Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Quote:

Originally Posted by arvind71181 (Post 4555674)

..... A car 2 cars ahead of me braked suddenly due to pedestrians, the car in front of me was also able to brake and I also managed to bring the car to a halt but the cab guy behind me hit me and I hit the car in front as well.

This is a very common problematic scenario on our roads.

Pedestrians (usually) suddenly waving their hand and jumping in front of the vehicle and barging across the road (usually in dense traffic conditions) giving no option for the driver except to brake hard and halt (to avoid bumping into the pedestrian).

This scenario greatly increases the probability getting hit by the car behind (which is usually tailgating closely behind without maintaining a proper distance)

The only way to minimize the probability of getting hit from behind is:

1. To gracefully slow down on seeing a pedestrian and anticipate that they can barge across. This should give the car behind you to slow down (always anticipate that someone is tailgating you)
2. If you are driving the car behind the car described in point 1 above. Maintain sufficient gap to be able to gracefully come to a stop in case the first car stops abruptly. This will give sufficient time for the car behind you to stop and hopefully not rear end you.

End of the day, its all about minimizing the chances of the guy behind from rear ending you. So the gap that we maintain should be in all conditions sufficient for us to gracefully stop and also be cognizant of the possibly poor reflexes/tail gating attitude of the driver behind you.

Also the amount of gap to be maintained is more of an art ;) in our traffic because a bike or another car will immediately try to barge in and fill that gap.

+ In the US

If you drive too slowly in your driving test, the MV inspector awards negative points. If the speed limit is 35 mph, you are expected to be at 35 +/- 5 mph.

Various interstate highways in different states have different rules regarding minimum speeds; in some states, there is an explicit 40 mph minimum limit in highways that have steep gradients.

In most states, if you're the one holding up traffic by driving slowly, invariably highway patrol cops will pull you over. In that sense, even on highways having a 55 mph maximum limit, if everyone around me was doing 70 mph, that's exactly what i also did over there. Not once was I ever pulled over on the highway in my 4.5 years spent there.

If wishes were horses, I would bat for a minimum speed limit in India as well. Slowpokes and extreme speedsters are both dangerous to everyone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoneRidder (Post 4555936)

TVS Apache RR 310 Accident

Received through WhatsApp. Not sure about the the place and when (sounds somewhere from Kerala).

The video shared is apparently of a BMW crash in Capetown. There would be same video uploaded with multiple names and tags. We should avoid uploading them.

https://youtu.be/OZ8N3XZzdl8

Well, I should have made it clearer that I was talking about UK, and that I don't know about other countries! <Blush>

But my legal-beagle eye spots some problems with your quotes. Only two of them speak of a minimum speed. The other two speak of not allowing vehicles with a maximum speed below a limit, which is similar to the British horse-and-cart. All British cart horses are fitted with regulators that do not even permit approaching 70MPH, which is the British-motorway maximum (;)).

There are many times, on many UK motorways (try the M25) when British drivers would love there to be a minimum speed greater than the crawling speed of the traffic they are stuck in!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joxster (Post 4555749)

Myth busted! You are usually right with what you mention, however, in this case, I'm afraid that you are wrong, Thad. I distinctly remembered this from my Belgian driving theory exam :)s

So all in all, can we agree on myth dented? I have even seen minimum-speed limits in GB. But they are not common.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiragM (Post 4556102)

Thanks to Anvar Sadath for sending this video in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

CCTV footage of a bike accident in Kerala:

RIP.
The biker was speeding beyond his control.

I see that many of us Indians have this bad habit of turning into a road through its wrong side.
Instead of the correct way of indicating in advance of the intent to turn, stopping in the middle of the road till the road is clear, taking 90°degree turn at the appropriate place but taking a 45° turn cutting across the opposite lane without indicating turn as I have tried to demonstrate in an amateur picture I created:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 4556013)

But my legal-beagle eye spots some problems with your quotes. Only two of them speak of a minimum speed. The other two speak of not allowing vehicles with a maximum speed below a limit, which is similar to the British horse-and-cart.

That is just the result of poor translation from another language into English. :)

Be assured that you will be quite heavily fined by the police if you are found driving at less than 60 kmph on the highway/motorway in the countries I mentioned. It is a serious danger to others if you are driving at less than 50% of the permitted speed, even if you are driving in the slowest lane, so it makes perfect sense to me.

I do hope that they implement the minimum speed rule in India, and start enforcing it along with the maximum speed limit as well.

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arwin07 (Post 4556130)

RIP.
I have tried to demonstrate in an amateur picture I created:

Yeah, ideally speaking. But in Kerala roads (including national highway), this doesn't work as much. You might be rear ended if you stop in the middle of the road. Assuming that is a petrol pump, that is usually the exit way of the pump through which he is trying to get into.

The driver could have given at least a hand signal which probably must have caught the attention of the biker early enough to slow down a bit at least.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LoneRidder (Post 4555936)

Received through WhatsApp. Not sure about the the place and when (sounds somewhere from Kerala).

This certainly is not Kerala (the video; the photos could very well be). There are no such roads in Kerala (6 lanes plus public lighting plus grade separation plus...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiragM (Post 4556102)

CCTV footage of a bike accident in Kerala:

I can't see the van driver emerge from the cabin. Shock I guess. Even they are affected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiragM (Post 4556102)

CCTV footage of a bike accident in Kerala:

It took around 2 minutes to get him into a vehicle and it would've probably taken some time to get him to the nearest hospital. This time is most vital. Luckily, it happened on a main road and the onlookers responded quickly. Hope the biker survived.