People in Bucharest are Dodging Trains to Cross a Park

This article originally appeared on VICE Romania

Walking across a park doesn't sound like an activity that should involve being hit by a train, but in Bucharest it is. To get from one side of the capital city's largest park, Herăstrău, to the other, residents are forced to walk across a railway bridge – a dangerous and unsafe little path which sits next to a pair of 27,000 volt train tracks.

Despite the obvious danger, people still risk their lives for a few hours of sitting on grass. On the 11th of June, a train killed a 33-year-old man as he cycled across the bridge. Earlier this month, a 17-year-old was electrocuted when he accidentally touched a live track. In 2015, two teenagers died the same way.

Sadly, these deaths could all have been avoided if local authorities had unblocked access to the safe walkway underneath the bridge. Instead, the pathway is being used by the Parks and Recreations Division of the city to store equipment.

Despite several attempts by local organisations to force the government to open the safe walkway, nothing has been done. The mayor's office has blamed the transport ministry for not building another bridge, while the ministry claims the mayor has never asked for another bridge, or provided the funds for a new pathway. Occasionally, warning signs are put up, but they usually get taken down again pretty quickly.

So until the authorities figure out who's responsible, the people of Bucharest will have to keep risking their lives while crossing their park. Photographer Eli Driu spent an afternoon on the bridge to capture Romanians being pretty cool about it.