The Budapest Police Headquarters is investigating an as yet unknown culprit for causing a fatal traffic accident. The person responsible can get away with a few years in prison, a fine, and a suspension of their driver's license. On the Árpád bridge, two high-performance cars could compete with each other when one of them, traveling at a speed of 140-150 kilometers, crashed into the tape barrier protecting the sidewalk, tore it through, and tore off both legs of a cyclist passing by.

The Budapest Police Headquarters is investigating an as yet unknown culprit for causing a fatal traffic accident. The person responsible can get away with a few years in prison, a fine of three hundred thousand forints and a six-month driving license suspension. Illegal acceleration competition is not separately penalized by the Civil Code. Magyar Nemzet writes in its article .

What happened on the Árpád Bridge at dawn on Saturday?

Around 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, two high-performance cars were competing with each other on the Árpád bridge, when one of them lost control of his 40-million luxury Mercedes, traveling at a speed of 140-150 kilometers.

Without braking, the Mercedes crashed into the tape barrier protecting the sidewalk, tore through it, and tore off both legs of a cyclist passing by. The 26-year-old cyclist died while being transported to the hospital.

After the collision, the Mercedes slammed back into a BMW, both cars stopped 150 meters away, one of them standing on its head, the other sliding on its side.

The two car drivers were cut out of their vehicle by the firemen with tensioning and cutting equipment, both of them were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. According to our current knowledge, the accident may have been caused by the 33-year-old driver of the Mercedes. According to our current knowledge, they could have organized an impromptu illegal acceleration race with the other driver, when the Mercedes was thrown by the curve at the Margitsziget exit, and from there only luck could have helped.

Did the gas pedal start in acceleration races?

According to the paper, this is indicated by its special, unique license plate and the fact that several people knew the car from other districts. Just as the driver was not unknown either: according to information from Bors, the 33-year-old BD actually competed with the car, started acceleration races with the AMG, and was even ranked high on the points list last year.

The car was clearly prepared and tuned for racing: it was modified in a rural, specialized service to make the vehicle even more competitive.

The Budapest Police Headquarters is investigating the cause of the fatal traffic accident. It is also necessary to involve forensic technical, traffic and medical experts in order to establish exactly how the tragedy happened.

If it is proven that an illegal acceleration race was indeed organized, both parties can be held responsible for the tragedy.

Can he get away with a light sentence?

Although causing a traffic accident is a crime, the Penal Code measures the years for it rather narrowly, and according to judicial practice, first-time offenders can get away with a suspended prison sentence. This crime can only be committed carelessly. Anyone who negligently causes serious bodily injury to another person or others by violating the rules of road traffic is punishable by up to one year of imprisonment for a misdemeanor. The penalty can be imprisonment from one to five years if the crime causes death. In this case, according to the primary expert opinion, the offender(s) drove at a speed of 130-150 kilometers where the speed limit is 70 kilometers. Therefore, they are punished with a maximum fine of three hundred thousand forints and six months driving license suspension.

In other words, they can get away with killing a young man with a five-year prison term, a HUF 300,000 fine and a six-month driving license suspension.

Photo: Police.hu