3 min readNew DelhiJun 29, 2026 04:22 PM IST
Thirteen members of a family from Haryana’s Bahadurgarh left for Haridwar for a short trip on Friday. One car had six occupants, the other had seven. They took the newly opened Delhi-Dehradun expressway. One moved ahead, the other followed about 7-8 km behind. And then, the latter missed a ‘cut’ and took a flyover by mistake. What followed was a move that would cost them four lives.
The hatchback’s driver decided to reverse and get off the flyover, a mistake drivers routinely commit on expressways and flyovers to avoid rerouting. This accident, which took place near Halgoya cut in Saharanpur, showed the potential cost of such a decision.
Satyadev said the driver was reversing the car to ask the operator of an excavator, seen in the video, where the next exit was. It was during this attempt that an SUV rammed the hatchback from behind. The crash was captured by a CCTV camera in the area.
Annual trip ends in tragedy
Satyadev, who was in the other car, said the trip to Haridwar was an annual plan on the family’s calendar. They finalised the dates mid-June and also booked rooms in Haridwar for the short trip. The 13 family members got into two cars and left for the destination. About an hour away from Haridwar, disaster struck. Four members of the family – eight-year-old Shivansh, his grandmother Sudhesh Devi (65), uncle Praveen (42), and aunt Preeti (33) were killed in the mishap.
“We left home at noon, and around 3 pm, I got a call from my sister-in-law that their car had met with an accident. When we reached, they had already been taken to a hospital,” he said. Praveen and his brother, Jaidev, who has suffered serious injuries, ran a transport business.
Four people, including a child, were killed in the crash on the Delhi-Dehradun expressway
A family devastated
Satyadev said the family is now worried for Jaidev. “After running a CT scan, they said his condition is not stable. It will take a long time to recover. Now, who will take care of our family?”
Praveen and Preeti have left behind children aged 10 and 13 years, who were in the other car. “They were with me at the crematorium…” he said, sobbing on the phone. Jaidev has not been told about his son’s death since he is in the hospital.
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“The entire family was dependent on Praveen and Jaidev. How are we going to survive?” he said, urging Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to help the family.
A fatal, and common, error
The Delhi-Dehradun expressway mishap has spotlighted a common, but fatal, error that drivers commit when they miss a turn on highways or take a flyover by mistake. Instead of driving on and rerouting, they opt to reverse and ‘correct’ the error. This move, however, can be fatal on expressways where vehicles are moving at a speed of 100 km per hour or more, and sudden braking or lane change is dangerous.