Hyderabad: Harikrishna’s death could have been easily avoided had he put on his seat belt, say road safety experts. As a consequence of not wearing the belt, he was thrown out of the car and hit the divider. Similarly, even the autopsy report stated that he could have cheated death had he worn the seat belt.
According to road safety experts, seat belts reduce the consequences of a crash and car occupants continue to move at the same speed at which the car was travelling before the collision. Seat belts reduce the risk of contact with the interior of the car, prevent injuries to other occupants and prevent getting ejected from the car.
Mr Vinod Kumar Kanumala, a road safety expert said, “There is a 45 per cent to 50 per cent risk of fatality of the driver and front seat passengers without seat belts whereas for the rear seat occupants, it is 25 per cent. Unrestrained rear seat passengers are also dangerous for the persons sitting in front. Harikrishna’s older son died in a car crash and he was also not wearing a seat belt.”
He adds, “There are four risks associated with speeding: exposure, crash involvement, crash severity, distracted driving and severity of post-crash injuries. Distracted driving like tuning a radio, talking on the mobile or even drinking water is also very dangerous.”
Mr B. Adishankar, another road safety expert said, “Even if you look at the car photo from the mishap site, there is not much damage even after toppling at a high speed. So, if only he had worn his seat belt, he would have been alive today, just injured perhaps.”
He adds, “In India sadly, vehicle inspection and crash investigation are not given importance. People have to remember that the seat belt is a personal protection choice. The benefit of wearing goes to that person, so one should not need a law or a rule or any incentive to wear it.”
Jr NTR’s statutory warning goes in vain
Four years back, when Jr NTR and Kalyan Ram lost their elder brother Janaki Ram in a road accident, they decided to put a statutory warning before every film of theirs with the message, ‘Don’t overspeed, because of it we lost our brother’ in NTR’s voice. But sadly, his father failed to pay heed to the warning and paid for it with his life. It seems Harikrishna was travelling at a speed of 150 km/hr and when he hit the divider, the car flew into the air and jumped 40-ft onto the other road.
Road accidents haunt the family
After Harikrishna’s death, people are talking about how road accidents seem to haunt the family. Eerily, this is the third mishap in the family and all of them have happened in Nalgonda district. Harikrishna’s elder son Janakiram died in a road accident near Nalgonda.
