“ We Don’t Want to Die on Bulgarian Roads ”
“ Ние не искаме да умрем по Българските Пътища”
Our accidents; Driving standard of Most Bulgarian drivers.
Tony asks ‘How would you feel if you saw your death, just 2 seconds away’ !!!!!
This is just 1 item of 3 items we want to bring to everyone’s attention, including the Bulgarian Government. I intend to send copies to as many people as I can to get consensus of what I am trying to get over. We want your help in this as well.
This part concerns the driving standard of many Bulgarians in Bulgaria, At a guess I would say most of them, but not all. There are some very good and courteous drivers in Bulgaria, sadly not many. It should be the other way round, most drivers should be courteous and show respect to other road users and the few bad drivers, as is normal in the rest of Europe. We all need to work together to make this happen for the lives of our children and others.
What I am about to write, may shock some people, but it is true, just as I am sitting here writing it. Trying to explain a situation so people can feel and imagine it for them selves is not an easy task, But, I intend to try.
I would like to ask all of you reading this, what would you do and how would you feel if you saw your death, just 2 seconds away !!!!! Yes, 2 seconds, 1 and 2.. that is it gone for ever…..
I know it is not a thought anyone of us, wants to consider in real life terms. But a short time ago, this happened to me and my partner Aneta, not once but twice in less than nine months and 5 minutes by car from our home in Kesarevo village. On the main magistralla, from Sofia to Varna, just up the road from our house.
The first time, was on the blind bend closest to our house. We were coming back from Strazhitsa town, going home. As we got close to the second blind bend on this part of the road, a very large van, (bus) came around the bend, overtaking a truck and was on our side of the road. There was about half a metre of space between the side of the van and the bushes at the side of the road on my right side. I swerved to my right and aimed for that gap, praying we would go through it. Yes we did, but suffered damage to our jeep in the process. Thinking we had made it and got through unscathed, for us personally, I felt a thump up the arse of my jeep, yes a rear end shunt in polite words, from the car following me. The driver was so close he could not get room to miss me.
As we came past the van, I tried to regain full control of my jeep and get on the road in the right place, but the car behind me was now attached to my tow bar and pushing us broadside across the road. I tried to steer into the slide, turn to my right to straighten up and get in a safe place on the road, I changed gears down and tried to spin my wheels with as much power as I could get to them, to get us back in a straight line as we were heading for the other side of the road and an embankment going down hill.
The road conditions were wet and covered in that oil slick that comes off the tarmac when it is wet, making the road like an ice rink, so little chance of me being successful, but I tried. I failed and we went over and down the embankment rolling completely over.
I blacked out when we overturned and came around at the bottom of the hill, with the jeep against a tree, holding us upright and level’ish. When I came around, I could hear Aneta in the back, crying in pain and our friend was in the front passenger seat all screwed up in a ball and moaning. I climbed from the driving position into the back as my door was against a tree and my friend was blocking my way out in the front. Then got out from the rear door, to see a guy up on the road crying and talking on the phone.
It transpired later, he was the driver that hit us up the back and gave us the rear end shunt across the road. I screamed to Aneta to get out, as it was possible for the car to burst into flames and they could get badly burned in the process. Aneta was holding her head and in much pain, But I got her out. Then I tried hard to get our very large friend John, from the front, but the door was jammed shut. He and I both pushed and pulled and got it open in the end, he then fell out.
I thanked God the jeep never caught fire and burned us all. But it was my biggest fear, till they were safe outside. Due process of law then took over. Aneta was badly in shock and our friend John was not so good either. They were taken to hospital, I stayed with our jeep and personal possessions.
Eventually a police friend came along with the help of a local farm tractor and pulled the jeep up the embankment and on to the road. My pride and joy, my jeep, was badly damage. The police at the scene and others were amazed we were still alive and walking away from it all. God was smiling at us that day, we had guardian angels on our shoulders, taking care of us
We got away with minor scratches and shock, no broken bones or serious damage to any of us. We prayed much that night and thanked God so much. This was on October the 15th 2010. It was the first of the 2 accidents we had inside 9 months. First jeep wrote off, nearly.
The next and more serious accident was on July the 5th 2011. The other driver died from her injuries, sustained from colliding with us and the truck she was over taking.
Yes it was more serious for all of us in the accident. This was the “2 seconds” I spoke about at the beginning of this story. It was less than 9 months between the 2 accidents.
We had just come from a shopping trip to the town of Strazhitsa, we reached the Sofia, Varna magistrala and turned left to get to our house which was on the other side of our village and close to this road at the other end of the village. We crossed the junction and headed for the bridge, there was almost no traffic, either way. As we cleared the bridge, we could see a truck with cars following in a convoy behind it, on the other side of the road and coming in our direction. At this point everything was great, sun was out, it was a glorious day for us all.
Then suddenly in front of us, we saw a small blue car coming very fast around the blind bend, over taking the convoy of vehicles. It was on our side of the road, there was nowhere I could go, as there was a barrier next to us on the right of the jeep and I was less than half a metre from it. The car was trying hard to get past the truck before it got to us.
I thought, “ we are dead” then the car hit us. Just the 2 seconds. I tried to swerve against the crash barrier to give the car more room, the back of my jeep was hard against the crash barrier on our side of the road. The car smashed into our left hand side, pushing the wheel into the foot well of our car. Just where Aneta’s feet were. My speed was less than 60 kph. I was too scared to drive faster around any blind bends after the first accident.
After the accident, I must have blacked out for awhile, I came around thinking we were both dead and we must have gone to heaven. There was no sound or anything, just quietness. I could see Aneta just looking at me. No emotion was showing on her face for a few seconds, then suddenly I saw smoke in the car coming from the floor in the front, from under the front dashboard.
I screamed to Aneta to “get out, get out, there was smoke coming up from the front of the car”. She was crying and screaming she could not open the door, it was smashed up badly. I shouted at her to get out through the open window, I pushed her out as hard as I could. I was so scared the car was about to blow up from the smoke I could see coming up, inside the car. I did not want her to get burned or anything happen to her. Once she was out I got out through my window as my door was jammed shut. We both went to the back of the car, looked at each other and sort of ran 1 metre to each other and held each other so tight we cried for may be 10 minutes, glad we were still alive.
We checked each other over to make sure we were both not hurt or injured. Then hugged each other again in relief we were ok. We then walked to the crash barrier on our side of the road and sat there for a few minutes to get our thoughts in order. I suppose waiting for the shock to go away.
In the convoy of vehicles that followed the truck and were stopped on the other side of the road, people were looking at us, just looking. Not 1 person came over to help or see if we were ok. We sorted our selves out with no help from anyone. Can you believe this, people just staring at us……..
After maybe 15 minutes or so, we both looked to see what had happened to the other car, it was way up the road, all smashed up, you could not recognise it as a car. The truck was up near the bridge. The people were trapped in the car and there were people trying to get them out. How that car never burst into flames, I’ll never know. Aneta went over to see what was happening there. I just wanted to sit down on the crash barrier and collect my thoughts.
Sadly, the women driver who caused the accident died hours later in Hospital in Veliko Tarnovo. But the other passengers survived, some injured. The police came and so did the fire service. With I have to add, no emergency equipment to use, to get the people out of the car, except for arm muscle power, and help from other people. I could not believe there was no special equipment there to get them out. It must have taken over an hour to get the trapped people out the car, by using basic hand power and a steel rod someone brought up to prise open the doors.
Now Aneta and I suffer with panic attacks and post traumatic stress, every time we come to a blind bend. At this point in time, I have to explain, I have driven 3000 Kilometres from the UK to Bulgaria 26 times. Once with a 16.5 metre truck and trailer. Never an accident in all the times I have driven to Bulgaria.
I have been driving since I was 14 years old, I am now almost 65. I have been driving 51 years, a lifetime for some people. Never have I ever experienced what I and Aneta see everyday here in Bulgaria. I have a category C+E and D+E licence, from driving tests I passed in the UK, many years ago.
Now when I come to a blind bend, I see in my head, a video if you like, of the last accident. I see the car coming so fast around the blind bend and hitting us. It never goes, it is there every day I go for a drive and come to a bend in the road. It makes me slow down and check my mirrors constantly looking for other cars and to see what they are doing, yes you guessed it, trying to overtake us on blind bends most of the time.
I look into the rear view mirror and see Aneta having a panic attack, sitting in the back with our 5 years old daughter, her face is screwed up, she is crying and panicking looking behind her at cars coming behind us and the ones coming towards us, often both are going so fast, coming up to the bends. No one seems to think to slow down. We always have one so close behind us I could shake their hand, If I reached out and the one coming towards us is always in the middle of the road, over the white line. Even when there is no other cars, on the road with them. “I ask you” “why does this happen”? What is the point of going around a bend in the middle of the road. There is no need for any of it.
Some times Aneta screams for me to stop the car and let her get out, she panics so much. She gets pains in her chest from the panic attacks. I can’t stop, as it would make a dangerous obstruction and would definitely cause an accident. So I have to drive with Aneta “crying and screaming”, to a safe place I can stop. Then I can comfort her and wait till she calms down and we can go on. This happens most days, when there are cars around us going to fast for the road conditions. We only want to be able to go shopping, not go on a world road cruise, is that to much to ask for???
It is now so bad for us Both, we want to move to Strazhitsa, so I don’t have to drive there everyday. We can walk everywhere and not drive. We are desperate to move there before we die on the road getting there. We hate so much, where we live, as it is one of the most dangerous parts of Bulgaria for us. I too, am terrified when driving, but I have to drive, I can’t walk that far, from health problems and the heat in the summer. I don’t want us to be trapped in our home, to scared to go on the roads.
I have now taken the step of writing this, to try and get something done and save the senseless loss of lives on the roads here in Bulgaria. Aneta and I are desperate to try and do something, before we have No 3 and die…… The roads are for all of us to use, not just a few crazy drivers
“ We don’t want to die on Bulgarian roads ”, we want to die of old age……
We need everyone’s help to stop this carnage.. So please, all of you reading this help us to stop it…Pass this on to anyone you know who can help stop this madness. We are desperate to have a peaceful life
Thank you all for taking the time to read our story, we wish you all a safe journey on your travels and wish you a long life as we wish for our selves. We plan to send copies to everyone we think maybe able to help us.
Tony and Aneta Rees
LadyClayton 