Trigger warning: death
It is with great dismay that the European Disability Forum learned about the death of a 55-year-old Romanian woman caught on the doors of the tram after helping her wheelchair-using daughter in the tram. The conductor closed the doors while the woman was still not inside, leading to her being dragged and dying later in the hospital with multiple injuries.
We join the Romanian National Disability Council’s view that this loss of life was also caused by the inaccessibility of public transport, lack of training of transport staff, and a general disregard for the application of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Romanian National Disability Council has for years called attention to this issue and asked the authorities to fix it. It is lamentable that the authorities have taken insufficient action until now.
We support the Council’s new letter to the government asking for the following:
- Ensure the accessibility of public transport through legislation;
- Enforce the application of existing laws, including training of drivers;
- Sanction drivers that recklessly endanger the lives of persons with disabilities and their support network.
You can read the full statement in Romanian.
We share our deepest condolences with the family and friends of the victim and call for decisive action so this episode does not repeat itself.