New Delhi: Iron rods and bars protruding from behind trucks and other goods vehicles are a common sight on roads and highways across the country and a recipe for disaster.
In an accident waiting to happen, a 22-year-old cab driver was killed and his woman passenger critically injured after a stack of iron rebars being transported on an electric rickshaw pierced through their car on the Dwarka Expressway on Friday, as reported by Hindustan Times.
According to law, no vehicle can carry goods longer than its original body length. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) officially amended the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) to ban all forms of load protrusions, deleting the old allowance of up to 1 metre of overhanging material. This has had little impact though.
The deceased cab-driver has been identified as Shivendra Kumar, a native of Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh. The identity of the injured passenger is yet to be ascertained, the police said.
The e-rickshaw had loaded the rebars from a building material supplier in Badshahpur and was transporting them to Sector 37D, the police said. It had illegally entered the Dwarka Expressway, where two- and three-wheelers are prohibited, apparently to reach the destination faster.
The accident took place around 12.30 am when the cab was travelling towards Delhi. Preliminary investigation has revealed that the e-rickshaw driver applied brakes suddenly, causing the car behind it to crash into the rebars protruding from the rear of the vehicle.
“The cab was travelling at high speed and the driver probably had little time to react before colliding with the e-rickshaw. The rebars pierced the front windshield and exited through the rear of the car,” a senior police official said. Videos of the gruesome accident are being circulated widely on social media, police said.
The driver was killed after several rebars pierced his body. He died on the spot, while the woman passenger sustained critical injuries, the police said.
The identity of the passenger or the location from where she had boarded the cab could not be ascertained as her family shifted her from the first hospital where she was taken after the crash, officials said.
Efforts are on to trace her, Sandeep Turan, the police’s public relations officer said.
“The e-rickshaw driver fled the spot soon after the accident. Passers-by alerted the police control room, following which emergency response teams were dispatched to the spot,” he said.
Turan said the cab driver’s family has been informed and is expected to reach the city soon. Their complaint will form the basis for registering an FIR.
A traffic police officer who was among the first responders said an NHAI ambulance was quick to reach the spot and transport the woman to the closest hospital.