Indian-origin surgeon in Britain ordered to pay £135,000 after car hit minor
Chandran, a consultant physician at Milton Keynes Hospital, was on her way to work in her BMW i3 Range Extender when the incident occurred.
London: An Indian-origin surgeon in south-central England has been ordered to pay £135,000 in damages after her car hit a 12-year-old girl, causing serious head injuries, collarbone fractures and other complications.
Dr Shanthi Chandran's car collided with the schoolgirl as she stepped onto the road on her way to school in Buckingham Road, Bicester, in January 2018.
Chandran, a consultant physician at Milton Keynes Hospital, was on her way to work in her BMW i3 Range Extender when the incident occurred, the Oxford Mail newspaper reported last week.
The child's head struck the side windshield of her car, causing the glass to shatter, police said.
Officers said that due to the force of the collision, her body was “thrown” or carried 37 feet past the crosswalk and almost to the entrance of a nearby gas station.
After the accident, the girl, who is now 18 years old, suffered serious head injuries, a brain hemorrhage and a fracture in her left collarbone.
According to court documents, she was intubated and ventilated for three days and hospitalized for 10 days.
During the first year after the accident, she was “left with cognitive and psychiatric problems,” suffered nightmares and “PTSD-like symptoms.”
The girl accused Chandran of negligence, saying she was “driving too fast considering the prevailing conditions and had she been driving at a safe and reasonable speed, the collision would not have occurred”.
Chandran told police she was driving 45 km/h, which was below the 30 km/h speed limit and appropriate for the conditions, and that she immediately stopped her car after seeing a young girl had been hit.
In his defense, Chandran told the court that the incident was caused by the girl stepping onto the road when the lights were green.
At a hearing last year, Judge Dexter Dias said it was a “common misconception” that it was “reasonable” to drive just below the speed limit.
“Although this case is not about a fatal accident, it shows once again how dangerous it is to drive at excessive and unreasonable speed,” Judge Dias had said.
The court ordered a 40 percent reduction in the initially proposed £225,000 damages “due to the negligence of the girl who stepped onto the road while the traffic lights were green,” The Mail reported.
The damages were determined by the Supreme Court last month and the verdict was published on January 11.