A woman and her two young daughters were injured after being hit by a private car that was moving backwards on Harish Mukherjee Road, in front of SSKM Hospital, in south Kolkata on Sunday afternoon.
Police said Tumpa Ram, 40, and her daughters Pallabi, 3, and Puja, 2, were taken to SSKM Hospital, from where they were discharged after treatment. The family is from Champahati in South 24-Parganas.
Officers of Bhowanipore police station seized the car and arrested the driver.
The accident happened a day after a speeding car hit seven pedestrians, one of whom died, at the Chingrighata intersection.
Repeated accidents in the city involving four-wheelers and pedestrians are an indicator to the general disregard for traffic rules exhibited by pedestrians and drivers.
A senior officer said it was mandatory for all drivers to look at the rear-view mirror and check whether anyone was standing behind the car before reversing the vehicle.
As for pedestrians, they must stand on pavements, and not on thoroughfares, the officer said.
The footpath and the thoroughfare outside SSKM Hospital usually remain crowded with visitors and relatives of patients admitted in the hospital.
“A tragedy could have happened. We are lucky the car was not reversing at a high speed. More people could have been injured,” said an officer of the Bhowanipore traffic guard. Cops from the traffic guard were among the first responders after the accident.
According to Kolkata police records, more than half the victims of road accidents are pedestrians.
The officer said it was extremely important for pedestrians to follow road rules to ensure their own safety and to prevent unnecessary harassment of motorists on the roads.
