Sofia is the most dangerous place in Europe for children and young people to travel in an urban environment. This is according to the international Clean Cities study “City Ranking 2025: Streets for Children, Cities for All”, which assesses the conditions for children to move around in 36 European cities. The Bulgarian capital is ranked last in the ranking – with a score that is 27 times lower than the average for all participants and more than three times lower than that of the penultimate city.
The main problems that put Sofia at the bottom are:
- lack of safe zones around schools;
- inadequate speed limits, often inconsistent with traffic and street conditions (limits of 30 mph or lower are rare);
- almost complete lack of protected bicycle infrastructure that would allow safe bicycle or trolley travel.
The research focused on the streets around schools – the places where children should feel safest. Unfortunately, another report shows that Sofia’s road infrastructure is not meeting the needs of the youngest road users.
For years, the National Network for Children has been pushing for policies for children to be a national priority. But reality shows that we are still far from providing a safe urban environment for them.
Further data confirms the worrying picture. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 73% of road fatalities in 2024 were killed in good weather – highlighting that the root cause of crashes is not the weather, but human factors and infrastructure.
Based on the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior’s data during 2024, 1257 children was injured in the roan accident and 13 of them lost their lives. Based on the Bulgarian Road Police’s data almost half of them are injured – 28% because of the usage of the electrical conveyances.
The summer holidays are coming soon; therefore, National Network for Children call for all the drivers, pedestrians, institutions to more careful and responsible on the road. Let keep our children’s lives and our relative’s lives safe together!
