I have nothing but sympathy for his grieving relatives but the man may have paid for his own driving mistake, albeit too high a price.
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Originally Posted by drmohitg Sadly the driver of the WagonR cab died on the spot. And apparently it was his first day at Uber. |
Who recorded/calculated the speed and how?
News reports also say that the cars were going from Kalkaji to Vasant Vihar. Why would a chap living in Panchsheel drive 7 kms to Kalkaji in the opposite direction and then take a U turn to drive the distance all over again again in addition to the 4+ kms from Panchsheel to the accident spot.
One report went on to say that the WagonR's engine was completely destroyed, this while pointing to the CNG cylinder. A leading english paper quoted a 'Technical Director" claiming that a steering mounted air bag would have saved the driver. How the airbag with it's untouched sensors upfront would have deployed is beyond me, maybe I need to be better informed.
News reports are to be taken with fistfuls and not a pinch of salt, I take them with bag loads.
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The news reports say the BMW was overspeeding at around 120 kmph.
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Modern cars are built to crumple upon impact at speeds far lesser than the mentioned digits.
No one is saying that the Beemer was not speeding but then again this could have happened at 60 or even 80 kmph. There is no way of knowing except by reading the data from the vehicle's ECU.
As for the driver's statement, he may be telling the truth but no one would want to believe him at this stage as he was in the bigger vehicle(always the guilty one, by default) and he did run away.
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From the pictures, specially the damage sustained by the BMW, this guy was easily driving at the upper 3 digit speeds. He has the audacity to point out that the cab driver brakes suddenly.
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If I were in his place in all probability I would have run away too. Why? 'Cause when he can be tried and proclaimed guilty of murder here without hearing the other end of the story and especially without any sort of investigation of any kind(scientific or otherwise) he would have been beaten black & blue or even killed by the public at large.
Sure he is guilty of hitting the other vehicle from behind but the thought of a mob lynching would cause any one to flee.
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I hope he gets sentenced for Murder as this is not an accident, when you are above the speed limit by a factor of more than 2 ( with 50-60 kmph being the legal speed limit in Delhi). |
Why am I writing this?
I am doing this because there is a very good possibility that the cab driver did stop abruptly and did not leave the driver of the BMW (who was too close in any case OR maybe closing the gap rapidly due to high speed OR distracted due to him too using his cell phone) any time to react. Notice the surgical impact and the lack of any tire marks behind the Beemer. Even with ABS and what not a vehicle under heavy emergency braking would shed some rubber on to the tarmac.
The spot is beside the flyover that is built over the T junction where the Africa Avenue meets with the Outer Ring Road. The road besides the flyover is very broad with a minimum of 3 lanes and double that at and before the signal. I use this road quite often and have seen vehicles missing the U turn under the flyover (prior to the signal) slowing down and cutting across lanes, even stopping and reversing to take the cut when they can just drive another few meters and make the U turn at the signal itself. At times some vehicles miss the right turn completely and then stop and reverse after having crossed the signal, this when once again the turn off from Munirka is just another 100 odd meters ahead.
It is quite possible that the taxi driver was looking at the UBER App map for his next pick up and became confused or distracted and stopped the car abruptly not leaving the BMW following him at higher than saner speeds & obviously with not enough gap to even try and dodge the Wagon R stopped mid track.
Look at the snaps & if possible look at the video on the ABP news channel, it becomes abundantly clear that there is more than enough room on either side of the taxi to enable anyone with reasonable reflexes and driving skills BUT with enough gap to have avoided the whole mishap.
I may be bombarded for being partial to the rich guy, do so but do ponder and answer honestly as to how the increasing number of untrained & inexperienced APP based taxi cab drivers behave on roads in your cities. How are their driving mannerisms with eyes on the phone screens and the way they park while waiting for pickups, with nary a care about traffic flow, blind turns etc. I am experiencing with increasing frequency incidents of abrupt braking and halting, cutting across lanes, occupying complete lanes of narrow streets even proceeding wrong way in clearly marked one way lanes and more by taxis and I will be very surprised if no one else has.
Again the Beemer guy is guilty of rear ending but his driving may not be the only reason for the death of the taxi driver .