[chiro3110]

Thank you all fellow members for your valuable opinions. It was excellent to have a more broader perspective on the incident. Clubbing some conclusions drawn from your posts:

1. Lesson learnt well and good: Never, ever, cross an intersection at high speed like 50 kmph. After the incident I make sure I cross all intersections at a crawling rate of 20 kmph (only not if it's a green light and the vehicle in front and back are not allowing a slower speed). Other times especially on the main streets in Kolkata I'm now restricting my speeds to 40-45 kmph. Better late and safe than fast and risky!

2. Swerve over braking: Going by some more posts, I think the case of emergency braking is the better option to go with and at times it should also be the legal one over swerving to another lane.

One citation I came across here: As per "The Rules of the Road Regulations, 1989" [ https://transport.py.gov.in/sites/de...es/roadrul.pdf ] point 23 and 24 states:

23. Distance from vehicles in front. —The driver of a motor vehicle moving behind another vehicle shall keep at a sufficient distance from that other vehicle to avoid collision if the vehicle in front should suddenly slow down or stop.


24. Abrupt brake. —No driver of a vehicle shall apply brake abruptly unless it is necessary to do so for safety reasons.

3. Helping the victim: I'm glad that everyone concurs that helping the person was the right thing to do. When I narrated the incident to many others, they did say that going away would have been easier and much less of a hassle. I'm thankful to my wife, that the plastic surgeon plan was able to mature.

4. The cost of repairs: I will be tendering my car to the NEXA service soon. The 25k quote was a value "at-top-of-his-head" by the service advisor. Things to replace he mentioned: 2 parts of the rear bumper, the tail light, dent removal and paint job.

Originally Posted by MaheshY1

Valid points. Exactly my thoughts.
Maintaining 360 awareness - Defensive Driving Improvement Suggestion
Under promise. Over deliver.

This was very nicely summed up. Surprisingly my company has the same very terms when they teach driving safety to the staff who drives. It would be a good idea to re-visit the learning of those seminars.

Originally Posted by Starfire

In my experience. Here are a few pointers
4. NO. A medical student cannot put a doctor symbol legally. IMA has set certain pointers on doctor sticker cars. Only a fully registered medical allopathy practitioner who renders emergency services can display a red doctor logo (Dr.) , Asclepius or the more commonly used (and highly misused) Caduceus symbol. (PS: I’m a doctor and IMA member)

It was very valuable to have that learning. Thank you so much. Surprisingly, it was one the first things he told me, "See my bike, I'm a doctor." I was not aware of the criterion of putting up the doctor symbol.

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by chiro3110

I was doing around 50 kmph which is in allowable limits. There was a traffic intersection coming up. When I glanced, it was blinking yellow and in front there was a Zomato delivery bike. With the yellow blink I decided to pass the intersection. Suddenly the delivery guy applied sudden brake and stopped at the traffic light.

Amber(yellow) colour stands for CAUTION. Appears like the caution you exercised wasn't good enough. In your case, the biker stopped unexpectedly. You had to swerve to evade him means you were carrying inappropriate speeds at a signal crossing. The guy who rear ended you was probably at fault too with his speed. Your move to left must have been surely unexpected for him as well.

Especially at nights, it's outright dangerous to pass through signals that are flashing yellow for the reason that the people coming from different directions at an intersection would also invariably be thinking it's safe to pass. It's better for one to slow down as much and have a real good look in both directions before proceeding. This is even more trickier when the roads are in very good shape and people tend to zoom taking advantage of sparse traffic. I'm always jittery to cross amber lights at odd hours(read midnight and past).

[kaps454]

Accidents are actually not for one particular reason or any one individuals fault. There is a swiss cheese model of multiple causes all aligning up for a particular mishap. In this case, majority of the blame would have been on the biker who rear ended you as he was tailgating. But in his defense you cut across (a lane change in indian biker terms) and came to a sudden stop.

As for liability, you dont need to treat him, but it is better to do so out of kindness of heart and avoiding legal hassles.

If you dont mind going to court, then you could have coolly asked the cops to make a case, go to court and let him bother getting treated and claiming expenses from your insurance company, if he manages to prove his case.

[Voodooblaster]

Originally Posted by chiro3110

Now, the attending doctor was an intern and the bike guy said he doesn’t want to get stitched by an intern. He started asking for a senior doctor, or an orthopedic doctor etc.

Some search on Vahaan also concluded that neither the bike belonged to him nor did it have insurance. Also he had put a doctor sticker on the bike when he "claimed" he was a second year medical student.

If the injured biker really is a 2nd year med student, he will have to do residency/intern training in a couple of years. I wonder how he will react whenever the patients demand that he shouldn't be treating and ask for a senior doctor

[DicKy]

Just say NO to any further demands/ threats(?)

Had a similar experience just before the first lockdown. Even if you are legally/morally in the right, when you step out of your steel cage and see a shaken, injured or worse bloodied human being with his two wheeled vehicle laying on the road, you will instinctively feel guilty. Add to that the mob will always side with the two wheeler party, unless he is a squid with a loud motorcycle.

You should take care of their injury and get them to medical aid ASAP. But that's it. Don't fall for their sob stories which will inevitably turn into threats if not met. Do not be apologetical, and press for reporting to the police. You are not at fault if someone rear ends you or hits you while they overtake from the left. And eight out of ten times, two wheelers who get into accidents won't have any papers or insurance on them.

[Samarth 619]

With all due respect, the entire scenario was about 90% your mistake. But you handled it well, which is appreciable. These are the things you could improve upon:

1. When you ride/drive behind a vehicle, its totally your responsibility to brake well in time, or to maintain sufficient gap to allow for braking. Remember, the guy in front is rightfully watching forward. And he could brake for any reason: maybe a dog coming his way, maybe a mechanical failure. His reasons are not for you to think- You just need to keep the gap.

(Of course, in India, if we maintain sufficient gap, somebody slots him/herself in that gap from left or right, I know, can't help it. Make further gap, or overtake, whatever it takes.)

2. You changed lanes to avoid crashing into the Zomato guy. And immediately so. I think you yourself know that changing lanes is something we do with indicators and then too, gradually.
But of course, this point #2 was a side effect of point #1 so, obviously not within your control.

But you did your post-accident duty well. Don't have regrets, we all face accidents some or the other time in life. And we learn. I also learned a lot. I had 2 big accidents despite following every rule to the book. It happens.
But you must not further feed the snake. The incident might be your mistake, but this guy is not being a gentleman himself. Just try to settle with him though, you need to assert your situation. Play the no insurance card in the end, if this guy threatens to go legal or further troubles you.

[silverado]

Firstly thanks for sharing. All such incidents shared on forum and discussed make us aware of the dangerous situations that can arise from normal daily driving that we do.

Intersections for me are at their riskiest when traffic is sparse.
Always remember all intersections these days have a camera, so its easy to know who was at fault.

Whatever you did after accident was near perfect. i knows its easier said than done, but relax and forget it completely. Its not worth your mental agony.

[Shivam]

Thanks for sharing.
It happens. You seem to have gotten things under control. Stay calm.