How to deal with road accidents

In my 15+ yrs of driving, have had the bad luck of being in many accidents. Mostly at receiving ends, however always I was thankful to god of getting away without any injury.

Here is my learnings from my recent accident with a biker -

1. If biker aint the risk of dying and you can get away, please do. Police will harass you crazy.
2. If you are stuck, Take the person to some cheap hospital to reduce liability.
3. Before you pay anything have the biker sign an agreement to no further liability.
4. If its a serious accident, and damage is high, have police file an FIR, and inform your insurance company about it.

Recently when going to my office in Gurgaon, on a rainy morning, my nano had an accident with a biker. I was going straight on the road, he wanted to take a left, and from what i understand, we both did not see each other. He collided with the front right, above the tyre fender. Fortunately both were slow, so no major injuries to biker.

Immediately picked the person, parked his bike in an apartment closeby, collected his stuff, and took him to closest best hospital - Max. Called his family.

My harassment started when the police arrived. Police was called by the hospital as it was an MLC. The liability is always of the car driver. The police first took my car keys and threatened my car will be impounded. Then  he taught the biker that I am liable to pay all his expenses. Now Biker was no more thankful that i got him medical attention, and now viewed me a a criminal..

I thought fine, let me pay the 8k medical bill and then we can call it OK and finish the matter. But NO, police said, there is no agreement, and now i should pay all his bike damages and other costs also. Else there will be FIR and all legal trouble.. So police now wanted more 12k from me.. Got the police guy to talk to some of my contacts, and with great difficulty he took 6k from me and let me go home.

I am still confused what did i do wrong morally. But yes, i thought it fit to share my learnings, for all readers.

Comments

Archana Kaul said…
thanks for sharing. If you are worng place at wrong time, things tend to go wrong..
12:20 PM
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