[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by blackasta

Sorry to hear about this - but this is India. These kind of things are bound to happen here.
Next time (and I might sound like a criminal) - don't stop.

Thanks for the confidence. This surely is the India we live in.

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Sorry to hear about the whole ordeal. It is good that you helped that female. Only thing is I feel you should not have allowed the cops to intervene that much. You should have taken the husband and wife to the hospital and cleared off the bill and come off.

Well Parvez. When the cops decide and smell an opportunity to make a quick buck they dont stop at anything. Im glad I didnt bend. I was very happy to see the cops shrivelled face when I went to pick up the car from the police station.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Well such scum run our country. Do not take this for granted. Make sure you attend all hearings. Often such cases drag on and on. And, if such a thing happens again, you now know running is the best policy.

Ive been through road once before. Court, lawyer, etc. If the case doesnt get thrown out, it should drag for a good 3-4 years.

Originally Posted by Vijay.Krishnan

Kudos to you! What you did was ethically and humanely right. But I guess there is no appreciation about the right gestures that people do, by the Police. Had I been in your place, I would have thought twice before helping the woman out.

Well now I intend to think thrice hereafter. maybe not look and not think at all.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

I don't see anything wrong if next time onwards you validate your handle here, jay-smokes-LEAVES!!

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

What happened was a very sad incident.

But, I wont advise you to run in case you happen to hit someone what may come. Its inhumane. Imagine it could be other way round, you being hit and someone runs away leaving you half dead. The system has faults, it is corrupt etc etc but we are humans first. Legally speaking, in case you run and by chance get caught later on the case is severe.

I would just term it as a bad time/day which was handled very maturely and should be finished off in the same manner. Every one comes across bad times during their lifetime, so it just happened.

Be patient, attend hearings, be more careful next time. Best of luck.

Well looking around me im begining to doubt if the word humane can or should be used at all. We, the people are treated like dogs anyways. I agree with all the rest of your views... but never can ever be careful enough.

Originally Posted by praful

Been there, done that... Absolutely hated those few weeks! Completely understand your situation and what you must be going through.

Don't worry, you did nothing wrong. Nothing wrong is going to happen to you.

Im quite certain about that. the insurance company will certainly throw the claim out and so will the judge.

Originally Posted by nkapoor777

Jay, don't let this episode deter you from helping someone in need. for what you did.

A similar incident happened to a friend here in Delhi just about a month ago. It was 2 am in the night and everybody including the policemen were dead drunk (except the offending driver, if you can call it that). Me and another friend reached the spot on his call and once the mutual settlement was agreed, we made the injured party sign on a statement which read that a particular incident happened, medical aid was provided for by the other party, no serious injuries and it has been mutually settled (blah, blah).

No issues since then!

Well actually, you were lucky. Taking a personal statement by your self has no standing in court, if the chap decided to come back again to extort money from you threatening to lodge a complaint. It has to be done by the police. In my case the police did that and then probably wanting a huge bribe, decided to pressurize me and make a case out of nothing.

Originally Posted by Car-e-ok

I just read the whole story. O man this is so true . This is so really true . It has happened to my friend as well . And i was there with him all this while. We even had an approach of a police officer . The police were directly saying that they are with us . But indirectly they were helping the other guy so that he can file the case and cops get the money from both ends as well . Same story same stuff. My friend paid north of 1 lakh to compromise the case at court in the end as he was waiting canadian immigration . Moreover he spent endless nights contacting countlesss people ,his lawyers ripped him off,Police mishandled his impounded car,hassle,stressess . I am sorry to say things like really make me feel bad about this country(which happens to be my own country).

Well, I too work overseas. But I wont pay a penny. Not to such scum. I wouldnt mind spending anything on the injured's medical bills though. Well thats me. But you never know. Time and circumstance change everything.

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

What would be adding more value to your episode is some names / designations if possible- maybe after the case is all cleared up.

I didnt quite understand what that meant.

Originally Posted by Nitin

Crazy stuff! My sympathies are with you, Sir!

No wonder everyone says- 'get into a crash and try to scoot from there. No point trying to be a good samaritan and help the injured. 98% of the time, things will back-fire. So better escape from the scene at the earliest.'.

No wonder. If one has to go through all this non-sense, we'd have to keep aside our emotions and just let the injured be. Not everyone can do this,though.

On hindsight. Scooting is the easiest thing to do, isnt it! I believe what shapes your character is what you do against the odds. Important thing is, to try and survive against the system, without joining it. Simply because the system sucks.

Originally Posted by anku94

Really sorry to hear that. Hope it ends up alright for you.

It really pains for one to know that the system is being run by the dregs of human civilisation, people who're incapable of understanding the effects of their actions.

It hurts a lot to accept this, but it's hopeless. I don't see how the situation will improve in the near future, unless God holds a brain distribution ceremony for those who missed out before birth because of them being busy with devil's sermons.

LOLL its certainly hopeless. Hope never dies, but you die hoping. I dont think God has the time to worry anymore. He works overtime and does night shifts too. Save yourself by yourself.

Originally Posted by sirajbose

Jay - Kudos tp you. You did the right thing. Have faith everything will be alright.

And before people start blaming the system, lets not forget, its us who created it, and more importantly its just the people like us who help sustain it. We are the same people who do not vote, the same people who are afraid to get into politics and change it, the same people who keep quiet on the rampant price hikes for the past few years, the same people who pay such exorbitant real estate prices, the same people who sit and watch while the politicians tear apart our country based on language / caste / states and the same people who don't bother to do something real about the problems our society faces (apart from write a few comments) as it doesn't actually affect us directly / we are able to manage. Till each and everyone of us decide to do the right thing - together - day after day after day - and don't give up - nothing is going to change.

Well I beg to disagree. I did not create this system. I was born into it and am not here out of choice. Give me a choice and I can show you some magic. And since I dont want to join this system, I choose to live like a rebel, doing it my way, whether it fits into the system or not. I idid not take the lady to the hospital to comply with the system. I took her because I cared to take her. Its not difficult to be ruthless when the need arises.
What matters at the end of the day is to even out your karmic balance sheet. The system be damned.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

Sorry to hear the sad development after an accident. But, I do not advocate 'hit-and-run' under any circumstance, come what may. If I do, I will also join the corrupt system.

Ravi, dont help the victim because because you dont want to join the system.
Help, to fulfill that innate human desire to reach out. Else just walk away/run.



My final take out of this is as below.
Although it was her fault to bump into my car in an inebriated drunken state and injure herself, I was in a position to help the lady and I did. What happens after that I dont really care and bother about, because the end result of everything is Zero. Another experience along the trek on the mountain of life.

Thanks for your views.

Cheers,

J

[aaggoswami]

The incident is disappointing, but I am not shocked at all. This is what the honest citizens of India face in general. In any case, the first thing for an injured individual is to get first aid. First aid is said to have saved many lives, but we are in the world's best and biggest ( by population ) democracy.

Anybody who actually faces these bad system issue is bound to be unhappy. We are still in the British system which was created when we were slaves, and it shows up in the behavior of police, government hospitals.

I will tell you about a small incidence of mine. I was about to visit a bank that was very near to our earlier residence. Dad was at office, I had returned home after submitting my GCET form. Plan was that I will go along with my mother to bank for some work in Baleno. As soon as I entered the bank premises the gate of bank was open but we were not sure if the bank was closed for the day or open.

I went in the bank gate a bit and then started reversing the car. Suddenly there was a scream of a lady. Immediately I braked. Note that the car was being reversed and my right foot was on brake as normal parking is generally done by me with clutch only.

My mom got down and was now talking to the lady. I realized that the car has not hit the woman. The woman was sleeping behind a big stone that was 4 feet in base and around 3 feet in height. No way a car, let alone a low slung Baleno, could climb over that stone and run over the lady.
There were two autowallahs to the rescue of the lady. She took some money, around Rs. 100 from my mother for injuries. The bank was closed for the day so we left.

The next day in morning again we ( me and mom ) visited the bank. That lady for sure recognized us. The work in bank was done and when we were about the leave the lady stopped us. She said that she has the number of the car and would go to police if we dont pay for her injuries. The injuries she claimed to have were on left side of head, right leg and on stomach. She claimed that the car was completely over her i.e. she was run over by Baleno coming in reverse.

That lady was quite fat, no way a person of that much build could survive if a low slung car was over her.


After hearing her scream, I braked. The car had not moved even an inch, but my mother was talking to the lady. But that lady claims she was under the car.

She had injuries on left side of head, right leg and stomach, meaing that she was under the car fully as she had injuries on both sides body. Else right leg and left side of head dont get injuries.

I was not in mood to spoil my morning, so could not argue more and there were these good people to help her demanding more money. So my mother paid Rs. 1000/- to her for her treatment and we left. Its over one month and we didn't have any issue.

For the first time we paid money to a human who was completely under the car, came out without even a single scratch. Can you believe it, not even a single scratch but still we had to pay money.

Its for sure that the car didn't even touch the lady. There was no damage to rear bumper indicating a contact with stone i.e. the car did not even touch the stone. The only way for the car to hit her was to run over the stone as her head was near to stone.


The problem is not just with these people only, but also lies in society. From past experience I knew that getting physical with anybody or fighting is not going to help so we left after paying money.

[aargee]

@Jay - May be you should do something similar to this...

Several years ago, I was on a two-wheeler & was taking a right at the signal when it was green, someone who jumped the signal on another two-wheeler knocked me down. The moment I fell down it took a moment for me to realize what had happened. When I got up, I saw the other two-wheeler went away before even I could notice the number.

This is a great lesson to me too; may be when such a thing happens to me, I should first see if the injured is concious, then run to the nearest police station, give a self confession to file FIR & then take the injured to hospital!!!

[benbsb29]

Jay, you are a good man, and did what your conscience instructed you to.
As for the system, your answer about being born into it summed it up right.

I hope your case doesnt drag on for ages like hellstar's case did.

[suman]

Man, what a bum trip, last thing you'd want late on a rainy evening! Keeping fingers crossed for a speedy wrap-up.

[mmxylorider]

I believe the right thing was done (in helping the person) since an injury had occurred. All the hassels which followed and the sore experience of dealing with the bureaucracy will be a lesser worry compared to the sleep you will get knowing there was no fatality.
Imagine living everyday not knowing extent of injuries in a hit and run.

Let me narrate a story here (it's third hand, colleague's friend and the likes) but it suggests a great idea.

So the protagonist is riding his 'bike. It's the monsoon season, so he has a jacket on, is helmeted and is riding on wet roads. A lady wants to cross the road in a hurry, this guys brakes, stopping distance is more and he ends up scraping her ankle.
This guy realized stopping and assisting is tantamount to inviting trouble (him being a non-local, this incident is at Hinjewadi, Pune). He sped away a few hundred feet, parked in a bylane, removed his helmet, stowed his jacket and walked back to the scene. A crowd has gathered while the lady is screaming at the 'unknown' rider. This guy acts as the good samaritan, get her treated at a local clinic and all is well. No police, no crowd 'treatment', and most of all knowledge that the issue is closed.

Not the best solution if driving a 4-wheeler in a crowded place - but food for thought? Certainly!

[ZedMae]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

On hindsight. Scooting is the easiest thing to do, isnt it! I believe what shapes your character is what you do against the odds. Important thing is, to try and survive against the system, without joining it. Simply because the system sucks.
Cheers,

J

Exactly. I guess it would be far more difficult to handle the trauma of not knowing what happened to the 'victim' if you choose to run compared to what one undergoes because of the corrupt system.
Kudos to you.

Thanks

[MutantX]

well, next time you meet with such a situtation, just drive along. I kinda get really irritated when I see such incidents! I just cannot restrain myself from getting provoked. I even went to an extent of slapping a traffic constable when he tried to squeeze money out of me even after showing all papers!

[dadu]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

How it happened > From the A pillar I could not see her, she was short, wearing black, it was dark and raining. She walked into the right side of my car and stepped in front of the right tire got nudged by the right side mudguard, the tire ran over her foot and she fell down.

It wouldn't be surprising if she puposely did it to extract some money on the spot, its another thing that it went into a wrong direction and not as per her plans. You couldnt see her but she could, Safari is not a a small vehicle even in the drk to miss.

Police is actually trying to make a quick buck by putting pressure on you and making cases against you by misleading the other party, its always better to get something in written from the other party for no claims later but in such circumstances one usually is in a different state of mind.

[gurudutt]

I don't want to sound rude, but why feel sorry for someone who have no regards for their own life? Like someone pointed out, a safari is big enough to be noticed, moreover if she was in a inebriate condition and strolling our pathetic roads on a rainy night. Its quite clear she does not care of her own well being, let alone others.

What if this lady's adventure had resulted in a life threatening situations for others, if she was crazy enough to jaywalk a busy road? Someone on a bike may end up in a bad state trying to avoid her, someone driving a four wheeler too may end up in a nasty crash trying to avoid running over her (read: we are still humane not to run over someone and try to avoid it even if it means incurring damages to our beloved vehicles or ourselves).

I too have a small story to narrate, like most other did on this thread.

One night, 6 yrs ago, while heading back from work on my dad's bike i happened to stop at a railway crossing since it was engaged, waited for the train to pass and the gate to open and since i was right ahead, i throttled a little and was driving on this divided road. I see a lady on the divider waiting to cross the road, though it was dark, i looked at her and i thought she had spotted me coming and to make sure, i had honked twice. To my horror, she jumps right in front of me when i was too close to break, she had all the time from when i had honked at her if she was in a real hurry to run across the road, but no.

I hit her hard since i had not time to break, she fell on the road and i lost control, i somehow balanced my bike for a couple of yards and the bike went down. I got up, picked the bike and was looking for damages (since it was my dad's bike). The lady was screaming in pain, crowd had gathered, someone shouted at me in kannada, "hey you, forget the bike, first check what happened to the lady". They picked her up, took her to the side of the road she was still in pain. I guess her arm hurt, the impact was such that the visor on my bike's headlight had cracked. Then people started giving me advice, someone said, call the police, another guy said take her to a hospital, but one wise man suggested, "listen kid, she seems to be drunk, place some 100 bucks in her hand and just leave". And this is exactly what i ended up doing.

[TaureanBull]

Jay what is happening is not a hit and run case or car accident. Its a street trick to fleece people because they know that a common man would like to stay away from the legal problems. I wont be surprised if some policemen are hand in glove with them. I am sure she must have done that with a number of people.

I dont know how she could be sleeping so close to the bank building. But anything can happen in India.

Main problem is created by tamaasbeen (watchers) and they would support these nuisances. They enjoy people with some money being robbed off. I wont be surprised if they start beating a person without knowing a little bit about the incident. They are ever ready to participate in such events. Very sad.

[MX6]

I couldn't read beyond half way looking at how the govt doctors treated her more like she was a cadaver. Next time, please have a look at the blind spots. You were humane in a way that you didn't let her rot there like any normal hit and run case. Accidents happen, but please do have a look at blind spots.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

Accidents happen, but please do have a look at blind spots.

Sorry MX6, I couldn't help controlling laughing. It's called blind spot because that specific spot isn't visible, but if it were visible anymore, would that be called blind spot? Sorry man, I'd to laugh over this!!!

In most cases, I guess it is the mob which controls the situation. Several years ago, I was in a situation when I hit a young lad on the road, which was my first accident too; I'd passed out from college, had a job, a motorcycle with young blood boiling & so I went & hit a young lad deliberately when he stood still on the road despite seeing an approaching motorcycle. Only after hitting him, I did realize that I would fall too;

When I got up, I saw a big sized crowd & was trembling in fear; fortunately someone said, "Sir (me) was coming right, only the boy had run in between"; that was what I waiting to hear, despite many people supported me to go to hospital, the first thing I wanted to do is run away from that place.

[MX6]

@aargee. No issues laughing. Let me explain about blindspots. Blindspots are those areas that are not visible directly while looking forward or in a mirror (for looking behind). Longer the vehicle, bigger becomes the blind spot. There are special mirror attachments which can cover the blindspots as well. But the best practice would be to physically turn to grab a look at blindspots before shifting lanes or turning, provided you don't rear end a vehicle in front. Blind spots are reduced by also having mirrors with larger field of view, like convex mirrors.
The significance of blindspots is higher when you drive in western countries in higher speeds on roads having multiple lanes. I always turn my head over 90 degrees to check my blindspots before shifting lanes!

[suman]

I think it was a combination of factors, based on Jay's opening lines. He'd stopped under the flyover to turn right & was checking out the traffic (on the left) just before moving out to join the stream of traffic on the highway. The woman would have already arrived on his right (while he was checking out traffic on his left) & it would have been but a split second between the point that Jay would have focussed back to his right & the vehicle moving (latter may have happened a fraction before).

Just a combination of factors made worse by the rain & poor visibility.