MTI Daily Bulletin: Cyclists remember victim of fatal accident, blame unsafe bike paths

Hundreds of cyclists in Budapest held a memorial ride on Sunday to remember the victim of a fatal accident in the capital last week and to protest against unsafe bicycle paths. The memorial gathering placed a “ghost bike”, a bicycle painted white, by the intersection of the two heavily trafficked roads in downtown Budapest, the site of the accident. They lit candles and left flowers on the roadside in memory of the victim.

The cyclist was run over by a truck on Friday while riding through the intersection on a green light using a specially marked bicycle lane, painted onto the pavement. The truck made a right turn and ploughed into the cyclist, killing him immediately.

Members of the Hungarian Cyclist Club MKK said the bad practice of establishing bicycle paths on the sidewalk rather than on the roadway was partly to blame for the accident, because he could not be seen until rolling onto the road.

“One of our friends is dead. He had been observing traffic rules on the type of bicycle path which experts agree is dangerous,” head of MKK Janos Laszlo said at the memorial.