Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by venkyhere (Post 4351241)

Out on the road, in peak bangalore traffic, if we maintain proper distance with the vehicle in front, we get nowhere. Even buses squeeze in, forget two wheelers. If we insist on it, with each vehicle that comes into your path, like I did around 5 yrs ago, the right foot is forever going to sit on the brake. Just not practical in bangalore city, plus its an open invitation to be bullied even by the guys in the next lane, who have nothing to do with our lane moving forward. Bangalore has gone to the dogs, only prayers will keep some moron from banging into you on your commute.

Excuses, excuses. And again, no-no-no. Or... drive like that if you must, but it will still be your fault if and when that rear-ending happens. I hope for both of us that it doesn't. My attention wanders in city traffic when it should not. Sure, I'm aware of the practical difficulties. Stop-start is harder than high speed driving!

Honestly, I consider it highly likely that I will do it one! And I consider my own rear bumper to be a "consumable!" :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4351659)

Honestly, I consider it highly likely that I will do it one! And I consider my own rear bumper to be a "consumable!" :Frustrati

I like to think that I do not tailgate other vehicles and keep a reasonable distance. How I wish others could also ask themselves this question and answer in the positive.

Proof of the pudding lies in 3 occasions that my car has been rear ended bad enough for the hatch door to have dents (twice for the jazz) and the bumper to be torn (once for the nano).
Consumable indeed, but now I think I will not fix the dent. I hope that people get spooked while following me just by looking at that dent and stay farther away stupid:

I receive copious amounts of news articles from an auto afficionado site called cartoq.com on my phone's google feed.

A couple of days ago, there was an article about an unfortunate accident in Nellore district where a TN-registered truck had broken down in dense fog. As usual, the driver/cleaner had inserted a branch from a tree as token warning onto the truck and they were nowhere to be seen.

At dawn, with the dense fog and all, a fully laden Innova returning to Nellore from Vailankanni plugged itself beneath the truck's chassis, killing 5. (Edit: Pics at this link - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...ml#post4348851)

What could have prevented this mishap:
1) The Innova driver (killed in the crash) should have driven slowly in the fog or pulled over (but he was a professional driver, so pulling over was practically out of the question)
2) The truck ought to have had functioning blinkers et al (it didn't)
3) A warning cone or reflecting triangle could have been placed ahead of the broken-down truck by its crew (who am I kidding, this is India after all. A tree branch suffices.)
4) The most interesting thing - the truck should have had underrun protection which is required by law to prevent precisely such accidents where the Innova went under the truck. (Reference - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...rtant-you.html)

Quote:

Originally Posted by suresh_gs (Post 4351775)

How on earth was someone allowed to walk on a flyover. This is ridiculous.

Happened to me once while driving back at night. A drunk man was walking in the middle of the road. Was able to swerve and avoid hitting him. Alerted the cops later on.
But, yeah! The guy must have been drunk and lost his way and ended up walking on the flyover.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigben (Post 4351781)

But, yeah! The guy must have been drunk and lost his way and ended up walking on the flyover.

I have had the misfortune of my car being hit by a drunk guy. Twice.

1. Pondicherry, trying to find the correct route I stop to ask. Jay walking drunk chap comes from front, walks right into the car, falls on the ground. If anyone saw this post facto, it will look like I actually hit him. Thankfully in front of shops, known drunkard, reversed back and got out of there.

2. Brigade road, drunk scooterist tries to balance himself on my car and needless to say, falls immediately. I get a nice scratch as well. And then the audacity of the chap to get up and start blaming me for moving the car, in moving traffic! Got rescued by others passing by.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioholic (Post 4351372)

How on earth could someone have not seen a pedestrian coming across the bus.

Lastly, this is regarding the Mysore Road bus driver, I have seen many drunk people lying just outside the road, multiple times. I don't stop or slow down to check anymore, just stay on the road surface and watch out for one that might be sleeping on the road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrailBlazer007 (Post 4351092)

Witnessed an accident and narrowly missed being a part of it myself.

Incident on the flyover, there is a 2+ second gap between the tail lamps lighting and the car rear-ending. It's the car that was behind, his fault. A car in the front can stop suddenly for any reason, be it engine seizure, gear box failure, axle braking, brake drums failing, the car behind has to have the distance and wits to brake in time. Add to this the sheer brightness of the sun, the tail lamps will barely be visible. To me it looks like he was gunning for the gap in the left lane, the sudden braking just caught him off guard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by venkyhere (Post 4351241)

Out on the road, in peak bangalore traffic, if we maintain proper distance with the vehicle in front, we get nowhere..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4351659)

Excuses, excuses. And again, no-no-no. ...

Venkyhere, appreciate your thanks on my last post. When I had gone out, it occurred to me that I might have been a little more tactful!

Quote:

Originally Posted by selfdrive (Post 4351668)

... Consumable indeed, but now I think I will not fix the dent. I hope that people get spooked while following me just by looking at that dent and stay farther away stupid:

You're right: it doesn't work!

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TrailBlazer007 (Post 4351092)

Witnessed an accident and narrowly missed being a part of it myself. People who travel on this ORR flyover - just after Ecospace(going towards Silk board), would remember that it has an 'expansion joint' that is a bit bumpy. The cabbie in front stood hard on the brakes on the joint coming to a complete halt from a speed of around 40! causing a 3 car pileup. Everything was over in milliseconds.

No matter what the legal position is, you never ever brake so hard as to completely stop in your tracks for a road irregularity such as this. Just not done!

Had it been a hazard of bigger proportions that caused the driver to stop suddenly, it would be a different matter. Here it looks like the driver slowed down to a stop, when he could, and should, have gone over the undulation without halting.

Was it a new car by any chance? The driver could have misjudged the brake feedback and accidentally stopped the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by samaspire (Post 4351331)

Did you miss the brake lights? He definitely braked to stop.

Possibility could be, he braked before the joint to slow down so that the impact for the passengers is minimal when he went over that hurdle. This could have resulted in engine stalling. At least to be does not look like abrupt braking, it is engine stalling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeybee (Post 4351943)

No matter what the legal position is, you never ever brake so hard as to completely stop in your tracks for a road irregularity such as this. Just not done

What you mention is defensive driving. A concept many of the fellow drivers / riders don't comprehend. You leave a cars gap between the car in front and truck will try to squeeze in to it.

Regarding this particular accident, this undulation has been there ever since this flyover has been opened few years back. Regulars on this route (including me) try sticking to either left or the right most lane of this road since the undulation is lesser there compared to middle lane.

If you are stuck in middle lane, I try to slow down well before or just drive through to avoid any sudden braking. Have seen may office cabs too do any of the above said steps.

That said, this stretch always has these kind of smaller incidents. Today morning a Baleno had rear ended a Tata Ace on the opposite side of the flyover. Luckily no visible damages to both the vehicles.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suryendu87 (Post 4352113)

Indian highways are full of surprises.

On my way back from Pune to Bengaluru, I encountered these bullock carts on the dark highways.
All these were a perfect recipe for an accident in my opinion.
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Thank you for sharing this video. As a fellow car driver I share your angst and frustration.

All,
For the foreseeable future our roads will be used by a diverse mixed traffic - cycles, motorized 2-wheelers, animal drawn carts, hand carts and so on. The bullock cart driver does not understand the challenges his vehicle & style throws up for us the car driver. Similarly we do not know what challenges our vehicles and our speeds throws up for the bullock cart driver. The angst is mutual. We think why the he'll can't these dumb cart owners know what risks they pose for the car doing 90 kmph on an unlit night road. The bullock cart driver must be thinking don't these car wallahs realize what risk their speeds pose to us! The road was built for both.

I realize this is not a fashionable perspective to put forth on T-BHP but I do have some empathy for the 100% green technology vehicle. :-)

- Narayan

It is an unlit highway and hence, pretty everyone on that road at that hour needs to be prepared for the circumstance. Leave aside a speed of 90, a person doing 40 on that road too can end up with a challenging situation with such a bullock cart. As much as my sympathy lay with the villages which now have a highway running through them or near them, they cannot remain static on how they need to navigate such roads at night. For me, this was just irresponsible way of travelling on a NH at night as far as those bullock carts are concerned.

PM Narendra Modi's wife Mrs. Jasodaben's car collided with truck in Chittorgarh (Rajasthan)

She got injured and refereed to hospital in Chittorgarh along with other injured people.

Some sources claim that one person died and Mrs. Jasodaben also suffered head injuries.

RIP the dead soul and wishing speedy recovery to Mrs. Jasodaben.

http://www.republicworld.com/s/21983...kara-ekasidata