Young businessman at wheels dozes off but escapes unhurt as car overturns near Nicco Park
Telegraph | 1 March 2025
A car turned turtle near Nicco Park on Thursday morning after the owner driving the Mahindra XUV 400 dozed off for a few seconds, police said.
The 28-year-old young businessman, who was at the wheel, escaped unhurt, the police said. He was alone in the car.
The police identified him as Rahul Saraogi, a resident of Salt Lake.
Saraogi, who was headed towards Salt Lake from the EM Bypass, got off the Chingrighata flyover and hit a pavement about 500m away on Biswa Bangla Sarani around 6am, the police said.
“The young man who was at the wheel had dozed off. The car hit the pavement and turned upside down,” said an officer of Bidhannagar South police station.
“He was returning to his home in Salt Lake on Thursday morning after offering prayers at a temple. He had taken the Chingrighata flyover from EM Bypass to go to Salt Lake,” the officer said.
The police seized the electric vehicle in the morning.
It was later handed over to him. Saraogi was allowed to go, the police said.
The young man was saved possibly because of the airbags that got activated.
Dozing off while at the wheel can have serious consequences.
In January, a junior doctor was arrested for allegedly causing a road accident that killed a rickshaw puller on BT Road. His lawyer had told the court that the doctor had dozed off after finishing a 48-hour shift at a government hospital. The doctor was later released on bail.
In the morning, roads are empty and those at the wheel tend to speed up.
Two road accidents in the city — one in Wellington Square and the other at the Exide crossing — caused the death of two women this week.
One of them was an elderly morning walker who came under the wheels of a school bus while trying to cross the road. The other was a 44-year-old woman was run over by the bus she had gotten off.