Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by extreme_torque (Post 4435632)

I read a news like this is how many lives can be saved if the government passes a simple mandate which makes it mandatory for trucks to install under run bars and then enforce it. The so called future superpower and we can even get the basics right.

These are called Mansfield bars or DOT bars, named after Hollywood actor Jayne Mansfield, who died a gruesome death following an accident in 1967, when her 1966 Buick Electra crashed under the rear of a truck, due to poor visibility at night. The accident occurred on a highway near Biloxi, Mississippi. She was at the peak of her career. Her three children survived while three adults in the car perished.

These Mansfield bars very soon became a rule in all the trucks manufactured in the U.S.

Some facts about the Mansfield bars on this link :

https://jalopnik.com/mansfield-bars-...e-a-1792910886

More details on this link :

https://roadtrippers.com/stories/jayne-mansfield-bar

Quote:

Originally Posted by extreme_torque (Post 4435632)

How can you be sure that he was doing high speeds? Hindsight is a genius but what pains me and drives me up the wall everytime I read a news like this is how many lives can be saved if the government passes a simple mandate which makes it mandatory for trucks to install under run bars and then enforce it. The so called future superpower and we can even get the basics right.

Well, the report from the unit officer himself says the Compass was being driven at high speed. Perhaps, the officer who survived the accident must have given his version of the story? So probably true in this case.

Apart from under run protection, why would a truck be parked on a road in a manner in which another vehicle could run into it? Lack of adequate truck parking bays which are reasonably equipped?

There are just too many things wrong in our roads. It's so very disappointing because I cannot see any hope of things improving anytime in the near future. Although infrastructure, road network and road conditions are improving, there is not much thought to the most important aspect of safety. Just because a road surface is well laid and long lasting, doesn't mean it is safe. Proper barricades, bus bays, truck bays, service lanes, emergency lanes etc has to complement good roads to make it safe for travel. Most of all, the mindset of every moron on the road has to change. Its absolutely frustrating. Really.

As long as things remain the way they are, this thread will just keep running into pages and pages at an alarming rate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PGA (Post 4435754)

Today in Ganganagar distt, mercifully no fatalities so one can laugh about it, nevertheless size of crowd indicates acceptance and popularity of motor sports :Shockked: in the country. But God save this country from this type of craze

People have no regard for their safety and nor the organizers of the event. When fatalities occur compensation is given and same series of events are repeated at another event. :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCORPION (Post 4435747)

...
Apart from under run protection, why would a truck be parked on a road in a manner in which another vehicle could run into it?

High probabiity of the truck suffering a breakdown, given that the vast majority of the trucks are aged and poorly maintained. It would be next to impossible to move a loaded truck from the spot where it broke down.
In normal scenarios, truckers usually stop lined up around eateries and such stretches are usually wider and well lit.

The only passive safety aspect to prevent other vehicles from ramming into such broken down trucks at night is for them to have working parking lights and hazard/stop signage pole/flag laid much behind the truck (with stones and branches/leaves left on the road in our Indian context) to warn and divert vehicles away from the parked vehicle.

Unfortunately, the parked truck usually has neither working parking lights, nor reflectors or even any other indications to alert the passing vehicles. If a rear collision does occur, the under run protection is usually either absent or poorly built to save the car occupants, it is the worst of the worst case situation.

Given that our roads are improving, the regulations must enforce all new trucks in India to be constructed much lower with their bumper height on par with light vehicles like in most other countries so that the chances of the smaller vehicle ending up under the truck is minimised. Hopefully it will be done in the near future.

Unless there is an unavoidable need to travel or an emergency, it is generally best to avoid night driving on our highways especially on unfamiliar roads. A person anyways has to sleep for 6 to 7 hours everyday, sleeping at night and driving during day makes better sense and thereby avoiding blinding lights, drunk drivers, much lower field of view, lower state of alertness especially between 3 to 5 AM, robbery/dacoities and all such other perils of night driving.

Also, the colour of the vehicle becomes a more critical aspect at night, black although gorgeous looking is relatively difficult to spot at night if its lights are turned off. It far more riskier driving a black car at night.

Quote:

Originally Posted by for_cars1 (Post 4435796)

High probabiity of the truck suffering a breakdown, given that the vast majority of the trucks are aged and poorly maintained. It would be next to impossible to move a loaded truck from the spot where it broke down.
Unfortunately, the parked truck usually has neither working parking lights, nor reflectors or even any other indications to alert the passing vehicles. If a rear collision does occur, the under run protection is usually either absent or poorly built to save the car occupants, it is the worst of the worst case situation.

Yes, may be the truck had broken down and was parked there without appropriate warning. Like I said, there are a million things that are done the wrong way on our roads.

As for the under run protection bar. Even if trucks have them fitted, seeing how they are attached to the truck in India, I seriously doubt it would offer any sort of protection if a car were to run into it at high speed. It could probably stop a 2 wheeler at the most. It may offer some protection to a car in low speed scenarios, or in cases where the relative speed between the truck and car is low. But it would offer zero protection if a car were to rear end a stationary truck at speeds say, even 50 or 60 kmph. Unless well designed and extremely sturdy, like a battle ram, a 1 ton car could easily carry enough kinetic energy to take the bar along with it below the truck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sridhu (Post 4435841)

This is more in the way of an all India traffic alert.

Apparently Pune- Bombay is choked at multiple

The 'Hot spot' Is always near Amrutanjan Bridge and it normally ends before the exit for Lonavala. This is always the case in Mumbai Pune corridor than Pune Mumbai.

Come long weekends or post 10pm departures on a regular day, trucks and night buses choke this section hogging all lane ensuring a 1st gear crawl.

And when it's a combination of long weekend + an accident in Mumbai Pune corridor, the result is this:

Accidents in India | Pics & Videos-images-11.jpeg

(Image courtesy : Google)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCORPION (Post 4435747)

I still have my doubts. The officer who survived the impact was asleep with the seat reclined at its lowest, the reason why he survived the impact in first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCORPION (Post 4435747)

Apart from under run protection, why would a truck be parked on a road in a manner in which another vehicle could run into it? Lack of adequate truck parking bays which are reasonably equipped?

I agree about the parking bays but until that is done, having under run protection bars of certain quality enforced properly is a low hanging fruit which doesnt cost the government at all and the manufacturer much either. Its an easy fix which could have saved so many promising lives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCORPION (Post 4435747)

There are just too many things wrong in our roads. It's so very disappointing because I cannot see any hope of things improving anytime in the near future. Although infrastructure, road network and road conditions are improving, there is not much thought to the most important aspect of safety. Just because a road surface is well laid and long lasting, doesn't mean it is safe. Proper barricades, bus bays, truck bays, service lanes, emergency lanes etc has to complement good roads to make it safe for travel. Most of all, the mindset of every moron on the road has to change. Its absolutely frustrating. Really.

Totally agree. Our understanding of what constitutes good infra is pretty rudimentary. A good road is just the start point not the end.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SCORPION (Post 4435747)

As long as things remain the way they are, this thread will just keep running into pages and pages at an alarming rate.

And this is so unfortunate unless we had politics which worked for the people than just votes.

Can't blame the driver alone. Most often they are overworked and do long stretches behind the wheel. At least that's the scene here in TNSTC buses. I don't see Maharashtra being any different.

Whenever there are passengers or very expensive cargo or equipment involved, the person at the wheel is reasonably well paid. This ensures a certain level of responsibility on that person. Airline pilots, merchant ship officers and loco pilots, for instance, are well paid mainly because of this reason. I am sure in a developed country, drivers of trucks and buses and other mass public transport vehicles are well paid. I wonder how much these guys are paid.

In India, the drivers of these commercial vehicles work under almost inhuman conditions. The seats and ergonomics on most of these vehicles are a disaster. All front engined vehicles have no air-conditioning for the driver, whatever the reason may be. At least a few of the lucky ones who get to drive the new generation trucks/buses don't have to suffer so much except may be, for long working hours.

The government bus drivers are a slightly better than the private bus drivers.

Here is what the news article says:

Quote:

The reason ascertained behind the fall was that the driver lost control of the bus while taking a turn. However, the lone survivor of the bus accident, Prakash Sawant Desai revealed that a joke was cracked among the passengers due to which the driver turned his head around for a minute and lost control.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shajoshi (Post 4436343)

https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/india/...095-2018-07-30

Distraction of bus driver cost 30+ lives as bus goes down Mahabaleshwar ghat. How important it is for driver to remain focused on the road and nothing else?