Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Sad end to two bright minds:

https://indianexpress.com/article/ci...f-course-road/

It must have been a high speed hit to bring the bike to such shape, TOI report says that rider received extreme injuries and would not have survived more than few minutes after the accident.

I hope educated lot become more careful with their lives. Few beers, late night ride, high speed - all sounds fun but it is a lethal combination.

Quote:

Originally Posted by samaspire (Post 4448093)

I read in TOI that the autopsy revealed no traces of alcohol, or food for that matter. Also that they encountered a temporary barricade that was not clearly marked or lit. Who is to be blamed in this case?

The initial TOI story mentioned that Police talked to a friend of Kevin who confirmed that Kevin & Anvita has few beers with them and then left friend's place at 1230. This friend didn't know where the couple was headed and only came to know about accident next morning.
Now I see that TOI has curtailed this part of story, strange!

It could be a case of imaginative reporting, which was corrected later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shifu (Post 4447660)

I don't understand how the speeding 2-wheeler didn't see the 2 wheeler stopped on the left side? Its not that his vision has been hindered by some big vehicle in the front.

I believe this is what happens when there are huge variations in vehicle speeds on a road. The motorcyclist most probably mistook the stopped 2 wheeler for a slow vehicle. For my hypothesis to hold true, the motorcycle had to have been driven fast by cutting in and out of lanes to overtake vastly slower vehicles.

It might sound outlandish when I say this, but I have seen such instances before on our highways.

When driving for long distances bykeeping up triple digit speeds, one gets used to extremely slow vehicles that do ~ 40 Kmph. For a driver doing 80 to 100 Kmph or beyond, a 40 Kmph vehicle and a stopped vehicle ahead look practically the same. A fast moving vehicle's driver might have been cutting in and out for hours while overtaking slow vehicles; he'd get lulled into thinking a stopped vehicle ahead is yet another slowpoke - but the stopped vehicle would creep up on him a whole lot quicker than he'd anticipate.

This is why there needs to be a minimum speed on all roads, just as there needs to be a maximum speed limit. Slow vehicles that are holding up traffic have the potential to cause far worse damage than just holding up traffic.

Let's cut to the essence.

Leaving aside the number of wheels and bad habits particularly associated with them, we have...

- Vehicle stops in stupid place.
- Another vehicle hits it.

This merits hardly any discussion at all. Yes, the stupidity of the first driver is undeniable, but the overall responsibility is with the person who hits it.

There is no excuse about relative speeds, etc. Slow, stationary, broken-down, etc vehicles are to be found on the fastest roads. If another driver cannot comprehend that they should not be driving.

We should not overthink these things. We should not make excuses for those who simply drive into something or someone, even when that someone is being an idiot themselves.

Having said all that, the seemingly growing habit of bikers to just stop, wherever, is thoughtless, stupid, and highly dangerous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4448226)

Yes, the stupidity of the first driver is undeniable, but the overall responsibility is with the person who hits it.

Mr.Thad, what you said indeed holds true 95% of the time in the eyes of the law at least in the US. The driver of the vehicle that follows has the responsibility to maintain a minimum safe distance from any vehicles or objects in front of him. So true. In most fender-benders, the vehicles which hits from behind is immediately ruled at fault in almost all accidents.

But there are rare exceptions to that rule. The underlying principle I guess is that people who stop on major roads have certain responsibilities too.

A friend's wife was new to driving. She stood on the brakes of her new Honda Odyssey minivan on Interstate Highway 91 in Connecticut just because she missed her exit. From doing 70 mph, she went to 0 in a few seconds. 3 cars were totaled in all (hers and 2 cars that were following her) and she was squarely held responsible.

Moreover, I've seen cases where the drivers of broken-down vehicles on the highway in the US were held liable because they didn't do enough to move their cars off the road or they didn't do enough to warn oncoming vehicles to steer clear of their disabled vehicle.

Finally, here's an informative article - https://www.roseboroughinsurance.com...ended-someone/

Quote:

There are times, however, when the front driver may be negligent and therefore liable from a legal and insurance perspective.

It could be that the front driver:
* Reversed suddenly at a stoplight or intersection
* Failed to use functioning brake lights
* Stopped suddenly to turn, but then failed to turn
* Stopped in the roadway for a flat tire but did not pull over or use hazard lights
* Pulled into traffic from a side street, while not leaving room for rear cars to react

In these situations, it is possible that the front driver may be liable. But keep in mind, some of these may be hard to prove, so it is still in your best interest to drive at a very safe distance and focus your attention on the road at all times.

There are certainly certain situations where it would be illegal to stop a vehicle simply because it would be dangerous to do so. Self preservation should tell us not to stop just around a corner, or just over a hill, etc, let alone the restrictions in force on various highways and motorways of the world. Fault for collision in some of those circumstances may be debatable.

In many, or most, of such instances in this thread (that I see; I don't always follow), it is not debatable. But it gets debated anyway! :D

The thing is, social responsibility in India is pathetic. So while we can hope for people to be sensible and not park on a highway (and perform similar idiotic behaviours), it's each man for himself, and the only variable in our control is how we hit the road. And that means driving defensively, with tons of anticipation.

Try this experiment - look at any crash videos of accidents recorded on dashcams in the US (skip Russian videos, they drive like they have a death wish), and in most of those crashes, you'll find that as an Indian-road certified driver, you'll anticipate things better than them, and probably have one to two points where you'd be taking action, instead of blissfully driving into a crash.

It's just a matter of honing those self-preservation instincts further when we drive in India that is the most effective means of driving today, while we hope for better drivers.

I would rather drive overtly defensively and be safe, rather than be dead/maimed but secure in the knowledge that it was the other party's fault.

Anticipation is the key to survive any ride, however long it might be, on Indian roads. Majority of the folks who get into trouble have acquired a tendency similar to the bleary eyed soldier being coerced into a "human wave attack" and choses to blindly keep rushing as long as possible hoping with a belief that he won't get killed while others always are.

We should always expect the unexpected on our roads and discipline ourselves to reduce the speed to make the safe stopping distance always match the distance of the road being visible to us.

Quote:

Originally Posted by airbus (Post 4449093)

It could also be due to improper usage of the front brake.

You got it right. It's mainly because of the front brakes being applied. I can make out that he just used the front brakes and it being a disc, he lost control as the front tyre locked abruptly.

I remember dropping the bike to my right, when I wanted to make a U - turn and using just the front brakes to control.

Quote:

Originally Posted by airbus (Post 4449093)

This happened in front of my vehicle on Outer Ring Road, near Prestige Tech Park, Kadubeesanahalli. Although not sure why the biker lost control, I saw momentary distraction on his part as one scooter lady in front touched the blue Honda Brio slightly. It could also be due to improper usage of the front brake.

What would that black streak on the road be? My suspicion is that it could be oil that may have been leaking from some vehicle in front. When one brakes with oil on the road, such a loss of balance is to be expected.