After hitting the broken-down Mahindra Bolero pickup, the truck driver was still in his seat, completely inebriated.
BHPIAN PGA recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
2025 marks the 50th year of my driving on the Indian roads. I got an opportunity to drive in almost all the states except for Kerala, Manipur and Tripura. Luckily, I didn’t have a single major accident in these 50 years wherein I drove a lot on the highways. I ascribe my good luck to two aspects of driving which my Dad had drilled into me, ‘never be sure of your brakes and never be in dual minds’. These two aspects were necessary in the 70s, 80s and 90s when we drove on single-carriage ways in Premier Padminis.
Fast forward to 2025, I was contemplating writing a boastful post on TBHP on accident-free driving when this happened.
I was driving back from Chandigarh to Ludhiana around 9 pm on the erstwhile GT road, NH44 these days. The traffic was on the heavier side but moving smoothly. I got behind a canter truck moving in the right-most lane. Within a few seconds, I realised that it was being driven wobbily. Considering the time of the evening, I told my wife that the guy ahead was drunk and I planned to move left to overtake him. The car speed had been reduced from 80ish to 50 kmph by then. All of a sudden the canter ahead came to a dead halt and my best efforts to jam the brakes did not save me from rear-ending the truck.
Fortunately, the guy behind me was some distance away and I did not get rear-ended myself on the fast-moving highway at night. Checked out, two ladies travelling with me were fine, thanks to the belts being worn at the rear too. Airbags had not deployed, the car was still running and no warnings inside the car had come on. Came out of the car, front fender had partially fallen down, front lights though ON had broken, radiator and condenser seemed fine, bonnet was wrinkled.
Then the rage built up, walked up to the front of the truck. The trucker had rammed it straight into a broken-down Bolero pickup in the middle of the road. Mercifully, three technicians working below the Bolero had just come out from underneath when it fell down from the jack. The truck driver was still in his seat, completely inebriated.
We dragged the truck driver down, he was not in any state to answer. Got the number of the truck owner and called him up.
In between, I called up the highway police, who informed me that they were already handling two more accidents in the vicinity and would be there soon. They came after about 45 mins and took charge.
To contain the length of my post, will narrate the rest of the story in point form.
- Spoke to the owner of the truck at night, who promised to bear the cost of repair.
- Police informed that the majority of truck drivers at this time are drunk, especially those on short-distance routes and to get them to test our chap for alcohol would require another three to four hours, as he would have to be taken to the nearest Govt hospital, which in our case was about 30 mins away. The Highway Police said that they have an accident every hour on the highway and they do not have the time to do the job of alcohol testing. I would need to get the Police from the nearest Police Station to do that job.
- After talking to the truck owner and the Highway Police, and considering two ladies with me on a hot summer night, I dropped the idea of pressing further and started for home with a stop at the local Police Station to file the report.
- I took the car to the authorised garage the next day, and the repair estimate came to about Rs 1 lakh. With insurance cover, my portion was about Rs 45 thousand. The truck owner just threw his hands up on hearing the amount and reneged on his promise.
My learnings
You are on your own on the highway if a misfortune befalls you, especially if you are with the ladies at night. The system cannot help you much as they themselves are overwhelmed, or your situation warrants ‘pity’. So one will have to lump it, either your money or self-esteem or both, especially if you are not an underdog in the situation.
Before you take any action, be mindful of the area and time you are in and who can help you willingly in such situations. If you wish to take on the system or the perpetrator, have muscle, whichever way you may understand that.
In today’s environment on the roads, accidents will happen; preferably, buy a car which has a relatively lower cost of repairs. I purchased a Maruti after this.
Lastly, lower speeds and driving with concentration will only save us and our car; everything else is secondary.
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