Unforgetable Incidents

The first Road Accident:- I had a narrow escape on the 17th ,Nov., 1970 around 2:30 pm. I was riding my mortor bicycle (Reg:- 5 SRI 8684, Lambretta 75cc) on the Colombo-Kaduwela road , near Ambagaha Junction. My speed was about 50 km/h. The road was very good and clear of vehicles. The only vehicle was a black Morris Minor car approaching ahead of me; and suddenly, it turned to my side. I applied the breaks but couldn't avoid the head-on collision. I hadn’t worn a helmet because nobody used helmets those days. My head hit the bonnet of the car and, in a fraction of a second, I flew over the car and landed on the ground safely with my legs behind the car. Then somebody gave me my driving licence and said that it was a miracle that you escaped, and another person came and gave me my pair of sunglasses, which was not broken. Another person told me that You’d better check your body for any injury. Then I checked my body and realized  that nothing was wrong except for a small injury in the right leg. I asked the car driver "why did you turned right suddenly?" Then he apologized to me and said that there was a dead dog on the middle of the road, without seeing your motorcycle I turned right to avoid it. I saw a dent on the bonnet of the car due to the impact of my head, but there was no damage to my head. If my head had hit about six inches more to the right I would have died on the spot because the metal piecs having the letter "M" was there.

The second road accident was around 1980 in Nigeria; It occurred near "Malumfasi" on the Gusau-Kano road. I went to Kano international airport to carry Mr. Dharmarajah's wife by my car (Volkes Wagan-Beetle with Registration number SO5014SB). We were returning home at Thalatha Mafara. Mr. & Mrs. Dharmarajha, my wife-Kusum and two kids, (Gaurika and Chathurika) were in the car. I was driving at about 110-120 km/h around 10 O'clock in the night. I saw an opposite direction vehicle approaching straight ahead of me; I applied the breaks at once and turned right and stopped. (In Nigeria driving in the right hand side of the road) But the vehicle impacted slightly on my front left mudguard and the wheel and it stopped at about 150m away. I believe the speed of that vehicle should be about 140-160km/h. I managed to replace the front left wheel with the spare wheel. In the mean time a police officer came and got some details and ask me to come to the police station (Malumfasi) in the next morning. When I met the police OIC in the morning he told me to pay the compensation to the driver of the other vehicle (Peugeot-504-taxi - left hand side front wheel and axial was broken). Then I told him I didn't commit any offence; he came completely wrong side and hit me. Then the police officer told me that you have only two options either pay him or the other to go to courts. Then I paid 300 Niara (about 500 US$) to the taxi driver. The most interesting thing is this: - The police OIC gave me a charge sheet indicating the offence as "not pasted the revenue licence on the wind screen".

Electric shock:- I constructed a four element three band cubical quad antenna for one of my ham friends, 4S7DJ (Dr Jayantha Nanayakkara) somewhere in 1979. On that particular day I was holding an electric hand drill with the metal casing and I was partially kneeling down on the grass. At that moment,  pressing the switch, momentarily, I had a feeling that the previous day there was a slight current leak in the drill. But it was too late. I got a severe shock; I can't move any part of my body even I can't release my finger from the switch. But I can see every thing; the drill was working continuously. My helper is standing in front of me looking at my face, but nothing doing. After about 10-15 seconds I realized that he couldn’t understand what is happening and the next minute I will die. At the start, luckily I didn't sit or kneel down steadily on ground. After another few seconds I had a feeling that I was going to fall down. Then I thought that I have a chance to escape. I fell down and the power supply was cut off. I stood up and moved my arms, legs and other parts and realized that everything was OK. Then I asked the helper "You were looking at my face all the time .Why didn't you disconnect the supply?” Then he told me "I couldn't understand that you were on an electric shock, I was thinking why you were just holding the drill without drilling". Later I found that the trip switch (CRABTREE-E.L.C.B.) was off; but I know clearly it will never trip-off for an electric shock; it works only for a leakage in equipment. Then I opened the plug-top attached to the drill and I saw the earth terminal was disconnected. Then I realized that when I fell down the wire terminal might have touched the earth and the live points simultaneously and caused the trip off. Any way I had a very rare and valuable experience and the following good lessons.

1. When you do any risky job your helper should not be a foolish man.

2. When you do any risky electrical job you must not stay in a steadily and comfortably.

I know another only one friend of mine who had the same kind of experience. He is Mr. Ajith Wickramarachchi.

Edited:- Sunday, July 06, 2003