100,000 euros compensation for a cyclist who lost his spleen due to an unmarked pit in Bucharest. The Streets Administration, forced to pay after 12 years of lawsuits

A man seriously injured in 2014, after riding his bicycle into an unmarked pit on Calea Știrbei Vodă, in Bucharest, will receive moral compensation of 100,000 euros, after almost 12 years of court appearances.

A cyclist has won compensation after he was seriously injured in a pothole. PHOTO: Romanian Police

After a long trial, which lasted more than a decade, the court ordered the Bucharest Roads Administration to pay 100,000 euros in moral damages to a cyclist who suffered extremely serious injuries in an accident caused by an unmarked pothole on the roadway.

The accident occurred in the evening of June 27, 2014, on Calea Știrbei Vodă, at ​​the intersection with Ion Câmpineanu street. The man, who was 30 years old at the time, was regularly cycling with a friend when he entered a deep hole in a poorly lit area without any markings or warnings, reports ProTV.

“He was slightly behind me and he saw the same thing, I went into that area where there were no street lights, there was no sign of a pit or work, no signage of any kind. The bike stopped and he told me he saw me go flying. A car from SMURD came, as I recall, quite quickly. They told me that we needed to go to the hospital urgently, that I had internal bleeding and that I might not survive”, the man told the circumstances of the accident.

Urgently transported to the Floreasca Emergency Clinical Hospital, the man underwent a major surgical intervention. Doctors had to remove his spleen to save his life, the operation having permanent medical consequences on his health.

Initially, the authorities opened a criminal case for culpable bodily harm, but the investigation was hampered by difficulties in establishing responsibility and administrative delays. Finally, the criminal act became statute-barred, and the victim had to seek justice in the civil court.

“Everyone was blaming each other. From what I remember, 12 years have passed, a document was requested and it arrived in 5-6 months. That's why, although the investigative bodies tried, the criminal act ended up being time-barred. And he was forced to wait a much longer period to make use of his claims in a separate civil court.” the victim's lawyer told how the process went, which lasted for 12 years.

In the end, the civil court established that the Bucharest Road Administration is responsible for the condition of the roadway and for the lack of appropriate signage and decided to award moral damages in the amount of 100,000 euros.