34. A DAY I WAS DELIGHTED TO HEAR ABOUT A TRAGEDY

The number of accidents reported on our E1 Expressway is astounding. It beats me how the vehicles equipped with all the safety devices imaginable, driving at 100 km.p.h., on an almost straight wide road, meet with so many accidents.

Generally, the majority of accidents on a freeway are pile ups. But, here that’s not the case. This is the mere loss of control of the vehicle at higher speeds. There are speeds each individual is comfortable with. Some dudes are 60 km.p.h. dudes while the others are 80 km.p.h. dudes and never forgetting the 40 km.p.h. dudes who hog the roads when we are in a hurry.  

Anyways, higher the speed, sharper must be senses, speeding up and minimizing the response time. And, one must sharply look out for the imminent dangers ahead, so the alert eyes must always be shifting between the road and mirrors, constantly scanning and assessing the rapidly changing scene.

And the road discipline is a must.  Those who aren’t capable of this should drive at slower speeds at which they are more comfortable with.

It made us very sad, when we read online, the first death caused by an accident on E1 on the 3^rd February. In a little while, we were delighted when we realized something else. That’s not because we are barbaric enough to be pleased at a tragedy. Wait, I was just going to explain that.
 

Just a few days before we had to leave Sri Lanka at the end of the vacation, on 29^th December to be exact, I drove along that Expressway with my family. My wife Deepa and my son were videoing and taking stills of the trip as they usually do when we are on road trips. 

We also met several dudes who owned the road! And some idiots who violated the traffic laws with no compunction.

I’ll write about them later. Please watch out, dudes!

We were driving at 100kmph most of the way which explains how we made it in one hour.

We saw this shocking scene when we were slowing down because we were arriving at Pinnaduwa the final Exit. It was only a several hundred meters to the tollbooths. Actually, these are the screen shots from my son’s video.

This SUV would have been a minute or two ahead of us.  See how it has dented the guardrails and vaulted over ending up facing the way it had come. We don’t know what connection the people in white shirts who seemed to have come in the bluish car parked at the shoulder had with this accident. We didn’t stop because it is prohibited to do so. And everybody is warned against that as it could be fatal. However, we informed the security services immediately.

There seemed to be one person, perhaps trapped in the passenger seat. Another lying on the grass outside the guardrail, and while we were watching, another staggered a few steps and collapsed into the waiting arms of the guy wearing a blue T shirt as his knees gave way. I think the SUV is  totaled up. 

I didn’t notice all those things at that time as I was driving. We watched the video several times to take it all in. Anyway it was shocking and too much to grasp.

Actually, when you are out on the open road, especially on a longer haul, you develop an invisible bond with the fellow drivers driving the same direction. Maybe, because of the common goal. It’s the same beautiful bond that makes us warn the oncoming drivers about the traffic cops around the corner, by flashing our headlights. 

The thought that these people in the SUV also would have been joking and talking and enjoying just like we had been doing a minute or two ago which makes them our fellow road users, made us feel real awful and depressed. This was the darkest moment of the whole journey, the whole day and days to come whenever we remembered this incident.

We actually thought several of them would have left this world until we heard about the incident on 3^rd February. So if they say this is the first death on E1, that also means you guys are okay, thank God! We are so much relieved dudes! So, that’s the story.

If anyone who were in this SUV or in this pictures happen to see this blog post, please make a comment underneath. If you know these people, please let them see this. And, we have this video. 

Hey, one more time. We are jubilant that you were lucky enough to save your lives miraculously. 

Anyway please be careful in future!

 This article was simulblogged at my Sinhala blog  මට හිතෙන හැටි