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This is about an incident I got to see a few days back in Pune - on 21st July, around 11.30 p.m. between Rakshak Chowk and Aundh. The road is a wide 6 to 8 lane route, with BRTS lanes being constructed.

A Honda City had ridden over the divider with the car completely stuck up over the 1+ feet high divider. Initially thought of stopping over to help, but then I saw the occupants. The guys were completely drunk, standing outside the car with beer bottles in hand.

Funny thing - the road was completely empty with hardly a soul around. Dunno what made him veer over towards the divider! (note : rhetorical Q! :D )

But with the number of openings in the divider without any sign boards make the high speed lane the riskiest too.

Most bikers in my mother country recognise that their vehicle is the most dangerous in the world, and drive to minimise that danger. Not here. Why-oh-why when there is plenty of road space, must bikers overtake within touching distance? A moment's inattention on the steering of the car, and they get nudged: maybe killed. It's easy to give, and take space to be safe in.

YaeJay, of course I understand that the safe, good bikers are the ones we don't even notice, let alone write about. You guys do exist.

How is it the safest, honeybee? It is closest to the fastest-moving traffic, and, where there is a divider, has the added risk for a biker of getting trapped between it and another vehicle.

Sorry honeybee, I am not a biker but I fail to see how the right side of the road is the safest. Right side is for overtaking, fast vehicles and crossings / divider intersections. By driving a bike on the right side you are at risk each time a vehicle attempts to speed or overtake and each time you come to a gap in the divider. On left side you are the faster vehicle and have to watch out for pedestrians and cyclists but there is always the option to go slow.

And then there are roads where the right lane is for traffic turning right at the next intersection, where you need to choose your lane based on your direction of travel. On such roads, it would be a bad idea to stay on the left lane and then attempt a right turn.

If you look at where the rear wheels of the van are, it makes me wonder if he was taking the u-turn from the right-most lane or not.

Either way, no doubting what everyone is preaching on this thread about the best practices for safety.

My guess is that he was looking down (naturally, to try and navigate his bike across whatever little he could see of the bridge). Now the thing is that the water was flowing left to right, which made him sub-consciously steer towards the right (as if the water was solid ground and he was trying to go "straight"). Maybe he would have had better luck if he looked at a fixed object straight ahead and used that as a reference point.

cya
R

Exactly. The angle at which the pick up is lying and the position of rear wheels suggest that it was a rather drastic turn. May be the biker was taken by surprise in this case and din't get enough time to stop. That's one probability.

Of course, there are instances in which bikers, and other vehicles, get caught out by an unsignalled and unexpected turn.

It can still be covered by the rules though:

-- don't overtake at a junction/intersection

-- don't overtake on a corner

Spotted this one in the Park Circus area of Kolkata yesterday.

And also

-- don't change lanes without proper signal and without giving enough time for the oncoming traffic to pass safe and clear if they are too close to let you pass.

It could be that the biker din't have any intention of overtaking in the first place IF he was just riding on in the right lane when (IF) the pick up just took a right turn too soon for the biker to react.

Has happened to me once at Bangalore in outer ring road. The other way round actually. I was on the right side lane in my car and suddenly this biker on the extreme left takes a sharp right towards the divider opening without any warning or signal with indicator lamps or hand. I jammed the brakes but still din't have enough time to avoid a minor contact with his bike causing him and wife to fall on the road. Immediately took them to the nearest hospital and got everything checked up. Fortunately just some minor scratches to him and the lady had no injuries. Bike was intact too. Only my car bumper due to contact with the bike's hot silencer got slightly burnt. The point is, I had no intention of overtaking anyone at the junction because there was a whole empty lane between him and me when I was driving on extreme right lane with him on the extreme left lane on the 3 lane road (on one side). And I wasn't driving at such high speeds either. Was just cruising at normal speeds. I just lost a few hours and some cash at the hospital for no fault of mine. It could have been worse. Thank God they were safe at least.

This one is spotted by my friend yesterday, near Pune.



No further details on this though.


Sent from my iPhone using Team-BHP

The incident happened on NH17B (This is a 40 Kms National Highway between Ponda and Vasco). There is another road NH17A (this is a short 19Kms National highway between Cortalim to Vasco. These are are some what like parallel roads and the only 2 roads leading to Vasco.

NH17B is a 4 lane road with a proper median strip. An internal connecting road from NH17A joins the NH17B at this point of intersection (The red arrow in the picture) It is a pretty busy junction as lots of vehicles comiing from Panaji side and going to airport or Bogmalo (Both on NH17B) take this connecting road to arrive at NH17B. you can also see another internal road (Blue arrow) joining the highway at the same junction ( about 50 meters from the connecting road).

So it appears that the truck could be coming from the blue local road joining the highway or was on the left lane on the highway (the green arrow) and taking a U turn to the right. Lots of vehicles criss-cross at this junction and the biker has a clear 100-120 meters view of the road while approaching the junction so he could not have missed a truck turning to the right.

All vehicles invariably slow down at this junction as there is always a possibility of some vehicle coming from the internal roads and cutting across the highway. The bike being a local one I am sure he must be aware of the traffic situation. so in my opinion it is a clear case of mis judgement and carelessness and an error on the part of the biker.

That's all correct in theory, but often I wonder if the left side is meant for overtaking, the way vehicles stick to the rightmost lane without budging.

I have often experienced a massive slowdown or a jam whenever a slow moving vehicle is hogging the rightmost lane. Why? Because people have to wait for a gap in the left lane. Much difficult than finding a gap in the lane on your right. Also this makes you slow down without option.

When I drive in the middle lane I must watch the right mirror, then the left mirror and then again the right. When I drive on the far right, I only have to look at the left one.

Best practised on long stretches without an unregulated breach in the median, such as the EEH.

Whoa! This accident sent the chills down my spine. That fortuner is totalled!
Lucky it wasn't a hatchback or any other vehicle.
Drive safe guys.

This one is scary. And it was a Fortuner. Any news about the occupants?

Looks as if the Oil tanker jumped the median and crashed against the side of the Fortuner, which might also have hit the median in order to swerve right.