Important change may come on the roads of Budapest after fatal accident

A fatal accident occurred in Budapest over the weekend. After the tragedy, former Secretary of State for Transport Dávid Vitézy proposed that serious changes should be introduced to improve the safety of roads in the capital.

Fatal accident in Budapest

Last Sunday at early dawn, a fatal accident occurred in Budapest on Harminckettesek Square. A car crashed into a tram stop. A 23-year-old woman waiting at the stop died of her injuries at the scene. According to a police statement, the accident was caused by a 41-year-old Italian man. Bors reports that he tested positive for alcohol, which means that the man was driving while drunk.

Speed cameras

Index.hu spotted Dávid Vitézy’s post on his Facebook page, in which he reacted to the accident, the severity of which, according to witnesses, was largely due to speeding. According to the former Secretary of State for Transport, speed cameras should be installed on the streets of Budapest. He referred to New York City as a positive example. On New York City’s streets where such cameras had been installed, he said, drivers were much more likely to obey speed limits.

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This information is based on a report showing that speeding was responsible for 80 percent of fatal accidents in New York City. However, where speed cameras were later installed in the city, the study found that speeding dropped by 72 percent. Following the publication of the report, changes were introduced last summer. Since then, more than 2,000 speed cameras have been installed in New York City.

How would the investment be financed in Budapest?

According to Vitézy, areas of the city where the police cannot finance the installation of cameras need a different solution. He suggested that in such cases local governments or residents’ communities could finance the cameras. Then, the police could issue fines automatically to traffic offenders based on the license plates recorded by the cameras. He said that the fines could eventually make this investment pay off for the people financing the cameras.

The Mayor of Budapest Gergely Karácsony also reacted to the tragic accident. He said that he was convinced that something needed to be done to reduce the number of fatal traffic accidents in the city. He announced that he would start working with the police to ensure that accidents like the recent one would not happen again in the future.

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Source: borsonline.hu, index.hu