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Talking about atrocities of these Youtubers and the frauds/unethical things committed by them and their MCN/CMS partners is a whole topic in itself. There is a raging debate going on about how MCNs are killing solo youtubers by reporting videos, disliking and making false strikes etc especially in India. Thats for another thread and another day. Enough is already discussed about this guy so I have nothing to talk about the guy himself. However as many of you have opined, lets say if the guy has indeed hit a truck from behind, the truck would have sustained some damage as well and the truck will not vanish from the scenario just like that. Moreover if its a 2 vehicle collision, there would have been a crowd formation with people around taking sides and the road would have been completely jammed. It looks very strange to see that after such a bad accident the passing vehicles didnt even bother to slow down to check what has happened. Till the towing vehicle came, not many passing bikers were also stopping or willing to help him. This is very unlike typical highways I have driven in all these years in India. At the same time, from my own experience of being involved in animal related accidents, the damage on Fortuner looks way out of proportion for hitting a cow. There is neither another vehicle nor a cow at the accident site. The truth lies somewhere in between which may or may not come out unless there is an insurance or police investigation into the accident.

All this discussion, took me back a few years and reminded me of an incident that happened on TBHP and how it helped me get rid of this one hand driving habit. Having driven manual transmission for years, I was so used to steering with one hand and having one hand on the gear even when I am in top gear and going at high speeds. Now that I drive AT, we dont need to keep that hand on the gear once its in drive mode but as an old habit I used to keep my hand on the gear even in AT. A few years back when I was narrating an incident in one of the threads in TBHP, I talked about this habit of mine and many people advised me to stop this habit immediately and some even chided me in a friendly way to get rid of that habit. I took it seriously and started working on it consciously and for the past sometime, I have completely stopped holding the gear while driving AT and hold the gear only when changing gears in MT. It does help having both hands on steering when driving at high speeds. Thanks to all those good folks who advised me out of genuine concern which led me to take it to heart and get rid of the unwanted habit. Till then, I didnt even think about it as a risky habit. One of the many reasons why I continue to value my association with TBHP. Yes, I am also proud to say, I carry two snug fit ISI marked helmets for myself and pillion rider when I ride my bike.

I was always taught these two just-don'ts:

1. Don't drive with your hand on the gear lever. Even the small amount of force is transmitted to the gear box and causes wear. May seem impossible, but remember the thing about the drip falling on the rock. This was taught me back in the day when the gear lever directly stuck out of the top of the gear box. Even though that is no longer the case, recent conversations have tended to confirm, better not anyway.

2. (not part of this conversation, but related) Don't drive with your foot resting on the clutch pedal. Again, it's a tiny amount of pressure, but the effect builds up.

Notwithstanding all this, I admit: I am a one hand driver. But the other hand is idle and absolutely ready to jump to the steering wheel. My steering technique requires both hands for all but minor turns, and the left hand is ready. Even a rough road will bring that other hand to the wheel in case of a sudden need to hold tight.

PS. Passing a British driving test requires both hands on the wheel when not changing gear, etc.

Gladly the Swift has not harmed two bikers who could have perhaps been in the hospital or elsewhere! It's the driver's skill in the case of the moron who buts in from nowhere, while it's pure providence for the second who escaped getting hit by the then out of control car.

As a thumb rule on such roads, morons, metallic objects, cattle and poultry emerge from nowhere. Hence drivers need to accelerate at only such speeds in which the car can be fully controlled during emergence of such suddenly emerging objects (SEO's) on the roads. Morons are not humans and could be better classified as objects.

Ok, this is quite uncanny.

Last night, I was reading ""Behave:The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst " by Robert Sapolsky; that talks about human behaviour/psychology from the perspective of neurobiology.

The author , in the concluding part of the penultimate chapter, draws parallels between defective/malfunctioning cars and defective humans ( psychologically ill resulting in violent behaviours).

In this regard, he jokingly suggests if the self cars of the modern day would be programmed to minimize human loss and thus if there's one passenger in car and 4 humans on its path, it will veer off and kill the occupant in worse case.
And the humans would support this design but with exception to their own cars ( or the cars shall decide if their owner is worthy by the frequency of oil change or cleaning ) lol: ( Check footnote)

A car belonging to Go First airlines went under A320 neo aircraft narrowly missing a collision with the aircraft nose wheel, at Delhi Airport. The incident was caight on camera and DGCA will be investigating.
It was a very narrow escape for the aircraft and really shook up the passengers on board, the aircraft then went on its journey.
A very unusual accident to say the least.

https://youtu.be/bwJWVh2P6_U

The owner’s manual of my Linea T Jet specifically mentioned this - NOT to keep your hand on the gear lever while driving.
I have been following this instruction from the manufacturer diligently, though I didn’t really know how it caused damage.

Please check the screen grab posted by Nalin1 earlier in this thread. At 3:23, there is an innocent poor white cow lying aside many metres away from the vehicle and the road.

Looking at how far the poor cow has been catapulted, and considering the length of tyre marks from attempted braking as well, the only answer is ridiculously illegal high speeds this guy was doing when the impact happened.

An average adult cow weighs anywhere between 750 to 1100 kgs. Imagine he has managed to displace such weight so far. Again, only possibility is ridiculously illegal high speeds.

The momentum was such that after the full impact, there was still enough momentum to flip open the bonnet, that hits the windshield and damages it as well.

This video from Engineering Explained " explains why and has a few more don'ts

But I am a truck driver - one hand on the wheel and the other on the stick. (In life, just because you know something is bad doesn't mean you wouldn't do it. Otherwise cigarette sales will be zero!)

Spotted this video randomly on Youtube. A column of moving cars comes to a stop gradually. A truck coming up on the scene fails to stop on time, swipes an Alto and rear-ends a Hector. A bus behind the truck cleverly avoids piling up on the vehicles that have already collided.

Couple of observations:
1) In Youtube's comments on this video, people are pointing out that a child occupant in the car is heard remarking in Malayalam seconds before the accident that the truck driver was on the phone.
2) The dashcam seems to be giving lane suggestions...it's weird. It reminds me of Xbox's car racing games!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lgZTwNHp0w

Yep, can confirm. The child says,

OT

You can play God by deciding the outcomes of accidents with self-driving cars https://www.moralmachine.net/

The skid marks of the truck visible, however, was surprised that bus also failed to apply brakes and decided to run over to the other side of the road through the gap created between Hector and Maruti 800.

I took that as a given, that for some reason the bus driver couldn't apply brakes on time.

It's not easy for bus drivers to be similarly distracted (e.g., talk on the phone) -bus passengers usually intervene very quickly when this happens. It has to be something legitimate...perhaps the bus driver wasted precious seconds watching the accident unfold in front of him and then he quickly snapped back to reality.

Your hand on the gear stick transmits a minuscule amount of pressure through the linkages to the transmission, and it ends up as pressure on the synchronizing rings which will wear more, without the pressure the rings would otherwise be floating at minimum load point.

Rahul

I have seen a few of his videos, mostly a nuisance with no automotive significance. Yes he is extremely careless, driving with one hand and holding a selfie stick goPro in the other and talking almost nonsense.

But, but, but...stray cattle on the highway is a very significant hazard, atleast in some areas. My trip to Pushkar around 6 yrs ago comes to mind. I had a brand new Swift Zdi at the time and was merrily cruising the Jaipur-Ajmer highway AT the speedlimit (110kmph if I remember correctly). BHPians who have been on that road would know that there is a tall green hedge of foliage between the onward and return carriageways. So you can't see what's on the other side.

Being at the speed limit I was on the rightmost lane doing 110kmph, when out of nowhere emerged a cow from the green hedge on the divider, barely 120-130mtrs ahead and jumped straight ahead of me! Fortunately, I was extremely alert and noticed its head emerging from the foliage and swerved to the middle lane, still landing a tight thud on the bovine's face with the driver side ORVM.

The Baleno that was following me from behind, almost completely lost its balance trying to avoid both me and the cow, flailing wildly for almost 200 mtrs till the hapless driver brought it to control. Neither I nor the Baleno crossed 80kmph, till Pushkar!

It still gives me shivers, that 2 families might have ended dead on the roads.


So my dear sirs, while the Fortuner guy is careless, bovine menace on highways is very much a motoring hazard in our country.