This story is from August 24, 2019

Fast & Careful

Fast & Careful
August 2015 | A Mercedes S63 AMG coupé collides head-on with a truck that had jumped the lights. The driver and passenger survive the crash
August 2016 | Three youths — Shivraj Naskar, Suraj Dasgupta and Vaibhav Shandilya — from Kolkata killed when their Ford EcoSport crashes with a BMW X3 on Mandarmani beach. Ritesh Kumar, 20, who was driving the BMW, survives, along with the co-passenger
January 2017 | A speeding Porsche 718 Boxster S spins out of control and hits a median divider in Salt Lake’s Sector III.
The driver locks the car and flees from the spot. The vehicle is registered under RAA Arsalan Enterprise
June 2018 | Shibaji Roy, the scion of a sanitaryware chain, dies after the Ferrari California T he is driving crashes into a road barrier on National Highway 6. The co-passenger is seriously injured but recovers after prolonged treatment
August 17, 2019 | A Jaguar F-Pace rams into an E-Class Mercedes-Benz, driving the latter into a police kiosk, killing two Bangladeshi bystanders
Big boys with big toys have had more than their share of misfortune in recent years, with a lot of bloodspill on the streets involving high-end cars. These accidents, involving cars priced at Rs 50 lakh to Rs 3.5 crore, have also left owners of other super and luxury cars outraged at the stigma that the reckless speed devils have brought to the community of auto enthusiasts.

Praveen Agarwal cringes every time he learns about yet another accident involving an expensive car. “There are automobile accidents happening every day. In 99.9% cases, popular cars in regular use are involved in rash driving and racing. But it is the odd case involving a fancy car that attracts all the attention,” he says. “The common perception is that rich brats at the wheel of luxury and super cars are a menace to society. While that is partially true, it is unfair to paint owners of all expensive cars with the same brush. Most of us believe in responsible driving and do not speed on city roads,” said Agarwal, who is into real estate and owns a bevy of super cars, including a Ferrari 488 GTB.
Avik Roy, who makes premium cigar cases and drives a BMW 3 Series sedan, believes very few self-made people who spend their own money to buy a luxury car will drive in the reckless manner that have led to the recent crashes. “The stereotypical perception of a rich man’s spoilt son running amok with extremely powerful cars is not wrong,” he says. “I have seen how ill-behaved and arrogant some young men are. They don’t care about those driving lesser cars, much less about pedestrians. They put their own and others’ lives in peril.”
A couple of days after the latest high-speed crash between a Jaguar F-Pace and a Mercedes-Benz E-Class at the Shakespeare Sarani-Loudon Street intersection, in which two bystanders were killed, Agarwal and other car enthusiasts who own super cars got talking on the accidents and realised a common thread that tied each of them.
“In most of the accidents, the driver turned out to be young children of rich parents. Some of these young people are brash, love to brag and believe they can ‘impress girls’ by speeding in fast machines,” says Sandeep Chakraborty, a senior executive in a private firm, whose favourites machines are the Audi R8 LMX and the Mercedes-Benz G-63 AMG.
Agarwal and Chakraborty are members of Club GT, a group of passionate car owners who organise highway drives on weekends and promotes responsible driving. In recent times, club seniors have expelled a few youngsters who drive rashly. “We do not support reckless driving,” Agarwal says.
Several club members were quizzed by cops when Shibaji Roy was killed in a high-speed crash on NH6 last year during a Club GT event. The 34-year-old was anything but brash and loved his car. Even close family members of the co-passenger who had been critically injured in the accident maintain that the accident had happened due to the erratic driving behaviour of a trucker.
“When we go out for highway driving, we do formation driving, always careful to maintain proper distance with the vehicle ahead. If someone wishes to try out a vehicle’s capability, we organize drives in race tracks in Noida or Chennai or abroad,” Agarwal adds.
Since Roy’s death, the club has fixed the speed limit on highways at 130kmph. Most supercars can do a 0-100kmph in 3-3.5 seconds and have a top speed of 250-310kmph.
Atul Surana, who has just returned from one such drive in China, says Kolkata’s roads aren’t meant for supercars. “I have seen youths drive recklessly on Kolkata roads, particularly after 11pm, when there is an opportunity to speed,” says Surana, whose favourite is a Ferrari 488 Spider. “Irresponsible driving by a few has made it difficult for luxury and sports car owners to go for a relaxed spin,” he says.
His friend Suresh Tolani, who loves his Lamborghini Huracán EVO, blames parents for handing out powerful cars to immature youngsters. “A parent has to be extremely judicious when handing a car that can become a killer if not driven properly. I monitor my son’s driving behaviour. As a parent, it is my responsibility to ensure that he does not put others or his own life in danger,” Tolani says.
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