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In my village, there was a road passing through fields, parallel to a canal. It would be pitch dark there after 8 pm. If you travelled that road at night on a two-wheeler, you were guaranteed to be attacked by robbers who would hide behind trees and swing a large lathi (stick) just as you were about to pass by. It would hit you in the face, and you would crash at a high speed. They would then rob you of everything, including your vehicle (if it still works).

Now let's ask some basic questions here:

1. Who is at fault legally? -> The robber.
2. Does the law allow motorists to travel through that road at night? -> Yes, 100%.
3. Should you travel that road at night? -> No, 100% No, regardless of your legal rights and your disagreement with the concept of robberies.

Essentially, it's a debate between 'how it should be' and 'how it is.'

1. Should we be able to drive through a green signal without worrying about maniacs jumping in front? -> Yes.
2. Should we drive through without looking? -> No, because maniacs exist.
3. Should we advocate prosecuting these maniacs as criminals? -> Yes, I believe so.

Regardless of whether a green signal means 'unconditional right of way' or 'proceed with caution,' one needs to be careful on Indian roads since we cannot control maniacs and animals.

Well, this is how it goes in Chennai,

For cars
RED- If cop is present, act as if you are the most rule obedient person and stop, else zoom past. If you hit someone, blame the signal.

YELLOW - attempt to cover 200 metres in 3 seconds and realise that you dont own a fast porsche, end up hitting someone, getting infuriated and braking hard on the line

(added bonus. The first few seconds of red are not exactly red. rl: The last few seconds of red are also cue to slowly inch forward, tear eardrums with your dual horn.)

GREEN - Act like you own the road and zoom past. Hope it doesnt turn Yellow


For Pedestrians
What is a pedestrian crossing light?
Zebra Crossing? Why?
Put up your hand assuming you are one specific telugu actor (every south indian knows who)

(added bonus - if you are intoxicated, try playing crossy road, ft. human)


(please note that all these are entirely for fun and are sarcastic in nature)

Here is a brief summary of the rules as stated on the MVA and MoRTH websites.

+ Green - Proceed with caution.

+ In the case of an orange or red zebra, stop.

+ Flashing red or orange: First stop, take a close look, yield to pedestrians and main road traffic, and if it's safe, move forward.

Reference: Page 6
https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/f...ation-2017.pdf

Despite being written down, these regulations may not be understood or followed by drivers in India.

In the event of a dispute, the court's decision will be based on these rules, not mass practice.

I understand where OP is coming from. Please understand your choices when living in India -

1. Get your right of way and suffer along with the wrong doer. You made this choice. The wrong doer is suffering. But so are you with mental agony as well as the painful broken bumper.

2. Drive defensively, accounting for all potential idiots on the road. This way, not only do you save time spent justifying your correctness but also get to see wrong doers collide and thank you stars (and your wallet) everytime.

I was quite an aggressive drives in my 20s. Now, with a family and a kid, I just smile at my luck and walk away. In turn hoping my daughter also learns defensive driving and how to keep herself safe amidst idiots walking / driving / planning their death on Indian roads.

A key point seems to have been missed here. The biker was hidden behind the auto rickshaw till the last moment. So, from OP's perspective, he had a green light and clear way to proceed.

To say that he should have slowed down, is a good suggestion, but not doing so and remaining within speed limit doesn't lay any fault at him.

The exact opposite happened to me in Baroda a few years back. I was on the bike on a similar intersection on a green light but a moron in a Swift decided that since it had been only 5 seconds since the light had turned red, it was ok to proceed and t boned my motorcycle. The traffic cops didn't do shit. They just kept looking. The moron inside actually had the gall to blame me.

I know a lot has been spoken about what green signal means, but in India, it doesn't mean anything. Legal battles aside, in the real world, I keep my head on a swivel.

That is indeed the key point - the thing I have learned is to ALWAYS assume any blind spot to be occupied and a surprise provider - be it an intersection, turns or overtakes.
Doing otherwise with more-than-enough speed is begging for trouble - and the Devil WILL oblige sooner than later.

This is the relevant extract from The Motor Vehicle Driving Regulation Act, 2017

So, why does the Bangalore Traffic Police challan & fine you when you take a left turn in signals which do not explicitly prohibit a left turn? Under what law/ section?

https://morth.nic.in/sites/default/f...ation-2017.pdf

My takeaways from this post.

1. Red Signal for you is a Red signal for you, But a Green signal for you needs to be treated as a Green signal for everyone :D. Look and proceed.

2. Lets acknowledge that countless value the dashcam is offering at the moment helping you out.

He surely wasn't at fault and it doesn't look anyone is actually laying the blame on him. Most of them. Just wanted to say be careful next time. He surely wasn't aggressive, didn't look defensive either. thankfully lack of serious speed helped to reduce the impact drastically. A little more attention to the first bike which cut through could have helped - no qualms that it did not at that moment. But I guess any half decent person who watched the video will be a bit more careful the next time.

There is no argument with the words of the law. It is futile to do so.

Of course, colloquially, and in practice, we regard a green light as "right of way." Both the wording of the law and the practicality is the same (when I last looked) in British Highway Code too. Green means go if it is safe to do so. (Yellow (They call it amber) means stop if it is safe to do so. There is no qualification for a red light: it means STOP, and it applies to a pedal cycle as much as it does to a car, bus, or giant truck. But even in a driving culture where a red light carries huge force, and the law will punish those who are caught ignoring it, and there are many cameras, so the risk of being caught is not small, It is still necessary to practice defensive driving.

We all know how it is here. Yes, a green light is right of way, but do we really want to end up having to argue the point?

I don't know for sure how it is in motor law, but it is interesting to note that in marine law, the international regulations expressly avoid speaking of a right of way. They speak only of which party is required to give way. And they follow all the various permutation with the bottom line that both parties have the responsibility to avoid collision.

From the images that I saw, it looks like the occupants were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected out from the car upon impact.

Watch this video to understand how the accident happened. It looks like the driver of Nexon car was speeding and trying to overtake the car infront of him from left side and lost control

https://youtu.be/RjCx15zYS94

The Nexon EV failed the Elk test Aka Moose Test.

I cannot see any rear lights on the dark coloured vehicle the Nexon was trying to avoid. There is a car next to the Nexon on its left. The Nexon may have been trying to overtake that car thinking that the right hand side lane was clear, when it came up to the vehicle running without lights.

From what I could make out from the video, it seems to me that the rear lights of the Thar (?) isn't illuminated. And since it appears to be of a darker shade, it could be a reason why the Nexon missed to spot it, or spotted it too late.





Also the i20 behind it seems to be much too close to it, and at high speed. Possible case of racing or road rage?