ANIL K. NARENDRAN, J.

The appellants are the claimants in O.P.(MV)No.1177/2000 on the file of the Additional Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Palakkad, a claim petition filed under Section 166 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 claiming compensation on account of the death of one Venkiteswaran, in a motor accident which occurred on 2.6.2000 at about 6.30 pm, at a place called Padalodemedu in Kuzhalmannam, on the National Highway-47. The appellants are the parents of the deceased who was aged 27 years. The deceased who was working as a Sales Executive in Bharat Shell Ltd. was driving his Maruti 800 car bearing Registration No.KL-13/E-7463 from Kochi to Erode. While the deceased was trying to overtake a bus, the car hit on a lorry bearing Registration No.GJ-3/V-8666 owned, driven and insured by respondents 1 to 3, which came in the opposite direction. It is alleged in the claim petition that, due to darkness all around, all the vehicles plying on the road have switched on the headlights, except the lorry driven by the 2nd respondent. When the lorry reached the place of accident, the 2nd respondent suddenly switched on the headlights and halted the lorry, blurring the vision of