-Brian Mendonça
Any driver is required to drive or ride with the
following documents, viz. 1. Driving licence 2. R.C. book of the
vehicle 3. Valid insurance and 4. Valid
pollution under control certificate. These documents will stand you in good stead
in the event of an accident.
If there is an accident, ascertain if anyone is
injured and see that they are taken to hospital. Keep calm, for it is easy to
get nervous. Try to think straight, and focus on what has to be done. By this
time vehicles will have stopped and good Samaritans would be milling around. In
the general chaos, one has to remember that there is a Standard Operating
Procedure (SOP).
If you are in the right, on the left side of the
road, and you were wrongly hit you can plead your case without doubt. For that
you need to call the area police. If you don’t know their number, Google search
the number of the police station in the place where the incident happened. If
the other party is in the wrong they would prefer to settle it without lodging
a complaint.
If your car is damaged, it is difficult to
ascertain the extent of damage. So it would not be possible to settle it. The
car needs to be towed to an authorized workshop and an estimate drawn for the
costs involved for repair. Would the erring party pay that cost?
In our case, a speeding bike rider (without
licence or helmet) tried to overtake two big vehicles. He lost his balance, and
skidded. The bike rammed into the front of our car and caused internal and
external damage to the tune of about Rs. 42,000. Luckily no one in the car was
hurt.
We called the Keri police who did a panchnama. The panchnama is a report on plain paper stating the facts of the case,
the parties involved, vehicle registration numbers and a diagram of the
position of the vehicles at the time of the accident. The panchnama is required to process your insurance claim. Our car was then
towed to Keri police outpost.
The party submitted that they did not possess that
kind of money. They urged us to claim the insurance and they would pay the
rest. Since the incident occurred at Poriem, near Keri in Satari taluka, we
took the party on good faith, released the vehicle from the police station and
got the car repaired at our own cost. Insurance paid about 60% after deducting
depreciation. With some discounts thrown in the balance amount was whittled
down to around Rs. 17, 000. But whenever
we call the party now, they refuse to pick up the phone.
One option is to file a First Information Report (FIR).
FIR can be filed subsequent to panchnama
depending on the facts of the case. This would involve tedious trips to Poriem
– 38 km. away – and court procedures which are time-consuming. Let’s hope
better sense prevails.
----------------------------------------------------------------------Published in Gomantak Times Weekender, St. Inez, Goa on Sunday, 9 December 2018.
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