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-   -   Accidents in India | Pics & Videos (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/109249-accidents-india-pics-videos-2596.html)

Sheer stupidity! He tried to brush and got into a spin. Extremely lucky to not have toppled. Wish he understood driving dynamics and a bit of physics. Can only wish him to get well soon.

OK. Please clarify.

I could read your post in two ways.

1. Underpowered vehicles are causing impatience resulting in rash overtaking.

2. Drivers are attempting overtakes that their vehicle does not have the power to complete.

or... Something else?

Let me understand what you meant.

Not OP, but what I read it as is this - Drivers not wanting to slow down because their cars can't get back upto speed quickly. Because of this, they try to maintain pace and engage in rash maneuvers (especially around slower vehicles or obstacles).

We do see buses engaging in unsafe driving not wanting to lose momentum. So it's not a complete fallacy.

I can understand the point of view but it arises due to a wrong understanding of what constitute "speed". People often confuse top speed with average speed and often say things like "I like cruising at 100 kmph" etc where as often they are doing only about 65-70kmph on an average (yes it is that drastic). In that case how can one say they are "cruising" at 100 ? The primary reason of course is that they have to stop at crossings, traffic signals etc but even in the absence of these when there are slower moving traffic (like a bunch of trucks) we see a bunching effect (and the resulting decrease in average speed till they overtake those).

So one can achieve the same kind of average 60-70 speed by sedate driving never going beyond 80-85, okey a bit less may be but not by much. And when one does that one is not really bothered of losing momentum as any such lose or gain is by small amounts by definition. Leads to a safer, smoother and, at least to me, a more fulfilling drive.

May be I do not know but the behavior of the XUV is a typical behavior I see so often on highways (road rage or not): when there is a slower car in front of you quickly switch lane and overtake. I am not condoning the behavior of the XUV but anticipating this should be part of Defensive driving 101. The dashcam driver should have anticipated the move and slowed down. Instead we had a nutcase with an inflated sense of self.

Yeah, but one can achieve an average of 80 kmph by driving at 100-110, average of 90 by driving at 130 kmph etc. Over the course of a 500 km journey the difference between averaging 70 kmph and 90 kmph is about 1.5 hours.

It is not that simple. It crucially depends on traffic density. One cannot push ones speed beyond a point if the traffic itself is moving slowly. There are islands of such slow moving traffic on highways even if there are no signals due to slow moving trucks. So you
might quickly reach from one island to another but spend a considerable time negotiating the other cars in the pack.

Much like stock market you cannot do too much better than what the market does.

I get what you are saying. But the bunching effect is very less prominent in 3-lanes-plus-service-road-each-way routes. There are several such around Bangalore, and people do manage such average speeds on them.

I think Hyderabad-Banglore (where I did drive once) is about 500 kms, how easy is it to
maintain about 90 kmph on this highway (I am talking average not peak) ? I would seriously like to know. I just checked the Pune-Mumbai highway is about 100 odd kms
and a difference of 100 average and 70 average only gives 20 min gain. Again I would be interested to know what is the kind of average speeds (not peak of course) people manage on this stretch.

No it's not a fallacy. However, it is not good driving, and it is wrong to blame the vehicle because the driver won't or doesn't want to drive within its limits.

Anyway, as well as berating that driver for lack of patience, I'd have to say, come off it, unless he's driving a huge truck, it is hardly hard to accelerate back to 60, 70 or more.

"I didn't want to loose momentum" is the weediest excuse for a dangerous overtake.

Ok the XUV700 made a genuine mistake by cutting the dashcam car. But was it his intention to do it? Maybe no. The dashcam car looked severely underpowered for such a high speed overtake and was forced to cut a 2.0 ton vehicle causing the accident. This could’ve ended badly for a lot people because of the sheer stupidity of the dashcam driver. Shame on him for doing it with what sounds like his family onboard.

You’re right, the driver is to be blamed always. After all the car doesn’t drive itself, yet.

But you can’t ignore the fact that it is one of the reasons why drivers behave this way. The argument is not whether it is a right behaviour or not, let’s clear it by stating the very obvious, it is not the right behaviour.

There is a tendency in this thread to assume any point of view said to be either 100% supporting or 100% opposing one party.

Another BHPian has pointed out the law of averages in traffic. Eventually all vehicles will settle around the average speed of the road. This is 100% correct. But very very few drivers realize and apply this on road. This basic statistical concept is lost on many and you can thank our schooling for that. And the fact that most people don’t realize this, is precisely why drivers generally indulge in such rash behaviour thinking they can beat the average.

The XUV driver brakes before moving to overtake on the left, without needing to. If he had braked, seeing the dashcam car, he should have given way. So, it looks like ego at work and both cars would have been indulging in brake-checking/tail gating/refusal to give way prior to the when the video is shared.

The guy in the dashcam video wasn't shouting or screaming for having to abandon his overtaking manoeuvre. It was the woman who asks him, "why are you doing so?". It's Tamil and her tone and delivery makes it seem so, although she only asks "why". Suggesting what I implied earlier.

The need of the dashcam car to not give up, overtake and immediately cut across, is proof of him "teaching" the XUV a lesson.

In total, a needless and brainless activity indulged in by both car owners, endangering so many lives and loss to property. Suspect no major injuries other than some whiplash and bruised egos.

I have heard people talking about driving between these two cities in 6-6.5 hours. Some bluster allowance has to be made, of course.

You might want to peruse the Bangalore-Hyderabad thread here. An example.

I have extensive first-hand experience only of the other routes radiating from Bangalore (Pune/Chennai x2/Mysore/Salem/Mangalore).

The family celebrated with this little girl tying a rakhi to their XUV 700 that saved her father when a container truck fell upon the SUV. The SUV was passing by while the truck was undergoing repairs as the newslink says. And fate willed otherwise when the truck fell upon the SUV. It was crushed but the engine was still running.

Tying rakhi:-

https://www.cartoq.com/daughter-ties...rs-life-video/

The crushed XUV 700 video from about 2 weeks ago:-

https://youtu.be/TQJ34venWno?feature=shared