Person sleeping on the road run over by vehicle also responsible for accident, says motor tribunal
The bench suggested the person should sleep on the footpath and not on the road.
If a person sleeping on the street is run over by a vehicle, the victim is equally responsible for the accident, a motor accident claims tribunal has ordered, according to The Times of India. The person should instead sleep on the footpath, the bench suggested.
The tribunal was hearing a case where a man was killed in November 2007 by a dumper truck when he was asleep on Sewri Road in Mumbai. Stating that roads are meant for vehicles and not to sleep on, the tribunal said, “He should have at least slept on the footpath.”
The man was asleep on the corner of the road when the dumper truck reversed speedily, the family had alleged. The tribunal also halved the compensation to the man’s family, and asked Reliance General Insurance and Shaikh Shaukatali, owner of the truck, to pay Rs nine lakh of the insurance amount of Rs 18 lakh. “It appears that the deceased was sleeping on the road in a corner. This shows that the deceased himself was also negligent,” the bench said.
However, the tribunal maintained it was the driver’s mistake that he was not careful while reversing the car.