[joslicx]

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

Drunken driving, over speeding, switching drivers

AFAIK all are crimes, and running away from accident spot, what more you do you need. and dont tell me no one was hurt, someone has to be killed to understand the seriousness of the issue

Where is it established that it was case of drunken driving or over speeding or switching drivers??

If someone is killed in an accident then yes it is serious (and even then it might just be error on the part of the one who is killed. people generally have really poor road manners in India). In this case nobody was killed or even had to visit a hospital AFAIK. So in effect it is a small accident only. Its another matter it involves pricy cars but thats just money and money can be compensated (and has been done in this case). I dont see any problems really.

[honeybee]

Switching of drivers and trying to buy off the victims IMO needs to be criticised and publicly.

[Wheeliej]

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

Drunken driving, over speeding, switching drivers AFAIK all are crimes, and running away from accident spot, what more you do you need. and dont tell me no one was hurt, someone has to be killed to understand the seriousness of the issue

PG Narain is right. There are countless such accidents like this occurring on India's roads on a daily basis. Unless there is a death involved, police do not do anything other than register an FIR so that the victim can proceed with the insurance claim (as much as a police report is not required for insurance purposes, insurance companies do insist on it). This is a fact of life and there is no impact on the accident causer. In fact even the driving license is not impounded nor any demerit points awarded. The person whose vehicle is damaged bears also the loss on insurance deductibles. If it was a lorry driver would anyone have bothered? These things will happen, rich and poor people will continue to get away because our policing is careless and ineffective and unwilling to be stricter. I have suffered such losses too, once at the hands of a very highly educated person in a very good position in a mnc in bangalore and another time at the hands of a lorry driver. Nobody could do anything to help me then. If in this case the two affected drivers have got new cars in compensation, they should (and have) gone home happy. Am glad no injury or death was involved. That would have been a real tragedy and very frustrating for us justice lovers.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by joslicx

But again why the hue and cry regarding something hypothetical.

If the 'fat driver' was driving the car like a sane driver and then if it had hit the Audi and Elantra, then, like you said, it would've been just a case of cars hitting each other. Accidents are not illegal, but when one is being super-duper-careless (putting himself and others in danger) and causes accident, then its against the law. In short, the 'big dad' knew his son was in trouble with the law, and he did what money can let him do to save his son. A person who should've been behind the bars went scot-free. Money power 1, Law 0 - this equation demonstrated itself here, hence the hue and cry.

Do you think we could've gone scot-free if it was me or you instead of the 'fat driver' ?. Of course we could've reached an amicable out-of-court settlement, but would that take care of the drunken and careless driving?

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

A person who should've been behind the bars went scot-free. Money power 1, Law 0 - this equation demonstrated itself here, hence the hue and cry.

Do you think we could've gone scot-free if it was me or you instead of the 'fat driver' ?. Of course we could've reached an amicable out-of-court settlement, but would that take care of the drunken and careless driving?

You are jumping to conclusions here my friend! Who goes to a jail for a minor accident? Nobody was hurt here. Maybe the driver just panicked and fled.

Why is this particular accident having so much scrutiny? Just other day some 30-40 people died in a train accident (fire!!!) near Hyderabad. Why no one talks of that? So many people died, who is responsible? Has anybody gone to jail for that?

[ajmat]

As I see it there are three cases to be solved

1: Compensation of victimes - might have been resolved - remains to be seen
2: Rash and possibly drunk driving - Mr Yung Fat Man is absconding
3: Wrongful impersonation - Alleged driver has no related injuries unless he was wearing a kevlar suit

Actually, the police can easily prosecute the alleged driver for wrongful impersonalation. If he had been the driver, he would have suffered burns from the airbag, bruised ribs from the seatbelt.

One must also add the DNA evidence on the airbag would have been sufficient.

[sumathindra]

What is the objective of this thread? If it is only for commenting on who was right/wrong then in my opinion this thread must be closed.

There is absolutely no takeaway from this thread whatsoever and is only consuming bandwidth!

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by joslicx

You are jumping to conclusions here my friend! Who goes to a jail for a minor accident? Nobody was hurt here. Maybe the driver just panicked and fled.

Why is this particular accident having so much scrutiny?

I presume you did not read my full comment. Let me say this again my friend , it is not about the accident. It is about how clear it became that the rich can play with the law and go scot-free.

Drunken-driving, Driver replacement - all coming from a family whose decisions affects thousands of lives in our country. Thats what made it the news. I know its a minor accident, but it showed an ugly side of the situation of our country and thats why the hue and cry.

BTW, never knew that 'sorry I panicked and fled' is a good excuse when you get drunk and hit another car at 100kmph and flee the scene without evening bothering to check whether someone was even hurt.

[blacksport]

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

I presume you did not read my full comment. Let me say this again my friend , it is not about the accident. It is about how clear it became that the rich can play with the law and go scot-free.

Why, in this country exists, so much of hatred of the rich? Do the others feel that they were unfairly left behind? Are the rich the only ones who escape the law or find ways to circumvent it? Are they the only ones who who underpay their taxes or get things done under the table?

This incident would not have attracted so much of attention had the car been a M800, even if the "poor" driver had switched himself with a poorer Indian. In this case, this rich Indian has not done anything that any Indian (rich or poor) would not have done, had they been in this rich Indian's shoes.

[honeybee]

So some people have no qualms if an innocent man is made a scapegoat for the crimes of another?

If the brand new cars are compensation why is no one willing to go public and confess to it?

[Wheeliej]

Originally Posted by honeybee

So some people have no qualms if an innocent man is made a scapegoat for the crimes of another? If the brand new cars are compensation why is no one willing to go public and confess to it?

If an innocent man has 'confessed' it's probably because he has been compensated...... Nobody is so altruistic to do it out of the goodness of their hearts. Even the police have realised that it is a scam and hence haven't arrested him.
People don't go to jail, whether rich or poor, because of a road accident which does not result in loss of life.
I am guessing the people who received new cars / compensation have signed non disclosure agreements with the rich corporate in return for the compensation. You won't find them talking in a hurry.
Hoping the 'young fat man' at least got the scare of his life and will live / drive more responsibly from now on.

[Chetan_Rao]

We live in a country where the most common MO to avoid a DUI charge in an accident is to abscond (or in some cases influence the cops to not arrest the suspect) for 48 hours or so, then surrender and plead guilty to a lesser charge (this isn't just conjecture. I think there's even a thread on this forum about a Bangalore politico doing exactly this when he wrecked his SUV, just for an example).

There are no casualties in this particular case, but what concerns me is the same tactics are used even in cases involving casualties regularly.

What concerns me more is a lot of us (ironically on a forum exhorting responsible driving) don't find anything wrong with the underhanded (possibly illegal) tactics being used to cover up irresponsible behavior.

'Everyone who can will do the same thing' sounds like a plausible excuse only until we find ourselves at the receiving end.

Like I said in an earlier response, one's social status shouldn't become an excuse for prosecution, but should also not become an excuse to avoid it.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

(1) Who, in this forum, will, even if at fault, compensate the other parties with upgrades?

Everyone will, at the most, agree to repair the car or agree to shell out only the differential between what the insurance company pays and the actual bill. So what would the people who are talking about "injustice" do? Buy the other party 4 cars?

(2) If you or your son were in a similar situation, (a)would you not try and ensure that the media gave the subject as little coverage as possible?(if you could) and (b) would you not do all within your means so that the police do not have a field day taking you or your son to task?

Answer these questions and you will have the answer to the current scenario too.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

(1) Who, in this forum, will, even if at fault, compensate the other parties with upgrades?

Depends on how much the cost of the upgrade is as a percentage of my net worth. For eg, if I accidentally break somebody else's pencil, I would magnanimously decide to give him 2 new pencils instead of compensating him for repairing the broken pencil.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by DudeWithaFiat

The hue and cry is not because of the accident, but the sad fact that the upper-class does not really need to 'worry' about any rules became very clear here. Even if there was a loss of life, I don't think the 'fat driver' would have gone behind the bars. And thats what annoys everyone, not the accident itself.

What is so upper class in this? Which tanker driver/autorickshaw driver/bus driver, dumper truck driver, who was drunk, rash hooligan, killed people, damaged property gone behind bars? Are these low lives upper class?
Have they not damaged property/killed people? Why do they get a small footnote mention in a newspaper for their deeds?

Its a corrupted media, shamelessly self serving and hungry for any bite of salacious information which they can milk, so any mistake by a famous person is highlighted, just to sell their pathetic columns...