The terrible incident I am about to narrate happened when I went for a walk one evening. I had been studying all day and felt extremely tired. I could not solve another Maths problem or memorise another French verb. Seeing this, my mother suggested that I take a short walk, refresh my mind and then return to studying.

We don’t have much open space in our housing complex, so I stepped out onto the main road. Though it is a busy highway, there is a wide footpath alongside it where people can walk safely. As I walked briskly, I watched cars, bikes and buses speeding past. A few metres ahead was a flyover. I had hardly thought about the dangers of such traffic, when the incident happened.

It was twilight and the vehicles were switching on their headlights. A Sumo jeep came speeding down the flyover, moving dangerously close to the central divider. Suddenly, an old man stepped directly onto the road. Fading light and the bushes on the divider had hidden him from view. The driver saw him at the last moment and tried to brake and swerve.

But it was too late. There was a terrible thud and the old man, who seemed to be a villager, fell onto the road.

A loaded truck, unable to stop in time, hit the Sumo from behind. The Sumo skidded across the road, struck a lamp-post and finally came to rest. The truck, which was already overloaded, tipped onto its side, spilling sand all over the highway.

For the next fifteen minutes, there was chaos. Vehicles stopped and people rushed out to see what had happened. Pedestrians, who had been frozen in shock, suddenly became active. A traffic policeman arrived quickly and called an ambulance and a police van. Part of the road was cordoned off to manage the situation.

I watched the scene for a few moments but then could not bear to stay any longer. Taking a deep breath, I returned home, feeling refreshed but shaken. Fortunately, all three people involved; the old man, the Sumo driver and the truck driver were safe and had only minor injuries. I narrated the incident to my mother, who listened in horror. Then, I returned to my Maths and French studies with a new sense of caution and awareness.