[harry10]

Originally Posted by GJ01

Some updates that we are getting locally:
If you see the video, you will find that the SUV driver - due to it being completely dark, had little to no time to react when he saw people on the road. Brakes are applied almost at the last second and you cannot see any of the people who are on the flyover.

Yes, it was dark.
Yes, people shouldn't be standing on a highway like this.
Yes, Police failed to take any measures to indicate there is an accident for any oncoming traffic.

But, that Jaguar was clearly over speeding and all of the above are no excuse for him to not spot so many people. If he was within speed limit the headlights would have provided him with the vision and there would be time for emergency braking. The video Clearly shows it was a straight line and not even a curve. As usual speed and negligence of driver behind the wheel is the culprit.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Aakash118

Just curious to know the reason they couldn’t get out of the car, was it because of doors auto locking or was it because of car melting in fire?

How is it possible to get out of a car crumpled like that? They would have perished before even the fire began.

[epiccross]

Originally Posted by harry10

But, that Jaguar was clearly overspeeding and all of the above are no excuse for him to not spot so many people. If he was within the speed limit the headlights would have provided him with the vision and there would be time for emergency braking.

Agreed. I would also blame the lack of proper lighting (it's a highway for godssakes) and people gathering without the warning triangle (there were cops, they should have enforced it), but ultimately the blame is on the Jag, the guy was way over the speed limit and he had all the tools at his disposal to stop, luxury car with excellent brakes etc. - but the thing between his ears clearly wasn't functioning at all.

Regardless, even if he was within speed limits (which clearly doesn't look like he was), doesn't excuse him, if I have the slightest concern about visibility, I slow down as much as possible to maximize the reaction window for me to do the emergency maneuvers. The biggest mistake is that people do not accommodate for all this and assume everything's gonna be okay ahead. I'm just shocked by how people could do this though, especially on our roads!

[Aakash118]

Originally Posted by tharian

They would have perished before even the fire began.

Thanks for the quick reply. Even I was of the same view but some people here were saying that they tried to get out of the car but couldn’t which I think is completely false.

[nicodash]

Originally Posted by harry10

But, that Jaguar was clearly over speeding and all of the above are no excuse for him to not spot so many people. If he was within speed limit the headlights would have provided him with the vision and there would be time for emergency braking. The video Clearly shows it was a straight line and not even a curve. As usual speed and negligence of driver behind the wheel is the culprit.

Originally Posted by epiccross

but ultimately the blame is on the Jag, the guy was way over the speed limit and he had all the tools at his disposal to stop, luxury car with excellent brakes etc. - but the thing between his ears clearly wasn't functioning at all.

Not to be insensitive, but I believe we need to stop declaring that a vehicle was over the speed limit just by looking at the video or the post-accident photos. I know that it's a heart-wrenching accident, but we do not know for a fact that the Jaguar was speeding.

The primary fault lies with the people who approved and built an unsafe highway without enough lighting, with the people who were standing on a highway in the dark (were all of them busy helping the injured from the Thar accident?), and the policemen who played a role in this incident by not placing reflectors on the road and not getting the crowd dispersed from the spot. The crowd, including the policemen, endangered themselves as well as the Jaguar driver and any other car passing through their side of the highway.

The driver of the Jaguar should have been driving slower and with more care if he did not have visibility, which he apparently did not. We all have an opportunity to learn from his mistake. But I would not put a major part of the blame on him unless we know for sure that he was, beyond a reasonable doubt, exceeding the speed limit or driving recklessly. All parties involved should be mindful of their roles and responsibilities on the road to prevent such tragedies from recurring.

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by GJ01

A Jaguar F-Pace, overspeeding, did not see (or expect) a crowd of people standing on the flyover and crashed into it.

If you see the video, you will find that the SUV driver - due to it being completely dark, had little to no time to react when he saw people on the road. Brakes are applied almost at the last second and you cannot see any of the people who are on the flyover.

As far as I know Jag F-Pace has got ADAS. So why that system didn't intervene and avoided the collision? Or was it manually disconnected? If yes, then it clearly shows that technology can save us in such horrific situations.

Also, the throw of lights for the modern-day vehicles is easily upto 200-300m, strange, why the driver couldn’t react on time, considering it was a straight line.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by GJ01

(Edit: Link added): https://Youtu.be/aSWcLS33QJQ

Glad to see a helmet/bike cam come in handy in such a scary accident. Was the Jag in low beam LED lights?

It appears he tried to blink or the car hopped due to full brakes that for a moment the road & the ill-fated public were visible for a moment before the car ploughed into the road.

I would blame the Jag 25% for over speeding on a normal freeway in Guj (the road surface is good there, but lights NIL)

Public/Jantha/AamAadmi - 25% - Helpful nature or Insta reel sake aside - no one thought for a moment it is straight free way and no one is stopping the traffic.

Police - 50% - They know every road like the back of their hand, they know accident spots and dark highways better. They had a flashing bolero and 2 cops on the ground. If not for the Jantha, they should look out for their staff and apply their mind and drive over the kerb and block the highway with their flashing lights!

Sad & Angry...!

Zero application of tools and lack of understanding their intended purposes!

[epiccross]

Originally Posted by nicodash

Not to be insensitive, but I believe we need to stop declaring that a vehicle was over the speed limit just by looking at the video or the post-accident photos. I know that it's a heart-wrenching accident, but we do not know for a fact that the Jaguar was speeding.

[..]
The driver of the Jaguar should have been driving slower and with more care if he did not have visibility, which he apparently did not. We all have an opportunity to learn from his mistake. But I would not put a major part of the blame on him unless we know for sure that he was, beyond a reasonable doubt, exceeding the speed limit or driving recklessly. All parties involved should be mindful of their roles and responsibilities on the road to prevent such tragedies from recurring.

I would respectfully disagree. It's disturbing that he got beat up by the crowd, I absolutely despise mob violence as I've pointed out multiple times, but if you lack visibility, then onus is on you to go slower. Yes, it's absolutely criminal we lack even basic lighting on this highway, and lack of hazard triangles etc. when even cops were present, but then slow down accordingly, there's no rule that you have to hit the maximum speed there, right?

I think the headlights would have been adequate for him to notice and stop on time, instead he mowed down a lot of people, which clearly indicates that he was overspeeding. The speed limit there is 70 KM/hr as far as I know, and if he was travelling under that, then he would surely have had time to brake with the headlights on.

Or best case, he might have been seriously inattentive/must have dozed off. We're not talking about a fog kind of scenario here where visibility is severely clouded, this is the state of an average road in India.

[n33rav]

Originally Posted by epiccross

I would respectfully disagree. It's disturbing that he got beat up by the crowd, I absolutely despise mob violence as I've pointed out multiple times, but if you lack visibility, then onus is on you to go slower. Yes, it's absolutely criminal we lack even basic lighting on this highway, and lack of hazard triangles etc. when even cops were present, but then slow down accordingly, there's no rule that you have to hit the maximum speed there, right?

I think the headlights would have been adequate for him to notice and stop on time, instead he mowed down a lot of people, which clearly indicates that he was overspeeding. The speed limit there is 70 KM/hr as far as I know, and if he was travelling under that, then he would surely have had time to brake with the headlights on.

Or best case, he might have been seriously inattentive/must have dozed off. We're not talking about a fog kind of scenario here where visibility is severely clouded, this is the state of an average road in India.

I am from Ahmedabad and has driven through that flyover numerous times. Just want to add couple of observations in favour of the driver.

1) Accident happened on a flyover. Though it is a straight line, the contour might have limited the straight line visibility.
2) Since it was flyover, driver might not be 100% focused on road pressuming there wouldn't be any animals or humans crossing road. At most, a car ahead would slow down or stop and in that case break light will grab his attention. A large crowd being at the middle of road, at 1am-2am is the least expected thing.

2nd point is extra important cause I myself collided with a cow on flyover in the dark in similar circumstances. Split second I looked away from road and I was on the cow.

For the speeding part, his speed doesn't seem more than 120kph which is not that high on a km long flyover and that car.

I would say it was misfortune of both the car driver and those people.

[epiccross]

Originally Posted by n33rav

For the speeding part, his speed doesn't seem more than 120kph which is not that high on a km long flyover and that car.

I'm sorry, isn't the speed limit on that road 70? Correct me if I'm wrong, but multiple sources are claiming so. If he has traveled at 120 (which I'm not sure of, but it doesn't look like he was coming at <70 anyway), doesn't it squarely make him responsible for speeding?

My point was all this aside, why would you go as fast when visibility is so low? You are NEVER allowed to run over pedestrians. The onus is on you to not do so. Why would you presume anything? We're not arguing about some pedestrian jumping from the median kind of scenario or defensive driving. It's common sense and absolutely important to stay within limits and slow down if visibility is not good to see what's ahead.

[Nalin1]

Only a fool will drive on our roads without expecting the unexpected ANYWHERE. A gathering at 1.a.m on a flyover is exactly that!.

Visibility is extremely low, no doubt. All the more reason to reduce speed.

[Yieldway17]

Originally Posted by n33rav

For the speeding part, his speed doesn't seem more than 120kph which is not that high on a km long flyover and that car.
.

I'm sorry, speed limits are based on roads, not cars.

Every one of us has likely speeded in India but that doesn't absolve from any responsibility if you get in an accident.

[true_sedan]

To people saying the jaguar should’ve spotted people standing on the road have clearly never driven in pitch dark poorly lit highway. I find it near impossible to see people walking on the road in my semi-lit area(I have a good eyesight). The only source of light is from vehicle coming in opposite direction that help identify that someone is walking. The jaguar might look like it was speeding but it was not. That’s how a car going anywhere between 80-150kmph would look. It’s impossible to predict from the video the exact speed of the car. Stop blaming the driver of the bigger car always. Instead start blaming the government for constructing poorly planned highways, for poorly training our police personnel incase of an accident. As is the case in India the driver of the jaguar will be obliterated by our state machinery even though at the end of the day what happened was an ACCIDENT.

The jaguar driver would have had no chance to spot the people because:
1) Nobody expects people to gather in the middle of a high speed highway.
2) He would have had no indication of the commotion.
3) It’s near impossible to spot people on a poorly lit road.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by true_sedan

3) It’s near impossible to spot people on a poorly lit road.

I hope it doesn't have to be said more times. If the road is poorly lit you drive slow.

[haria]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I hope it doesn't have to be said more times. If the road is poorly lit you drive slow.

Sigh. Forlorn hope... Even if this is told 10000 times, I don't think it will suffice. New idiots are coming in hordes every month who think driving on roads is like playing some video game where one can reset and start again!