[msdivy]

Originally Posted by vickzkool

Mandi, Himachal Pradesh: 24 students from an engineering college in Hyderabad are feared to have been washed away in the Beas river near Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Six of them are girls.

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cWcUl670d4

[Travelling_Monk]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Video:

This is a really tragic incident, resulting in loss of innocent lives due to sheer negligence from the power project department. Had there been proper warning before the gates were being lifted, things would have been different altogether. There was a similar incident which took place some where in Madhya Pradesh a few years back, also resulting in fatalities. My Question is, why the Government decides to take action after something terrible happens?

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by bigben

This happened right before my eyes. A crane rear ended this car. The way it went in reminded me of a coke can being crushed.
The car came to a sudden stop at a traffic light. The crane thought the car would clear the signal. The car applied brakes when the light changed to red. The crane not being able to stop in time did this!!

One of the very reasons I started slowing down for amber signals! The moment you speed up, the moron at your rear also will do the same thinking to skip the signal and any last minute change in your thought process can be expensive.

Instead, even if (rear vehicle) they honk to glory, I make sure I activate my hazards and slow down indicating that I am NOT jumping the signal at any cost!

[Thad E Ginathom]

The other day, a biker in front of me was waved down by police (no helmet, probably) and he just stopped. Obviously he did not check behind him, nor did he pull in to the side of the road.

I commented to my wife that the biker was stupid, but that it would have been my fault if I had hit him.

Likewise with the idiot I saw just stop his car in mid-road the other day. Idiot. But it was the fault of the guy behind that he hit him.

This is a no-discussion principle: if you rear-end someone it is your fault, regardless of if what they were doing was right, wrong or lunatic crazy.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

This is a no-discussion principle: if you rear-end someone it is your fault, regardless of if what they were doing was right, wrong or lunatic crazy.

Exactly! 'I didn't anticipate/expect he would stop so suddenly' is not a valid excuse to rear-end someone. The other person may be a lunatic, but then one should account for all sorts while driving.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

One of the very reasons I started slowing down for amber signals! The moment you speed up, the moron at your rear also will do the same thinking to skip the signal and any last minute change in your thought process can be expensive.

Instead, even if (rear vehicle) they honk to glory, I make sure I activate my hazards and slow down indicating that I am NOT jumping the signal at any cost!

Agree - that's always my worry. When I see the light turn amber, I always take a quick look in the RVM. Nowadays I regularly activate hazard lights in such cases and occasionally stop almost 4-5m ahead of the stop line, only to reverse back - just to be safe. In chennai there are far too many bikers or bus drivers who expect you to jump lights. Stopping correctly by western standards is a recipe to get rear ended.

My learning was from a trip to haridwar sometime back when a tractor trolley rear ended me (but at walking speeds in bumper-bumper traffic) for pretty much the same reason AND blamed me for not giving him more distance to brake!

I really feel sorry for the verna driver but I'm just happy that no one got hurt - the passenger compartment is intact.

[rahulsharma2008]

Spotted this Skoda Rapid at Appasaheb Marathe marg at Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Rapid's ultra sharp brakes might be the reason that it got rear ended so bad.

[suresh_gs]

On Saturday I spotted a volvo bus and a truck near madiwala police station. Looks like the truck banged into the rear of the volvo bus. The rear windshield and the left portion of the rear side took a severe beating.
The truck was damaged in the front.
Was not able to take snaps.

[Travelling_Monk]

Originally Posted by rahulsharma2008

Spotted this Skoda Rapid at Appasaheb Marathe marg at Prabhadevi, Mumbai. Rapid's ultra sharp brakes might be the reason that it got rear ended so bad.

Attachment 1249297

Looks like this Rapid got rear ended by a bike, or might have hit a pole while reversing. I have a constant fear of getting rear ended in rush hour traffic, when the only intention of people, especially bikers, at that point of time is to reach their destination, without paying heed to traffic rules (atleast in Hyderabad). In such situations, it is advisable to maintain a car's length gap from the vehicle in front, so that you get ample amount of time to brake, also the vehicle behind can manage to stop in time without rear ending you.

[Gotham_City]

An Audi A6 crashed into a pole at Britannia Chowk in Delhi claiming two lives.

http://http://www.financialexpress.c...cident/1259505

Two brothers lost their lives while two others were injured when a brand new Audi car, they were travelling in, had a horrific crash after the driver lost control of the vehicle near Britania Chowk in North West Delhi, police said today.

It must have taken a very high speed crash to reduce a safe and structurally sound Audi A6 to this state.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

It must have taken a very high speed crash to reduce a safe and structurally sound Audi A6 to this state.

I saw a report in The Hindu which suggested DUI at speeds exceeding 100 kmph.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/...cle6106460.ece

[.sushilkumar]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

An Audi A6 crashed into a pole at Britannia Chowk in Delhi claiming two lives.

As Per delhi edition of TOI , police has confirmed that both were drunk . When will these folks understand that drinking & driving is a sure recipe for disaster.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by Travelling_Monk

This is a really tragic incident, resulting in loss of innocent lives due to sheer negligence from the power project department. Had there been proper warning before the gates were being lifted, things would have been different altogether. There was a similar incident which took place some where in Madhya Pradesh a few years back, also resulting in fatalities. My Question is, why the Government decides to take action after something terrible happens?

While unnecessary loss of life is always regrettable, whatever happened to personal responsibility?

The whole ruckus post this incident reminds me of wayward drivers we meet on the streets everyday. It's everyone else's responsibility to keep them alive. If these people were close to a reservoir, did they take precautions to find out if/when the gates might open before venturing into danger zones? Is it really possible to have warning systems all the way downstream, or to patrol the entire downstream area for people each time before releasing water? The Indore incident is on Youtube and is sheer recklessness on part of the victims. (I believe GTO posted it on another thread somewhere recently).

The authorities may have been irresponsible, but one can't deny the fact the victims were irresponsible with their personal safety too.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Travelling_Monk

There was a similar incident which took place some where in Madhya Pradesh a few years back, also resulting in fatalities. My Question is, why the Government decides to take action after something terrible happens?

Yes you are talking about the disaster at Pathalpani falls near Indore. It was painful to see the family go in a huddle only to be washed away to death. Lots of people were screaming at the family members asking them to rush to the land but it was too late before the waters had their final say.

[IshaanIan]

I have seen several instances on this thread, of cars "losing control" and hitting something. Instances where expensive cars are involved, really confuse me; most cars costing over a million rupees today, are equipped with an electronic stability monitoring/control program. Now I have personally witnessed and tested these technologies in several cars including mine, in closed, controlled spaces and I have even experienced this by accident while driving a friend's car and losing control at high speeds (my negligence, I admit.) in a corner due to not seeing the presence of sand. Once the car is sliding sideways, as long as the system is activated (which it is by default everytime the car is turned on), all you need to do is point the wheel in the direction you intend on going, and the system brakes/cuts off power etc. to individual wheels after monitoring their separate speeds, direction in which the nose is pointed and direction in which the steering wheel is pointed, to set you on the right track. It is really simple. I understand that some accidents occur at really high speeds where there is no time to react but otherwise, the number of reported instances, the vast majority being ones with loads of road and speeds under 120, where people still end up crashing, baffles me. Do drivers of these cars not know how to use the technology, do they instinctively freeze up? What exactly occurs?