Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Road Safety (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/)

-   -   Accidents in India | Pics & Videos (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/109249-accidents-india-pics-videos-1851.html)

The car sure seems to be speeding. In India we have to be prepared for these sort of crossings especially on roads without a median.

Bingo!! Another example is cattle that will seldom start walking or running backwards. A dog can be highly unpredictable. Here is the case of a human on 2 wheels who may have never moved backward the way he attempted to cross that road; approaching from the tail would have probably resulted in less damage!

A 2 wheeler trying to enter the main road and the engine died right on the lane marker. The gradient for the bike to climb that wide road was too much and rider downshifted to 2nd so quickly that the bike just died in the middle of the road - classic cases to watch out for on our highways and it happened to me many years ago. [Where I need to thank the Honda Activas and the Suzuki Access these days].

Car driver is definitely over the speed limit and was probably already struggling to be on their side of the lane, a sharper turn behind the scooter would have been beyond the limits of Mr. Stig and car. It would have still lost control and probably hit the Fortuner or the woman, sliding sideways.

The scooter rider tried his best to start on the dotted line but he did not adhere to that on the median. Coming to the dotted lines themselves, they seem to be at a place which is a blind spot on a curve for vehicles coming from the right. Such crossings are always a recipe for disaster.

Bus driver is trying to save the scooter and manages to hit the policeman. Orange High Visibility jackets are pointless on Indian Roads as they just looks like a political flag.

The chap in the blue car is very fortunate there wasn't an oncoming vehicle. Could've ended much nastier than it already did.

Surprised (in a good way) to see that Baleno took the impact well. Most of the Baleno accidents have resulted in to severe damage to the car and unfortunately to the passengers as well.

:thumbs up:thumbs up You did good by helping them.

Always go behind.

Just what I was thinking yesterday, as I walked across the entrance to petrol bunk. A biker cut across me, almost driving on my toes. If I had been that close to his pillion wife with no bike involved he would have been objecting!

Why do this? Nothing to gain. And nothing to lose by going behind.

That's what I thought too. But I was caught by surprise during my recent drive in Udupi - KollurMukambika road. I was driving at a speed of around 50km/h in one of the sparsely populated villages on the way and suddenly I saw a calf dashing across the road coming from left. Since it appeared from bushes/trees very near the roadside, I saw it only when it entered the road. (Those who drove in the route can relate to the fact that there is not much space between roads & nearby compounds/fields).

Judging by the speed of it's running & car's speed, I expected it to cross the road by the time I reach there. So I continued on the left lane slightly applying brakes. Boy, I was wrong! By the time it reached middle of the road, it took a turn & started running toward my car :Shockked: . I slightly swerved the car to right, applied brakes (but not too sudden to avoid losing control) and came to a stop, with car in the middle/slightly in right lane. The last thing I saw was the calf running almost towards left side of front bumper and very close to it. I was scared that I might have hit it in the last moment, but had a sigh of relief when I saw the bikers behind me looking towards left side of road hinting that it completed the U-turn and ran towards left again. All these happened in a matter of seconds & I was happy that the calf, we & the car all left unhurt in the incident. :)

Still, I would agree that pointing at the back is always the best option when it comes to animals & bikes. But, more agile animals like calves & dogs can be bit unpredictable as the above incident.

In the case of bikes, there was an incident similar to what was shown in the video where one of my old relative's was riding the bike. Being an old & "overcautious" person, he started crossing the highway on bike and seeing a car coming from right side on the same lane, he just froze there instead of easily crossing the road on time (in this case, it was an incline on right side instead of curve making it a surprise for both of them). Car ended up hitting the bike, he landed on it's bonnet & windshield and bike was sent sliding several meters away. Luckily, both he & car driver came out with minor injuries. So, along with agile animals, such over cautious drivers (old, new learners, some women etc. ) are also unpredictable.

So, what can save us in all these situations is driving in a safe speed for the road conditions. If I were a bit more faster, I would've ended up hitting the calf. If the car drivers were bit slower in the incident I mentioned or in the video, they could've avoided hitting the bikes.

But, then there are those situations where nothing can save us from the accident, especially on the very unpredictable Indian roads. So, I have very less hope that I would be able to see a driverless car functioning properly on Indian roads in my lifetime.

OK, yes, I would say that the rule of thumb should be to go behind, but this neglects certain things, which agree are not necessarily rare. Among these are

1. Animals. Animals should always be regarded as unpredictable and a major hazard.

2. Humans, when they are suddenly aware of a vehicle apparently bearing down on them. Their (ahem, our) reaction could be to run, freeze, or even to step backwards.

So, I still say aim to pass behind, but no it is not that simple. A living thing on the road ahead is an emergency.

With certain animals, I use a simple mental algorithm; cows and buffaloes continue to sail gently in the direction their noses are pointed at. So I aim to proceed in the direction their tails are at that moment. This has never gone wrong...so far. Foxes fall in this category too, it's just that they go at a high speed.

Slightly OT: With snakes in the Manipal/Udupi belt, I've seen cobras and king cobras dart across at a high speed. Pythons just move at their own speed (or lie there) and I have nearly mistaken them for a fallen tree once. Due to this folly of the constrictor type of snakes, I've seen so many smaller boas run over on the road.

Back to the topic: I didn't think calves would behave so unpredictably. Ah, the folly of youth isn't just human apparently. So, I've learnt something new today :thumbs up

Other than this, yes - dogs, deer - these are the unpredictable ones. The deer not only are unpredictable in their X and Y axes, they are prone to jumping along the Z axis as well; I know a colleague in the US into whose windshield a deer leaped into the air and came feet first via the windshield and then kept thrashing at their faces. Many facial reconstruction surgeries followed. I don't know where in India you may run into deer, but this is something to keep in mind.

With humans on motorcycles, I have but one rule that has held good by and large; motorcyclists on cumbersome Harleys/Royal Enfields will likely stick to a straight line and ride predictably. It's the angrily buzzing Jap motorcycles that can exhibit Brownian motion. Humans on foot are indeed unpredictable; I've unfortunately seen a man trying to run across the Mangalore-Bombay highway to be confronted by a speeding container truck. The man went left and the trucker did the same. He jumped right and the trucker did the same and then struck him down - all in a span of 2-3 seconds. My stomach overturned because I had been idly watching him from across the road for a while. He was all smiles, overjoyed about something on the phone. He hung up and ran across the road unaware that he would die shortly.

In India, its the NilGai or the blue bull that darts across the roads and sometimes lands on the windshield, There are frequent accidents that happen in North India at least due to this. You can't avoid the damage to the car when it jumps but just pray that it does not get stuck in the windshield. :eek:

Well, the tendency of most bikers (atleast in Bangalore) is "me first" & everybody else on road can wait, apply breaks or meet an accident due to my antics but I wouldn't care.

When I try to come out of my residential block on Sarjapur road, I meet few such bikers everyday, who just want me to remain inside the residence. They wouldn't allow to join the main road (People who travel on Sarjapur road could understand it better, as there is perennial traffic jam & you cannot afford to follow 'right of way', if there is such a thing in India :deadhorse)

when entering the main road, I roll down my driver windows, take my arm out and try to signal people to stop and let me merge. 5 out of 10 people will allow you. But if u try by turning indicator only, no one allows you. This I have experienced many times. may be you can give it a try and see luck favours you. I learnt this trick from my office colleague and it works for me most of the time. (I hope those bikers are not reading my post) lol:

Two days ago, I encountered a large cow that had been chased away by a security man, and was clearly agitated. I didn't go in front of behind: I stopped. Until I was sure of the animal's state and intentions, when I passed it at slow speed. Fast enough to get clear as soon as possible, but slow enough that I could have done a dead stop almost instantly. An agitated, panicked, or angry cow can do anything.

The idea of slowing and even stopping when confronted by someone or something is alien to most car drivers and unknown to most bikers. It was drilled into me... Hazard ahead? Cover the brake; slow down; be prepared.

Got to know about an accident at a spot I passed just minutes before while driving to work this morning. As per the what's app forward

Apparently the lady fainted after this. Hope she gets out of trouble soon if she wasnt at fault. The pics are too gory to share and hence not putting them here

https://www.loksatta.com/pune-news/b...elmet-1827615/

Not sure how it happened, but most people say he was riding fast, went over the other side, Eon braked hard but Tempo Traveller behind Eon coudnt brake in time and Eon dragged that guy under it.