Cyrus Mistry death: How the factors leading to the crash will be determined

A faulty bridge design, non-usage of seatbelts in the rear seats, and human error are likely to have led to the crash of the Mercedes Benz SUV, resulting in the death of Cyrus Mistry and Jehangir Pandole, and the hospitalisation of Anahita and Darius Pandole.

Piyush Tiwari, CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, an NGO that works towards improvement of road safety, said that the accident was a combination of multiple factors. Tiwari said, “This crash is a grim reminder of how overspeeding when combined with poor road infrastructure and casual attitude towards safety equipment such as seatbelts can take away lives. As per hundreds of forensic crash investigations carried out by SaveLIFE Foundation on behalf of agencies across India, non-usage of seatbelts, especially in the rear seat, contributed to nearly 35 per cent of deaths investigated. In most cases victims violently crash with vehicle interiors and fellow passengers, and in many other cases were found ejected from the vehicle. Seat belts can prevent that.”

He added that a multi-pronged approach is adopted for crash investigation. Crash causes broadly fall under three categories – infrastructural issues, vehicular defects and human behavioural factors – he said. The NGO is working with the Maharashtra police in the investigation.

 “The team moves out to the crash site and undertakes various types of investigations including and not limited to vehicle inspection, crash site inspection, witness interviews and medical report analysis, to list a few. Based on the evidence collected from the crash, the team is able to identify the fundamental reason behind the crash. This investigation is scientific in nature and reliant on evidence,” he said.

A forensic analysis entails site investigation where evidence is collected from the crash site, vehicle inspection where the car is studied in detail to understand the mechanical issues and transfer of kinetic energy during the crash, and injury coding and analysis that looks at all the injuries suffered by the victims. All the evidence collected are then plotted onto the Haddon’s Matrix and contegorised under crash contributing factors and injury contributing factors.

Crash contributing factors include human error such as speeding, drinking and driving, fatigue/sleep, dangerous driving, overtaking etc, infrastructure error such as slippery road surface, sharp curvature, poor road markings etc, and vehicular error such as overloading, defective brakes and absence of reflectors etc.

Injury contributing factors include human error like non-usage of helmets and seatbelts, infrastructural errors such as impact with a hard object like a tree/pole, and vehicular error such as protruding rods, passenger compartment intrusions, unavailability of seatbelts, vehicle run-off, etc.

The entire event is then reconstructed using a specialised software. All causes of the crash are then recorded to develop recommendations to prevent such crashes in the future.

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