[honeybee]

The Borivli RTO has impounded the license of the woman driver who drove over a kid in the parking lot:

[androdev]

Scary stuff but these type of things are more likely to happen in places where you regularly park because you take the space around you for granted and reverse out of habit. The reverse parking sensors and camera can be a lifesaver at times, especially the parking sensors.

[hserus]

https://www.ndtv.com/noida-news/zero...after--1923933

Drives a jag down the Noida expressway at 120, opens a window to spit Gutka and rams his car into the divider.

[mkaysaw]

What a funny sight a cctv grab of this incident would make! Don't know what I'm laughing at more, the thought of a man taking his head out to spit gutka from a Jag or the thought of a real life Mr. Bean-like property dealer actually crashing while at it.
Gotta love our country for gems like these .

[sridhu]

Originally Posted by honeybee

The Borivli RTO has impounded the license of the woman driver who drove over a kid in the parking lot:

I might be in a minority here - but I think this is not correct. What happened is a mistake - pure and simple but with possible horrendous consequences.

When the lady got into the car, everything was clear. Even if she had checked her surroundings just before she moved it would have looked clear and there is no way in hell she could have seen this kneeling kid

So, where is the culpability?

What could any one have humanly done to avoid the accident?

My take away is that we need to educate kids to be aware of visibility just like we teach them not to jump into traffic from behind parked vehicles

With as much success, I presume.

[Chetan_Rao]

Not specific to this accident, but frontal visibility for shorter drivers is a genuine safety issue that gets overlooked often.

While an increasing number of people have started caring about airbags/ABS, plenty are still negligent of the basic seat height adjustment. Manufacturers pretending like it's a premium feature reserved for higher variants makes it worse.

A vertically-challenged friend bought a mid-variant compact sedan a couple years ago despite the ability to afford the higher one with driver's seat height adjustment, and regrets it now. The poor car has a load of dings and scratches on both bumpers from parking misjudgment.

[binand]

Originally Posted by sridhu

I might be in a minority here - but I think this is not correct. What happened is a mistake - pure and simple but with possible horrendous consequences.

When the lady got into the car, everything was clear. Even if she had checked her surroundings just before she moved it would have looked clear and there is no way in hell she could have seen this kneeling kid

So, where is the culpability?

What could any one have humanly done to avoid the accident?

That is not how culpability works. Here is how it must proceed.

1. Was there a breach of the duty of care doctrine? Duty of care means that you have to take care not to cause injury to others, in everything you do. The test is whether a "prudent person" would have taken the same action under similar circumstances. Which in this case, is a resounding NO.

2. Was there a personal injury? It is not clear from the video whether the child is injured or not, but I'm certain there are scrapes etc. and there definitely will be trauma. We'll take it as a qualified YES.

3. Is there a direct causal effect between the two above? If injury exists, then YES.

Point 1 establishes culpability (culpable negligence). Points 2 & 3 together make it criminal. So we have criminal negligence, which means apart from the MV Act, the IPC also comes into play.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by sridhu

I might be in a minority here - but I think this is not correct. What happened is a mistake - pure and simple but with possible horrendous consequences.

When the lady got into the car, everything was clear. Even if she had checked her surroundings just before she moved it would have looked clear and there is no way in hell she could have seen this kneeling kid

So, where is the culpability?

What could any one have humanly done to avoid the accident?

My take away is that we need to educate kids to be aware of visibility just like we teach them not to jump into traffic from behind parked vehicles

With as much success, I presume.

Yes, the point about educating the kids is pretty valid. But let me share my 2 cents about the highlighted portion - what else could have been done by the driver.

1. Pay attention. At 0:07 the lady is already in the drivers's seat and ideally should have noticed the standing kid on the left of the car. A couple of seconds later, the kid has disappeared from her field of view. That would have raised an alarm flag if she had noticed the kid at 0:07.

2. Honk. Just to be on the safer side. You never know a cat or a dog might be fast asleep under the car and might not have woken up by the engine sound. Or an absent-minded kid (like in this example) would not have noticed the engine sound and the headlights and figured out the driver's intention.

3. This is a tall boy hatch and not really a SUV with visibility issues at the front. A little bit of effort by way of leaning forward while seated in the driver's seat would have helped to notice the crouching boy. The other way of looking at it is - If you know you have visibility issues and the space immediately ahead of your car is not visible to you, you have to be a bit more cautious. You should not dive into a blind-space without knowing if there is a pole or a ditch there. If I would have been in the lady's place, I would have backed up the car a few feet more to ascertain no obstacles in my intended path and then taken the car forward.

A little bit more about #1. When I drive, many a times a bike that was following me suddenly disappears. Since we don't live in a magical world, that immediately raises a flag unconsciously. 99% of the time I find the biker is hiding in my car's blind spot. Thick A-pillars can also hide humans and bikes. Moving your head a little bit while still seated in the driver's seat helps. Tweaking the speed a wee bit when the flag goes off also helps to bring the bike back into view.

A little bit about #2. A lot of people are against honking, especially in residential areas like this. But, I do use my horn anytime there is any uncertainty. I would rather be safe than sorry.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by SDP

When I drive, many a times a bike that was following me suddenly disappears. Since we don't live in a magical world, that immediately raises a flag unconsciously. 99% of the time I find the biker is hiding in my car's blind spot.

When bemoaning the sorry state of traffic in B'lore (and India as a whole) recently with a friend, I told him that part of the fault is people think that knowing to operate the ABC pedals and steering means they know how to drive, and issuing commercial and regular DLs based on that. 99% of driving is in the head, and deals with things like situational awareness as you've pointed out (which is a pre-requisite for defensive driving).

Originally Posted by esoticoreventon

I still do a walk around the car before I start.

Very good point. I don't always do this (especially when in "secured" parking like a mall or at home, where I just quickly peek at the tyres), but I will start doing so.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by mkaysaw

What a funny sight a cctv grab of this incident would make! Don't know what I'm laughing at more, the thought of a man taking his head out to spit gutka from a Jag or the thought of a real life Mr. Bean-like property dealer actually crashing while at it.
Gotta love our country for gems like these .

The guy apparently died later, I hear. He had a head injury when admitted to the hospital.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by sridhu

So, where is the culpability?

Leaving the rear door open doesn't account for this, but RTO should first find out, who passed her DL test and how.

[shubhodeepdas@g]

Originally Posted by hserus

The guy apparently died later, I hear. He had a head injury when admitted to the hospital.

I don't think anyone can spit outside a car, specially a low slung Jag with their seatbelt on.

[mkaysaw]

Originally Posted by shubhodeepdas@g

I don't think anyone can spit outside a car, specially a low slung Jag with their seatbelt on.

The bigger question is whether the seatbelt WAS on in the first place.

Originally Posted by hserus

The guy apparently died later, I hear. He had a head injury when admitted to the hospital.

Good grief!

May he rest in peace.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by mkaysaw

What a funny sight a cctv grab of this incident would make! Don't know what I'm laughing at more, the thought of a man taking his head out to spit gutka from a Jag or the thought of a real life Mr. Bean-like property dealer actually crashing while at it.
Gotta love our country for gems like these .

Surprising that he did not attempt to open the door to spit

Originally Posted by hserus

The guy apparently died later, I hear. He had a head injury when admitted to the hospital.

Well, this is sad. On another forum, I had recently posted how, at 29, the loom age of 30 worried me. But at 27, especially when successful in business, a young guy is likely to consider himself good at everything, including driving. Added to which, 120 in that Jag probably doesn't feel very fast.

I don't know the guy. Maybe he was a good driver. Maybe, had he survived, he might have asked "How could I, in a momentary lapse, have been so stupid?"

It was a stupid thing to do. A very small stupid thing to do. And he paid the ultimate price. Very sad for his family.There's a thought there that we should all hold when driving: the smallest things can kill us.

If this sounds a bit preachy, sorry. But, first and foremost I am talking to myself.

[androdev]

Saw an XUV with heavy frontal damage and a detached front wheel just after Anantapur while heading to Hyderabad on BLR HYD highway. Both front airbags deployed, but passenger was not wearing seatbelt as the windscreen was shattered on the passenger side. Didn't get a chance to take pics.