I've been following this thread closely with the curiosity to know what actually happened..Although it is not that difficult to find out what actually happened as there are a few people on this forum who have a rough idea of what transpired. But reading some bits - the curiosity ceases to exsist..Here's why -
But then while driving back from work this evening, I had a 20 foot high congress billboard (Or whatever you call them silly contraptions made of scaffolding / cloth / wires etc) fall on the the car because of wind (and the fact that it was not strapped down to the signal post correctly) I was travelling at about 20kmph. The banner fell on my front left fender and I managed to drag it about 10 feet and clipped a gentleman also returning home from work with that banner. Now if I were going any faster or if it was a bigger vehicle - There could have been some serious damage to this gentleman. I was more concerned about the guy than my car. I got down and picked him up and offered to take him to the hospital if he was hurt..The guy was the victim and the witness who helped ME untangle the banner from under my wheel arch and the silly banner!! An absolute nuisance and an eyesore as most would agree!!
This got me thinking of how unsafe our roads are and how unpredictable people walking, cyclist, bikers, cars etc are!! I hate driving in the city for this reason and prefer to take a taxi where possible..
Even 20kmph is enough to seriously injure someone if he / she is caught under the car and have a ton roll over them..Speed is irrelevant..Driving skills are irrelevant..Hell - I'll bet the best drivers in the world could get into an accident here in India. Not that people abroad are any better - Just a bit more disciplined
The point i'm trying to make here is that there is no point questioning who was at fault time and again - The damage has been done. Could have been Mr. Dharkar, could have been the rickshaw driver - or it could have been the deceased.
However, It is not right to discuss this in an uncontrolled fashion (Yes - Uncontrolled) on a public forum and based on right to information / opinion an so on- as a lot of us (including myself till about 7 pm today) was just speculating based on little information that is made available. It isn't fair to anyone including the parties involved.
To be quite honest -
- If anyone of us would have been in the driver's situation (Of the Nissan Cefiro or any other vehicle) - your close ones would try their hardest to bail you out of trouble
- If anyone of us would have been in the rickshaw guys position - your close ones would have tried their hardest to get you proper medical help and to get your compensated for the damage to the rickshaw (or any other vehilce)
- If anyone of us were to die - Our families would have taken this to court and demanded justice.
There are 3 parties involved and only 4 people know how it transpired. (One of the victim unfortunately met his fate) Now anyone who is close to any of the the 3 parties above would side with their own..While the 4th lot would speculate and complain about how bad the system is!! (I might be one of them)
But the point here is that there is no reason why this thread should continue..Everyone here has access to print and visual media - Just be patient. If the curiosity itches beyond control - Phone a friend and speculate as opposed to doing it here!!
I've met Mihir just once and this is just an unbiased opinion. There is no point in bringing the skeleton out of the closet. Things like this have occurred in the past and will continue to occur long after fossil fuel is over..Not saying that one should just turn a blind eye - Instead look for ways to improve the system. Now that would make a god discussion and will be a lot more fruitful to us all. This is going no-where with $hit flying all over!!
Requesting the mods to close this thread till the verdict is out.
P.S. On a lighter note - I'm building myself a monster too - And I'm having second thoughts on completing it after reading such reports and experiencing horror myself at 20kmph
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Originally Posted by Jaggu Well put V-16!
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Finally a request to all members to be more gentle with the pedal, especially on crowded public roads and show that we all have learned our lessons from this Accident! |
Very well said Jaggu - This is what I missed out - accidents are inevitable; One just needs to be more cautious to try and avoid it. $hit happens for no reason sometimes when either everyone or no one is at fault..