Friday, August 03, 2007

Accident I witnessed

Today morning, I left home early and was on the way towards Mysore road. I was at this junction where roads from 3 residential areas converge towards the Rajarajeshwari nagar main road. All of a sudden, I heard a big sound and when I turned towards the direction of the sound, I could see 2 people on scooter skidding on the road. My view was obstructed by a passing BMTC bus. I heard some commotion and some screaming. I quickly parked my car and went towards the accident zone.
I first thought the BMTC bus had hit the scooter, but no one in the scene claimed so. What I figured out was that, due to continuous rain the previous night, the road was wet and the gentleman riding the bike had applied breaks at the junction and skidded.
I saw that the man who was riding the bike was up on his feet. He was wearing a helmet and wasn't hurt. His clothes were a little dirty. The other person was still on the ground and was screaming in pain. As I approached, I noticed that he was bleeding from his leg, as his leg appeared broken. People had started gathering and discussing on what could have happened.
The victims seemed to be BHEL employees going to their workplace in the morning. Now a few more BHEL employees appeared on the scene. A lot of people had gathered but not a single person was ready to do anything. They were all mute spectators. As no one cared to bother, I thought of taking him to the hospital in my car. Then someone called for an Auto Rickshaw. I thought auto rickshaw would be a better option to take him to hospital than a car as getting in and out of the rickshaw is easier. Even after a minute the rickshaw driver did not come. Then, one of the BHEL employees said that he would get his car. I rushed forward to help this man to the car. To my surprise, I did not get any help from anyone else. One person lifted him by the shoulder and I lifted the victim by his legs and waist. We needed more help as the man's other leg was hanging. I kept asking people to come forward and help, but it all fell on deaf ears. After asking a couple of times, one gentleman came forward, but with a cigarette in his mouth. He wouldn't let go of the cigarette, but atleast he came to help. The 3 of us put the injured in to a Maruti van. I asked the owner of the car to take them to Manipal Specialty hospital which was around 2 km from there. Now a couple of other employees joined the victim in the car and they drove to the hospital. I did my little part at the spot and left for my office.
I had seen in Indian movies that when an accident occurs, people stand watch. No one comes to help. It wasn't that bad this morning, but not good either. We need a system like 9-1-1 like in the US, where one can expect help within minutes of making a call. We took more than 5 minutes to get the person in to the car before he was rushed to the hospital.
I wish that man a speedy recovery.

2 comments:

Naveen said...

I agree with you Nagi. I remember in 2004 August early morning at about 5:30 AM, when a Hyundai Accent chap had not slept and was driving on Delhi's busy Green park road and hit the road divider. The chap escaped but was hurt. Instead of helping him, people were clicking pictures! Srinivas and me tried to call the ambulance and rush him - meanwhile someone else (presumably his colleague on a two-wheeler, noticed this chap and called for an ambulance).

BTW, on a side note, do you drive daily to your office and does it not work out expensive (whatever spectacular mileage our cars deliver)? I hope you are one of those who do a car pool and not 1 man with an opportunity cost lost of 3 seats everytime you drive! :) Just kidding but it makes economic sense to do a car pool.

What do you say ?

Commenting on your blog posts is a difficult task Nagi, you have everything set up in German. I cannot fathom a word of German! :)

Why can't you make it easier by changing the language to plain English ? Just a suggestion! :)

Naveen

Nagendra HK said...

I don't drive to office everyday. I enjoy riding the Bullet. Mostly the car is used for family outings.