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First of all RIP to the departed souls. I would sorely blame the XUV driver for this mishap. From the picture it looks pretty clear that the lorry was parked outside the driving lane.
How on earth the XUV driver managed to hit the lorry is a mystery.

As mentioned below probably he dozed off and hit the railing first before hitting the truck.

It always better to take a quick nap rather than risking everyone's life when you feel sleepy. Even a 5-10 minutes nap helps a lot during long drives.

I think the truck driver can be booked under illegal parking on ORR and its consequences. ORR has no stopping or parking rule except a few places where there is a dedicated stopping lane that is outside the lane 1 and clearly marked.

Also, no under-run protection which is a rule.

Look closely - the broken white line you see on the right of the truck is the lane marking. Continuous white line is to the extreme left indicating road border. Truck was parked in lane 1.

Quite debatable. What if one runs out of fuel, or has a flat ?
For instance, this truck ran out of fuel.

Is it a rule in India (as in documented in MVA) ? I would be happy if it is so.

The continuous white line on the left - I suppose you can only park a 2-wheeler there, not even a 3-wheeler. Forget stopping a 4 or a 8 wheeler !!

I would say, the markings are a design fault. So why not book the contractor ?
In anycase, what was the SUV doing in that lane, if it was been driven so fast ?

Incase of an emergency you are allowed to bring your vehicle to the side and park it there. This is even clearly mentioned on the ORR. However, I admit the truck ought to be booked unless it had working tail lamps, hazard lamps and under-run protection bar,

Not monitoring the fuel gauge and allowing the vehicle to run out of fuel is again driver's fault. These are some of the implicit responsibilities of the driver. If the excuse is that fuel gauge was not working, then the question again boils down as to why the driver drove a truck that was not road-worthy. These are things which most of the businesses disregard in the interest of profits. Minor glitches that need to be corrected would not be repaired promptly if it means sacrificing a trip and additional revenue. When owners follow that motto, they should be accountable for the consequences too.

The ORR clearly has sign-boards every few kilometers that mention you should not stop on the expressway. If a driver thinks his vehicle is not fit enough for such roads, it is the responsibility of the driver to ensure he takes an alternate route and not the expressway. I agree that there could be unforeseen issues but if the incident that led to the stopping is something that could have been avoided, the driver doesn't get any excuses.

P.S: I'm not trying to say that XUV driver is not to be blamed, but the truck driver is also accountable since he has violated a few rules, most likely due to his negligence in the maintenance of his vehicle. Unfortunately, this is something that most people in this country would accept as part and parcel of day to day driving conditions. However, if we are not ready to the standards followed in developed countries, we don't deserve such high speed roads either.

The XUV victims are no longer so whom will they file a case onto! I know it is the lorry driver for sure.

The XUV driver dozed off behind the wheel so rammed into the lorry parked on the extreme left.

I guess that portion is the merging point of an entry mostly onto the ORR road.

I am happy that the driver did go to the extreme left and stopped else there would have been even more causalities. Generally with my usage, I have seen broken down tractor's, lorries and Tata Ace's stopped where they want without any sense of traffic. A few stones and branches are hung making the rest of the users aware of the problem.

Anurag.

Having road worthy vehicle is responsibility of driver. Stopping trucks anywhere but parking area is technically illegal but with no enforcement of basic rules this is something that I'd given a blind eye by all. And all types of local politicos jump in whenever truck lobby is unhappy

Agree to the above. But the reality is just the opposite. 99% of trucks we see on the roads do not have working tail lamps, hazard lamps and protection bars:Frustrati. The RTOs should take strict action against such vehicles.

^XUV driver and passengers already paid a heavy price for driver dozing off. Agree that XUV was at fault. However, for once think if that truck wasn't there, very high chances that most of the XUV passengers were alive today.
Driver dozing off is again a theory someone made based on the vehicle hit the fence first, who knows it was trying to overtake another fast moving vehicle with left lane and suddenly saw the truck parked, driver may have hit the fence in panic to avoid the fast moving vehicle and the parked truck or there can be another theory!! How many instances we have seen where parked heavy vehicles caused such fatal accidents! Parked vehicle is equally responsible here (or may be more), now for what reason he had to park the truck is another argument which court may anyway go over.
EDIT: again, good chances that driver dozed off or hit the truck in panic since looking at the image and impact, doesn't look like an attempt brake the vehicle was made!

Caused? Sorry, no.

Car runs into stationary object. it's the stationary object's fault. No, it isn't! Primarily and substantially it is the car driver's fault, even if the stationary object shouldn't have been there and even if the stationary object is another vehicle that should not have been there.

Drivers are supposed to look where we are going.

Any one has the pictures of the accident that took place near Lonavla? Different stories in TOI website.

Source link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/44258193.cms

The driver of the ill fated bus that fell into the gorge was beaten up for rash driving before the accident took place:eek:.


Source link:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/44258297.cms


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I agree with you. 999% of times, my speed is always proportional to my visibility ahead and probabilities of uncertain conditions, I expect them to be there and don't do blind maneuvers. So why I expressed different opinion, may be the emotions behind the lost lives made me say that! Last Sunday, I saw one such instance where the backside of truck was beyond the driver seat of a WagonR on 6 lane road where truck was parked in the left most lane. I guess we need to learn/understand that we don't deserve such fast roads.

Completely agree. Even if the truck was moving at crawling speeds or 10 or 20 kmph which sometimes they are, the severity of the accident would have been similar. The truck having a low barrier would have helped a lot in this case.

Did the truck cause the accident?. No. But I would think it caused the deaths. May be they would have survived but for the truck which was not supposed to be there, especially if it didn't have any under run protection and hazard lights on in case it was a break down. Involuntary manslaughter ? My belief is that the stationary object just didn't show up there and someone must be made responsible for that. Everyone on the road shares the responsibility. When the lights turns green for me I start moving hoping that no would come in from the side. I do look to the sides, especially during the odd hours when the traffic is thin knowing some drivers tend to depend not on the signal but their own judgement to cross. I don't think I will be able to do that continuously though as I have to watch the traffic in my lane as well. If we start to absolve all those who break the rules on the pretext that we have to be careful irrespective of the circumstances we may end up with chaos as I believe that's an approach that would only encourage those who break the law willfully and probably get more people to do it. I know you are champion of this perspective and I agree that it's definitely safer given the scant respect for law in this land but I just can't accept that no one else can be made accountable in such cases.