View from the back of a trishaw
Everybody knows trishaw drivers are dangerous. I’d given this no more thought than the weather until one ran me down at a crosswalk, sending my arm thru its window and a child to the hospital.
We were crossing at the crosswalk, normal family holding hands, me facing the traffic. There was a white jeep which stopped to let us pass and a green trishaw coming directly at us. I then noticed that the trishaw wasn’t slowing down and I put my arm out to protest. Then I noticed that the trishaw was right there, my arm was thru the plastic side window and I was trying desperately to shield the girl and kid but falling anyways.
As it happened I was just in shock. It seemed impossible. The trishaw had plenty of time to stop but it just didn’t, it just drove directly into us. It was a designated pedestrian crosswalk and the driver just ran us over. He didn’t notice until my arm went thru his window and I don’t think he applied the breaks until his wheel was a foot away from the kid. WTF.
The girl and I escaped with cuts and bruises, but the kid hit his head and was throwing up and suffering all night. We checked him into hospital for observation and he only returned to his normal rambunctious self in the morning. It was actually quite scary. I can take some damage, but with a child’s brain you really don’t want to take any chances.
At the time we didn’t get any details from the driver, we just rushed the kid to hospital. Now I wish we had, but the choice I saw at the time was spending the day in the cop shed or spending the day in hospital. At that point of the accident I was in shock and just wanted to leave. A crowd of like twenty people gathered around, not helping at all. They were actually freaking the kid out, making things worse. We just got out as soon as possible.
Now, at a distance, I do wish I’d done something. It’s like that CEAT tires ad, the streets are full of idiots. What gets me is that we all kinda accept it. When I tell the story to anyone they’re not surprised. They say, ‘those guys’ as if that’s the way all trishaw drivers are. Not all, obviously, but an awful lot. I’ve been driving around lately and I notice more than ever the dodgy lane crossings, the sneaking into gaps, and the ignoration of pedestrian crosswalks.
On that last issue, things have gone seriously wrong. When I stop for pedestrians they often look surprised. People don’t stop. If they do, other people go around the side, blindly passing through the crossing. We were lucky we got hit by a trishaw. If it was a car or a bus we would have been really fucked. Hell, even if the window was glass rather than plastic my arm would be badly lacerated right now.
I don’t know what the point was, but something is seriously wrong with Colombo traffic. Something is also wrong with the system and with me because we didn’t report the issue, as this Daily Mirror columnist said is often the case. He mentioned the following as a possible remedy
A year or two ago there was a system by which three wheelers were registered according to the police division in which they functioned and the details of the police division was stamped on the vehicle. This made it easier to identify the vehicle. However though the scheme was started with much fanfare it appeared to have been suddenly dropped for now one finds more vehicles not having the police area they belong to stamped at the rear of the vehicle.
I don’t know. Something. The streets are mad.
Where to start! three wheelers are polluting and dangerous and we have far too many of them on the streets. Three wheelers provide a source of income for a lot of people but there must be some middle ground? it has come to a point where the sheer number of three wheelers on the road cause traffic problems. And don’t get me started on the unruly driving. Murderous! When I first got my license I was a courteous, responsible and considerate driver but these people will just harass you on the street and turn you into a monster and a maniac! I try not to get sucked in to this unruly driving culture but its really tough.
Perhaps we could introduce a cap on three wheeler imports? Cops definitely need to do a better job. Double standards – The license renewing process checks the overall condition of the car so that I may not step out of line but three wheelers and buses seem to get off scott free with their polluting engines, busted tail lights and signal lights (which to these drivers must seem like some sort of ornamental lighting put there for decorative purposes).
I got pulled over for having a tinted window recently and spent an entire morning at city traffic but everyday I come across tens of drivers – buses and three wheelers that have no functioning tail lights – not even one!
And they drive really slooooow. I’m considering getting myself an old truck and fixing a rig with a fork lift-like structure in front. I shall lift raise and push behind me any slow moving three wheeler that hogs the middle of the road and drives under 20kmph. Bliss.
The police seem quite strict now. I stopped at a pedestrian crossing and when the person crossed, took off. As I was doing so, someone else put their foot at the start of the crossing and I was caught by the policeman.
The person had not started to cross, but I admit I was at fault in taking off.
The child appears to have had some concussion, scary business. You’re in no frame of mind to go make a complaint at the station at a time like that. But what about the cameras?
This afternoon we turned in to Alexandra place from the middle lane of Ward Place, and as we slowed down at the next roundabout at the Horton Place intersection a cop came over and asked us to pull over. Apparently our little violation had been caught on camera. We were let off with a warning and no fine. So, there’s a chance they got to the trishaw guy too, later.
see! this justifies all of my incessant rants about three wheelers
@Shammi and Jack
I think things and the cops are getting better, as your experience shows.
It’s not the streets that are mad…it’s the people. Not all …just a vast majority of them. Became afflicted with a disease called swine flu. The disease came along in 1948. Started to afflict quite a few after 1956. 63 years later doctors still haven’t found a cure.
I remember those! Maybe if the government reduced the fuel taxes a bit, or better still, improved the public transport system, we could think of limiting the number of trishaws on the road.
Didn’t know you had a kid. Congrats.
The net is filled with idiots too, evidently…