Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3488577)

Bikers... See that and take note: If a vehicle is turning right, overtake on left. If a vehicle is turning left, overtake on right.

If you don't follow this simple rule (and many don't) you may not live long. Yes, we all have to die, but why scratch somebody else's paintwork doing it?

offence intended.

~

Almost the exact same thing happened today. A moron just insisted on overtaking me (on Beach road, besant nagar!!) when he had the road free to my right, in spite of me turning left with full indicator and horn fully blaring.

Was a bit of game happening- I moved a bit to the left to give him more space to the right, but he instead took it as a challenge. Exasperated, I overshot my turn, slowed down to a crawl (was originally ~30ish) with hazard lights on till he passed me, then I turned my left blinker on, pulled over, took a U turn and then went back to the turn off.

Why are some people such morons!

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnvvishwa (Post 3491298)

Can you please someone explain me how could it happened to a parked car that to on the running bed.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ad3952n (Post 3491315)

Buddy, to the best of my knowledge, either of these could be the culprit:

2) The motorbike foot pegs:

Most probably a two wheeler lost control and hit your car. Couple of years back I got a similar hit from a two wheeler who lost control and hit my car below the front door. It was the foot rest which got in touch with my car.

This news is really terrible. This guy earned this wrath upon himself. Getting a Bike worth Rs. 1 Lakh as a birthday gift by selling of his mother's jewellery - riding it without an helmet - dying just few days before his birthday is just more than terrible. I'm not sure how the parents must be digesting this.

More on this link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/39083969.cms

Quote:

Originally Posted by mnvvishwa (Post 3491323)

One of my colleague told me that paint less dent removal is not possible on the running bed, is it true?

I have the exact same problem on my Polo when a biker tried to execute a tricky maneuver at relatively high speed while I was standing at a signal. The sales centre quoted 15k citing total replacement and inability to 'fix' the dent. Luckily the Polo sides are already skirted and this plastic dent is not too apparent so for now I am living with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumar R (Post 3492224)

This is the normal excuse given by VW showrooms. I had taken similar hits on the running board of my Polo. They gave the same excuse of replacement and gave an estimate of 30K. The running board replacement is quite a complex task which involves welding, sealing etc. I told to go ahead and opted for insurance. But as expected insurance guys gave approval only for repair. The showroom guys did not have any other option, but to repair it. Finally the repair turned out as good as replacement. The charges was ~4K. I withdrew my claim and paid from my pocket.
So if bare metal is exposed get it repaired ASAP, specially if you are in a place where it rains a lot or coastal area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gabrielthomas (Post 3491837)

Sad state :Frustrati Looks like peer pressure, and a pampered kid. The parents have gone to the extent of selling some of his mother's jewels to meet his demands. What is sad is that his father was making "arrangements" to get his license, and a bike was purchased even before that!! Also a student getting admitted to an engineering college, did not understand the need for safety or comply with the basic rule of having a DL before riding a 2 wheeler.

Came accross this interesting article from Times of India

Source link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/39382988.cms

TAILGATING BEHIND 45% OF HIGHWAY CRASHES

Quote:

NEW DELHI: Data from about 130 crashes involving different vehicles on Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch of NH-8 has indicated speeding, overloading and improper driving as some of the main reasons behind highways crashes.

The data and trends are based on an ongoing crash investigation project by NATRiP in association with IIT-Delhi. This is part of a pilot project undertaken by the road transport ministry to provide cashless treatment to crash victims to reduce fatalities.

NATRiP officials said that though over 600 crashes were reported, they have collected in-depth data of 134 motor vehicle accidents. NATRiP is the government's apex agency for vehicle research and testing.

Almost 45% of the crashes investigated were due to tailgating or when vehicles follow each other too closely. Among other reasons identified speeding caused 28 accidents, overloading 16 and improper driving another 15 mishaps. The other key causative factors were lane change, wrong turn, vehicle defect and driver fatigue.

"The trend of crashes in most of NHs with divided carriageway would be same. If we have a stringent enforcement on speeding and overloading, crashes can be reduced significantly. Once more and more data from similar projects emerges, it will help us to formulate policies," a road transport ministry official said.

The crash data analysis shows that in most of the accidents heavy vehicle and four-wheelers were involved. Similarly, two-wheelers, buses and tractors had a good share in the total number of accidents.

The NATRiP-IIT(Delhi) analysis showed that while 10% of crashes were fatal in nature, 24% of them reported grievous injuries. In another 29%, the injuries were minor in nature.

One of the main reasons for tailgating is low relative power of cars that we have here. A powerful and fast car doesn't need to tailgate as it can leave a sufficient gap in-front and cover ground easily when an opportunity for overtaking arise.

But that doesn't mean powerful cars don't tailgate on our roads here. Maybe its because of habit. They might have upgraded from a slower car or a bike where poking the nose is the norm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deetjohn (Post 3493871)

Another reason: If you leave sufficient room between yourself and the vehicle in front, there is always the 'smart guy' who would overtake you and squeeze into that gap, making the gap you left back to zero.

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Originally Posted by Bubby (Post 3487353)

And why on Earth at this time we still have unmanned crossings anywhere, how much infrastructure is needed to create manned crossings?

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Originally Posted by sukhoi30 (Post 3487397)

It is the responsibility of railways to setup a manned or automated crossing at all places where the rails cut across roads.

There are several unmanned crossings in the USA (atleast in Texas) but I never get to hear of such stupidity there. Why? Because the idea of safety is drilled into driver heads without which they'd never get a license.

I don't need my tax money to be spent trying to fix driver stupidity.

A driver is supposed to stop, and look both ways before proceeding at rail crossings, period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deetjohn (Post 3493871)

I believe it is more due to habit and bad driving rather than cars not being powerful. Plus our roads where more often than not there is congestion. And of course, the age-old Indian habit of wanting to be 'first' in everything.

I find myself being tailgated constantly, and in most cases it's not as though the guy behind will get any advantage by doing so. And to make things worse if I put any more than 2 metres distance between myself and the car in front someone will try to squeeze in. Almost without exception once a day I hear the screech of brakes as these last moment tailgators have to make some "emergency" halt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by phamilyman (Post 3491664)

And not just the bikers my friend, even the 4 wheelers are to be blamed. How many time have we seen the cars
1) abruptly pulling over without indicating (expressing the intent)
2) stopping on the road shoulder or on the left most lane to buy from road side vendors
3) not turning the indicators at least 50 meters ahead.
4) reversing on the wrong side to rejoin the ramp or turn.

I mostly see them turning the indicators ON only at the time of turn causing havoc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoseVijay (Post 3493854)

TAILGATING BEHIND 45% OF HIGHWAY CRASHES

Here is another reason and yes, I have seen a lot of trucks which are from the same convoy indulge in tailgating another truck very closely and wondered why they do that when he can always overtake the other one.

A plain myth or a hard fact but cannot rule out this reason:

http://www.treehugger.com/cars/draft...s-it-work.html

Funkykar - Recall our discussion when we drove to Goa 2 weeks before when we spotted similar looking trucks tailing so close to each other on an empty stretch??

Quote:

it is the sport of squeezing a gallon of gas until it screams. One popular technique is drafting, or driving really close behind big rigs to get into the low-pressure zone created as they move through the air. According to Discover online, driving in this "free ride zone" not only save fuel for the tailgating driver, but also for the trucker, who is getting a little high pressure push.

Until something happens. Tim Haab at Environmental Economics shows test results from Mythbusters:

* In scaled wind-tunnel tests, driving 100 feet behind a semi at 55 mph will reduce drag on your car by 40%. The drag reduction increases as you approach the bumper of the truck until you get a 93% drag reduction at a distance of 2 feet.

* In road tests, the testers achieved an almost 20% improvement in gas mileage at a distance of 100 feet (at 55 mph) and a 45% improvement at 10 feet.

Tim also calculates that at 100 feet you have 1.25 seconds to respond if the truck slams on the brakes, (keep off that cell phone) and at ten feet you have .124 seconds. The reccommended distance at 55 miles per hour is 150 feet