DNA Special: How wrong side driving is causing road accidents after private airline pilot's death on Dwarka Expressway

NEW DELHI: In a tragic incident, a private airline pilot died after being hit by a truck coming from the wrong side on the Dwarka Expressway near Chintals Corporate Park. The tragic incident occurred on Sunday night.  According to police, the incident took place around 12.20 am when 38-year-old pilot Anmol Verma was returning from the airport to his residence in Sector 109. 

The pilot had reached the Dwarka Expressway near Sector-114 when a trailer coming from the wrong direction hit his car from the front. The pilot, who was seriously injured, was rushed to a private hospital by some passersby. The pilot’s Honda accord car was completely damaged due to the impact of the collision.

Police said that the accident was so terrible that although the airbags of the car worked perfectly, the pilot was injured critically and later died in hospital during treatment. The trailer truck driver abandoned his vehicle and is still on the run. However, the police have impounded the truck carrying Haryana registration plate. A case of rash driving under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at Bajghera police station against the absconding driver, the police said.

Zee News editor-in-chief Sudhir Chaudhary, in his highly popular prime time show DNA, raised the issue of deaths due to wrong side driving and rampant violation of traffic rules by people in India.  

The victim was originally from Ambala. The pilot was living in Gurugram along with his mother, wife and two months old son for the last few months.  Anmol had joined the Merchant Navy as an engineer and later became a pilot.

The show highlighted how an innocent family will have to bear the loss of Anmol throughout their life due to careless driving by the accused truck driver. “One truck ignored traffic rules ... and as a result, a family will now suffer,’’ the Zee News Editor said. This would have passed off as just another case of road accident if the truth had not come to fore. After this accident, when the police began its investigation, it came out that the accident happened due to the truck coming from the wrong side, the DNA report said.

Thes show also highlighted that wrong side driving at high speed and frequent traffic rule violations are the biggest reason for road accidents in the country. Around 5 lakh road accidents take place in India every year. These figures are increasing every year… the violation of traffic rules by drivers is proving fatal… but still people in India are taking no lessons from it, the show pointed out.

Driving in the wrong direction is also a violation of traffic rules. If the traffic rules are followed seriously then millions of lives can be saved every year.

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