Team-BHP - Accidents in India

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Originally Posted by for_cars1 (Post 3814400)

There will always be a percentage of people who are not willing to abide (even though they may be aware).
There is no way to minimize such cases except with effective policing and levying high penalties.

This is exactly why we should have signboards(for any violation by pedestrian / motorist) at all vantage points on highways/ roads in short wherever a vehicle is able to ride through.
This signboard should be for both the pedestrian and the motorist.

The human mind is very strange it seeks compassion when in the wrong and justice when wronged. We Indians use it to the best AFAIK

It maybe off-topic, but I think manufacturers should come up cars where the speedometers stop working on the highway/high speeds. Early days, I used to look at the meters and try to maintain a speed. But from the last few years, I just drive at a comfortable speed. Bangalore chennai route sees a speed of 100-110. Six laned but the surface is bumpy at speeds like NICE road. The old 4 lane surface was much smoother. Bangalore Hyderabad highway is the only road, so far, when I drive at a safe and comfortable pace and see 120-130 on the speedo. Smooth surface, minimal traffic and mostly a deserted highway. Single laned roads, it's 70-80 max.

A Scorpio can do 120 all day. But, it's ridiculous to push it to do the same speed on a curve. Maybe it's an 80 curve in an otherwise 120 road. But if the subconscious didn't know the speed and the eyes were on the road - judging the curve, reducing speed, the Scorpio would come out safe from the curve. Kids will not have a figure to boast of.

Not a bulletproof theory, but works for me. My drives are smoother, safer and I must say faster. Somehow the number of breaks I take has reduced, probably due to lesser stress. I find myself looking more often in the rear view mirrors, to give way, in case I'm the slow one out there. There's no slow lane concept here and overtaking is done even from the shoulder lane.

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Originally Posted by honeybee (Post 3814476)

Driving at 70-80kmph is definitely less stressful than driving at 100+kmph. However today the drivers simply do not adhere to the safety norms

I think its for the driver to asses if he is driving within control, that may be 70 or 80 or 100. Speeds are based on how your stretch is really. No single number is good for all roads.

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Originally Posted by honeybee (Post 3814476)

abs and airbags which gives a false sense of protection to the driver encouraging speeding. Also there is no driver training to sensitize them about the safety norms.

I do not for a moment believe that someone who has intentionally bought a car that has ABS & Airbags is actually keen to test it out:) We sincerely hope that when the time comes they do their job, but I am never counting on it.

We need a lot of education on safe driving. Most Indians drive like crazy thinking - it (accident) won't happen to us.

Not so much an accident, more like dozens of accidents. And deaths.

India's highway of death creates village of widows (BBC News)

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National Highway 44 is a road with a deadly reputation.

It connects India's north and south and has been blamed for the deaths of an alarming number of south Indian tribal villagers who live alongside it.

One such village is Peddakunta, belonging to the Mahbubnagar district of Telangana, and lying adjacent to the highway bypass.

Tiny Peddakunta is easy to locate because of its reputation as the "village of highway widows".

In the village of 35 huts and families, there is only one male adult. Thirty seven others have died, and three have left the village for good. ... ... ...

This is possibly the most shocking thing I have ever heard about this country's official apathy and disregard for the life and safety of individuals.

(Yes, it is the BBC... and I have come to consider their coverage of India to be often ignorant, condescending, and even insulting. This article appears to be straightforward and honest)

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Originally Posted by Added_flavor (Post 3813539)

Sharing a few wise words said by a fellow rider in relation to the superbike accidents being discussed.

Three high speed crashes yesterday with a category of bikes that I associate myself with- bikes with a lot of cc, a lot of HP- this side of a helicopter turbine, a lot of Nm or torque- easily the most this side of road rollers.

A Daytona 675R went down with its rider- fatally just north of Mumbai.
Another just as expensive or twice so- Ducati Hypermotard 821- literally broke into two around Lavasa, with news that its rider is alive- and then as if it wasn’t enough a bike twice that cost- a BMW S1000RR HP4, went down in Hyderabad again taking its rider with it- to heaven.

Time and again- too much, too little training, too little time acclimatizing to the throttle- and hanging with the wrong kind of people.

The fragile human ego- is easily challenged and at the drop of a hat ready to compete in a show of faster, further, stronger- at anytime. I think ego sometimes doubles up as a pimp for the God of Death.

In sequence- you have to find the right guys to learn from, observe, and train with- and in this only your karma can guide you. After that its your hand that guides you and your upbringing that tempers you- and the sense of what is right and wrong, inculcated in you that will prevent you from chasing people who are more proficient than you- and your judgement that there will always be someone better than you- eventually. And that its ok.
A commercial airline pilot, trained to handle emergencies and save the lives of the hundred who fly with him- if he could fall prey to the lure of being quick, being ahead- then others with far less training, I dread the coming days on the highways.

I call out to group leaders, riders who are looked up on be younger and newer fraternity to encourage good riding, and to be able to cultivate a sense of capability of different motorcycles, that a SuperLow will not stop on braking in even twice the distance of a Ducati Diavel. Racing on NH17 is not the same as flying low between Kolhapur and Belgaum.

I call out to new riders and wish to tell them that there are no older riders- every day is new- every ride is a challenge- there are just wise riders- try and find them and learn from them.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/kamlesh.des...53566982713886

People tend to jump to conclusions without knowing the whole picture. Few points.

1) The place where the Daytona crashed is notorious for crashes. Many seasoned and well known riders have crashed at the exact same spot, Busa, Fireblade and Daytona in the last few weeks and many crash every season. This is the location ( 19 49 13.01 N 72 56 31.40 E ) and people who have ridden on this road say its due to bad engineering. The daytona guy although was wearing full gear had a fall from the bridge from quite a height which seems to be cause of his demise.

2) The S1000RR crash from Hyd, rider was wearing no gear, shorts, tshirt and chappal. ( as seen in the post crash pictures ).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3814830)

Not so much an accident, more like dozens of accidents. And deaths.

India's highway of death creates village of widows (BBC News)

This is possibly the most shocking thing I have ever heard about this country's official apathy and disregard for the life and safety of individuals.

While I totally agree that many of our highways have improper planning, this news perplexes me a bit. I assume this is the Hyderabad-Bangalore highway, and I have driven on this stretch several time. I love driving on this road as the roads are straight with very little blind turns. There are also no shrubbery or plants at the road divider to block the view of people crossing. While there is good amount of traffic, it is quite spaced out. This means there would be sufficient time between vehicles passing any particular point for people to cross safely, given that they may need to wait for maybe 30 secs for a clear space. So why are people getting hit?

Possibility 1 - Wrong way driving. In my drives on this stretch, I have encountered many people coming the wrong way on tractors and bikes. During the day they are easy to spot, but early morning and twilight time it is very difficult to spot them as they often do not have lights on.

Possibility 2 - Miscalculation in crossing the road. Many times I have seen people suddenly crossing the highway, assuming they can beat the vehicle and cross. If they misjudge the speed of an approaching vehicle then there can be tragic consequences. But then as I said earlier, there is normally sufficient space between vehicles for crossing safely. So why the rush to get across when one can wait for a few seconds more and have a clear road to cross.

Possibility 3 - Overspeeding drivers. Given that this is a very good highway, most cars speed. I believe the speed limit is 120 here. Even when they enter a town or village area, they often do not slow down much. So when someone crosses the road in front of the vehicles, it would be very difficult to stop.

As I said, I agree that the Govt. needs to provide proper infrastructure and I am sure if the service roads and underpasses were built, many of the death could have been avoided. But I am still surprised by the fact that so many people have fallen prey to this highway stretch, which has a fantastic visibility of the road ahead and surrounding areas.

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The place where the Daytona crashed is notorious for crashes. Many seasoned and well known riders have crashed at the exact same spot, Busa, Fireblade and Daytona in the last few weeks and many crash every season. This is the location ( 19 49 13.01 N 72 56 31.40 E ) and people who have ridden on this road say its due to bad engineering. The daytona guy although was wearing full gear had a fall from the bridge from quite a height which seems to be cause of his demise.

I wouldnt blame the engineer here of the road. Its not a race track in the first place and the so called seasoned riders should no better to stick to the ROAD speed limit. The speed limit in this road would absolutely prevent fatality even if the engineering is bad.A seasoned rider ensures he knows the road before he tries anything that is beyond the limit of the road.

More than Bad engineering its simply arrogance to race a bike in common road and not sticking to speed limits.I agree if the road caved in and the daytona crashed because of that and thats bad engineering. Agreed to points that including having specific warning signs, boards and enough preventive measures. As riders taking this route frequenty, they can get together to set up these boards and signs if they really want to help each other out.

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As I said, I agree that the Govt. needs to provide proper infrastructure and I am sure if the service roads and underpasses were built, many of the death could have been avoided. But I am still surprised by the fact that so many people have fallen prey to this highway stretch, which has a fantastic visibility of the road ahead and surrounding areas.

The highway authority should atleast build some speed breakers and signals if needed. For that matter people drive crazilly in hydrabad let alone remote village. I have seen guys scream at me for stopping at red light.

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Originally Posted by heavy_foot (Post 3814870)

So what was the legal speed on that road and what was the biker doing?
So a badly engineered road is no place to show off track skills. In a lot of our highways especially where a road curves they would have put up speed limit boards. My personal experience is that that speed limit has a 30% tolerance level at which you can take that curve. Beyond that you will have to brake sharply and do a lot of steering adjustment to go through.
0-100 in 4 secs is phenomenal. Guys need to be aware that these bikes are truly not made for our conditions and traffic. The safe way to ride these bikes is to enjoy the initial power and not aim for top speed performance and set speed records. You can just get a high by going through from say 20-80kmh in 3/4 secs and then slowing down.