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Road Safety
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India is not a good country for pedestrians. This incident though is the fault of the pedestrians.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karanddd
(Post 5280743)
All these responses about pedestrians being run over by a truck, but no mention of the most obvious problem: the lack of a sidewalk.
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It was indeed mentioned, and a short aside discussion also talked about the fact that, never mind rural roads, modern urban flyover design may give no space for pedestrians.
All of us are pedestrians for some of our time on roads.
RIP. This is an unfortunate incident, but the fault is completely on the pedestrians. Dimly lit road, no reflective stickers, and occupying a lane while walking in a group. It was a careless mistake that many keep repeating.
This type of walking is not only a risk to the people who do it, but also to other road users. Motorists will see them at the last moment and will try to sway resulting in an accident with an oncomng vehicle or brake hard resulting in a chain accident.
I have seen morning walkers using public roads like a park road in Kerala. Even when sidewalks are available, people for some unknown reason walk as a group in the road in unlit conditions before sunrise. Hope this incident would create some awareness about the danger involved in this practice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by karanddd
(Post 5280743)
Anywhere else in the world there would be a sidewalk next to the road where people can walk safely, without having to worry about wearing hi-vis clothing or watching their backs
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There are plenty of such situations where even “rest of the world” doesn’t have sidewalks for pedestrians and they need to use the same road as vehicles. However, the guidelines are pretty clear as to what should the pedestrians do. For ex, this is what the UK’s highway code says -
Quote:
Rule 2
If there is no pavement, keep to the right-hand side of the road so that you can see oncoming traffic. You should take extra care and
be prepared to walk in single file, especially on narrow roads or in poor light
keep close to the side of the road.
It may be safer to cross the road well before a sharp right-hand bend so that oncoming traffic has a better chance of seeing you. Cross back after the bend.
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Further, even if a pavement is available, pedestrians are advised to be mindful of the traffic around them etc. Refer the other rules on this page -
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-high...trians-1-to-35
Infact it’s probably the EU cities which are much more pedestrian friendly, US is horrible for “walking”.
We traveled on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route recently and saw 3 accidents. I did not take pictures because it felt inappropriate to do so. However, here is a summary of the accidents.
1. Truck overturned on the left side of the road. It didn't look fatal.
2. A Celerio that was zipping between the lanes hit a Tata Ace near a bump. It is possible that the driver couldn't slow down enough because of his speed.
3. A Wagon R hit an Auto Rickshaw near a crossing on the highway. The rickshaw might have strayed into the right lane to cross the road. Severe injuries were likely.
Indian highways have become very dangerous these days because all forms of traffic intermingle at different speeds. One can see trucks coming from the wrong side at a high speed, bikes crossing the space between trucks at a high speed, slow moving trucks and jugaads blocking the middle lane, and vehicles overtaking through the emergency lane. Even with defensive driving, one can become a victim of an accident because the general driving etiquette has become so irresponsible.
I saw an absurdly freakish accident today in Gurgaon (Raghavendra Marg). Just as you enter the twin underpasses (opposite Camellias, I think), I could see the lorry stand and a few people on top of it trying to do something with the overhead board (the one which has Raghavendra Marg written in blue). I thought these guys were trying to change or fix the board. As I approached the site I saw debris everywhere. It seems the lorry driver did not gauge the height of the underpass properly and went straight in and got stuck.
The horrific part came approximately 100m later when I saw a broken windshield and a man lying beside it. He must have been doing decent speeds when he got stuck and then got thrown out of the windshield. This was at 6am in the morning. There was a traffic guard standing beside him and signaling cars to go past him with his handheld traffic light/torch.
I did not see the accident happen so it is a guess of what could have happened.
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarrySky
(Post 5279713)
The truck was in its lane, but appears to be speeding. However, the road was unlit and the victims were walking on the road. A car that passed a few seconds before the truck narrowly avoided hitting the group.
CCTV footage starting at around 00:55: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RKWtqfmSKQ
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RIP. Not the way to lose ones life. Hope common sense and awareness is spread among pedestrians on dos and don'ts on our narrow roads.
In the video at 1.28, I could see them standing in group at the edge of road (still on road) and not walking abreast showing their back to traffic behind them. Am I missing anything here? Did the curve on the road had an impact on truck drivers a ability to spot the people (4 of them)?
<No pics> I saw an accident very closely on Sunday. I was driving back to Delhi from Haldwani and was on the Hapur bypass. The road is 4 laned and fairly smooth so everyone was doing decent speeds. Suddenly I see that the WagonR just ahead of me (about 30 m) swerves to the right and then goes all the way to the left before toppling over into the side ditch. Luckily, there was no one in its way, or else it would have been a multi-car crash.
Many cars stopped to help. I was absolutely surprised to see both occupants walk out of the WagonR with no injuries. The body shell was stable as well despite the car rolling over at least once. There were a few people who claimed that they saw the car topple twice. I had not seen that since I was ensuring I remain safe on the road and stopped after 100 m.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VigneshMC
(Post 5282444)
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Looks more like moronic driving quality than anything else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by deetee
(Post 5282488)
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Very Unfortunate, Looks like she was on the blind spot of the bus all the time. Most of our people have absolutely no idea on blind spot of the bigger vehicles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by deetee
(Post 5282488)
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What a sad incident. :(
Though not at all recommended, but still those who travel daily on public transport follows a basic rule. While crossing from in front of a bus/bigger vehicle too closely, they lift a hand up, so if the whole body is in the blind spot, still the driver can atleast see the hand signaling him to stop.
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