[akas_chauhan]

I'm not sure whether there is any underpass to cross road or not. But whatever the reason, it's all fault of Pedestrian to risk his and others life on expressway.
May his soul RIP.

[Rollin' Thunda]

It may have been the fault of the pedestrian, but he paid with his life. What about the driver? The original post makes it clear that he was driving recklessly. But his biggest crime is that he did not stop after hitting the guard, but ran away. In any civilized country he would go to jail just for that, despite the fault of the pedestrian.

[Hoopoe]

How horrible! I feel sorry for the poor pedestrian, even if he was at fault too.

Where is the place for them to cross? I think it is a waste of taxpayer's money to install barricades that keep breaking of being stolen (or scams that keep replacing them to make more money). Where is the patrolling, the enforcement and why padestrian crossings weren't provided despite the stretch being in the middle of the city? What is all the toll collected for? It seems to me that most road users are at fault—those who do not demand adherence to law, if it is witnessed, those who break the law (like the Accent chaps) and even those who risk their life by stepping onto the roads. I admire our BHPian who took the initiative to follow the criminals and then do the best possible. Hats off!

[.anshuman]

Originally Posted by akas_chauhan

I'm not sure whether there is any underpass to cross road or not. But whatever the reason, it's all fault of Pedestrian to risk his and others life on expressway.

The are some underpasses and overhead passages for pedestrians, but the distance between them is too much for pedestrians. It requires real guts to cross this expressway on foot. Expectedly local newspapers almost everyday have a story or one hit and run case or the other.

Another aspect thats compromising safety is two wheelers riding zig zag between cars in extreme right lane and the lane just next to it. Two wheeler entry is banned on the expressway, but local Police and operator find it near impossible to keep them off.

[EssYouWe]

The guy was supposedly weaving in and out of traffic and was quite above the speed limit as the OP was himself at 90. Driving at such high speeds is illegal and very dangerous.

I don't understand why one would find *more* fault with the pedestrian. They both broke the law and till now only the Pedestrian has paid for it.

Another point this brings to my mind is the way bikers and people riding scooters ride in Delhi. They will overtake from the left when invariably the right was just as vacant. Is it cooler to overtake on the wrong side? :|

Please keep the thread updated!

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

What is wrong with a pedestrian crossing a barricaded road when there is no traffic? NOTHING.

What is wrong with a car going at 100 KMPH when the road is perfectly capable of taking vehicles at 150KMPH?? NOTHING.

This is probably the first case of two rights making a wron^W^W^W dead.

Seriously guys, a pedestrian, however wrong he may be, cannot see a car if it is weaving down the traffic and appearing from the left side of an on coming vehicle, that too at 100 KMPH. It is another story if the offending vehicle was coming straight on.

And yes, right or wrong, he ought to have stopped. At least, at the traffic police vehicle which was apparently 100 M away.

[dockap]

cant say i blame the driver of the accent.if you see the highways in india the truck guys are always moving slowly in the right lane which is for fast vehicles and for overtaking and will never move to the left lane to let you overtake so you are forced to overtake from the wrong side -the left lane
not only that you have all sorts of vehicles moving slowly some in the left lane some in the right and some right in the middle which forces you to weave left and right to overtake
that said he should have stopped and taken the victim to the nearest hospital

[EssYouWe]

@dockap
I don't know if you have driven on the Gurgaon expressway, but it is nothing like that. All traffic is fast moving. Almost everyone is at 80 at least.

[BeamerBoy]

The NH8 Expressway running through Gurgaon is a nightmare for commuters & pedestrians alike when it comes to accidents. When all is fine, it is lovely but when bad luck strikes...it is usually fatal.

Gurgaon Expressway is choked at both ends i.e. The Cantt or the DSOI end and Hero Honda Chowk end. So, the moment commuters are able to disengage themselves from traffic jams they press the accelerator & stop at nothing. Especially true for cars running through NCR (possibly like the RJ numberd Accent).

The voes of pedestrians are never ending. There was no pedestrian overbridge/underpass through out & very few red lights [Implies: Fast Traffic]. Contrast this with what we have on the same expressway passing through the Cantt area. Every building, club, mess, R&R hospital is flanked with a red light. Another things if you notice, there is a pedestrian overbridge near the DSOI. This one not for the comman man, it is mainly for the golfers who can park their cars and head towards the golf course on the other side of the road near DSOI. Mind you, it is fitted with escalators as well.

Now, I am feeling so sad for the Comman Man, Indian Pedestrian.

[tanwaramit]

Originally Posted by setuniket

@jerry can: The picture posted by tanwaramit is part where there is no service lane(Delhi side, next to the airport) so what do you expect to cyclist to do, dont use the road. Aren't people being forced to get onto expressway because there is nothing as service lane for slow moving cyclists/rickshaws to move.

@tanwaramit: I have not used Gurgaon expressway since quite sometime, so wanted you to ask whether the promised FOB's have been constructed or not. if yes then the blame surely lies on the pedestrian.

Yes, the FOBs are constructed in the Gurgaon side, not yet on the delhi side. I dont think they will be constructing any on the delhi side any soon. As the habitated places have flyovers where people can cross the expressway from under the flyover. Other places they may have to walk.

However it will be moron who will try to cross expressway with a sea of vehicles cruising at 100 + speeds. This pedestrian on the other hand was from the authority and he should have been more sensible in telling others not to use the expressway to cross, while he himself crossed the road with two others, risking their lives as well.

As the post suggests that this was after the flyover, so I guess he did even more stupid thing by taking a shortcut instead of crossing under the flyover.

And guys what is wrong if someone reaches 90 (while going down a flyover) when the speed on the road is allowed at 80 ? The accent guy may not have been in a position to avoid the pedestrian.

The accent guy ran away, may be for these reasons
1. Avoid being thrashed by locals (himself and car)
2. May be he would have gone to Police Station himself
3. May be he ran away to avoid getting into the police dragnet

We already know how one fellow bhpian is still going to court for a similar accident for no fault of his, there a person died and he was booked for rash and negligent driving.

anantnehru: if you are being called for any testimony, kindly PM me and let me know, I will join in. Want to take a PIL for such cases to be charged towards the pedestrian, causing his life in danger, obstructing the traffic, and causing others lives in danger and why the expressway authorities should not challan him for crossing the expressway like it happens in Delhi once in a while.

Essyouwe: I drive daily on this road, one thing I can tell you, on free stretches the left lane is faster than the right lane on this expressway. They get slow only where traffic merges. As you will find followers of speed control being in the right lane always, driving at 50 etc and not giving side to anyone. They take right lane and dont leave it till their destination.

[anantnehru]

Hi guys,

Thanks alot for your replies. Do appreciate the support/concern.

Couldn't really get much information regarding the guy who was hit as asked one of the guys standing near the toll booth looked rather blank. Next time I head to Gurgaon which should be soon, shall see if anyone knows anything more (I had quit my job, and Saturday was my last day - so no more 30km daily commutes).

As for the discussion as whos fault it was, I personally think that everyone was at fault that day. The guard trying to wave traffic down so that these guys can cross the highway, the other 2 pedestrians for even thinking that they can cross such a busy highway; the driver of the car for not stopping; the government or whoever is concerned with construction the FOBs not constructing something would prevent something like this from happening. Its not the first time its happened and something tells me that its not going to be the last time either.

@tanwaramit - I agree with what you are saying that the left lane moves faster than the right. You can touch 100 on the left lane while the right lane drivers are at 60-70.

[tsk1979]

At one place there is a Foot Overbridge(Delhi).
During daytime peak hours, there are guards posted there so people use the bridge.
The moment guards go away, people cross road without using the bridge.
they even scale the high center railing and basically fall onto the fast lane.
There is now ways a car coming around 80kmph(speed limit there) stop in time for such an idiot who basically falls into the fast lane.
That said, there are lots of spots where there is no overbridge for over a km. So where do the pedestrians go. The fault here lies with the govt, for not proper planning.
Why did they start erecting bridges once people started becoming roadkill? These bridges should have come along with the road, not after it was up and running.

[.anshuman]

Ive seen official Tractor Trolleys parked in the extreme right lane, Watering plants. And i have seen a Autorickshaw driver changing the punctured tire in a middle lane. All this on the same stretch of Expressway where every young driver thinks if he had oppurtunity he could easily do better than Schumacher and every cab driver thinks he is the smartest. Who all can we blame?

[gaurav_chopra04]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

This is just carelessness of the people crossing the road, there is a speed limit of 80 km per hour at this stretch, this is an expressway, people are paying toll for express speed without any restrictions (speed breakers, signals etc ) on the road. When will the pedestrians understand !!

A majority of the people donot think twice before crossing the road, recently the expressway authorities have installed barricades on the road divider to stop people from crossing. When the hell will they learn NOT to cross where there is a sea of vehicles oozing past at 80 + km per hr speed at all times of the day.

The pedestrian should be charged for trespassing the road and posing his and others lives (cars drivers) on the road at danger by crossing the road at that point. Just imagine, if the accent guy would have slammed brakes hard, he could have been hit behind by some vehicle, God forbid if the trailing vehicle could have been a truck, then his accent and he would have been in pieces.

These pedestrians who donot care about their lives and cross the roads where they are not allowed to should be challaned VERY VERY HEAVILY.

I agree, plus one to that. I travel to Sohna Road gurgaon every day from West Delhi and see pedestrians crossing the road every 1 or 2 kms.

Last year, it was at this very place (just after the raddison flyover) that I was going in my 800 and the esteem in front of me steered left and what I see a guy (pedestrian right in front of me). Any normal person would have slammed the brakes and the car would have skitted right into the guy. I was at around 70-80kms/hr. However, I knew that slamming the brakes would not save the guy, so I streed left as much as I could and managed to save him. His bag though hit my cars OVRM and it broke.

I still thank god for that day. I would have almost hit him and that too for nofault of mine.

Also the place reffered here does have a a service lane if you are going towards gurgaon. However while comming back that is on the other side of the road, there is no service lance.

Where ever there is service road, a warning is mentioned on every street light pole that two wheelers and three wheelers are not allowed.

Also, till about a few months back, the highway police was fining two wheelers and three wheelers that didnt use the service lane. Hence, the two wheelers started using the right most lane in order to avoid police who stopped people comming in the left most lane. Also, when the two wheelers see police ahead, they tend to take a U turn on the damn 90km/hr speed expressway and come wrong way. Can we still blame four wheelers for the accident if the two wheelers come wrong way on an expresway.

I would seriously request all two wheelers to use service roads whereever possible and pedistrians not to try to cross the expressway.

In this instance, the Accent guy is at fault because he was doing 120+ kms. But, I guess it was more of pedestrian's fault to cross the road at ahigh accident prone area.

Anyone driving on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway on peak hours would know What a Menace it is to drive up and down on the expressway. All I can say is god bless the expressway and people travelling up there on peak hours.

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

As the post suggests that this was after the flyover, so I guess he did even more stupid thing by taking a shortcut instead of crossing under the flyover.

Exactly its just 500 meters walk to crossing under the flyover.

And guys what is wrong if someone reaches 90 (while going down a flyover) when the speed on the road is allowed at 80 ? The accent guy may not have been in a position to avoid the pedestrian.

The accent guy ran away, may be for these reasons
1. Avoid being thrashed by locals (himself and car)
2. May be he would have gone to Police Station himself
3. May be he ran away to avoid getting into the police dragnet

Very true, no one would want to wait there and get bashed up by locals, considering he was at least fault.

anantnehru: if you are being called for any testimony, kindly PM me and let me know, I will join in. Want to take a PIL for such cases to be charged towards the pedestrian, causing his life in danger, obstructing the traffic, and causing others lives in danger and why the expressway authorities should not challan him for crossing the expressway like it happens in Delhi once in a while.



Essyouwe: I drive daily on this road, one thing I can tell you, on free stretches the left lane is faster than the right lane on this expressway. They get slow only where traffic merges. As you will find followers of speed control being in the right lane always, driving at 50 etc and not giving side to anyone. They take right lane and dont leave it till their destination.

Absolutely, You just said what I wanted to.. Left lanes on most free stretches are much more faster.

[prince_pervez]

Probably it wasn't the guards day. He would have got it right tens of times but not on that fateful day. People crossing or attempting to cross highways creates a sudden requirement to alter the style of driving to defensive to save lives and cars.
It is very irritating to see people/animals where they should not be. IMHO if people want to be careless with their lives then its their choice.
@Anant you are lucky that the flung body did not fall on your car. Most cases the drivers behind are dragged due to no fault of their's. The Accent guy was overtaking from the left and did not expect people trying to cross. So thats his fault there.
Both tried their luck. One can't try anymore (probably) and the other will have sleepless nights.