Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Yesterday evening, something happened. In front of my car was a Nissan Terrano and in front of that was a container. The Terrano was trying to overtake the container and a Swift was trying to overtake both my car and the Terrano. There was no space to pass,it is a narrow single line road. However, the container suddenly applied its brakes and slowed , causing everyone to brake and slow down. I saw a "differently abled" person in a modified kinetic Honda on the middle of the road talking to someone. I did not rear-end the car behind me luckily, but the Swift car took off like it didn't know anything had happened. The differently abled person and the person on the side of the road gave me some free advice.

https://youtu.be/IiGVMdo2znE

This is another video from my dashcam taken some time ago. The road was newly laid and smooth when it started raining heavily. However, one of the car drivers seemed to forget that he was driving in a different place and started driving as if he was in the Middle East.

https://youtu.be/1l6yftrITv0

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nalin1 (Post 5519750)

This is exactly why ALWAYS maintain enough distance for the worst case abrupt slow down or stop by the vehicle in front. Even more important if the view ahead is not clear (as in this case). Very very few do that. Almost all like to tail gate within sniffing distance.

That is a very good driving practice that you follow. I follow it too, but the issue with our roads is that, it doesn't matter how much of a good driver we are and how good our driving practices are, there will always be a wannabe racer F1 academy reject who will be tailgating you close enough to sniff your exhaust fumes. There's nothing about that, that we as good drivers, can change. It has to come from someplace else, from the law enforcers perhaps. But then there arises the issue of how much power do we let those people weild w.r.t our roads and driving freedom. There is a chance that it will end up like my state where the Motor Vehicles Dept almost has a free reign to decide whatever they want to implement.

Recently they decided that GoPros on helmets are life threatening and then started heavily fining riders who wear them. Even funnier, during the end of a month, a sudden and very peculiar sense to enforce traffic laws awakens in them and you can then find them at any given random corner on the roads. One person recently died in custody in Kochi as a result of a particularly charged up episode of "public safety".

https://indianexpress.com/article/ci...ended-8519827/

Quote:

Originally Posted by SaiSW (Post 5521817)

but the issue with our roads is that, it doesn't matter how much of a good driver we are and how good our driving practices are, there will always be a wannabe racer F1 academy reject who will be tailgating you...

I just let them go ahead. My policy has always been "reach the next milestone in N minutes" (as opposed to "reach the next milestone before that other vehicle"). So I am totally comfortable to let these exhaust-kissers go ahead of me; I just need to maintain a clip that allows me to meet my target.

(Usually these milestones for me are the toll booths along the route)

Quote:

Originally Posted by theabstractmind (Post 5521734)

If someone is justifying the way this car was being driven

No one is justifying the way the car was being driven, he made his share of 'not-to-the-standard' mistakes like kissing the shoulder needlessly, not slowing down when a person was about to open the door of a parked vehicle etc.

But the point is, had it been me or you (with utopian level standard of driving), we couldn't have prevented the collided bike from hitting the car. Despite all the poor driving standards this guy showed, he was not 'speeding' on that highway, as alleged by some BHPians. Saying something like "should have driven at 60ish speeds" is ridiculous.

This was an uncontrollable and unexpected situation, and only an F1 car with an F1 driver at the helm, would stop completely from that speed, within such a short distance, after the bike has collided and starts moving perpendicular to the road.

The purpose of this thread is 'enhancing awareness' through examples. However, this thread has caught the typical social media fever, and turned into a typical "I am the most righteous and cleverest person here, all of you listen to my advice" flood of utopian posts. Sometimes, some incidents are "that's unlucky". It doesn't need "correction".

Quote:

Originally Posted by venkyhere (Post 5521835)

But the point is, had it been me or you (with utopian level standard of driving), we couldn't have prevented the collided bike from hitting the car. Despite all the poor driving standards this guy showed..

This was an uncontrollable and unexpected situation, and only an F1 car with an F1 driver at the helm, would stop completely from that speed, within such a short distance, after the bike has collided and starts moving perpendicular to the road.

Firstly, what you call as Utopia, I call it basic common sense and respect for conditions and fellow drivers. If you really look into my comments, I do understand sometimes ot many times, one has to pass a vehicle from the left. There are safer ways of doing it, which possibly costs 15 seconds more, than dart in like F1 drivers - the kinds of which we come across in abundance on our roads. So, no Utopia. It is respect for lives.

If you stop seeing this incident as an isolated event at the point of impact but see it as a chain of events starting with the way he was driving, you may possibly change your opinion that maybe - there was a high possibility that this incident of the car driver hitting the scooter was controllable, not the scooter itself falling. All it takes is simple common sense to understand that most accidents are a result of combination of factors or chain of events. What happens in the end is incidental. A flyover falling on you, a car jumping the divider and crashing into you, or an uncontrolled truck crashing into you, is uncontrollable. Not when you are driving with gay abandon and get involved in an incident - like in the given incident.

Finally regarding the speed - I agree technically that statements like 50kmph or 60kmph were better suited, etc., are not relevant. Speed is always relative to the environment. In this case, the guy was clearly approaching objects faster than he should, and closer than he should. For reference, the Swift in the video looks slow, but highways make even 80kmph look slow. Over Speeding or not, this was a case of negligent driving and my comment was triggered when the incident was attributed to chance than the driver's own follies by multiple folk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bonemechanic (Post 5521793)

I saw a "differently abled" person in a modified kinetic Honda on the middle of the road talking to someone. I did not rear-end the car behind me luckily, but the Swift car took off like it didn't know anything had happened.

The swift driver was just loitering in the opposite lane like a total idiot there. His initial confidence in overtaking you did not last that long strangely. That disabled person is even more of an idiot, literally parking on the only lane.

Having said that I think there's a couple of thing that you could've noticed and taken a bit more care about. Firstly there were people to the right of the Swift, so you could have expected him to drift to the left. Also you could see the truck braking quite early on. You could've held back a bit seeing both those instead of filling that gap imo. Admittedly at that moment it may have been confusing not knowing what the Swift was going to do.

In general it's good to remember that when you have someone overly eager trying to overtake you it's always best to just let them go. In the spirit of defensive driving, drop back a bit and enjoy the sight of the consequences of their incompetence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theabstractmind (Post 5521855)

Very well said. In India, it is not just the 'road' that should decide your speed. The 'tarmac/concrete' may be smooth enough to rip across with NHxx title and maximum speed limit prescribed.

The environment on either side of the road and the activities that are happening on or off the road should dictate your speed. If I spot a parked truck or even a two wheeler, but I do not see a soul around, I still drop speed immediately. Not necessary to really brake, but just ease of the accelerator. At times, I tap the brake once or twice for the brake light to light up if someone is following. It is utter stupidity to pass parked vehicles at high speeds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeganatu (Post 5522245)

Yet another tragic case of barricades on Highway! 1 precious life lost! He was dragged for 1 km!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMZXqWPtGUE

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manoj2268 (Post 5522296)

If only he waited 20 seconds and slowed down

I have experienced sudden lane change by a truck recently, and I can confidently say that the cause of this accident was the sudden lane change by the truck.

The rider was following what is the usual business on a highway. Whether he was riding triple, without a helmet or whatever, he would have lived to see another day had the truck not changed lanes so rapidly.

In my case, the truck changed lanes suddenly due to uneven road height, which none of the other drivers expected.

I am not sharing the video but just a Google search link here, as it is a near miss and does not belong here.

https://www.google.com/search?q=truc...bile-gws-video

Quote:

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad (Post 5522359)

I have experienced sudden lane change by a truck recently, and I can confidently say that the cause of this accident was the sudden lane change by the truck.

It was the final nail, so to say. And there are several other things that were already were/going wrong, even though those are pretty much how things happen on our roads.

Use of barricades on highways. They cannot be integral to the road design and don't come with any progressive warnings. More dangerous at night time.
Biker ignores a clearly visible road sign of an upcoming crossing, takes the risk of getting in to the blind spot of the truck.
- I can't say if he would have lived if he had been a bit more quick on the reaction to brake as soon as he noticed the truck veering to the left and the lane gap decreasing. Might have been distracted.
- The obvious ones - overloaded bike, going fast with 3 passengers. Increased risk all over.
Truck sticks to the right lane at "slower" speed, forcing left lane overtakes.
- It starts to make the lane change exactly when the biker gets in to its blind spot.
- It didn't brake enough to show on the video visually or, more likely, the brake lights were not working. The news reporter says the truck did not slow down for the barricade, but I don't see the truck was going that fast.
- Regardless, the most crucial thing is this - I didn't see an indicator light up at any point. Bike as well as truck. That is a practice that many of our people ignore.