Cricketer Rishabh Pant injured in car crash in Roorkee, hospitalised

HARIDWAR, Dec 30: Cricketer Rishabh Pant was hospitalised with serious injuries following a car accident in Roorkee in Uttarakhand on Friday morning. Pant was travelling alone from Delhi to Uttarakhand to join his family for New Year.

According to the police, Pant told them he fell asleep while driving and his Mercedes collided with a road divider. The car tumbled over several times, eyewitnesses said.

The accident took place on the Delhi-Dehradun highway at 5:30 am. The car after hitting the divider caught fire. The driver and passengers of a passing Haryana Roadways bus helped the cricketer get out of the car before it got engulfed in a blaze.

The 25-year-old cricketer suffered multiple injuries, but is said to be out of danger. He has injuries to his forehead, a ligament tear in right leg and abrasions on his back. He was conscious when admitted to the local hospital.

"Cricketer Rishabh Pant is under the observation of orthopedics & plastic surgeons. His condition is stable," Dr. Ashish Yagnik of Max Hospital in Dehradun told the media. He was shifted to the Max Hospital from a local hospital.

Meanwhile, the BCCI has released a statement assuring Pant of best medical care. It said, “Rishabh Pant has two cuts on his forehead, a ligament tear in his right knee and has also hurt his right wrist, ankle, toe and has suffered abrasion injuries on his back.”

Rishabh Pant was recently in India’s Bangladesh cricket tour where they won a two-match Test series 2-0. He has represented India in 33 Tests, 30 ODIs and 66 T20Is so far. The wicketkeeper-batter was named as his home State Uttarakhand’s brand ambassador earlier this year.

Dangers of drowsy driving and sleep driving:

Drowsy driving and sleep driving are different although the consequence is similar. Drowsy driving slows the driver's reaction time because of a lag in perception and reaction while sleep driving means instant disaster.

Cricketer Rishabh Pant suffered from an attack of sleep at the wheel. Lack of enough rest and sleep, say for any reason, leads to a sudden drop in consciousness leading to a loss of balance and control over oneself (called attack of sleep) as is seen very commonly among passengers - jerking - in public transport. When one is engaged in any activity this attack coming out of nowhere leading to a momentary absence of concentration can cause a mishap in a split second.

This situation of sudden attack of sleep is not a sleep disorder like narcolepsy but only a clinical sign that is common occurrence when one does not get enough rest and, surely, is not preventable. No driver really knows the moment when sleep attack will come over, says a US study. In the case of drowsy driving, the tendency is to turn on the music or the radio, which will not help.

Sleep attack is a body mechanism to make up for the loss of sleep. According to a survey, young drivers are more prone to crashes due to drowsy driving and sleep driving.

Long distance travel fatigue and weather conditions can also induce a sleep attack or drowsiness.