Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by Acharya (Post 4069190)

These kind of accidents raise question on the utility of crash tests done in developed world traffic situations, where as roads in India offer innovative and indigenous threats.

Perhaps a detailed study of accidents in India could come up with ground breaking car designs such as
1. Vehicles that will not roll under a truck/bus
2. A pillars that can take 80 kmph hit, still not crumble
3. Body shell which can withstand major hit without losing it's core shell
4..

This is a misconception. Crashes are far more severe in developed nations as the speeds are higher. The laws of physics apply in the same manner regardless of the country. Crash tests are carefully designed to simulate real world situations.

Regarding your point number 2, most cars in the world would fail crash tests at 80 kmph.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arjithin (Post 4071959)

5 people lost their lives in a Tavera - private bus accident in Kerala.
Accident happened in a narrow road while bus was overtaking an auto.

The bus looks like a Leyland. A Viking something. These have peak torque at higher rpm's (compared to an eqv. TATA) and therefore speed.

Most Leyland drivers try to retain current speed to avoid changing gears. This human tendency is ok on highways. Not on ghat roads.

At the same time nobody will run TATA busses on 100% ghat routes as their fuel consumption in low speed and gears (albeit quicker from a complete stop) is much higher than the Leylands.

This next bit is pure speculation.

Ghat drivers do have at least 1% more skill than highway only type long distance bus drivers.

The bus driver may not have seen the Tavera until the last moment. Maybe the view was blocked by trees or the tavera was stationary at an awkward position (a curve?) on the road.
He may have been focusing on the left side view mirror while overtaking the rickshaw.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hangover (Post 4072215)

The bus driver may not have seen the Tavera until the last moment. Maybe the view was blocked by trees or the tavera was stationary at an awkward position (a curve?) on the road.
He may have been focusing on the left side view mirror while overtaking the rickshaw.

Never any excuse. The bus driver is simply a murderer.

It does not matter what vehicle we are driving, not seeing is not an excuse. When we can't see, slow down.

This is a simple fact of driving life, and blindingly (no pun intended) obvious. Except in India, it seems, where a blind curve is no reason to go slow, and not not being able to see past a vehicle is no reason not to overtake it. This is the ABC of driving. Ignore it and people will kill and be killed. Over and over again.

Slightly tangential, but I just finsihed reading an article about killer roads in this state. True, the designs are dangerously bad, but not once in the article are drivers mentioned.

There are no killer roads, only killer drivers.

Be it in KA, TN or KL where I have driven my car, I can say with certainty that the private buses of the respective states drive their vehicles as though they are the owners of the road. And when it comes to overtaking apart from flashing the headlights, it is the momentum with which they overtake that is worrying for the opposite party.
Worst being if you overtake a private bus, the driver will honk honk and tailgate you so closely that you will be forced to repent as to why we overtook him in the first case. That is their mentality. In KL as the road width is less, people driving cars should exercise all the more caution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4072240)

It does not matter what vehicle we are driving, not seeing is not an excuse. When we can't see, slow down.

This is a simple fact of driving life, and blindingly (no pun intended) obvious. Except in India, it seems, where a blind curve is no reason to go slow, and not not being able to see past a vehicle is no reason not to overtake it. This is the ABC of driving. Ignore it and people will kill and be killed. Over and over again.

There are no killer roads, only killer drivers.

ABSOLUTELY! After watching countless Russian Dashcam videos of ghastly pileups in fog, also some happened in our own country, i fail to understand why were those vehicles at that speed when they couldn't see anything! I haven't driven in foggy conditions, though. :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by karts (Post 4069076)

I have seen many drivers having this habit of swerving as soon as their body (Front half of the car) gets clearance, They don't account for the other half of the car while changing lanes. Same with bikes as well. Have had lot of near misses in such scenarios. Same with drivers moving from hatchback to Sedan (Happened to myself first time I started driving sedan), had a near miss.

So true that!.

I have found that many bikers have this annoying habit of overtaking and then swerving in acutely in front of the car to come back in line.
Many a time I've had to slow down from a safe speed just to avoid a hit.

Those poor brain less sods don't seem to think or to care, that a small nudge from the car can result in disastrous consequences. A threat to their limb and life and a headache for the car driver, if an accident happens.:Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by amalji (Post 4061715)

however good a driver you are
however careful you are in driving
however short distance your travel is
whether you are the driver or a pillion

you don't have absolute control over whether an accident can happen or not.
As the famous saying goes - "50% of the accidents are caused by mistake of the other guy".
But, there are things that you can do to prevent lose of life in many of these cases. And not doing those basic things right is an injustice to yourself and your families and whoever cares for you. Life is too precious to be ignored.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend.

The points you have mentioned are something that should be displayed prominently in all driving schools and should be drilled into the heads of all bikers.
I see so many bikers who either hold the helmets over the elbow, on the mirror stalk, half on their heads with the front lifted up, or wearing one without the buckle fastened. And quality of helmet, best if we don't mention it!. Majority of people who are 'wearing' it seem to be doing it to avoid the police at the junction.
Reasons given are as varied as - 'whatever has to happen will happen, then why wear one?, 'its an inconvenience to carry it everywhere', 'its only a short distance commute', 'helmets cause hair fall', 'I sweat too much', ' my hair style!.

When I bring my bike to work and I am all kitted out with mesh jacket, helmet, gloves et al, many other bikers look at me with amusement and give me incredulous looks. One even walked up to me and asked me how far my home is. When I said its 7 kms away, he was like -" why are you wearing all this gear for such a short ride? ".:Frustrati

I had to politely explain that whether I fall in the parking lot and bang my head or whether I fall at the end of or during a 200 km journey, what hits the ground is my head /body, hence the gear. He gave a sheepish grin nodded and walked away. Dunno if I managed to convince him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana (Post 4072805)

Two fatal accidents on NH45 yesterday. One involving a truck. It was lying on it's side with it's cabin crushed. It had just happened when I crossed by.

Another accident just a couple minutes before I crossed the location, a swift hit a scooter. People were dragging away the injured person. Sorry I was driving and hence I could not click pictures.

NH45 was unusually crowded with lorry traffic yesterday. I happened to see so many small cars with L sticker on windshield.

The days just before and after major festivals are a dangerous time for highways travel.

Scores of people who have driven only in city lanes go to their hometowns
They become Shumachers on the crowded highways jumping lanes with impunity and braking hard at will. They have no idea how hard it is for a truck to stop in a short distance.

I went home to Chennai for deepavali and started back on the day after deepavali , through Pondicherry. I travelled on the ECR and believe it or not I saw 8 accidents between Chennai and Pondicherry!
One of them was an ambulance fallen into a roadside ditch!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shivanshu (Post 4073292)

Any information on the Himalaya Raid accident where a rider went down?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roomy (Post 4073315)

I had seen Bertrand DSouza of OD tweeting about it.
Subhomay Paul of Kolkata had a fatal accident around 10 AM. I also heard the event is called off due to this.

Not much detail beyond the following:

Quote:

Paul is said to have lost control of his motorcycle (a KTM 500 EXC) in a rocky section and reportedly died on the spot.
Paul was found with a severe head injury by the first response vehicle but they couldn’t revive his pulse. He was airlifted to Manali by the support medical chopper but to no avail.

Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/other-...o1ASwzlZL.html

Condolences to his family and loved ones.

An accident that happened last week.

http://www.daijiworld.com/news/news_...sp?n_id=417360

Quote:

Karkala, Oct 5: In the accident that shook the entire coastal belt, it is said that Shalet and her son Winson had gone to Mangaluru on Winson’s passport work.

Winson, who had secured a job in Gujarat after his mechanical engineering through campus selection, had come back home last month with the intention of going abroad for work.

Winson was about to leave for a foreign country on October 11, said family sources.

Earlier news

In a fatal accident that took place at Lamina cross near Nitte on Wednesday, October 5 between a car and lorry , two persons have died.

Shalet (47) and her son Winson (22) are the two persons deceased. Both of them were travelling in a Nano car while the son was driving.

Ghastly accident and horrific pictures. I feel it could be a classic example of the driver not realizing the power/limitations (in this case, Limitations) of the new car which he is not used to enough. Or the Truck rammed insanely on to the car, which is unlikely the case here.