Danger of tragic accidents due to careless opening of car doors
(Baonghean.vn) - Opening a car door seems like an obvious and extremely simple task when you need to get out of the car. However, if you are careless and do not pay attention, this action will seriously affect traffic safety and in fact, many tragic accidents have occurred.
Unexpected accidents
Recalling the accident that happened nearly a year ago, Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham, in Nghi Xuan commune, Nghi Loc district, still has not recovered. According to Ms. Tham, that day on the way to the market, just approaching the gate of Mai Trang market, while looking at the road to cross, suddenly the driver of a car parked in the same direction on the side of the road opened the car door, causing her to be unable to avoid it and hit it, falling onto the road. The accident left her with many scratches, a broken arm that required a cast for more than 2 months.
“The car driver admitted his mistake for not paying attention and took me to the hospital, paying all the hospital bills, so both sides came to an agreement. Luckily, I was driving slowly and there was little traffic at that time, otherwise I don’t know what would have happened,” Ms. Tham shared.
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| Opening a car door seems simple, but if you are not careful, it can cause an accident. Photo: Hai Dang |
There are many cases of accidental victims like Ms. Tham. For example, at 2:30 p.m. on January 5, 2019, on Nguyen Van Cu Street, Vinh City, a white taxi had just stopped when the passenger in the car opened the door, causing a woman riding a motorbike behind to be thrown onto the road. Fortunately, another motorbike behind her braked in time and did not run over the woman. However, the fall caused Ms. H, the victim in the incident who was pregnant, to have her amniotic sac rupture and a head injury.
Previously, at around 11:00 a.m. on September 18, 2018, on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Vinh City, a traffic accident occurred involving the opening of a car door. A motorbike with license plate 37A - 007.49 was traveling on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, from the Provincial Post Office to Le Hong Phong. When arriving in front of house number 58, the driver of a car with license plate 37D - 011.66, which was stopped on the right side of the road, suddenly opened the car door. The incident happened so suddenly that the female student on the motorbike did not have time to turn the wheel and crashed straight into the car door. The accident left the female student seriously injured and had to be hospitalized for emergency treatment.
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| Accident scene at noon on September 18, 2018 on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street, Vinh City. Photo: PV |
Not only in Nghe An, through the media, we can also see similar incidents, originating from opening car doors without looking, happening quite a lot across the country, some accidents even causing death.
May be subject to criminal prosecution
Although there are no complete statistics on traffic accidents caused by opening car doors, the consequences are often very serious and mostly occur in inner-city areas with many vehicles. It is worth mentioning that the mistake of carelessly opening car doors without looking closely does not only happen to new drivers, but even experienced drivers can also violate the law due to their subjective and hasty mentality without looking in the rearview mirror or observing the front and back.
According to a driving instructor, operations such as stopping the car, opening the car door, getting out of the car... are "first" lessons that are taught very carefully but not all students remember. Many people when they need to get out of the car, they open the door without checking to see if safety conditions are guaranteed. In many cases, when sitting in the back, they open the left door, instead of being able to open the right door.
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| Truong Thi Ward Police, Vinh City, reminded and handled violations of illegal parking. Photo: PV |
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Duy Ha - Head of the Traffic Police Team (Vinh City Police) said: For each specific case, in addition to basing on Article 18 of the Road Traffic Law, Article 5 of Decree 46/2016/ND-CP to have a basis for handling the error of opening the car door causing an accident, it is also necessary to consider whether stopping and parking on the road is in accordance with regulations or not.
Therefore, one of the solutions to limit accidents related to opening car doors that has been regularly implemented is to handle violations of stopping and parking in the wrong place. From January 1 to September 12, 2019, the city police handled 1,297 cases of stopping and parking in the wrong place, including 192 passenger cars, 266 trucks and 839 cars, collecting a fine of 898 million VND.
In Nghe An province, from January 1, 2019 to September 12, 2019, 8,475 new cars were registered, bringing the total number of cars currently managed to 115,307, of which Vinh city alone currently has 32,724 cars.
While the traffic infrastructure is still inadequate, the authorities cannot always be present on every route to remind and promptly handle violations. Therefore, the traffic participants, both the driver and passengers, need to observe carefully and ensure that they do not endanger other people and vehicles before opening the car door.
Before opening the car door, stop and park the car properly, do not stop the car on narrow roads, intersections... When opening the door, pay attention to carefully observing the front and back with your eyes and the rearview mirrors on both sides, only open the door when it is safe, and open it slowly. For passengers in the car, the driver should proactively remind them to open the door slightly, pay attention to observe before getting out. In principle, the driver should always lock the door while the car is running to ensure that the doors do not pop open and cause accidents for others.
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| Before opening the car door, the driver and the passenger need to look around and open the door slowly. Photo: Hai Dang - Hai Vuong |
Talking to us, Dr. and lawyer Nguyen Trong Hai - head of the law office Trong Hai and Associates said: Article 18 of the Road Traffic Law stipulates that in case of an unexpected accident due to the fault of the person opening the car door, this person must be responsible for compensating for the damage caused by his/her actions according to the provisions of the Civil Code.
Compensation includes costs for treatment, care, rehabilitation and loss of health and functions of the injured person; Actual lost or reduced income of the injured person during the recovery period; If the injured person loses the ability to work and needs regular care, the damages include reasonable costs for the care of the injured person; Costs of mental compensation for the injured person are agreed upon by the parties.
If the violation of opening the car door does not cause serious consequences, according to Decree 46/2016/ND-CP on administrative sanctions in the field of road and railway traffic, the person committing the act will be administratively sanctioned for the error of "opening the car door, leaving the car door open unsafely" with a fine of 300,000-400,000 VND.
If the consequences are serious, such as: damage to the health of one to two people with a disability rate of 31% or more for each person; causing property damage worth from 70 million VND to less than 500 million VND... or causing death, then the offender may be prosecuted for the crime of violating regulations on road traffic control in Article 202 of the 1999 Penal Code (amended and supplemented in 2009).
Accordingly, anyone who drives a road vehicle and violates road traffic safety regulations, causing damage to the property, health, or life of others, shall be subject to a fine of VND5 million to VND50 million, non-custodial reform for up to 3 years, or imprisonment from 6 months to 5 years.
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| The driver should take the initiative to get out and open the car door, especially when children or the elderly need to get out of the car, to avoid unexpected situations. Photo: Kien Rose |
Thus, opening the car door seems to be an obvious and extremely simple thing to do when getting out of the car. However, if not careful, this action seriously affects traffic safety. So to avoid tragic accidents, in addition to strictly handling acts that cause accidents leading to death, the authorities also need to consider increasing the administrative fines for acts that violate traffic safety laws to increase deterrence.
More importantly, on the driver's side, it is necessary to form a habit of being careful. Before getting out of the car, you need to pay attention to observe the front and back, do not stop or park randomly, open the car door without looking, to avoid unfortunate accidents happening to you, as well as other vehicles participating in traffic.