Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Apparently, some members of the forum think the professional drivers are an extinct or imaginary species as the Professional drivers they encountered or the ones they knew did not meet their standards.

This is classic case of an informal Logical Fallacy- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_anecdote.

Our encounters or personal experiences cannot be construed as facts as ours is a statistically insignificant experience.

Professional Drivers are called professional for a reason irrespective of what we opine.

To think ourselves to be far better drivers than any of the professional drivers by assuming that they ( all the professional drivers in our country) can't drive better than us is a bit overestimation of our abilities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cresterk (Post 5467215)

Funny as it may be, why are there random barriers strewn across the road, especially in a curve? If someone dies or gets injured here, I hope they file charges against whoever authorised that.

A curve ahead. Go slow sign visible.
Both riders are driving recklessly.

Regarding the barricades, these are widely used across NHs. I just came back from a trip to Pondicherry from Hyderabad and there might be 150 of them across the various NHs and SHs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad (Post 5467367)

Regarding the barricades, these are widely used across NHs. I just came back from a trip to Pondicherry from Hyderabad and there might be 150 of them across the various NHs and SHs.

Agree on how the riders were riding. But regarding the barriers, the fact that its common doesn’t make it right. The placement on that curve is indeed a bit dicey.

Quote:

Originally Posted by poised2drive (Post 5467349)

I guess most of us encounter ola/uber drivers on a regular basis and conclude that all drivers are as bad. Those guys are not drivers - you will know it by the way they treat and maintain their cars. To get a good driver, you need to go to a good and reputed local travel guy. That is where all the good drivers generally are.

While I agree that getting a good professional driver is much more challenging than it was a decade ago, you still have many of them out there. And a guy like Rishabh Pant would definitely get one if at all he needs it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bhargav7 (Post 5467506)

Sir, you are highly mistaken on the quality of drivers in India, and that most people judge them based on Ola/ Uber.

Yes, Rishabh Pant, could afford a 40-50k per month driver who would have taken care of the expensive car really well (and behaved well as a professional employee, when not alone in car). But when driving at same speed, whether he would have avoided the potholes better (which NHAI is now repairing!), is anyone's guess.

Driving is like you walk in public, it is your social behaviour towards other road users, the characteristic that people show when in a crowded metro is exactly what they show on road, dis-respect for anyone else (unless a driver is not yet confident to be his true self behind the wheel). Since as a culture, we don't behave too well in public (can't stand in queue, would stand extremely close to the next person, try to occupy seats and spaces first by jumping on anything), most drivers are the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLK (Post 5467539)

Yes, Rishabh Pant, could afford a 40-50k per month driver who would have taken care of the expensive car really well (and behaved well as a professional employee, when not alone in car). But when driving at same speed, whether he would have avoided the potholes better (which NHAI is now repairing!), is anyone's guess.

What does it have to do with potholes? I mean yes, but in this case it's the lethal combo of overspeeding + dozing off. Both could have been prevented by an alert, well rested, professional driver. There are some cases where of course, even professional drivers may falter. But then again, I have no reasons to presume that Pant would do any better, as he's no sedate/defensive driver, evidently.

People who can't afford the luxury of a chauffeur (I am one of those) should be extra careful and avoid such adventurous, if not dangerous endeavors (I do). And people who can afford them and have to travel should take those options. That's my 2 cents anyway.

My god, this is horrible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMHWTokgKLo

Quote:

Originally Posted by poised2drive (Post 5467349)

Professional Drivers are called professional for a reason irrespective of what we opine.

I think we need to rephrase "professional drivers" to "safe drivers". I am not sure who are these "professional drivers" when it comes to a car or smaller vehicles, unlike you have those real professional drivers where you need niche skills like loco pilots and those kind of.

I would rely on a "safe driver" rather than a so called "professional" driver for cars. Just because they do driving as a profession does not qualify them as a safe driver, IMHO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by poised2drive (Post 5467349)

To think ourselves to be far better drivers than any of the professional drivers by assuming that they ( all the professional drivers in our country) can't drive better than us is a bit overestimation of our abilities.

I tend to disagree with this viewpoint, especially since we are talking about 'professional' drivers in India.

I have had several experiences of taxi drivers driving in an awful way. I get stressed out sitting as a rider in most taxis. Some are sleep deprived, and some drive like there's no tomorrow. There are several instances where I wished I was the one driving, instead of the taxi fella.

The KRA of most of the so-called professional drivers in India is to reach the destination in time, and do whatever it takes to achieve that. This doesn't encourage them to follow all rules and drive better.

Interstate bus drivers are almost always on alcohol or pan-Parag (whatever the modern-day version of that thing) You should sit with them as a co-passenger and see for yourself the risks they take!

3-wheeler drivers - nothing worthwhile to highlight here, to defend their professionalism in driving.

Truck drivers - they may be the better ones of the lot but a lot of them do not know even basic rules. They hog the speed lane in a 4-lane highway almost always.

KSRTC long-distance drivers - They are simply the terror on a single-lane carriageway.

Horror again on the celebratory night in Delhi and this time it was gruesome over the limit. The woman was hit by the car and her body, that was stuck under the Baleno was dragged for kilometers.

What they did later? They stopped, removed the body, and fled!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25V2MsVyxng

It is beyond my thinking abilities where do these demons come from with no heart, what kind of celebratory mood it is or what kind of thought process these people have. Drive bad, hit someone and then drag the body for kilometers - stop, remove the body and flee the spot! News even say that the clothes of the woman too got torn and even her ribs got exposed - too bad a way to die on such a good day!

I wish the car occupants (all 5, not just the driver - why? for not stopping the driver from driving around this way) face such a severe punishment that it becomes an example for all other drivers in the nation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by epiccross (Post 5467571)

What does it have to do with potholes?

The DDCA report says he was neither overspeeding nor dozing off, but lost control of the car when swerving to avoid a pothole.

NHAI repaired the pothole after the accident while locals said accidents happen regularly due to the pothole on that stretch.

Of course given the state of the car and the guard rails difficult to believe he was going at sane speeds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anandhsub (Post 5467673)

Wow. Yes exactly, I find this incredibly hard to believe, given the footage + state of the guard rails.

Also, NHAI funnily enough contradicts this version:

Quote:

Pradeep Gusain, project director at NHAI, however, claimed that there were no potholes on the roads and the repair works were carried out for the "damages on the road due to Friday's accident".

My guess is, since it's a celeb like him, he must have been bailed out by the authorities. Plus, no one except him was injured. Or surely NHAI has to be lying, which is tenfolds worse and should be held accountable!

Quote:

Originally Posted by SLK (Post 5467539)

Sir, you are highly mistaken on the quality of drivers in India, and that most people judge them based on Ola/ Uber.

I probably am biased as I have access to excellent drivers. I have a friend who runs a travel agency and I know their drivers by name. So I need to call him up and say - please send me XYZ or ABC and that is about it.

But I do get your point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Axe77 (Post 5467484)

Agree on how the riders were riding. But regarding the barriers, the fact that its common doesn’t make it right. The placement on that curve is indeed a bit dicey.

They are indeed insanely placed. There are lots of such barricades in the TamilNadu 100 kmph stretches of NH66 and its very scary to find these metal blocks on the road appear out of nowhere.
Whoever doing it, also makes it a point to create different patterns in placing these barricades on different sites to ensure that the drivers don't get 'bored' :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by anandhsub (Post 5467673)

Quote:

Originally Posted by epiccross (Post 5467683)

Wow. Yes exactly, I find this incredibly hard to believe, given the footage + state of the guard rails.

Its not surprising, but a very common phenomenon. Not with NHAI alone, but almost all parties responsible for road maintenance.
A road will continue to be pothole filled and in dilapidated condition, unless someone meet with an accident on that stretch. Within hours, that road will be repaired.
(Am not saying that this particular accident was caused by a pothole, but a good majority of accidents are contributed by pothole avoidance manoeuvre gone wrong)