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In normal driving with an MT, the correct procedure is to use the foot brake to slow down and only depress the clutch pedal just before you stop to avoid stalling. Sometimes just changing down gears is enough to slow you down. The added advantage is that you will be in the correct gear to drive on if the traffic starts moving again or the traffic lights turn green.
The benefit is that you are also using engine braking to slow down. Depressing the clutch pedal is like "coasting" in neutral which should be avoided at all costs.
When driving my diesel Focus I mostly use engine braking, changing down gear and only using the brake pedal to come to a complete stop. The only times I use the brake and clutch simultaneously is when starting off and when stopping just before stalling.

White line fever or Highway Hypnosis is also a cause of accidents on fast roads, expressways etc. The monotonous thump,thump of driving over joins in the road, or the regular flickering of central reservation barrier posts passing your field of vision can create an almost hypnotic state. This has the effect of slowing the brains reactions almost like starting to doze off. This mostly happens on long drives but some people are affected after surprisingly short distances.

This is a very tragic incident. The poor two-wheeler guy did nothing wrong but paid the price with his life. Why did the car driver go to the extreme left? He had the entire road towards his right. The two-wheeler is well within the two-wheeler lane. The reasons I can think of are that the car driver may have been talking over the phone, talking to others in the car, or adjusting the controls on the dashboard without an eye on the road. The mistake is on the car driver. The car driver should have slowed down the car while approaching the intersection.

According to the media reports, the driver of the car (son who belongs to the family) escaped with injuries, crying in remorse saying "my father had asked me to take rest, sleep and go in the morning - if at all I had heeded his advice, I would not have lost my family and my daughters (twince). Confession: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyYlt4dQp0M
Seems to be a full night of visit to couple of temples for some pooja. It is evident from the visuals and his version corroborating to the fact, he was drowsy at the wheels. For me it looks like immediately after the turn he dosed for a second only to wakeup for the side crash against the pavement guard grills, only to step on the brake pedal that changed the fate of many lives. There were around 10 in the car, his Father, Mother, Wife and Twin Daughters Plus the two wheeler rider - a fruit vendor all 6 perished in the crash. He along with 3 more, who were seriously injured are in the hospital.
Previous day to this incident, 5 of the same family losts lives near Tiruppur when their car hit head-on with a Bus. 3 of the same family (a Doctor, his wife and his mom) lost when his car hit the left side kerb at high speed and flew off the highway near Kayathar (Tuticorin District).
Link to other two incidents: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr6MpfB8EYs

This is correct. It is very bad driving to simultaneously press clutch and brake. Adverse handling and less control is the result. It could even be dangerous.

It's true to say that many people do have that bad habit, because they never learnt proper clutch technique or because they forgot. But it doesn't support the MT/AT confusion thesis.

I don't see a logical support for that idea. However, I do see an illogical support. People have been known to simply press the wrong pedal, in any sort of car. This is like when I go to the fridge for milk and find myself holding the cheese. Excepting, of course, that that can't kill anybody.

Is it only me or does anyone else see another two wheeler on the extreme left lane on the opposite side of the road also being mashed? Apart from the two wheeler this idiot already hit on his own side of the road?

Lost my front bumper! My car is a pristine 2009 Corolla Altis 1.8 GLS first accident detailed below.

I was on an upslope with slow moving traffic, a Tempo Traveller was immediately in front of me.
When the coast was clear, the TT driver waved me to overtake. As i was in the middle of the overtake, an i10 in front of the TT stalled.
The TT instead of braking and staying in lane, pulled right and luckily most of the vehicle squeezed between me and the stalled vehicle, his rear bumper banged into my the side of my front bumper and the entire assembly came off

Luckily no great damage, could use some tags to put the bumper in place back and get it to a garage for replacement.

Sorry to hear about your damage. May be the TT driver did the right thing by swerving right (am assuming all would be at low speeds so as to not risk losing control entirely) and scraping a vehicle moving in same direction at a very low relative speed rather than passing on the entire momentum into a stationary i10. It all depends on the exact circumstances in play. Ideally he should have been maintaining a safe distance in first place to be able to brake in time, but in India we all know how we love to tailgate!

Possibly, yes. The thing was that he had a flag pole like thing on his rear bumper which was the likely culprit :crying. The i10 would surely have taken quite a hit with the momentum of the TT.

Not intending to counter the above post and in agreement with the dangers of overspeeding, inadequate sleep and not buckling up.

Even a low powered 39bhp Maruti 800 can reach higher than legal speeds easily. Any vehicle (low or high powered) can be driven at crazy speeds.

After every braking maneouvre, a higher powered vehicle enables one to reach an intended cruising speed faster than a lower powered vehicle. A higher powered vehicle can easily maintain a better average speed across the entire journey and less fatigue to the driver compared to a lower powered vehicle. Thats the main practical / safety value of a higher powered vehicle. You can also do an overtaking if needed in a shorter and safer time interval.

It is a common to see loaded bus drivers/ Tempo travellers flashing lights and intimidating others whenever there is a need to slowdown, they will try to barge through without slowing down because if they do, then he will need an awful long time to reach the cruising speed again.
Thats why you'll see drivers of lower powered cars driving rashly because they don't want to lose their momentum and struggle to gain the same. They make more mistakes on the road.

It may sound counter intuitive but a higher powered vehicle actually promotes safer and stress free driving.

I was driving in TN at night couple of days back, and while I drive with a heavy foot, I drop below 100kmph on the highways once it's past dusk. Stick to 80-90kmph.

So imagine my surprise when a puny little m800 zoomed past me and disappeared. Pretty sure that dude was doing speeds in excess of 110-120kmph. Does that car even go that fast?

:eek:

I do agree with your points, yes driving a slightly bigger and more powerful car always feels less stressful on the open road, so it ultimately boils down to the guy behind the being responsible.

The Maruti 800 5 speed can do in excess of 140 kmph. It's pretty stable at 90 kmph beyond which a vagueness sets into the steering. Remember, this is a very light car weighing around 620 kgs. Even though it lacks in outright acceleration, it can reach some pretty darn good speeds.

Yes, it does. Same highway (The one to Bangalore, right?), the M800's constantly overtake me (Same pattern as you described - zooming past and disappearing :) )
I normally keep the cruise at 100-110 here and stick to left lane, and its common for M800s to zoom past through the right.

A wrecked car lying on ORR a few days ago.

Many drivers in India are yet to get accustomed to high speed driving on highways. Most of them are unaware of the limitations of the car that they are driving. They do not respect the speed limit of the road that has been designed for. Just because the road is free they feel that they can press the throttle to the maximum. Majority of the so called SUV's in India are just small cars with an overbuilt body and additional third row seats. They are neither designed to stop suddenly in the likely event of collision nor are they designed to fully protect the occupants in cases of accidents. It is also important for the authorities to prevent two wheelers and three wheelers from plying on high speed highways.