"Everything was fine and then suddenly a few hours later, we learnt of his accident. Now that he's gone, what continues to bother us is that we don't even know who or what killed him,'' says Ranjana. Besides, till the time the vehicle is not traced, Ranjana and her two sons, aged 11 and eight, cannot expect any insurance claim.

Mehta's case is no exception. This year alone, 40 hit-and- run cases have been reported, police sources say. Last year, the figure was a whopping 146 about 40 per cent of the total number of accidents. "In case of hit-and-run cases where the registration number is not known, we are totally helpless,'' admits SSP CSR Reddy. Police statistics reveal that in 1997, of a total of 150 accident deaths, 91 persons died either while they were being taken to the hospital or at the hospital. ``The biggest problem with hit-and-run cases is that people do not come forward to help the injured, simply because there is a fear in their minds that it would mean unwanted legal wranglings,''explains Reddy. "In case an accident victim is helped by anybody and taken to the hospital for medical aid, it is not necessary for him to disclose his name and address and he cannot be cited as a witness forcibly,'' he adds.

Reddy, however, admits that the police have not done much to publicise this fact. Sources in the traffic police point out that though the police have written to the licencing authority to suspend the licences of those charged with causing accident deaths -- a provision in the Motor Vehicles Act--there's little that can be done about unknown drivers. Also, fleeing the accident site after the accident, is punishable under the law. "But every option fails, if the vehicle involved is not known. The only hope is that whenever people see an accident happen, they at least tell the police who did it,'' a senior traffic official adds.