A software professional missed a golden opportunity to go to the USA due to the reckless driving by a young motorcyclist in a hit and run case. He lay writhing in pain but no passers-by volunteered to help him.
The tragic incident happened in 1997 in Mumbai and the young professional who has been confined to a wheel chair all these years is Dilip Patro, director and founder secretary of The Ability People of Visakhapatnam. What differentiates Mr. Patro from most others, who would have undergone similar tragic experiences, is that he did not lose heart on learning that he could not stand up and walk as usual. Instead, he chose to serve as an example to young drivers to drive home the message of road safety.
“The police personnel who shifted me to a hospital after the incident damaged my spine in the process of lifting me and putting me in an ambulance. It’s not to blame, they had no training on how to handle those who suffered spinal cord injuries,” said Mr. Patro recalling the incident at a meeting organised at Lakhsmi Hyundai at Birla Junction here on Tuesday.
He briefed about his project ‘bhavishya’ through which he was offering road safety training to young drivers. “I am planning to go to all schools and colleges in the city and spread the message of safe driving,” he said thanking Hyundai Motors for presenting him a specially designed ‘Verna’, free of cost, to enable him to visit the schools and colleges.
Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao, who handed him over the keys of the new car, was all praise for Mr. Patro for refusing to call it quits after the tragedy. “His US dream was shattered for no fault of his. But, he was not demoralised like most others and took it up as a challenge to educate young drivers,” Mr. Srinivasa Rao said congratulating him for his efforts in bringing down the incidence of road accidents.
Mr. Patro appealed to Mr. Srinivasa Rao to look into the possibility of introducing the concept of ‘road safety’ in the school and college curriculum and the Minister readily agreed to look into it.
Lakshmi Hyundai offered to service the car free of cost for two years.
M. David Raju, Deputy General Manager (sales) and E. Sukumar, DGM(service) of Lakshmi Hyundai spoke.
