Czech police are believed to have charged the architect of a bridge built across the Vltava river in Prague in 1984 with negligence in connection with its collapse at the end of 2017. Czech Television reported that according to its information, the person formerly in charge of building maintenance in Prague was also charged with negligence. It will be interesting to watch how the situation plays out, since the accident, which injured four people, sparked an intensive bout of bridge inspections around the city which revealed many to be in extremely poor condition. Assuming the case goes to court, the question would seem to be whether architects can be held responsible for an ineffective inspection system.
