Bhavuk Kalra

its reasons like these that driving scares me

a few days ago, right outside my society near Fairfield by Marriott, a woman driving a car hit my bike near the zebra crossing. i fell, hurt my leg and my bike was damaged. thankfully, nothing serious happened. but she didn't stop. i tried to get her attention and talk to her. she kept driving. kinda like a typical hit and run. at that point i had to get back on my bike and follow the car simply to get the registration number. when i eventually caught up with her, i could clearly see who was driving, and i have evidence of her in the driver's seat as well. what bothered me wasn't even the accident itself. accidents happen. people misjudge things. maybe two people can even disagree about whose mistake it was. but if you hit someone on a bike and watch them fall, how do you just drive away? i eventually traced the registered owner of the car and spoke to him. i explained what had happened. he initially apologized and said he'd check. i didn't file a police complaint. my injury wasn't that serious, and instead of immediately escalating things, i thought i'd give them a chance to handle it like reasonable adults. i followed up again later. this time i was told that his wife had been driving and that apparently i had been "crossing from the wrong side" and had clipped her. 💀 except i wasn't randomly cutting across the road from some "wrong side". this happened at the zebra crossing in front of Fairfield by Marriott, right outside my society - a point specifically meant for people to cross the road. and yes, his wife was driving. i know because i saw her, and i have evidence of her behind the wheel. what makes the whole thing even stranger to me is that we're talking about educated, well-established people here. the registered owner of the car is a senior manager at a Big 4 firm. you'd expect a certain level of basic responsibility and decency. instead, somehow the fact that he said "sorry" when i first contacted him seems to have become enough. as if that initial apology means that afterward you can dismiss what happened, talk however you want, and turn the whole thing around on the person who got hit. that's not how an apology works. the part i still can't get over is everything that happened AFTER the impact. she saw me fall. she didn't stop. when i tried to get her attention, she continued driving. i had to follow her just to get the plate. and days later, instead of even a simple "is your leg okay?" or "how much damage did the bike take?", the conversation has somehow become about explaining why this was supposedly my fault. i have the registration details, evidence identifying the driver, photographs and records of the conversations afterward. i haven't filed a formal complaint yet. maybe i will now. not because i want to make a huge case out of a minor injury or some damage to a bike. but because leaving someone on the road after hitting them shouldn't become normal. whatever you think caused an accident, stop. check if the other person is okay. that's really the bare minimum.

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