Team-BHP - Accidents in India

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Originally Posted by ramki.grandhi (Post 5751655)

Got this video in whatsapp, looks like it happened in Bangalore. A Bentley was stuck in gutter and struggled to come out easily.

It seems as though the driver has misjudged the turning radius and the width of the turn.
I have seen an incident like this before in Thanjavur. It was resolved by around six people lifting one side of the car (Dzire) and another person sliding a sturdy wooden plank underneath that wheel to create a bridge across the ditch where it was stuck.
Then someone else gave instructions while the driver maintained the rear wheel on the plank to come out.
Not sure how the ease of this process differs between FWD and RWD cars though.

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Originally Posted by madhavgpai (Post 5750391)

Drove through Thoppur 2-3 times after that last accident.

This last time though, I saw 2 big trucks behind me occupying both lanes and with a decent speed downhill before approaching the bridge. The bridge was not free for me to pass through quickly either. There was another slow truck there.

And then that video popped up in my mind.

I pulled over and stopped in that last bit of free space available before the bridge and let the 2 trucks have at it. Then took the bridge when the whole thing was empty.

Why do they keep repeating this behavior? Who will take control of this for god's sake.

While many of these Thoppur Accident videos creates a sense of awareness and alertness in the minds of every Driver (it should), you are absolutely right. Being a frequent user of this stretch, on the downhill run along with awareness, alertness, anxiety also grips in when you know mammoth trucks are hurtling down behind you and slow moving traffic ahead of you, you are left with no option to take refuge anywhere, but solely rely on divine intervention, seriously. When will our Truckers be considerative to fellow drivers? Being Human!

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Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish (Post 5751946)

A high speed Marazzo entered a curve on the highway fast and over corrected after spotting a biker, hit the kerb and violently rolled over, killing 6 people.

Most probably the driver was starting to doze off :Frustrati Saying that because he had started hitting the divider before the innocent biker who was minding his own business.

This is just heartbreaking and shocking. Without any fault, 5/6 lives vanished in a second. Just reiterates the fact that we are NEVER SAFE on a road. Anyone/anything can cause such terrible mishap and we all can say our final goodbyes to loved ones without any reason. Man, now imagine the struggle of the families of the poor souls who were on the other side of the road who got wiped out.

I am just speechless. RIP to departed.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5749588)

I have never understood how that can happen, at least not any more in an MT than an AT.

What has happened to me, whilst getting used to an automatic (and soon after I passed my British driving test too) was the opposite: putting my left foot on the "clutch" and thus coming to swift halt as I applied the brakes. It was on a roundabout too. The guy behind must have thought I'd gone mad.

I adopted this habit. When switching to MT after being used to AT, keep the left foot tucked back near the chair. Only let go forwards again when you are completely accustomed to it doing absolutely nothing.

In MT cars, we use both feet to press clutch and brake simultaneously to stop the car. In AT, left feet should just rest. However, in moments of panic, even when driving AT, both feet can jump into action, and right foot will land on accelerator in this case, while left foot goes to brake pedal.. depending on the pressure on each pedal, car can go out of control.

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Originally Posted by saubi2299 (Post 5752049)

In MT cars, we use both feet to press clutch and brake simultaneously to stop the car.

Actually stopping, yes. Slowing, no.

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In AT, left feet should just rest. However, in moments of panic, even when driving AT, both feet can jump into action, and right foot will land on accelerator in this case, while left foot goes to brake pedal.. depending on the pressure on each pedal, car can go out of control.

This may be your experience: if it is, I cannot deny that for you. But in my experience, no. Because...

MT and AT: accelerator pedal is in much the same place.
MT and AT: brake pedal is actually in much the same place.

...no right-foot confusion

In both cars, right foot comes off gas, moves slightly left to brake. Same place. Just happens to be much wider.

At some time, the most unlikely mistakes will be made. But I do not consider this a likely mistake or cause of accidents.

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Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish (Post 5751946)

A high speed Marazzo entered a curve on the highway fast and over corrected after spotting a biker, hit the kerb and violently rolled over, killing 6 people.

Scary visuals alert.

This is totally tragic. I feel especially sorry for that 2 wheeler driver. He was minding his own business and driving in the leftmost corner of the left lane. Can only justify this by thinking "if your time is up, then there is nothing you can do to escape death." Accidents like this are on the rise in TN. People start early to temples and most of the times they don't get enough sleep the previous night. Somehow 99.9% of them pull through and make it back safe. It's the rare 0.1% that end up like this. Don't have anymore words to describe the situation.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 5752116)

Actually stopping, yes. Slowing, no.

This may be your experience: if it is, I cannot deny that for you. But in my experience, no. Because...

MT and AT: accelerator pedal is in much the same place.
MT and AT: brake pedal is actually in much the same place.

...no right-foot confusion

In both cars, right foot comes off gas, moves slightly left to brake. Same place. Just happens to be much wider.

At some time, the most unlikely mistakes will be made. But I do not consider this a likely mistake or cause of accidents.

Agreed that it may not be the most likely cause, but it could be one of the reason. When I drove an automatic for the very first time, I had to remind myself to keep my left foot away from the pedals. After initial few days, this feeling never came again. However, I feel that some may adapt sooner or late.

I had an X1 and Baleno at home now. My mind is programmed for indicator on right stalk and wiper on left. So, I frequently make the mistake of using right stalk in X1 and activate the wiper instead of indicator. Now, Invicto and Baleno does not create this confusion. These two have different ( left and right side of steering) position for start stop button, for which our finger will normally try to reach out without looking. I have seen my father now struggling with EPB in Invicto and he has been driving for last 40 years with clean record. I have seen so many people who won’t feel anything is wrong even when driving with a flat tyre. These may sound stupid but it happens.

So, someone switching cars and muscles programmed for the other type of cars can cause mistakes, sometimes fatal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish (Post 5751946)

A high speed Marazzo entered a curve on the highway fast and over corrected after spotting a biker, hit the kerb and violently rolled over, killing 6 people.

Came across this news on money-control and then saw team-bhp has already caught on to it. The money control article has some details and a video that captures the crash and the aftermath status of the car.

https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/tr...-12617221.html

Per the news article the survivor was the driver of the speeding car while the rest of passengers including his twin 8-year-old daughters did not survive the crash. May those poor souls rest in peace.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish (Post 5751946)

A high speed Marazzo entered a curve on the highway fast and over corrected

Doesn’t look like this at all if you watch the video.

A car entering a corner at high speed is always going to understeer (talking about road cars not Formula cars). By this logic, it should have been near the median and not near the shoulder at the beginning of the video. If over correction has already happened before the video, the car is very likely going to be fishtailing with the rear out of line. In the video, the car is going plumb straight diagonally before grazing the wall.

This a case of car driver dozing off or coming under the influence of something. The car hits the kerbside wall before even hitting the bike.

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Originally Posted by SR-71 (Post 5752218)

Per the news article the survivor was the driver of the speeding car while the rest of passengers including his twin 8-year-old daughters did not survive the crash. May those poor souls rest in peace.

Something doesn’t add up here. The article says the father was driving the car and the family is from Odisha living in Bangalore but proceeds to say the driver was identified as one Manikandan. Things don’t tie up.

My assumption is this was driver driven asserting the importance of ensuring your drivers are well rested before any long journey.

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Originally Posted by krishnakumar (Post 5752289)

Something doesn’t add up here. The article says the father was driving the car and the family is from Odisha living in Bangalore but proceeds to say the driver was identified as one Manikandan.

Other press reports (all quoting ANI, who quote Madurai SP) say that they were a family from Madurai's Villapuram locality. The TN-64 registration of the vehicle also supports this. One such report (it names some of the victims):

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india...748583242.html

Edit: I think the doctor quoted in the Moneycontrol article is talking about a different accident.

Call me old school, but honestly, anything over 70 to 80bhp is an overkill for our Indian roads. With 6 to 7 people travelling in the car, the driver should drive slower than usual and also force people to use seatbelts.

So many lives were lost due to the idiocy of one guy, and the ignorance of the others. However, the guy on the bike was killed for no reason, even the best of riders cannot escape a morazzo that's heading towards him like a missile on wheels.

May the souls RIP.:unhappy

Just a quick alternate thought. Sleep at the wheel may not be just due to tiredness or lack of sleep. I too have felt drowsy at the wheel even though I have had a good sleep the day before. Many factors affect it. Like if the Sun is quite bright, you have had a full meal and the AC is chill this will make you drowsy. If the roads are monotonously straight without any challenge to your mind, it will make a person drowsy. The best recourse is to be self aware and not risk it when you feel drowsy. Park immediately on the side of the road at a safe place. Put on your blinkers and sleep it off. Even a power nap of 7-12 minutes makes me fresh. Some people say if you chew on something, like a chewing gum that drives away the sleep. But parking on the side, shutting your eyes and arriving late is better than not arriving at all.

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Originally Posted by krishnakumar (Post 5752289)

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 5752296)

Edit: I think the doctor quoted in the Moneycontrol article is talking about a different accident.

That article in Moneycontrol is poorly worded and they have tied up 2 different accidents, journalism at its best :-). This one is quite detailed.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities...le68050295.ece

Per the article in Hindu the accident happened around 6:30 AM near Sivarakottai and the family was returning from Dhalavaipuram. It's a 2-hour drive ballpark before the car met with the accident. Given such an early start the driver perhaps dozed off.