Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by cogWheel (Post 4318565)

Another example of reckless driving by Private City Bus Drivers in Mangaluru.
One bus passenger dead. Twenty people injured - including bus passengers, the bus and truck drivers, a pedestrian and occupants of a car who happened to me at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Terrible - When a city bus or lorry are reckless, the harm is mostly towards the occupants of cars or 2-wheelers or pedestrians that get hit by them. Clear violation by the bus.
That is why it is better to be in lower gear with a leg on the brake at these roundabouts

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha (Post 4318587)

If you find that more than even one percent of drivers in India who know the correct right-of-way rule at a circle, then I will eat my hat. Going by the way everyone behaves at circles (or roundabouts), I don't think anyone even knows. Even in this crash, the truck had no business entering the roundabout when the car was already on it.

Similarly they are not aware of rules at T-junctions. The vehicle on the bigger road has the right of way. There is a need for speed breakers/humps at the entry roads of each of the roads intersecting a circle. They are also required at the entrance of each service road that hits the main road. Else without these, there is no way we can enforce safety given the poor knowledge of our drivers

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Originally Posted by shubhodeepdas@g (Post 4316266)

Absolutely spot on. The right lane for most feels congested and the gap between the median and a truck very narrow. ..
1. Give right indicator and flash headlamp once or twice to overtake, day or night. The right indicator is one the things that basically says you want to go right, keep right and pass right.

2. Once overtaking is done, move over to the left most lane.
....

Agree with you on this,
But problem these days are more with the driving schools, who are growing like mushrooms in every nook & corners. I had numerous incidences with these driving instructors (so called), who while teaching the learner, force them to be on the right most lane (close to divider). Reason for this is to get the better judgment of the driver's side. Not a problem with that in initial days. But the real problem comes in when they fail to tell them the remaining part (your point2), that once you are done having proper judgment of driver side, unless overtaking keep on left lane &/or allow others to overtake from right.

I had posted this earlier as well, Had an argument once with the cab driver who refused to give me space to overtake from right. When I asked, can you tell me which side do we overtake from _ he said both sides. I still remember the passenger sitting on the front seat was totally amazed by driver's response. He knew driver was wrong. But what was this surprise worth, No. He could have asked the driver to give way, he didn't. The so called educated lot, shame.

Another interesting observation is people tend to get hyper excited in overtaking a vehicle which has its indicators on. They hurry to overtake from the side which vehicle is turning. Don't know what the rush/fun in this.

Regards,
Saurbah

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaljain (Post 4319714)

Came across these pictures on WhatsApp
Honda Dio and Maruti Suzuki Baleno
Head-on collision
The damage to Baleno is for real...:eek:

Crumple zones are not just to protect the occupants of the car. I really don't know, though, how what has happened there would have protected the two wheeler? Maybe if the metal had been firmer a rider/pedestrian would just be crushed or sliced. It is important that some safety features are there to protect other road users.

Looking at the windscreen, I hope the rider was wearing a helmet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaljain (Post 4319714)

Came across these pictures on WhatsApp
Honda Dio and Maruti Suzuki Baleno
Head-on collision
The damage to Baleno is for real...:eek:

I'm one of those people who would generally comment this is crumple zone doing its job. But looking at these pictures, it seems like the popular belief of baleno having weak build is actually true. Btw, this appears to be a high speed crash which might have resulted in damage to this extent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaljain (Post 4319714)

Came across these pictures on WhatsApp

Honda Dio and Maruti Suzuki Baleno

Head-on collision

The damage to Baleno is for real...:eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midas (Post 4319789)

To me it looks like Baleno probably hit the Honda and also hit something else on the road . If that is the resultant damage on the Baleno for just hitting a two wheeler, then it is just flimsily built. I would not buy the crumple zone theory here.

Hitting something else on the road could have happened as probably the driver of the Baleno had no control after the initial Honda impact, the rider on his windscreen , shattered windscreen and the deployed airbags would have totally blinded him.

I know padestrian safety is equally important. I do not think Maruti have got there as yet. Maruti first needs to take care of its own occupants.

Quote:

Originally Posted by msdivy (Post 4318570)

Clear case of violating the right of way at the roundabout. Bus had no business to enter the roundabout when the truck had already entered.

Either the bus driver knew about right of way but was being reckless. Or he was totally uneducated on this rule.

The truck shouldn't have entered the roundabout too. There is an alto in the right of the truck.

Having used the roundabout multiple times, it's an absolute chaos. The only way to fix it is to have a flyover.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vagabond128 (Post 4319715)

Saw this accident today morning:

No one was hurt. I saw the biker standing up and apologizing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROG_AK (Post 4319741)

Caught this happening near KR Puram yesterday night. Took me a while to realize what happened. No injuries to anyone.

Thank you for sharing these. Both seem to be situations where the motorcyclist incorrectly estimated his clearance+relative speed+space needed to cut ahead versus the car. I notice this way too often in Delhi-NCR for this phenomenon to be explained by statistics of normal distribution. I cannot count the number of times in a year I have to brake urgently to avoid hitting a two-wheeler rider who cuts ahead without correctly judging relative speeds and space and whether the gap is closing or opening. I have wondered as to the reason - is it just poor spatial sense? is it a misplaced ego that believes in 'the other guy had better move/stop'? is it a human belief in 'this cannot happen to me'? or is it only a lack of knowledge and common sense. I doubt it is only the last factor. In Delhi-NCR most certainly, as a north Indian, I can say machismo and belief in your infallibility has some role to play.

In March 1989 a then 22 year old close relative of my wife had a motorcycle crash with a medium sized truck near Savitri Cinema, Greater Kailash, Delhi (the flyovers came later). It was a classic T-crossing with a amber blinking signal at around 6:30AM. The two vehicles coming thundering down from different sides without stopping or slowing. Crash, bang, crumple. The bike was totaled but the rider survived with only minor injury. Helmet helped. Later when I was questioning him I was aghast at the machismo ego where he insisted the truck should have slowed down. My argument that regardless of who had right of way it makes sense in let the truck pass did not get into his head. And he is an educated graduate engineer. It gave me an insight into the thinking of some we share our road with.

I welcome the perspectives of other drivers and especially the two wheeler riders. - Narayan

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Originally Posted by V.Narayan (Post 4319900)

Both seem to be situations where the motorcyclist incorrectly estimated his clearance+relative speed+space needed to cut ahead versus the car.

Only half jokingly, I think these motorists follow a version of an old formula 1 racing unspoken rule (I don't follow the sport anymore, so don't know what current practices are). Basically, once you get your nose ahead of the other guy's nose, you are deemed to have officially overtaken, and the other guy has to yield the racing line to you :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy (Post 4319807)

.. If that is the resultant damage on the Baleno for just hitting a two wheeler, then it is just flimsily built. I would not buy the crumple zone theory here.

I know padestrian safety is equally important. I do not think Maruti have got there as yet. Maruti first needs to take care of its own occupants.

It you observe the pattern, its only the Japanese (India spec cars) cars that crumble so much when compared to European design (atleast most of the Euro OEM India spec cars sold here have a more rigid build).
Its not that the Euro design philosophy does not care about pedestrian safety. In fact they have a higher level of safety awareness and prioritise safety over efficiency and their designed cars (typically) do not self-destruct in the name of pedestrian safety.

The flimsy light weight build is clearly to cut material costs and extract more fuel efficiency (and thereby achieve greater sales in our fuel efficiency conscious market). Its got nothing to do with pedestrian safety.

Ultimately its our consumer base that has to become safety aware and demand safer vehicles from OEMs. OEMs will continue to sell vehicles that meet our Gov't minimum prescribed safety standards (that may not be safe enough) and get away with compromises in structural rigidity for India spec cars.

Hopefully regulations will get more stringent as we go along. We (our regulations) are already moving in the right direction in terms of mandatory airbags from Oct 2017 and mandatory airbags regulation and mandatory crash testing and compliance hopefully coming soon.