Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by myavu (Post 4021533)

Guys, see this video. I am shocked:Shockked:

Both of them are at fault. Sadly, it is just a matter of financial loss to the car driver. Whereas the two wheeler rider had his life at stake. Is he alive? I pray he should be okay.

Driving fast on two lane roads without looking at least 500m ahead of the car is a blunder. And turning blindly into opposite lane is a grave mistake too, at times, life threatening!

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It funny to see how people are supporting the scooterist here. The moron cuts across the lane without batting an eyelid. It's obvious he didn't bother to check for oncoming traffic. The car driver (i20 Active) was going straight ahead. He did brake and swerve a bit too just before hitting the scooterist. The car is tilting to the left which means he is braking and trying to steer to the right at the same time. Unfortunately its too close by then to avoid an impact. His visibility was hindered due to the DZire that was ahead of the scooter. The scooterist was oblivious to the fact that there was an oncoming vehicle when he made that turn. Its so obvious if you see how slowly he made the turn after entering the lane for oncoming traffic. Stopping to check for oncoming traffic before making the turn is elementary. It's just plain common sense.

Weighing in and voting against the two-wheeler.

That is just a suicide move. The car driver does not have time to stop, maybe not even to swerve. If we walk in front of a vehicle, we can't complain if we get run over. This is what the rider has done.

Possible that the car driver, way back, could have seen the 2-wheeler and thought might do something stupid like cutting across me. Allowing for the stupidity of others (and self, of course) is a big part of driving, especially defensive driving --- but there will always be an if only I had/hadn't and I'm sure the car driver is suffering now.

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Originally Posted by BeingCynical (Post 4013868)

A young senior executive of Bajaj Auto along with his wife and two children was driving from Mumbai to Pune via expressway. Due to rain and slippery conditions, his BMW skidded out of the track and hit the median killing the executive and his wife on the spot and badly injuring his two kids.

Both kids are said to be critical but stable condition. May the departed souls rest in peace

Its a sad sad scene to watch, I hope God gives those kids enough strength to live their life from now on, It would be so tough for them, Also should be an eye opener for people who think buying expensive car's with the best built quality and safety features can get you out of any such situation. please:

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4021829)

If I drove as some of the folks are saying, I would've definitely run over a few pedestrians by now. But I have not. And thank god for that!!

I would humbly submit that the whole point of defensive driving is to expect the worst, and always, keep sufficient buffer margin.

The whole point of keeping LOW speed limits in residential areas esp where folks cross the road, is to ensure that in non-signaled sections like these, cars / vehicles have sufficient reaction time to be able to stop safely, especially on a rainy day!

Forget that it was a two wheeler - consider it to be a mother crossing over with her child at the zebra crossing. How would the accident be viewed / interpreted then?

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Originally Posted by phamilyman (Post 4021842)

I would humbly submit that the whole point of defensive driving is to expect the worst, and always, keep sufficient buffer margin.

Shouldn't the scooterist have also exercised defensive driving then? What he did was absolutely stupid. He was literally playing hide and seek with the oncoming traffic; first pulled over to the left, then let two cars cover him, then dive right into oncoming traffic without batting an eye lid.

Even if the i20 was doing 60 kmpH, he still would have crashed into the scooter.

And by the way a pedestrian crossing doesn't mean people can run or walk at their whim. They still need to exercise caution and look for traffic and let them be visible to traffic as well.

Oh my god!! What's in the mind of that two wheeler guy? Coming to a standstill right in the road and then crossing haphazardly without even looking the other side. Now, all those people will accuse the car driver for the stupidity the two wheeler driver did. Idiots. At least 1 in 50 morons like them get hit while others luckily escape. Even if the car had been little slower, it's certain he would've hit him albeit in a less violent manner maybe.

And I hear Kerala's literacy way better & licence issuance is way stricter than it is in Tamilnadu ! Nothing to say against rural, illiterate people doing the same thing in my daily commute route. Better I crawl to work hereafter. I am in search of a good dashcam so that I can share in here such equally idiotic moments I encounter daily.

That scooter fellow doesn't have the courtesy to step out of road leaving way to the cars following him. Shocking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by myavu (Post 4021533)

Guys, see this video. I am shocked

For the accident between the i20 Active and the two-wheeler, I'm a bit open-ended.

Do we know what road that accident has happened on? Kerala is notorious for having national highways & state highways that are nothing more than one lane for each direction with no median.

If this was a highway, then the car driver was probably driving with a mentality of "Its a highway, I can drive at inter-city speeds" not recognizing that the designation given to a road does not automatically denote a safe speed.
This does not absolve the two-wheeler of blame - he has behaved no different from countless two wheeler riders who cross even proper multi-laned highways in the stupidest ways possible.
If this road is a highway, I will also lay blame on the authorities who have not provided highway-class facilities, such as a median, multiple lanes for each direction of traffic, etc.

Accidents are often the conjunction of multiple factors that occur at the same time, very rarely does a single event cause an accident. In this instance, its a lack of defensive driving on the part of the car, a lack of self-preservation on the part of the two-wheeler, and a road that doesn't have the room to manoeuver (assuming its a highway).

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Originally Posted by dZired (Post 4021747)

Saw this rear-ended Renault Kwid on Facebook.

Most cars are reinforced more for frontal and side impacts, since that is the common pattern of accidents in developed nations (head-on and T-boning). And hatches are very hard to reinforce for rear impacts, because the hatch has resulted in a gaping hole in the body shell of the rear of the car (that's also one reason why hatchbacks in developed countries are expensive).

Having said that, this damage is catastrophic - when I saw the picture I first assumed a rear-ending by a heavy vehicle like a bus or lorry. To read that an Indica inflicted this damage within a city (i.e. not highway speeds) is shocking.

Shocking - yes, but not unexpected, given what we've seen in the Kwid's crash test results and in Renault's subsequent attempts to game the system.

The photo showing the baby rocker in the rear windshield also underscores how this could have ended in a more horrifying and tragic way.

That said, I don't understand how the IDV of 3.3 lakhs has not been respected, and the owner has only been paid 70 thousand. My limited knowledge of insurance tells me that in a total loss, the IDV will be paid to the owner, the insurance company takes possession of the car and tries to make as much money as it can (i.e. the scrap/salvage value). I know that there has been at least one instance of a total loss where the Supreme Court directed an insurer to honour the IDV essentially stating that "you (the insurer) were happy to accept a premium tailored to an IDV, so now you cannot shy away from paying the IDV". So I'm not sure on what basis the insurer is denying a proper pay-out.

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Originally Posted by deathwalkr (Post 4021899)

looks like a highway. and yes highways in kerala are that narrow in many places

Indeed sir. Been there, driven in those parts many times over.

I always slowed down at the very sight of a zebra crossing.

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Originally Posted by kiku007 (Post 4021879)

And by the way a pedestrian crossing doesn't mean people can run or walk at their whim. They still need to exercise caution and look for traffic and let them be visible to traffic as well.

In a perfect world, yes, I agree with you.

In the real world where you may not know the local language and end up facing a mob ready to burn / smash your vehicle, you drive with abundant caution. Atleast I do.

As a north Indian with zero knowledge of tamil / malayalam - such accidents would be my nightmare scenario when I was in Chennai. Hence, I would really slow down on entering such small towns that are commonplace throughout Kerala.

What's the cost? Reaching my destination 15, maybe, 30 minutes later. I am cool with that.
What's my downside if I don't do so? My (and another person's) mistake can leave a family grieving forever, a guilt that will never leave me, and an endless series of court cases / hassles which will be a great drain on my finances and my family's peace of mind / time.

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Originally Posted by 2500cc (Post 4021926)

Noticed this accident right in front of me a couple of weeks ago, caught on my dashcam. 2 kids and 2 adults on the bike, kids didn't have helmet and their upper lip was split and were in extreme shock. Please ignore the voices.

ouch! we seem to take everything for granted on road these days. car dude not bothering to slow and check before merging onto main road, biker happily dreaming away while on road. as a person on two wheels one must exercise even more caution as he/she tends to lose the most if involved in an accident.

this should have never happened :(

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Originally Posted by 2500cc (Post 4021926)

Noticed this accident right in front of me a couple of weeks ago,

Seems to be a classic case of a blindspot

Quote:

Originally Posted by deathwalkr (Post 4021932)

, biker happily dreaming away while on road. as a person on two wheels one must exercise even more caution as he/she tends to lose the most if involved in an accident.
:(

Exactly..

Though not faulting the biker entirely, I prefer a more defensive driving on a bike
The biker should have been more careful and should have anticipated the move of the car and allowed him to pass or give himself a leeway as an accident will be potentially more perilous to his people.