Team-BHP - Accidents in India

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Originally Posted by SR-71 (Post 5829460)

I am sorry but I have to disagree with you here. While it was indeed callous on the biker's part to overtake the way did and not wearing helmets your actions are not completely faultless either. Even before I reached point in the video where your dashcam shows the bike accident, the first thing that struck me as odd was your abrupt and hasty overtaking maneuver at @0:22. Your urgency to get home no matter what the emergency is, does not absolve you of that bad driving.

The video does not show about the Skoda not allowing you to pass, so can't comment on that, but you can't blame him for slowing down on account of bad roads. He is just driving defensively. While you are hoping that the bikers learnt a lesson, I sincerely wish you learnt a lesson of this episode too, expect the unexpected in our roads and not be impatient on the road no matter what the hurry is.

My thoughts are as follows.

The car was going in a single lane road following a white Skoda. There's a lane divider which makes overtaking impossible.

So, the Blue car has no option but to follow the white Skoda.
The Skoda is slow due to the pot holes and bad road and that's understandable. If I drive a low CG car in potholed roads, I would be crawling too.

As posted, the blue car owner was in a hurry to overtake the Skoda for whatever personal reasons. That's fine too, as we at times have to drive quicker to reach our destination as soon as possible. It's a human thing.

The blue car followed the Skoda for an opening ahead where he could overtake the Skoda safely and in an opportune moment.

The lane divider ended and the blue car driver saw the wide open road and an opportunity to overtake. The Skoda was going slow and hence the Blue car veered to the right in a bid to overtake the Skoda. The turn was in haste as we see it.

If I were the blue car driver, I would be pretty sure that there's no 2 wheeler behind me in my left lane as I see in my IRVM. Again I have absolutely no reason to believe that a two wheeler might come from behind on the wrong side of the road. That doesn't happen most of the time.

So, for me, my check point is looking in my ORVM if there's any vehicle behind me in my lane and if there's any vehicle coming in from opposite lane.

If I see no vehicle behind me in my IRVM and the other lane is clear without any vehicle approaching, I would overtake the Skoda as that's an opportune time and place to overtake.

It's unfortunate that the 2 wheeler came up from the wrong/other lane, and he braked hard, the wheel got locked up, and the bike skidded and went off the road.

Now, ask yourself what would a prudent driver do? The car in front of you is going very slow, the lane divider isn't there any more, the road is now two lane instead of the earlier single lane due to divider and there's no oncoming vehicle. The 2 wheeler wouldn't be in the IRVM of the car, perhaps not visible in the ORVM too as the blue car was in an overtaking model, turned a bit and ORVM wouldn't show the 2 wheeler.
A 2 wheeler is difficult to be identified in the ORVM due to the minimal width/cross section and if the rider is not wearing bright clothes with a bright helmet, it's very easy to miss him.

The blue car took the turn believing that no other vehicle is coming behind (in his lane) and then the crash happened as we all saw.

I wouldn't blame the blue car driver as much as the 2 wheeler rider. He wasn't supposed to be riding in the wrong lane where no one would be looking, he should have anticipated the overtake and slowed down. The blue car should have slowed down a bit before overtaking, and be doubly sure that there's no vehicle behind before a lane change.

A fundamental rule that I follow always. Be 100% sure that there's no one behind when you change the lane. I have installed Blind spot mirrors on the ORVMs of all my vehicles and I check and recheck before changing the lane. Lot of accidents happen if one is not alert and looking (rear) during lane change.

Both the blue car and the bike have to bear their share of blame. Some lessons learnt by both and perhaps both are wiser from the experience

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Originally Posted by ashkamath (Post 5829594)

As posted, the blue car owner was in a hurry to overtake the Skoda for whatever personal reasons. That's fine too, as we at times have to drive quicker to reach our destination as soon as possible. It's a human thing.

The lane divider ended and the blue car driver saw the wide open road and an opportunity to overtake. The Skoda was going slow and hence the Blue car veered to the right in a bid to overtake the Skoda. The turn was in haste as we see it.
If I were the blue car driver, I would be pretty sure that there's no 2 wheeler behind me in my left lane as I see in my IRVM.

Well said, sir. That’s the most balanced response yet to that incident.
I don’t understand why there’s a sudden bashing for the blue car driver.

As you have said, we all must have done that at some point, when driving with a haste. The bikers are definitely wrong here, and the blue car’s overtaking was a bit aggressive. But he couldn’t have noticed the bike, more so when he was eager to reach home for whatever urgent matter he had to attend to.

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Originally Posted by handsofsteel (Post 5827710)

I was recently pestered by an ambulance while waiting at a signal. It came up right behind me in a normal manner and switched on its siren and blinkers. Considering that the crossing ahead was choc-a-bloc with traffic from left to right, there was little anyone could do to give way. Suddenly, in the middle of this nuisance, it occurred to me that the driver had switched on his siren only after pulling up behind me. Smelling a rat, I got down and walked up to the driver asking him details of the patient in the vehicle. He conceded that there was no patient inside and that he was using the hooter and lights merely to make it in time for the change of shift to get off duty. He apologised profusely and requested to be let off. The signal turned green shortly and we all went our ways.

Do not worry. He has learned his lesson. From now on he will keep the siren and blinkers on even when he is just going to get coffee:D. When giving way to an ambulance one should not violate traffic rules like jump red lights for example. Within this boundary, you should do all that you can to let the emergency vehicle pass. So his blaring the siren is not going to change the red light for you.

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Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar (Post 5829624)

I don’t understand why there’s a sudden bashing for the blue car driver.

As you have said, we all must have done that at some point, when driving with a haste. The bikers are definitely wrong here, and the blue car’s overtaking was a bit aggressive. But he couldn’t have noticed the bike, more so when he was eager to reach home for whatever urgent matter he had to attend to.

It took two mistakes for this accident to happen.

1. One from the Bikers, going on the wrong side of the median and expecting the blue ecosport to follow the rules.
2. The blue car expected that no one is there behind me. No one can come from the other side and I can't see anyone in front, I can aggressively overtake.

Both expected the other party to follow rules and safe driving while they themselves did not do that. The purpose of defensive driving is that you allow the possibility of someone else making a mistake. Here that was not the case. Hence the bashing as both are equally at fault!

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Originally Posted by Raghuwire (Post 5829794)

Plus, and this is the most important thing, such overtakes are not going to get him (blue car) any faster. If it is about a 30 Km drive, he will at best save 3-4 min or, may be even loose time.

Here is a point to ponder about. Aggressive driving can often be detrimental to the overall flow of traffic and this can reduce the average speed of all cars, including the one that is trying to get to the destination faster. Some times the faster you drive the slower you reach.

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Originally Posted by Funny (Post 5828120)

...I never anticipated such actions from a biker and didn't even realize what exactly happened until I got home and checked the footage of both front and rear dashcams.

I will visit this point at the footnote...

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There was some screeching noise (from skidding) followed by a cloud of dust. Only then I realized that the biker had crashed but it was still unclear how exactly.

So you saw a cloud of dust, heard screeching, and you realized a bike had crashed.

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The bike rider made a foolish and over-smart decision to overtake all vehicles by riding fast on the opposite lane closer to the divider. He did have enough time to anticipate that the vehicles in front might make an overtaking maneuver but decided to just speed through and find a gap to overtake.

Yes, Only the biker was foolish to do that sort of wrong lane maneuver by riding fast on the opposite lane without anticipating vehicles around may try to do the same being in a rural road.

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I think maybe ABS would've helped in this scenario

Even God could not have helped when they were in this scenario!

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...but I could've done nothing to save them

After seeing the dust and heard the screech and you saw a bike go down, did you stop and try to help, or drive away?

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I am assuming they were not grievously hurt since they had applied brakes and I could see the rider getting up immediately after the accident from the rear cam footage.

Oh wait, you did not, you assumed they are ok, just like you assumed the left and (oncoming) right lanes are empty before you pulled off that overtake.

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I just hope that they have learned their lesson and try to be more careful and follow the traffic discipline while on roads.

Yes, the bikers have learnt their lesson...

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TL;DR: Two helmet-less and brain-less rider had a fall trying to overtake from the wrong side of the divider.

Because of ...

I saw the video and I'm confused at the responses in this thread. Maybe it's because wrong side driving is relatively rare wherever I drive and seems to be common in places where many responders in this thread reside. I'll take this as something I need to watch out for.

However, I don't think it's a rash overtake- if you know your vehicle and the roads around you, it's a pretty good move. I don't think the Octavia was hindered and neither was oncoming road traffic which is exactly what I would describe a good overtake. Plus OP had plenty of time to assess traffic ahead to make such a move.

As for the bikers, I would blame them - they're coming quite fast from the wrong side and braked quite a bit after the Ecosport started changing directions. I doubt OP would've seen this in his mirror, since your instinct is to check anyone squeezing in the gap between you and the median. Neither will you see anything by turning your head and checking on the side because the bike is still quite behind the car.

I feel it's a lesson learnt on expecting the unexpected. If people keep bashing fellow members, nobody will upload their near misses and both members and the public in large will lose valuable lessons on what not to do since large part of the accident was because the unexpected happened.

The bikers paid a heavy price for breaking the rules. I don't see how OP broke the rules apart from not expecting someone to come from the opposite lane.

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Originally Posted by Funny (Post 5828120)

This happened a few months back. Always kept forgetting about uploading the footage, today I decided to get to it.

I have a different take here from most of BHPians.

If OP had uploaded only front cam video without commentary, we would be clueless about the video. It would be a normal drive and an overtaking maneuver in an opportune moment.

On biker: Please check the start of back cam footage. The road is undivided and then it divides. Due to a tractor and a car, there is a tiny jam. Instead of slowing down and follow the car, biker decides to ride through opposite lane (of divided part of road). Also one can see the biker gaining speed while raiding on opposite lane that too close to median.

On Car: For me, it looks like he had maintained a decent gap from Skoda ahead while driving through divided part. Nobody would have expected a bike/car in this way even for India(!).

On road: This is now a trend becoming in Indian cities. Wherever possible, divide the road and leave the rest undivided as it is, without any marking, sign boards etc. Ultimately, "Drivers Beware, this is India"