Team-BHP - Accidents in India

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Originally Posted by Flyer (Post 4466673)

A biker got killed in an accident with a KeSRTC bus today in Muvattupuzha, Kerala. As per news the bike lost control and ramped into the bus. The impact caused a fire which engulfed the bus.

In an interview with a Malayalam news website, the conductor of the bus says that the bike was one among several that were racing on the road. Apparently the bike hit the bus head-on and was dragged for a few feet; its petrol tank burst open due to the impact and the petrol within caught fire from the sparks generated by the dragging.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JediKnight (Post 4466111)

Cars crossing over the divider and doing a head on with on coming traffic is becoming way too common. In many cases innocent people who drive defensively get involved. You are a safe driver, but how do you handle a case when a car from the opposite side just comes and rams you. There is no way to take care of this. May be driving in the middle lane. That is not 100% safe either plus some times it is just not possible. May be it is high time to put barricades on dividers.

I agree to you point that it is almost impossible to do anything when a car suddenly flies from the opposite side of the road and rams on to your car.

But, on this particular Bangalore -Mysore Road, where,
1. Not even 1 km stretch of road is straight, (I mean, the road is completely curvy)
2. Traffic density is always at least 3-4 vehicles within 100 metre stretch
3. Roads have multiple humps (70% are removed now, but Metro construction for almost 30 Kms out of 130 Kms has added to the beauty of the road)
4. Average speed of the vehicles are in the range of 60-70 KMPH

It is always safe to drive the vehicle by taking 3 hours to safely drive and reach the destination. But, the trend I see during the discussions with many people is, people take pride to boast themselves by saying they covered the distance between Bangalore Mysore within 2 hours.

I am not sure why everyone targets to cover within 2 hours. The road is no more a highway kind of Road. The traffic is 70% of the time similar to city traffic. :Frustrati

If this trend stops, I think all these accidents will be avoided including Darshan's accident ( I believe the reason for Darshan car accident is also the same trend of taking the challenge of reaching Bangalore within 2 hours)

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkveda (Post 4466772)

4. Average speed of the vehicles are in the range of 60-70 KMPH

To achieve an average speed of 70 kmph, the peak speeds would undoubtedly go frequently above 100 kmph or higher for sure.

It is common to hear someone say in our conversations, "I usually drive at 120/130/150 kmph on highways" with a smile and excitement on their face believing that their vehicles are capable and they are capable of handling the car at those speeds.
What everybody forgets is its not about self or vehicle's capability but the limitation is in bringing the vehicle to a stop during an emergency braking from those higher speeds. The stopping distance dramatically increases with the increase in speed, just laws of physics.

At 70 kmph after applying the brakes, the car rolls for about 130 feet (40 meters) before coming to a stop.
80kmph (170 feet or 50 meters)
100kmph (254 feet or 77 meters)
120 kmph (350 feet or 100 meters)
140 kmph ( 464 feet or about 140 meters)
So 140 kmph if some obstacle suddenly comes in front of the vehicle even 400 feet away, there is a very high chance of hitting that object because the vehicle will simply not come to a stop.
Swerving to avoid an object is even more dangerous in this situation and can/will result in the vehicle rolling over multiple times.

At 80 kmph, the vehicle would come to a stop 170 feet after braking.

Increasing the speed just by 40kmph (to 120kmph), you now need 170+ 230 feet more (total of 400 feet) just to come to a stop. That is a big problem in an emergency.
Imagine somebody decides to cross the road 100 or even 200 feet away, it sounds like very far away but at 120 kmph, it is not even half the braking distance (400 feet), a very scary and dangerous situation.
That is the reason most video clips clearly show a speeding vehicle going ahead and hitting the obstacle(person/animal/vehicle), its not like the driver isn't trying, but the vehicle simply cannot come to a stop in a short distance.

Drivers must ensure that their speed should always be in proportion to the anticipated stopping distance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gkveda (Post 4466772)

If this trend stops, I think all these accidents will be avoided

I stay on this road and use the road almost everyday for short sections. Weekend getaways usually mean that we take this road out and then divert from Mysore to some destination. The distance from NICE road till Mysore ORR is about 120 km and it is easy to maintain a sane speed of 60-70 when roads are empty and do the stretch in 2.5 hours as your average will be lower than 60.

The problem starts when a whole bunch of people try to cover this distance in under 2 hours. It's a 2 lane + 2 lane dual carriage way with the outer lane littered with tractors, parked buses, two wheelers, cows, drunkards, Idly stands, you name it.

Usually when you drive like a maniac, you forget to plan ahead and eventually get stuck behind some slow moving vehicle watching others overtake you. This increases the frustration and the driver will then try to outrun everyone whenever they get a chance to. And it is this behaviour that causes all the problems.

Regular travellers like me on this road will take it easy and yet cover the distance going at sedate speeds getting good fuel average in 2.5 hours.

Coming to the video itself, my first reaction would be to conclude Grey Amaze crossed over from other side, hit the Grey Etios, and the tailgating White Dezire could not get out of the situation in time.

However, it is clear that all the cars have maximum damage on the Passenger side, which could mean one of the vehicle was going the wrong way trying to cut across from a gap in the median.

In any case, it does not look like any of the front passengers visible in the video were wearing seat belts.

Very tragic news: https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/mus...ed-off-1921868

I have known Balabhaskar as an excellent Violinist and have been to many of his shows and felt very bad coming across this after I saw many of his co-artists posting in social media. What is even worse is that their daughter was born after many years of their marriage and then she had to meet such a fate. I hope Bala and his wife recover soon. Apparently their driver dozed off. All I can say is that, whether a full time hired driver or self drive, the driver should get good rest at regular intervals. Many of my own relatives and friends follow this practice of starting their trip at night, leaving the driver at the wheel while these guys sleep. Then the following days, the driver still takes them around places and gets to sleep at random times. Many dont even make sleep arrangements to their drivers when on prolonged trips. Not sure if they think that the driver is a superhero of sorts. This is not related to the incident, but is a scenario I come across quite regularly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioholic (Post 4467168)

Also tragic was the fact that the child might have survived if she was belted in a car seat as the cabin of the car looks to be in decent shape :(. The guilt, the parents must be feeling now, no one should ever go through

Edit: Posting the link below which contains a pic of the car, on which my assumption of the car being in decent shape is based

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...critical-88907

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Originally Posted by arvind71181 (Post 4467208)

True. I didnt want to mention this because in most of these incidents, sympathy rules over any sort of analysis and people hardly learn from such incidents. An unfastened kid in the car is an easy victim to even smaller incidents where the adults might have even walked out unscathed. Sadly, this isnt the case for the majority of car owners, except a few who insist on child seats, children at backseat etc.

The car is badly damaged from front and the front dashboard is a complete goner. The steering column has been twisted out of place which indicates that the driver had a hard impact on the steering wheel. If we assume the kid was in the back seat, there was no way it would have been fatal if the girl was fastened with a child seat or at least a seat belt.

Saw a gory accident near Vivekananda house / Marina in Chennai late last night.

It must have happened just a couple of minutes before I crossed. Suspect a KTM bike and another bike coming in the wrong direction hit each other. Lots of blood and a rider was prone on the road unconscious (hopefully alive) in unnatural angle. Other rider was up and shouting. I didn't take a picture out of respect for the person.

The crowd which was gathered around seemed very responsible and taking quick actions... First aid, ambulance, managing traffic, etc.

My first thought was that the injured should not be a team-bhpian. Later felt ashamed for being so narrow minded.

Had to go drop a person at railway station. Have no further updates.

Pray all injured recover fast.

A confession, I was shaken to the core, and felt dizzy on seeing that and till I fell asleep after a long time.. Guilt that I didn't help is also bothering me.

A lot could have been, but I was just not geared up to do anything.