Speed & recklessness - these are the top ranking attributes that i find in 30-40 % of the vehicles that cruise through the OMR. Pedestrians and cyclists are no exceptions in their road-crossing expeditions.
The blog's title is a sequence. That's what happened over a month ago on the Old Mahabalipuram Road. And witnessing that sequence has had a huge impact on me.
Sarathy , his Dad & Mom along with neighbour kids Vinodhini and Swetha were hit by a speeding car somewhere near Navalur. The mother died on the spot. All others were injured. The Dad was unconscious. All three kids seemed to be below 10. Sarathy had a head injury right on top of his skull, a cut on the face from his mouth leading to his ear. The heads of Vinodhini and Swetha were bleeding. Swetha also had a fracture in the leg. Luckily, the injured were ported in a van (running for a software company in Navalur) that was passing by to the nearest hospital. And this hospital is the one at Sholinganallur. It is small and facilities aren't enough to handle a major emergency like this.
I was waiting for my friend to get his SIM recharged in the shop very next to the hospital. I was shocked to see the scene @ the hospital. The doctor was hurrying the people to take them to the nearest speciality hospital [Lifeline @ Perungudi]. There was jus the driver and another person in the car. So, me and my friend Kandaraja got into the Vehicle, positioned the kids on our laps so that we could support them. We started moving in another minute. Vinodhini and Swetha were conscious and screaming in pain. I was at least consoled with the fact that they were reactive. But Sarathy whom I was holding in my hand showed no signs of movement. I knew he was breathing, but his half-closed eyes were very discouraging. His head had a deep cut.
Meanwhile, Ajay and Kumar who were nearby called up Lifeline and informed them of this and asked them to keep the life systems ready. That helped.
The Old Mahabalipuram Road is the worst in this world when you're travelling on a vehicle with a half-alive kid on your laps and you want to keep motion minimal. Your frustration will know no bounds. Even more when you know nothing of first aid. All I did was
(i) Keep his neck from drooping so that his nasal tract doesn't get blocked
(ii) Place my hands tight over his head at the point of bleeding so that I prevent blood loss.
(iii)Kept pounding his chest at intervals.
I dont know if it helped at all. We were there in another 15-20 mins.
Once we reached the hospital, stretchers were brought and the kids were directly taken to the emergency ward. The Dad who was lying in the rear compartment of vehicle was declared as 'brought dead'. Soon, two policemen dropped in. The status that we got from the Doctor when we left the hospital that night was - Sarathy was still in a serious condition, the other two kids have head injuries but were out of danger.
I returned to Lifeline the next morning. Heard from the doc there that the kids had been transported to the Central G.H. the prior night after a visit by the Thuraipakkam police.
I went to the Central GH and saw the kids. Vinodhini and Swetha were conscious and reacting to their parents. Sarathy was breathing heavily. Learnt from the doctor that Sarathy's condition was still unstable, but was showing signs of improvement.
6 days later, I got news from Sarathy's relative that Sarathy had passed away @ 830 PM that night without regaining consciousness and they're leaving the hospital. Mom, then Dad and at last their Son too. A whole family was doomed in a just a fraction of a second. I had no words to console the guy when talking over the phone.
The next day, I met the other two kids at the hospital. Both little heads were bandaged. Good that at least they were recovering well. Swetha's numbness of the leg also was improving.
Patheticity of the IT highway's road infrastructure, haste and recklessness of the drivers, and pedestrians' carelessness while crossing roads are major reasons for frequent accidents on this highway.
Dont you feel that these should be termed 'incidents' rather than 'accidents'?
Dont you feel something(s) needs a change?