Bulgaria witnesses nearly 1,000 road deaths every year, leaving over 10,000 injured and over 330 crippled, the Bulgarian Interior Minister has revealed.

The report revealed that at least 131 in every one million people are killed every year in traffic accidents in the country.

The revelations come from a survey conducted under a 2008-2010 memorandum for cooperation and understanding between Bulgaria and the Netherlands, which is ranked as the second safest European country to drive in with 43 deaths per million people.

The minster said he is now planning to implement the Dutch model of issuing fines to traffic violators, which requires a driver to pay the fine before appealing against it.

The country ranks 21 in the whole of Europe when measured by the number of road deaths per million people.