety. The system has now been enhanced to provide information to the Ministry of Interior regarding violations such as "Driving in the forced stopping lane". In the same one-month period—from July 15 to August 15—over 1,600 evidentiary data packages for this type of violation were sent to the competent authorities.

On August 12, another important functionality was introduced. Toll cameras can now identify and send evidentiary footage to the Ministry of Interior for driving without a seat belt. According to official statistics from the NTA, 170 evidentiary recordings have been provided since the start of this new measure. This data shows that the problem of not wearing seat belts has not disappeared but continues to be a serious threat to the life and health of both drivers and their passengers. This behavior on the road is not only a gross violation of the law but also directly puts all road users at risk.

The National Toll Administration emphasizes that these new capabilities have been achieved without any additional costs from the state budget. They are the result of activating and upgrading existing functionalities that were built into the system when it was first put into operation, which is seen as an extremely effective use of available resources for the public interest.

In the future, the NTA team plans to expand the system's scope with new functions aimed at combating aggressive driving.

• Control over driving at a close distance is about to be introduced, which is one of the leading causes of road incidents, especially on highways and expressways.
• In addition, work is underway to provide real-time information on road conditions, including meteorological data and the state of the road surface (dry, wet, icy, snowy).

These ambitious plans are expected to be realized in the next few months.