Absurd Road Measures and Mass Violations Near Borovo: When Institutions Make Wrong Decisions

Expert Stanislav Zhulev analyzes the newly constructed road safety installations near Gotse Delchev, which, due to poorly thought-out design, generate constant noise, cause mass violations of the rules, and completely disregard the needs of pedestrians.

Legal yet Ill-Conceived Installations

Following a recent tragic accident near the intersection for the village of Borovo, the Road Infrastructure Agency, the police, and the municipality of Gotse Delchev took measures to reduce traffic accidents. The institutions installed bollards and raised transverse lines, the so-called rumble strips, which aim to limit driving speed.

On-site measurements with a tape measure prove that the structures are exactly 10 millimeters high, which fully complies with the regulatory requirements of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRRB). Although legal, the bumps cause immense dissatisfaction among drivers due to the loud noise, with people on the internet mass-complaining and joking that the markings were made for dentists so that the fillings of those passing by would fall out.

Violated Clearances and Daily Harassment

Regulatory documents strictly require this type of rumble strip to be placed at least 300 meters away from urbanized territories or settlement boundaries. In this specific case, however, the installations are mounted in the immediate vicinity of the traffic police (KAT) building and the residential houses located opposite.

This incessant noise makes normal work and life for people in the area extremely difficult. Stanislav Zhulev assumes that the sign for the town of Gotse Delchev was deliberately moved further away to comply with the distance requirement purely formally, without taking into account the actual urbanized environment.

Prerequisite for New Incidents and Violations

Instead of calming traffic, the placed obstacles actually worsen traffic safety and force drivers to bypass the rules. On-site observations show a worrying statistic regarding driver behavior:

• Within a span of just 15 minutes, about 100 cars pass by.
• Half of the drivers commit gross violations to avoid the noisy rough patches.
• Drivers mass-enter the oncoming traffic lane or pass illegally through the KAT parking lot.

This chaos creates a much higher risk of new accidents, as attention is concentrated on the obstacles rather than on the road conditions and the possible crossing of children. Institutions effectively use tax money to create prerequisites for breaking the law, similar to the poorly thought-out situation with the blue zone near the metropolis in Gotse Delchev.

Lack of Real Care for Pedestrians

The most serious omission by local and state authorities remains the complete lack of a safe pedestrian crossing between the two parts of the village of Borovo.

The real needs for protecting the lives of local residents remain completely ignored by the authorities. According to the expert, this demonstrates the true attitude of API, MRRB, and the municipality of Gotse Delchev towards the safety of citizens, who pay with their taxes for incompetent projects.