Editor’s note: Dear Mom and Dad, the kids are ok. Everything I learned here happened a long time ago, so no need to worry.
This is one of those articles you don’t read until it’s too late.
Driving in India is dangerous. More road fatalities occurred in India in 2013 than in Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria, the US, Russia, and Pakistan combined. (Those countries ranked numbers 3-8 respectively. China was #1.)
However, based on the rules of driving in India, you might actually be surprised at how few accidents you get in. I drove in India for several years before I had my first official accident. Here is what you need to know.
If you are not driving…
Do nothing. Just sit back and let your driver/friend take care of everything. If you are driving, but have an Indian friend with you, let them take care of everything.
If you are driving yourself without a friend…
Minor Accidents
Bumping someone from behind, touching side mirrors, and scratching a door do not constitute an accident. The offending party is free to pull away as fast as possible and never be seen again.
Major Accidents Without Bodily Injury
If there is some serious bodywork damage, your first priority is to get a nearby police officer. Try calling 100 from your mobile. Or 102. Or 112. (This number differs from region to region.)
The thing you really want to avoid is a large crowd gathering without a police officer nearby. If you notice a lot of people starting to congregate and you don’t have any support, get the license plate number of the other car and tell the driver that you are going to the nearest police station. The person who reaches first has a distinct advantage in how the report is drawn up.
If you are feeling really unwise, you are free to engage in the social ritual of shouting at each other and trying to blame the other person for being a useless driver. Neither party will accept blame regardless of how obvious the situation is.
After shouting, get the license plate number along with make and model and go to the nearest police station.
Accidents with Bodily Injury
If you think an ambulance is needed, dial 102 or 108. If you can’t get through, ask someone nearby to find a police officer.
Assuming you are not the one injured, get the license plate number and make and model of the car. Go as quickly as possible to the police station. A crowd will quickly form and you will be powerless against it. You can make amends with the injured person later, but the scene of the accident is not the right place, especially for a foreigner.
At the Police Station
In most situations, you have two options.
The first is if you want the other driver to pay for the full damages and be punished for his act. This involves filling out an FIR, having the police arrest the driver, conducting break checks on both vehicles, hiring a lawyer, fixing your vehicle at your own cost while you wait for a verdict, starting an official case with the court system, consulting astrologers, and allowing a parrot to choose the guilty party.
The other option is to have the police write up a certificate that validates your story and allows you to submit a claim to your insurance. Most people choose this option. The downside is that your insurance probably will only pay 75% of any claim, and the other driver will never be held accountable for any damages.
If there are significant personal injuries, be prepared for any situation, but be sure to consult a lawyer before making any agreement.
Hopefully you won’t need this advice, but anything can happen in India. As they say, driving in the US is on the right side; driving in the UK is on the left side; driving in India is suicide.
PS – Many road accidents can be settled easily with a simple exchange of money. If you are at fault (or if you just don’t want to deal with the headache), offering a reasonable amount of money is an easy way to be done with the situation.
Image Credit: Biswarup Ganguly on Wikimedia Commons
Can get even more complicated… most of the claims adjusters are completely corrupt and will find ways to either get you ‘most’ of the claim for a considerable ‘gift’ or nix it completely. Just another twist to the kahani! 😉
Oh yeah, I imagine. I’ve never pursued it that far. Sounds like no fun at all!
Indians drive like savages with no respect for anyone except their own
self interest. They dont even bother to wait behind a slow moving
vehicle but go from the side. They have no concern at all for anyones
life other than ones own. Even animals ducks go in a straight line but not Indians. They
dont have much bigger roads but every indian wants to own an SUV and
show off their ignorance and stupidity. It is extremely dangerous to
walk on the roads and drive in India as there are no rules. Regional
transport office along with the police, traffic police, insurance ppl all are corrupt
to the bone. Shameless people.
Nice article
What if you hit a pedestrian with bodily injury ?
If it’s serious, or if the situation gets serious, try to find a police officer as soon as possible. I hit one lady backing out of a parking spot once. No serious damage, but I offered to drive her home and she was ok with that.
Actually if you are white, almost nothing will happen (thanks to 200 years of British rule). If you are black, run like hell. If you are Indian, do as advised in the article. As for the parrot, well, I consider that as humor. We are not that bad yet. But who knows, the future is a mist that only an astrologer can see through and many rely on their parrots.
Good summary!
Yeah, the parrot was from a bit of frustration in the system.
Let us now think how can we help someone who met with an accident.
An accident is an unforeseen, unplanned and uncontrolled event. In such cases, the Emergency response should be accessible and fast.
Typical response time in metros when the police station is nearby is 30Min. To add, the family get to the person way too late.
As good citizen’s we can make this our duty to help our fellow citizens.
How can you help?
You can help in two major ways:
First, Calling for an Ambulance. Second, informing the family of the person.
Calling for an Ambulance is easy. But how does anyone inform the family?
From your own phone, you can inform the person’s family members.
All you need is the Accident Informer app on your phone. You take down the accident vehicle number (you may add a few photographs of the scene too) and hit send.
The message is automatically routed to the family members who the person had listed on the Accident Informer.
Download the app here and help those who are in need.
Google Playstore_: https://goo.gl/8o1dnY
Apple App Store: https://goo.gl/cqdBwb
For more details please visit: https://accidentinformer.com/
Ok. This is embarrassing :p .. I ended up here finding rules for FRRO for my US born daughter and I could stop wondering the roller coaster ride of my emotions, From Anger on Babu’s, pity on the things you guys go through [now me too] and then laughed at this accident scene on social ritual point. Neil, Take a bow for collecting all this information.
My pleasure!