Reporting of road accidents by news agencies in India! Lets look at it differently

Great Initiative. I would like to mention about my crash which i had yesterday. I was saved just because of the safety gears (Armored jacket, gloves,Knee guards) which i was wearing. Had not been i was not wearing these safety gears, today i would definitely not be alive to write this crash report.

I am attaching the pics of the accident spot and the condition of my bullet. Just imagine what would be my condition without safety gears. I get shivering when i imagine the crash

Very nice thought.
Though its hard not to be cynical about the lackadaisical attitude of these agencies themselves. In Noida(where most of the news channels are based) i have seen umpteen "PRESS" marked bikes and cars which openly flout even very basic regulations. Whenever a two wheeler rider dies, the mob mentality (bigger vehicle at fault) of these news papers/channels comes to the fore and they are prompt in blaming the "killer bluelines" or the "badey baap ke bigdael bachhe" on cars for these accidents. This is their daily masaala. Even mentioning a one liner like "He was not wearing a helmet/seatbelt" will be a tectonic shift for them. Though i do believe that this is certainly worth pursuing.
Some other suggestions. Might not be feasible though:
1. Maybe get the police to shift their pitch while pushing for helmets. An ad with statistics/graphics of non helmeted riders being squashed to death will be more effective than saying that "Please wear a helmet. Fine Rs xxx"
2. Schools can inculcate these good habits. A few years back, a gentleman had given training on defensive driving to us, the new joinees in a company. They had shown statistics, youtube vids and some very practical examples and tips (like driving with the lights on) to drive home the point. Can xBhp take this direction ?

i met with an accident on 8th of November 2008.... my head and face was
saved because i was wearing a helmet wit visor otherwise the merchandise
would have screwed up badly.... but i had a broken bone in my right hand
which still clicks when moved that was because i was not wearing any
jackets at that time.... the bike took the grunt of the accident.... the leg guard was bend along with handle bar,
broken brake lever from the joints....


from then now i have been wearing a jacket and shoes.... now i have a
proper riding jacket and gloves.... have also influenced or rather coerced
some of my friends to wear a helmet at the least

Good thought Sunil.

I will say one thing -News agency write what sells. Excpet for a few high profile cases where they have acted in positive manner, more often than not they just create masala. They always leave out the part which would change the course of the story or would make it more real.

We had lost an Xbhpian on NH8 - Siddharth on his Busa. The article just blamed the rider and did not mention that the truck was coming in wrong direction. I sent an email to the writer of the columns but no response came from them.

My fiancee's cousin is a part time RJ. He is based in Chandigarh. He told me that once that radio channel went to Sukhna lake and forced a guy to fight with them over the right of littering while he was not literring. This is a small Radio channel in a non-metro city. Imagine what national channels must be doing. They just want to show only one side of the story.

As for Press cars flouting traffic rules, the only reason they want press stickers is because they want to flout rules.

Very valid issue raised Sunil
But expecting anything from the so called Indian media is waste. The only thing they are concerned is how they can make a simple news look like the biggest news of the day. With hundreds of news channels, the quality of news has gone done the drain.
I would suggest, rather then looking up for them to start the change, we have to do this on our own.
Look what xBhp has done to the bike enthusiatics of India.
Hence, Start a wave from our home itself. we have our own magazine now and 'm sure it must be reaching some hands in the prominent positions.
Start this in the Magazine, on our site, Facebook and twitter.
Slowly people will automatically start changing.
Or we can file a petition or something with digital signatures of all the member and submit this to the government and let them know that the information should be included in the respective manner as suggested by sunil.

Quite a thought provoking topic.

From my experience, I would say Sherry was bang on the spot when he said "The only thing they are concerned is how they can make a simple news look like the biggest news of the day." Given the load of information, the media has developed a shocking complacency for things based on a yardstick of relative awe-factor. For example, if 2 die in a drunken driving case in Mumbai, it makes it to Page 2. But if 3 die riding a bike on a highway near some small town, its probably just a box story further down the newspaper.

Now here is an insight which might actually help us in doing something. Most of the stories on the road deaths are actually by press agencies like PTI, IANS etc. Given the agencies' vast network, newspapers run direct copies from them instead of sending in a reporter to do a follow-up of their own, which is what happens normally in more 'important' news. Now general news reporting style follows something called an 'Inverted pyramid' in which the most important elements are in the beginning of the report, following a progression to end in the least important being last. This enables newspaper editors to chop off paragraphs in the end to fit it into word limits without worrying about important bits being missed out.

What we can do is that we can write to the Editors and Directors of such agencies with an appeal to put the road safety element higher up the reports. I don't know how much that will work. The appeal needs to be sustained and strong and directed at the right people, I guess.

It is almost a daily dose of unfortunate realization that most of us journalists have an appalling sense of importance. Even reporters who do cover these stories are more likely to focus on the mishap alone instead of focussing on what led to the mishap.

When I read a new like this that says '...dead due to head injuries..' I take it that the helment was not worn. Multiple fracture on the face implies chin was not gaurded or the rided did not hook the helmet correctly. What beats me is when they say death due to intenal bleeding.

What ever was the cause of fatality, it is important to report whether helmet was worn or not. It may not be noticed in one reading but over multiple readings it will definitely go into any thick skulled head. If the number of words is a constraint, then they should use 'helmetless' as the adjective. "... the helmetless rider was pronounced dead on arrival' rather than saying ' the rider was pronounced dead on arrival, he was not wearing a helment'.

the constraint is not the number of words but lack of understanding about the importance of such report or general indifference. Or it could be possible that the reporter him/her self does not have the habit of wearing the helmet and is just being true to him/herself.

this is one of the most important and thoughtful posts that i've ever read.

its was just yesterday i thought of documenting my experience about importance of helmet, AND the thread is here.....

A year ago i fell off the bike at 70 kmph (NH 7) as a road crossing dog came under the front wheel. i was wearing a helmet and a winter jacket.
i landed on my head and shoulder and went screeching the road for almost 20 to 30 ft.
i should tell that i escaped with very few injuries which required simple first-aid at hospital.

i can still recall my head landing on road with a heavy bang which my helmet took totally.
if the helmet and jacket were not there, i would have been dead or landed in neuro ICU for brain injury and be there for may be couple of months.
+
the other limb and torso injuries.

WEAR A HELMET
other benefits of helmet

• eyes and face protected from wind and dust (you reach the destination with same glam!)
• Loud noise is muffled (peace of mind)
• Winter or Summer the temperature in helmet is always favorable (no tanning or winter cracks)
• believe me you dont get into arguments and abusing on road, you just ignore the offender because if you shout you heart your own ears.
• And you become son-in-law (damad) of cops, they rarely bother you.

during my sessions at office of first-aid and pre-hospital care to First Responders and Emergency Medical Technicians,
i discuss a lot about helmet.

whenever i do a major accident mock drill session i signify that head injuries are without helmet relating to real accident pictures.

I dont want to comment on what has happened till now or whose fault it is when there is an accident. One thing I would like to add. Yesterday I was chatting to one of my friends over this Helmet issue,,,the point that grabbed my attention was that there are people who do wear helmets, but he said and i quote, "accident ke time pe helmet khul ke alag phenka jata hai.." (helmet is separated from head and thrown away at the time of accident). So just buying a Helmet is not enough, buying the right helmet is what is needed.

I agree with sunil sir's thought about starting with one news paper or/and a news channel. Also Sherry's suggestion of a public litigation is a good one. Mik's suggestion of educating at schools will be a good option and is expected to have a long term effect. Children should insist on buying helmets for them and their moms too.. whatsoever is the way or method adopted, the programme needs to be sustained, continuous and should encourage other people to take part and forward the baton.

I hope that sunny sir must be having some contacts with some channels. That will help. Moreover, I was thinking as we have section in our magazine containing do's and dont's, we can include some videos regarding helmets (selection,fitting,certification etc), riding gears, bike maintenance etc (at least in brief, we may include..."for more please read our next issue>")..well we have enough members,fans on facebook,twitter etc. this may help in spreasing the word... well I am waiting for something like this...xBhp, for a cause...willing to take part also...

Mods..your take..

Just read a news in hindi newspaper where they mentioned that the rider was not wearing helmet.
link:
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Adding my thoughts...
The root of the problem lies in education. Lack of proper rider/driver education is always disastrous. Until then, wearing helmet or protective gears are only post mortem.

Absolutely right thought brother...People must educated...Most of them are neglecting Helmet with silly excuses...Even we have witnessed lot of stupid guys who were strongly against the Helmet during our Helmet campaign at Trivandrum city. and some says we are helping the Helmet manufacturers as marketing agents. The funny thing I noticed, the people are ready to pay any fine charged by the police but anyhow not willing to wear the Helmet We can't force them to wear Helmet but educate them with examples..What we have to do is spread the safety message to youth from school,college level.Another idea is motorcycle companies should sell their bikes only with two good helmets must be seriously a mandatory all over India.....conduct safety awareness education in every cities by xBhp members in association with city mayor,cine artists, ministers or other local influential person. Hope atleast next generation may have the insight about this