[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust

Absolutely sure if I don't have space in front and I need to avoid something only way I can move the car is sideways. And handbrake provides a controlled way of doing that against just using the steering to drift . ☺

Guys, many of us do not have a clue about stuff like that. I could not drift or do a handrake turn to save my life (Literally. It would not be part of my emergency instinct to grab the handbrake except in the case of brake failure). Best we don't try. At least, not on public roads.

Those who have a clue, through rally, stunt, skid-track, etc training can do it.

An aside...

One of my driving gurus, in my twenties, was a female friend who used to let me practice, driving her Mini. One day, we were watching Starsky and Hutch (lots of hairy-scary car chases) on the TV.

Me, joking: Can you teach me to drive like that.

She: I'm not sure that I can still drive like that.

Me: What? You mean you could?

She: Oh yes... I had a relative who was in charge of a police-training centre and I got to use their skid rink

I wish my driving skills did extend to that sort of thing. But no, they don't. And next time you see an ordinary-looking woman in a small car, best not challenge her to a race. She just might surprise you!

[Trust_In_Thrust]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Guys, many of us do not have a clue about stuff like that. I could not drift or do a handrake turn to save my life (Literally. It would not be part of my emergency instinct to grab the handbrake except in the case of brake failure). Best we don't try. At least, not on public roads.

Those who have a clue, through rally, stunt, skid-track, etc training can do it.

I can tell you for sure it is a must have training as emergencies can arise anytime but more important is being cool and not get panicked. The driver training must include on hands experience on how the car behaves when you do something that you normally don't. And more Important all cars are different. What I can do in abarth is unthinkable for city ☺. I have only learnt to drive by always pushing the wheels I rode right from tricycle days.

[GTO]

Remember the C-Class hit & run case? Driver to be tried as an adult as his birthday was just 4 days away.

Full Times of India Article

The Juvenile Justice Board on Saturday agreed to Delhi police's request to try the minor accused in the Delhi Mercedes hit-and-run case as an adult in trial court.
The minor ran over and killed 32-year-old Siddharth Sharma on April 4. The minor had a birthday four days after the April 4 incident which put him in the adult age group.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Yes, Hosur till Krishnagiri and then thopur ghats are accident prone areas. Mainly because of sharp curves along the slopes. Adding to this, the truck traffic is on the higher side and cars try to play around with these trucks by cutting across them dangerously and unsettling them. Also some people keep changing the lanes dangerously without caring for the fellow road users. So, when one move goes wrong, its ends up being fatal.

Even though its a 6 lane, people use every inch of the road and make it look like a 8-lane road. Especially coming towards bangalore on a sunday after 4PM is like a race track with most of them racing towards bangalore.

Basically, its a very nice stretch to drive, but people have made it a dangerous one.

Thoppur ghats is a 4 lane stretch while the Krishnagiri ghats is a 6 lane one. Even when the Krishnagiri ghats was a 4 lane road, I always felt the Thoppur ghats to be highly accident prone due to the curvy nature of the road. Plus enroute we have to cross a bridge that has claimed quite a many lives. Earlier on the Thoppur ghats we had 8 speed breakers marked 1/8, 2/8 etc... While driving back in 2011 on this stretch, the road around the speed breaker region was in a awful condition that I was not able to hold the steering properly as the tyre kept slipping on the tar lump.

[HalfOctave]

I met with a strange incident today. You may call it accident if you mean the literal meaning of accident.

Today while I alongwith my family was returning from our Saturday outing trip when due to bad lighting and some part of my "Bad Driving" I kissed a pothole. The speed of the vehicle must be somewhere around 60kmph at the time of impact. Just after the impact I felt a strange drifting of my car towards left side. And thats when I realized that the pot hole has done its damage. I pulled over to the side and got down.

To my horror, both of my left side wheel had got ruptured and were flat. They were stock Bridgestone B250 tyres. Now I was in confusion as to how to reach back home.

Luckily, in the organization I work, the people live together inside one complex and everyone is happy to extend help at any time. I called up one of my friend who had Verna for taking spare tyre as loan from him for which he readily agreed.

However, the story does not end here. The main part is what I am going to post now:

Friend had new Verna, the one which came with 2 headrest at back, the one with Non-alloy spare tyre. During the process of fixing the tyre, I realized that the nut provided for my all alloy wheels will not fit for the non-alloy version. The nut was short and the tyre would have wobbled if I had used the same nut. This is when I realized that how small changes by companies can bring such a big change for consumers.

Somehow, I got a contact of one more colleague and got the alloy tyre from him.

After all the fixing when I got into the car, the car wouldn't start. Reason being that since it was complete dark road, I was using the headlight as source of light and the headlight had drained out the battery.

Somehow got hold of few villagers and got them to push the car and used gear-clutch technique to start.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by GTO

Remember the C-Class hit & run case? Driver to be tried as an adult as his birthday was just 4 days away.

Full Times of India Article

I wonder how long it will last as the court will most likely throw out the reason of his 18th birthday being just four days away from the accident. By law he was a minor when the accident occurred and that's how he should be tried.

However it also underscores the legal loopholes. I believe the motor vehicles act and other related laws should be amended to this effect.

The privilege of possessing a driving licence can be obtained only after completing 18 years. Therefore any breach of law as driver of a vehicle should be tried as if the driver was 18 years and above. This might be legally tenable.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by HalfOctave

However, the story does not end here. The main part is what I am going to post now:

Friend had new Verna, the one which came with 2 headrest at back, the one with Non-alloy spare tyre. During the process of fixing the tyre, I realized that the nut provided for my all alloy wheels will not fit for the non-alloy version. The nut was short and the tyre would have wobbled if I had used the same nut. This is when I realized that how small changes by companies can bring such a big change for consumers.

Somehow, I got a contact of one more colleague and got the alloy tyre from him.

After all the fixing when I got into the car, the car wouldn't start. Reason being that since it was complete dark road, I was using the headlight as source of light and the headlight had drained out the battery.

Somehow got hold of few villagers and got them to push the car and used gear-clutch technique to start.

These days almost every car come with steel rims for spare tyre and some times even with different tyre size but I never thought about this nut issue. Very strange.

Recently my cousin faced a similar issue in his Vento, the spare tyre was with steel rims with different tyre size. He got a cut in the tyre on the highway and had to change the spare tyre, he mentioned about wobbling and unbalanced ride. Luckily within 15kms they found a tyre shop and replaced the tyre.

[Voyager-1]

Mumbai-Pune Expressway accident: At least 17 dead after luxury bus crashes into two cars.

http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...o-car-2835419/

[hemanth.anand]

I read about the accident on TOI. But not sure why the Swift and innova were stationary on the highway

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c.../52597810.cms?

NAVI MUMBAI: A t least 17 persons were killed and 33 injured in a major accident near Shedung on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway early Sunday morning.

A speeding luxury bus collided with two cars and then went off the road to crash into a farm around 15 feet below the highway.
The deceased include 10 women, 6 men and an eight-month-old infant. The private luxury bus in which they were travelling from Satara to Mumbai first hit two stationary cars -- a Swift and an Innova -- parked on the roadside

The fatal mishap occurred on Sunday around 5am near Shivkhar village in Raigad district. The injured have been admitted to Panacea hospital in Panvel.

The death toll may rise as some of the passengers are grievously hurt, according to Raigad police.

[aravind.anand]

Is that really a luxury bus? the roof does not look like a Scannia / Volvo or Mercedes, but rather a bus building job. And this looks like a sleeper bus too. Feel sad for all the innocent lives lost in this mishap :(

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

I read about the accident on TOI. But not sure why the Swift and innova were stationary on the highway

Originally Posted by Voyager-1

http://indianexpress.com/article/ind...o-car-2835419/

Express article has the reason.

A Swift had stopped on the side of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway as the driver was changing a punctured tyre. An Innova car had stopped in the first lane to help the driver. A luxury bus, coming from Satara, crashed into the Innova and the Desire and fell into a 20-feet deep ditch on the left of the Expressway. At least 17 people, including a six-month-old baby, have been killed.

[saadat1992]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Is that really a luxury bus? the roof does not look like a Scannia / Volvo or Mercedes, but rather a bus building job. And this looks like a sleeper bus too. Feel sad for all the innocent lives lost in this mishap :(

Yes, you are right!
It looks more of like Sutlej or something like that. People probably mistook it for Volvo from the very Volvo like head lamps. Also, going by the ground clearance, I'm pretty sure it is not a Volvo.

Feel sorry for the victims.

[honeybee]

Another mishap of the reckless driving culture. I guess it will take one such accident each month before the toll operator and the traffic police are brought to account for negligence to enforce traffic rules and discipline on the expressway.

[extreme_torque]

It is incredible how many lives are lost in India, families destroyed, children orphaned, due to lack of seemingly basic laws like no stopping on the sides of the highway or working under run bars on trucks. As a population we dont seem to care either because we never ask this from our politicians. I guess our belief on fate is one of the reason... it was my day to die. No dude, your brakes do not work!

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by aravind.anand

Is that really a luxury bus? the roof does not look like a Scannia / Volvo or Mercedes, but rather a bus building job. (

The insides of the bus in the last pic is very horrifying. Due to the impact after hitting the ditch, all the seats on the right side have been ripped off their anchors from the floor of the bus. The seats along with the passengers would have piled up in front. A real bad and dangerously constructed bus body.