A young man has created a new website – www.chernapista.com.
On it, he publishes the number of accidents that have occurred in the country and the number of people who have died in them. This information is not secret and is announced daily by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVR). But for the first time, someone in Bulgaria has compiled it and presented it in this innovative and accessible way.
The boy’s name is Martin Atanasov. He announced the new website himself in a post on Facebook:
“On March 31, 12-year-old Siana died. On the same day, a total of 191 accidents occurred throughout the country. Fortunately, there were no other fatalities that day. But not for the year. Not at all. Then I asked myself: why is there no place that shows us where the accidents happen on our roads that everyone talks about? Something that shows the real face of the “war on the roads.”
That’s why I created “Black Track”—an interactive map that shows where accidents happen in Bulgaria. The map uses data collected by the Ministry of Interior. It took me about a month of work and self-study in my free time, and now I can share it with everyone.
The map shows over 177,000 traffic accidents. Nearly 180,000 in 4 years. According to the data collected, 24,278 of them resulted in injuries and 1,478 in fatalities. Each accident is marked with the corresponding time and place. But these are not just pins marking accidents, but a picture of accumulated systemic problems that we have come to accept as normal. It shows which places are most risky and where accidents are repeated. How often, how close. How many. Reality in all its brutality, not isolated individual cases that sink into the past.
“Black Road” is necessary precisely because when tragedies are only seen in the news, they are quickly forgotten. But when we put them on the map, they remain. They remain as traces and as a reminder of responsibility. So that we stop calling what happens over and over again “coincidence.” If we want change, we must first see the ugly truth. We must understand it. But we must not resign ourselves to it. We must see the shocking figures, realize them, and take action.
You will find a map, statistics, and information, as well as open access to all data. I believe that information should serve people, so let’s all use this tool for good. Because if we know where the problem is, there is no excuse not to solve it.
If you see, know, and can do more, you have a duty to do more.”
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