[ph03n!x]

In Feb '21, the Madras High Court questioned the blame on the larger vehicle in case of an accident. Now, a Bombay court has ruled against criminal liability if a pedestrian is negligent in an accident.

A Mumbai Court recently acquitted a 56-year old woman accused of rash and negligent driving case holding that if any mishap happened due to negligence of the pedestrian no criminal liability can be fixed on the vehicle owner (State of Maharashtra v. Swapnila S Sakhalkar)

The accused Swapnila Sakhalkar was accused of rash driving and grievously hurting the complainant Apeksha in 2015.

The complainant was walking to her office when a four wheeler came from behind her and rammed into her.

Because of the impact she fell down on the road and the front tyre of the car ran over her leg leading to fracture in her leg and thumb.
Pursuant to this, the complainant's father filed a complaint with the police, and an FIR came to be registered.

Metropolitan Magistrate Pravin P Deshmane stated that "while crossing or walking the road it is the duty of pedestrian to take precaution. If any mishap happened due to negligence of the pedestrian no criminal liability would be fixed on the vehicle."

While criminal liability has been clarified in this case, will the pedestrian be eligible for benefits like third party insurance claims on the vehicle, maybe to cover medical expenses or livelihood in case permanent disability? The judgement doesn't touch on this (grammatical and spelling errors not withstanding).

Source

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Now, a Bombay court has ruled against criminal liability if a pedestrian is negligent in an accident.

We do not have the entire judgement, the clarity in the case and exact circumstances on the ground. It is a good thing that the car driver is not liable for criminal prosecution due to the negligence of the pedestrian.
Now what is definition of negligence here ?

What if the pedestrian is not crossing the road on a zebra- crossing and meets with an accident ? Many roads don't have it, are not seen or impractical to make.

All in all, it is always better to have a dashcam in the car to record all movements. No matter what make it is, having one is important.

[hridaygandhi]

Welcome judgement. While rarely do pedestrians follow zebra crossing etc. (the necessary infrastructure is not always there either), it is important that the car drivers and pedestrians live in harmony with understanding. The real problem is pedestrians crossing roads with dividers and jumping on the road out of nowhere assuming that raising their hand to stop the traffic should suffice.

Now in India, always the bigger vehicle is blamed, but CCTV and dash-cams have provided some respite to law-abiding drivers.

[gkveda]

Welcome the judgement. When a pedestrian is walking on the footpath (Pedestrian's way), if a car comes and hits the pedestrian, every one concludes that it is the fault of the car and driver.

But, if a pedestrian is walking on the road (car's way), and a car hits the pedestrian, same logic is not applied. It is again the mistake of the car driver. This is not right.

So, irrespective of whether there is a Zebra crossing or not, if a pedestrian steps on to the black tarmac(road) and stays on road, it is his responsibility to ensure he steps in when there is no vehicle on the road till the time he crosses or stays on the road.

Some may ask, what if vehicles appear out of the blue. There is no road where there is no visibility for pedestrian to cross the road and suddenly car appears and hits. If there are such roads or spots, it is again the responsibility of the pedestrian to ensure NOT to choose such spots to cross the road. He or she can choose to cross the road at 50m left or right where there is visibility.

The problem in our country is, pedestrians are not TAUGHT the road culture and behaviour. They think jumping on road whenever they wish and being on road is their birthright.

[adwaith]

A welcome judgement considering how much of a menace jaywalking is in India. At some point I hope there are some actual laws enacted to curtail this.

[2000rpm]

I am sad to see some elitist comments above.

We need to understand, in India the fact that footpaths, are not really constructed on all roads. Most footpaths have encroachment from small shops and vendors (I know its not the fault of the car driver, but it isnt the fault of the pedestrians as well).

I would urge you to walk for a mile on any footpath in a city like Mumbai and then comment on the state of infrastructure in India.

While I say that, I think road crossing sense in India horrible. People think its the responsibility of the vehicles, to NOT HIT THEM. This is especially true in crowded markets where people for crazy for street shopping.

Jaywalking, especially with these new contraptions called earpods and airpods is an absolute crime. They also add noise cancellation to this!! This is an unacceptable scenario.

[Indian2003]

The driver of a car should always have full control of his car. His speed should be such that he will be able to stop if needed and that means adjusting your speed to the surroundings and road conditions.
A speed limit does not mean that you have to drive at that speed. It just shows the maximum speed allowed.

[Jeroen]

Interesting case. I have seen quite a number of posts on this topic over the years. Maybe I am wrong but very often the contention on many on those posts was that pedestrian need to be more cautious and it was not fair or the car owner/driver. Or words to that effect / sentiment.

Obviously, pedestrian do have a responsibility as well. Let me share how it works here in the Netherlands. By law, pedestrians and cyclists, are considered far more vulnerable than cars. So in case of an accident between a pedestrian/cyclist and a car, the car driver, by default, is at fault. Unless, there is a case of the pedestrian/cyclist is behaving very irresponsible. Each car driver needs to be cognisant of the fact that other road user than him/her such as pedestrian and cyclist are far more vulnerable than drivers in a car, with lots of safety features. When the two meet, always the pedestrian and or cyclist is going to be hurt a whole lot more than the car driver. So car drivers need to adjust the way they drive to protect the more vulnerable road users.

To put it simple: The car driver is guilty unless he/she can prove otherwise!

But the courts take it quite far. The whole idea being that car drivers need to be aware and expect for certain situations and adjust their speed. So, you need to anticipate that cyclist might wobble a bit or even swerve into the road now and then. When you are driving on a road with busy shopping on both sides it is very likely people might cross, so you need to adjust for it.

When you see a group of kids on the sidewalk, or on their bicycles, you can expect them to be less aware of the traffic and their surrounding, so as a car driver you need to anticipate them doing something out of the ordinary, so you as a car driver need to be prepared, adjust speed and be ready to come to a full stop.

We have streets that are designated Fietsstraten (Bicycle streets). Cars are seen as gast (guests).



Maximum speed is 30 km/h and cars need to give way to all cyclists always, under all circumstances.

Yes, there are idiot pedestrians and idiot cyclists, no doubt. Both in India and the Netherlands. Unfortunately, there are even bigger idiots behind the wheel of cars.

So as a car driver you are required to be considered and even make up to some extend of the erratic behaviour of pedestrians and cyclist. Personally I think this is a very good system.

On the matter of Zebra crossing. Here, if there is a Zebra crossing and as a pedestrian you find yourself within 20 meters, you have to use the Zebra crossing. If it further away than 20 meters, you can just cross. Also, as a car driver you are expected to notice people near a Zebra. Because as soon as they start moving, or appear to start moving to cross, you have to give way to them and slow down / stop.

Jeroen

[interest]

A refreshing change indeed. In our country it seems it is easiest to blame the car driver for everything. It is true that some do drive rashly but many times it is also the other vehicles or pedestrians who are at fault. That there are no proper footpaths or that they are encroached upon is no reason to fault the car owner. It is the civic agency who should be hauled up for it. In gurgaon, I am tried of filing complaints with the MCG against houses that have encroached upon the footpaths to create gardens or cabins for security guards, however, every single time my complaint has been closed in 2-3 days with no action being taken against the erring house owners and certainly no sight of the footpath being freed.

We are also well aware of how Delhi Gurgaon expressway is supposed to be only for 4 wheelers. There are numerous markers on the roadside showing that the 2 wheelers are prohibited on it. Now I wonder what happens if a two wheeler gets into an accident with a car here. I would like to believe that this is entirely two wheelers fault and the car owner should be left scot free and perhaps be compensated for any damage caused by the two wheeler that shouldn't have been there in the first place. If the car is driving at faster than the speed limit, it should be fined for breaking the speed limit but that is it. I would think of this and draw a parallel between how the train is not at fault if someone is driving a cycle on train track and gets rammed by the train. The cyclist wasn't supposed to be there.

Alas, it would be near impossible to implement a truly rule based environment in India though as social conditions become a mitigating factor and very often the section presumed to be weaker is let off despite being wrong (and sometimes even compensated) that is why this verdict is a refreshing break

[RedTerrano]

Absolutely welcome judgement.
Indian pedestrians need to understand their actions have consequences.

Here is a small sample of what drivers face on Indian roads. She just starts crossing without bothering to check traffic. After the rickshaw flips, she doesn't even bother to break her stride. If she had been hit the driver would be in jail.

https://youtu.be/pdQGoRDB7UA

[aayusht]

Originally Posted by RedTerrano

Absolutely welcome judgement.
Indian pedestrians need to understand their actions have consequences.

Here is a small sample of what drivers face on Indian roads. She just starts crossing without bothering to check traffic. After the rickshaw flips, she doesn't even bother to break her stride. If she had been hit the driver would be in jail.

https://Youtu.be/pdQGoRDB7UA

This one is scary & happens to be NOT a one off case in India. Number of times I have seen that pedestrians start crossing right when the light turns green for the oncoming traffic. At that time these pedestrians don't realize that many drivers (2 wheeler as well as 4 wheeler drivers) just rev their engines as soon as the light is green and try to race across till the next traffic signal & that forms a perfect scenario for an accident waiting to happen. Who will be blamed here? The overspeeding biker/car driver or the indifferent pedestrian?

Originally Posted by ruzbehxyz

All in all, it is always better to have a dashcam in the car to record all movements. No matter what make it is, having one is important.

True but even today majority of the educated / conscious car drivers dont have a dash cam for reasons such as lack of understanding of how to use, install or understand the utility. I think if car makers at least start including this on their top model, it might start generating awareness. (far fetched idea - maybe yes). This reminds me, I need to continue doing the research on the dashcam.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by aayusht

True but even today majority of the educated / conscious car drivers dont have a dash cam for reasons such as lack of understanding of how to use, install or understand the utility. I think if car makers at least start including this on their top model, it might start generating awareness. (far fetched idea - maybe yes). This reminds me, I need to continue doing the research on the dashcam.

In India, if there is an accident on the road between a car and a pedestrian, then people have dual thoughts, but if the car is big or expensive then most likely the roadside people blame the driver.
Similarly if there is an accident between a car and a two wheeler, then people always blame the car driver.

Coming to dashcams, I think dashcams is more like a luxury accessory but more and more people are installing it now.
Make of a dashcam is not important (can be Chinese also), but having one in your car is very important. In fact I have a dual channel dashcam, which has the camera at the rear also.

Car Insurance companies can come up with a policy or pressurize the Government to make dashcams mandatory. This can help them and the car owner. They can also put up a clause that if you have a dashcam, the policy amount can be reduced.
Slowly but steadily things are improving in India. So slowly even dashcams will become mandatory as well. Only time will tell.

[Sanjivvohra]

At an early age, as part of our Civics curriculum, we were told the basics of crossing a street on foot - look left, look right, look left again and if clear then cross. The aim was to instil a sense of responsibility when crossing a street.
When I shared this with my nephew (all of 15 years old), he looked at me as if I was from another planet.

Agreed, our roads are not scientifically designed, nor marked with road signs including zebra crossings. Where they are marked, though, do we as drivers respect the markings? Moving from the USA to Bangalore in 2019, I stopped to let a pedestrian cross on a zebra crossing. I was given dirty looks by all other cars/ 2 wheeler drivers who had to brake hard since they were not expecting me to stop! The quizzical look that I received from the pedestrian was the icing on the cake.

Now self-preservation has kicked in and I drive very cautiously, keeping the local culture in mind.

The use of world-class infrastructure needs a world-class mentality.

[ruzbehxyz]

Originally Posted by Sanjivvohra

The use of world-class infrastructure needs a world-class mentality.

Absolutely 100%.

Safety culture is very poor in India.
Eg. Helmet hanging on the rear mirror of a bike and worn on seeing a cop.

No matter what rules the Government makes. If the people don't respect it, nothing can change. It is we who need to change.

[drift87]

Unless and until the infrastructure is developed for both Road users and Pedestrians, none can be held accountable. Being a pedestrian can be very difficult in cities like Bangalore and Chennai. I feel very unsafe walking not because of reckless drivers, but because of the lack of footpaths/pedestrian friendly infrastructure.