Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4481028)

If a person can walk, they can ride a bike. Surely it is much the same thing just adding an engine, and the potential for youngsters to do silly stunts which are the only driving skills that interest then.

This is a deadly formula, a deadly attitude. But nobody seems to care.

We can be sure this thread will never lack material

I agree. No matter how knowledgeable a person is in any subject, unless they put that to use, there is nothing that can stop disaster from happening.

I have seen people who are above average in talks and conduct becoming insane on road. They care least about safety of other who share same carriageway as they are in.

In my early days of driving four wheelers, I used to get really angry and block these line jumpers and rule breakers royally, but nowadays I think of repercussion both to them and me. My action should only aid their safety not their demise.

Have seen drivers sticking marriage invitation posters on their windshield and running their convoy recklessly and shoving other cars off the road. Any mistake from any of the drivers will end lives of a entire family in flash of a second.

Its within us. It is not what we are born with, but acquired through compassion and mature intelligence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by honeybee (Post 4479526)

With the bus facing towards the camera, it would be a Herculean task to spot the brake lights of the bus.

The rider has his lucky stars or guardian angels to thank for, and his stupidity to blame. My perception is he seems to have sped up just as the bus has stopped.

Scooter guy had ample time to stop and clear view of oncoming truck.
He braked very late, also he was not trying to cut the bus in anyway, but ended up in truck's path as his rear brakes locked.

It seems to be wide road, so i wont blame the truck driver in anyway for the speed which he was carrying.

https://youtu.be/xSzaMyYMyvA

https://m.timesofindia.com/city/hyde...w/66297516.cms

A woman died and her fiancé injured in a road traffic accident in Hyderabad. CCTV visuals of the accident show that:
1. A pedestrian jaywalks across the road.
2. There is a lane separator (divider) which Xylo spots at the last moment and swerves left to enter left lane.
3. The couple tailgate Xylo in their motorcycle and couldn't spot the divider in time after Xylo swerves. He locks the brakes, no ABS probably, skids and they fall to their right side.
4. A Maruti Ritz which tailgated the motorcycle crushed the woman who died. The guy is admitted in hospital with injuries.

How to prevent this unfortunate accident in future?
1. Never tailgate or allow others to tailgate.
Recently there was a post in forum about how a member here was able to swerve avoiding a guy falling from bus near Manipal. He could swerve as he has a safe distance. But this Ritz couldn't avoid hitting the woman.

When the vehicle in front of me is passing a fixed object (like a tree or pole), I start counting "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi or 1001, 1002 and before the end of the count if I also cross the fixed object, it means that I am tailgating them and I either overtake them if situation permits or mostly relax on my throttle.

Being a motorcyclist, I simply let cars pass if I find them tailgating. I would like to know your experiences how to shake off a tailgater when you are in a car.

2. I couldn't see the pillion wearing a helmet. The guy's helmet came off after he fell. Fasten the helmet.

3. I do not know if there was any warning about road divider. It is upto the city and roadways departments to fix it. Even if there is no warning signs, do not fixate on the car immediately before but keep an eye out till the horizon and see what's happening ahead.

These are the lessons I learnt from this unfortunate accident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vasuki (Post 4482152)

Apparently from the video we can see that the scooty(two wheeler) overtook the Ritz and swerved left probably to catch left lane. The Ritz guy cannot be held at fault( watch after 00:45).

That bike looks like a Yamaha R15, and not a scooty.
It has an extremely weird pillion seat and is really not the best bike to ride if you have 2 people on it (Read, riding characteristics/dynamics change drastically with the added weight).
And yes, AFAIK the R15 still doesn't come with ABS, while being an extremely nippy motorcycle!!!

The video says that the police registered a case against the car driver. But I don't think the Ritz driver could have done anything different. If you look closely, the biker overtook the Ritz from the right and then cut off to the left, as Vasuki also pointed out.
As for tailgating, Ritz was maintaining a sufficient distance behind he Xylo for an evasive maneuver had it not been for the biker who cut him off.
Also, the biker was out of his lane after overtaking and Ritz had clear right of way to go ahead straight down the road. I don't see why Ritz driver should be punished.
But then it's the victims who are always considered right in the eyes of the police and media, especially if there's fatalities. (Like the Amritsar accident).

Of course this is an armchair analysis, so please take it with a pinch of salt.

Crossed this accident site today morning on Pune Aurangabad highway, near Shirur going towards Pune. I believe the bus belonged to Prasanna Purple travels (there was a logo on the roof of the bus, although the rear of the bus has a different name). Looked like the bus had rear ended a truck carrying steel bars (IIRC) the truck had turned turtle off the road. There was glass shattered across the road and police and ambulance were present at the site.

I was traveling in a bus towards Pune and we were stuck in a jam here for more than an hour.

News link:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/pune-...bf6vtAd4I.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arwin07 (Post 4482137)

A woman died and her fiancé injured in a road traffic accident in Hyderabad. CCTV visuals of the accident show that

That's a horrific and tragic accident.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GrandTourer (Post 4482588)

Like you, I hope the police don't find the Ritz driver accountable, for the actions of the bike rider that led to the death of the bike pillion.

You have summarized the Ritz's predicament very well, and I do hope that person is able to mount an effective and timely defence (I'm afraid that in our system, justice is often delayed, and that's as bad as it being denied) using this video.

The behaviour of the bike rider is a classic example of the single-track mind that many drivers & riders use, to the detriment of our sanity, and - on tragic occasions like this - to their lives.

(Clears throat, stands on top of soapbox)

Driving is a bit like life - there's a long term goal, and various short-term goals that may or may not fully align to that long term goal.

Good drivers, defensive drivers execute appropriate short-term goals while keeping their eye firmly on the long-term goal.
Bad drivers focus on just the immediate goal that follows one at a time, and then lose out in the long term (or stress out others!).

For example, the long-term goal for a driver would be to take a slip road beneath a flyover, since that leads home. The short-term goal would be to clear the Ritz that is ahead of them.

The good driver knows that the short-term goal of overtaking from the right is in conflict with the long-term goal of turning to the left, and they adapt accordingly - abandon that short-term goal, and instead peacefully follow the car to a safe left turn.
The bad driver executes things in a sequential manner: "Oh, there's a car ahead of me, let me overtake it". Twist the throttle. Next: "Oh, I need to take the left, let me veer sharply across". Cut across the bows of the just-overtaken car. That dawning moment of fear: "Oh, that divider is fast approaching". Jam the brakes. Wipeout. Crash. Boom. Bang. Squelch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunphilip (Post 4482754)

The good driver knows that the short-term goal of overtaking from the right is in conflict with the long-term goal of turning to the left, and they adapt accordingly - abandon that short-term goal, and instead peacefully follow the car to a safe left turn.

Couldn't have put it in a better way. I face this short-term mentality every day during my commute to work. There is a string of 4 flyovers in my daily drive and almost every time a biker, Uber/Ola or auto-rickshaws just cut people off to take the slip road at the last moment.

It is just too frustrating, because of the constant fear of them scraping my car and I just cannot live with a dent on the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arwin07 (Post 4482137)

...
1. Never tailgate or allow others to tailgate.
.
.
.
Being a motorcyclist, I simply let cars pass if I find them tailgating. I would like to know your experiences how to shake off a tailgater when you are in a car....

When I commute with my car, If I leave safe space in front of me, that angers the yellow boards following me. Particularly the Tempo Travelers which are used as company cabs here in Bangalore, they are the worst. They tailgate me close with incessant honking in an attempt to get me to surrender to their intimidation. And they succeed, I let them pass. I guess this is the only way to not get tailgated.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arwin07 (Post 4482137)

A woman died and her fiancé injured in a road traffic accident in Hyderabad. CCTV visuals of the accident show that:...

The Ritz driver had little or no chance of avoiding the fallen riders. The biker overtook the Rotz from the right and immediately cut across to the left probably to take the side road, or there could be some confusion as to which road to take. Tailgating the Mahindra made matters worse for him.

Coming back to the question, when people are tailgating, I usually move over to the left, or whichever way they might not want to overtake from as it is not worth the time and effort in arguing on the road, damages, claims.

Background History:
So far I have been rear ended badly 3 times, 2 times on the Yeti, once on the Fusion. 2 times by a cabbie on the phone, once by a person talking to his wife in the passenger seat. 1 of the instances, the cab was damaged, I just took a photo of the driver holding up his license and registration and moved on. Escaped with minor scratches on the rear bumper.

In other news:
Yesterday a truck rolled back up a bit too much on speed breaker at NICE Hosur Road Toll Gate. One of the protrusions got caught in the headlamp. When the truck moved forward, it made a dent on the fender and plucked the headlamp right out of the Figo. Put the car for repairs today morning. My wife was driving the car and it was past 7 PM, she decided to let it be as it's not safe to get out of the car at the toll booth and argue with truckers. Partially her fault for not allowing enough roll back for the truck.