Auto horror: Kid survives after being thrown off on busy road

KOLKATA: Vedant Todi, a Class VIII student of St Xavier’s Collegiate School, was heading to a Salt Lake restaurant with his mother in an auto when it toppled on Monday afternoon. The boy sustained deep injury in his left leg. Admitted to ILS Hospital in Salt lake, the 13-year-old recounts his horror from the hospital bed.

Every now and then, I read about people falling victim to reckless driving. I have come across newspaper reports — specially TOI — on people losing a limb, a finger or a toe in road accidents. These incidents would anger me and stir my thoughts on why these rogue drivers get into such dangerous driving.

Monday was my turn to go through the horror of such negligent driving. It was a narrow escape. I was seated on the extreme left of the back seat with my mother next to me and another woman on her right. The auto driver had been rash-driving right from the starting point at Sovabazar.

The traffic light turned red as we reached Maniktala. Few vehicles were standing in front of our auto. In an attempt to overtake those vehicles and park himself ahead of others, the driver tried to squeeze through the median divider and a motorcycle. He lost control and the auto keeled over to the left. Since I was seated on the left, all the passengers and the vehicle fell on me.

Thank God my mother did not sustain any injury and neither did the other passenger. Luckily, I escaped with injury only in my left leg. This injury will heal soon, but something major could have happened if it was not for luck. I will also have to miss school for some time and my football sessions with friends.

I appeal to drivers to be more sane while driving on the road. They are not only endangering the lives of passengers, they are also risking their own lives and those on the road. I understand they must be doing this to earn a few more extra bucks. But how much at the cost of human lives?

I am sure there must be some regulations framed by concerned agencies to rein in these drivers. My appeal to them is to work out a system to inculcate ethics of safe driving among errant drivers. Such drivers should have no right to drive on public roads.

However, not all auto drivers are bad. In fact, they were the ones who swarmed around me after the accident. One of them lifted me into his auto and took me to the hospital.

(As told to Sumati Yengkhom)