[coolclouds]

As per local news, they reached their hometown on Saturday and returned by Sunday 7pm. Since the accident happened on ghat section which is known for high speed zig zag overtaking, it may be a case of losing control than falling asleep.

RIP poor souls

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by abirnale

I was under impression that, you can stay in right most lane while on such roads if you are going straight provided that it is NOT right only lane.

That would be true if it was not a 'right only' lane, and it had a road marking like this:

source

Though common sense and being extra-safe should trump road markings when driving in India, as they are often wrong, outdated or just plain unsafe!

In this particular case (or any case) where there are 3 lanes trying to turn right, there's absolutely no chance that the right-most lane will be a straight-OR-right lane. It will be right-only.

If it's not, then its a case of poorly done / incorrect road signage.

Originally Posted by msdivy

(You need to login to read. The answer says the opening is at the bottom & 'V' shape makes it easy to empty.)

Thanks for finding that! (BTW - You can click "Close & Read first answer" that is in small text below the pop-up).

cya
R

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

As per local news, they reached their hometown on Saturday and returned by Sunday 7pm. Since the accident happened on ghat section which is known for high speed zig zag overtaking, it may be a case of losing control than falling asleep.

RIP poor souls

The article says the family was returning to bangalore which means you are climbing up the thoppur ghats. If one is driving down the ghats, there is a possibility of one loosing control over the vehicle. It's only my speculation.
Could be the driver dozed off at the wheels.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Could be the driver dozed off at the wheels.

You could be right.

Though it is a ghat section, most cars while climbing do 60 to 100 kmph in between 5-30 kmph heavy vehicles which may result in an accident. Zig zag driving is very little while going down compared to other direction.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Really sad to hear that. To be near Salem at 6, they must've started from Tiruvalla at least by 2 o'clock. High chances that the driver dozed off. Driving without adequate sleep on the night before is quite common with taxi drivers. It may not be any different here, and for sure it a caused loss of lives.

Might be they left their home at Thiruvalla much earlier. Google map shows the distance between Thiruvalla and Salem to be 430 kms. From mannuthy to Walayar it is WIP. So covering this distance in approx 4 hrs could be a case of rash driving.

[sandeep3in]

http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bi...D=@@@&tabId=11

The above link has the details of the accident that happened at Mecheri near Salem , a photo of the family is also available at the above link along with the car.

As per the news reported, they left Thiruvulla at 7 PM .

Forgot to mention that the news is in Malayalam

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Though it is a ghat section, most cars while climbing do 60 to 100 kmph in between 5-30 kmph heavy vehicles which may result in an accident. Zig zag driving is very little while going down compared to other direction.

The zigzagging often involves driving through the shoulder also, when both the lanes are taken up by crawling trucks.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Might be they left their home at Thiruvalla much earlier...

I was wrong. Wanted to write midnight, but somehow I ended up writing 2am. Anyway, the news says they'd left at 7pm the previous night, and covering Thiruvalla-Dharmapuri in 11 hours is some sedate driving.

What I've observed is, 2-laned roads, especially inside Kerala keep the drivers on their toes, thanks to the traffic density. This makes the driver mentally tired. The 4-laned highways takes away the stress, and the tiredness can get converted to drowsiness, resulting in the driver dozing off.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The zigzagging often involves driving through the shoulder also, when both the lanes are taken up by crawling trucks.


I was wrong. Wanted to write midnight, but somehow I ended up writing 2am. Anyway, the news says they'd left at 7pm the previous night, and covering Thiruvalla-Dharmapuri in 11 hours is some sedate driving.

What I've observed is, 2-laned roads, especially inside Kerala keep the drivers on their toes, thanks to the traffic density. This makes the driver mentally tired. The 4-laned highways takes away the stress, and the tiredness can get converted to drowsiness, resulting in the driver dozing off.

Might be this was a case of overtaking a truck from the left of the shoulder. Apparently the driver would not have noticed a gap ahead of him that would have resulted in the car nosediving below.
RIP to the departed souls

[gurudutt]

Originally Posted by sandeep3in

http://www.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bi...D=@@@&tabId=11

The above link has the details of the accident that happened at Mecheri near Salem , a photo of the family is also available at the above link along with the car.

As per the news reported, they left Thiruvulla at 7 PM .

Forgot to mention that the news is in Malayalam

Also, the damage to the rear of the car seems less. Not sure if the lady sitting behind might have escaped with injuries if she was wearing seat belts?

[zenren]

Originally Posted by silversteed

What I've observed is, 2-laned roads, especially inside Kerala keep the drivers on their toes, thanks to the traffic density. This makes the driver mentally tired.

Fully agree on that aspect. An average speed of 40km/h is what I normally got from the so called National Highways in Kerala, based on over 50 trips of 200km+ within Kerala in the last 10 years so. If you drive really fast, you might be able to get an average speed around 50 but not much higher.

With the speed radars in place, its even more tiring since there are only a handful of stretches where you can safely drive ~100 km/h which are exactly the spots where the police vehicles station themselves to catch the 'offenders'. I got fined twice for speeding, once with 76 and another time with 74! Too much concentration is wasted on ensuring that the needle stays below 70, with people forced to take their eyes off the road more frequently than before which makes driving more dangerous than before.

These days, most drivers are unwilling to slow down much in the denser areas if they can help it since they cannot go above 70 even in the clear stretches.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by silversteed

What I've observed is, 2-laned roads, especially inside Kerala keep the drivers on their toes, thanks to the traffic density. This makes the driver mentally tired.

Agree to this 100%. Usually when I drive to Kerala for vacations, I start off from Bangalore to my wife's home in Tirur, stay there for a couple of days, then move on to my home in Kannur. I take somewhere around 9-10 hours for covering the 400 odd km from Bangalore to Tirur, and around 3.5-4 hours to cover the 150 odd km from Tirur to Kannur. The Tirur-Kannur drive through some of the busiest roads of NH 17 especially Between Kozhikode and Kannur drains me out completely compared to the Bangalore-Tirur drive.
You have to be on your toes throughout the stretch because of the traffic and pedestrian density. The moment someone gets a straight stretch, they tend to relax bit and floor the pedal.

[bharat4ever]

Not in India but reminded me of that i20 accident a while back.

South African defender Rooi Mahamutsa somehow walks away from this.

[myavu]

Ouch!

The fencing had pierced from the rear. The speed may have been close to 200kmph.

A BMW perfectly nailed

Thank god for saving the driver to see what he had done to his car.

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

Not in India but reminded me of that i20 accident a while back.

South African defender Rooi Mahamutsa somehow walks away from this.

Jesus Christ!!! Thats horrible.

BTW the car is in wrong lane and the fate of the car explains it was being driven at high speed. Looks like another case of case celebrity's negligent driving or drunk and drive? Though without enough info, its just a guessing.

[zenren]

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

Not in India but reminded me of that i20 accident a while back.

South African defender Rooi Mahamutsa somehow walks away from this.

Attachment 1223815
Attachment 1223816
Attachment 1223817

I can't imagine how the rail pierced from the rear of the car. Was he going in reverse at 200km/h or what?