Statement of the NCRCB in connection with the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims 2019

Dear compatriots,

Dear brothers and sisters,

With a United Nations General Assembly Resolution from 2005 every third Sunday of November is marked as a World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. The National Council of the Religious Communities in Bulgaria (NCRCB) in cooperation with many state institutions and NGOs will mark on November 17, 2019 the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which this year will be held under the motto “Life is not a spare part”.

The sad annual statistics shows that only for the first ten months of the present year, 2019, 517 people died on the roads in our country, and more than 7100 people were injured as a result of a road traffic accidents. Unfortunately, these are not just figures! Behind them there are hundreds and thousands of human lives that have been forever darkened by the road war, which is led every day and from which none of us are safe. Even more than that, every one of us is responsible for what is happening on the roads in the same way in which we are responsible about our own life. Human life is our gift from God, which we must protect and towards which we must not show frivolities at any time, including while we are on the road. Let us show the necessary responsibility as parents to our children who we are riding every day in the back seat. Besides everything else, we are those who have to give them a worthy example as participants in the road traffic – being pedestrians, passengers or drivers. The right to life is an inviolable human right and road war would not be stopped until everyone of us does not accept the preservation of the life on the road as our personal cause!

It is a fact that due to distraction and different side things which are being done while driving, every day in Bulgaria dozens of people die. Let everyone of us, as a driver and while being on the road, focuses entirely on this his role and forget about all other tasks and activities. Let us not forget that sitting behind the wheel with a clear conscience and with attention focused only on the road environment, can be a reason to save someone’s life! Our responsibility on the road is a responsibility to the entire society and humankind!

Dear brothers and sisters,

Let us also not forget about the power of the prayer towards God at every moment of our daily life, including while we participate in the road traffic. Let us go on the road with a prayer towards the Almighty and thinking about Him and the life which He Has given us – a prayer to God to protect us on the road and all other participants in the road traffic! And let us remember that the prayer to God does not exclude being reasonable and responsible – towards Him, towards our families, towards all participants in the road traffic and towards ourselves! Because… “Life is not a spare part”!

May God protect all of you and your families on the road and let every passing year the number of the victims on the roads in Bulgaria and everywhere in the world become less!

NCRCB Board

November 11, 2019

Sofia