[gus]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

A minor crash, but not uncommon nowadays with unruly 2-wheeler riders everywhere.

Happened exactly like this to me as well. The rider wanted to go straight and I was taking a U-turn from the right-most lane which was meant for a U-Turn.
The guy even had the gall to stare at me as if I was on the wrong.

I seriously think that the RTOs in India should be suspended they as it is are useless and won't be missed by anybody.

[clevermax]

Saw this today on the elevated highway at Kazhakkuttam, Trivandrum. No idea how it happened. No other vehicles seem to be involved in the crash.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnT7koaQeDs

[ambandla]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Regardless of the left-turning truck or the blue car trying to squeeze in, the container driver's actions were completely at fault. Jumping over the divider was reckless and unjustifiable. If stopping wasn't an option, rear-ending the blue car would have been the lesser evil. Hitting the divider, fully aware and in complete senses, is a boundary no one should ever dare to cross.

Not to forget that that truck had no business in fast lane. This whole thing would not have happened if all these slow moving vehicles stayed in middle or left lanes. Right most lane has become the slowest lane thanks to every tom dick and harry using fast lane as if it’s a walking track for their vehicle. I do long drives multiple times a year and things are getting really worse.

[srvm]

Originally Posted by ambandla

Not to forget that that truck had no business in fast lane. This whole thing would not have happened if all these slow moving vehicles stayed in middle or left lanes. Right most lane has become the slowest lane thanks to every tom dick and harry using fast lane as if it’s a walking track for their vehicle. I do long drives multiple times a year and things are getting really worse.

I feel this view is too harsh on truckers. Most highways are only 2 lanes each side, not even three. Left lanes of our highways are full of two-wheelers, autos, LMVs carrying goods, haphazard parked vehicles etc. Add to it, suddenly merging vehicles from side roads.

Imagine yourself in the shoes of these truck drivers - Driving a truck overloaded more than its capacity, limiting its max speed to maybe 50-60 kmph. The truck cannot swerve on and off from left to overtaking lane everytime there is a tractor, 2-wheeler, bullock cart etc in the left lane. And even if he takes the slow lane, he has to keep watch on 2 fronts: (a) the blind spots on his left where 2-wheelers are going to squeeze no matter what. (b) right lane / fast lane overtakes by faster vehicles such as cars.

In the past, I too used to feel the way you have posted. Over the years, I have become more sympathetic to the 'movers of our nation'. They truly have a thankless job and their daily herculean efforts seem invisible to most aam junta.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Friends, When you go out in your car ... do not think, "I am surrounded by strong steel which will protect me whatever happens ... do think, "It is a thin steel box, it is a tin can, it gives me an illusion of safety."

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

It’s actually a proven technique that has worked for hundreds/thousands of years. People practicing Stoicism call it negative visualisation. It helps you prepare for the unexpected.

Thanks! I never knew that.

Here's a supposed old-fisherman version that I got from a sailing magazine:

You should be afraid of the sea, else you will be going out when you shouldn't, and you will be getting drowned.
We are afraid of the sea and are not drowned very often

I don't know if that is where I got the idea to apply it to driving, or if I thought it before. I do sometimes "visualise" that metallic crunch of even a minor scuff, and it does moderate my driving.

A sobering meditation!

[3HAR6AV]

https://youtu.be/9TWmwO73Uh8?si=RNnPvrzjBqwYf65B

This accident happened near my home. Apparently, a Honda City has been involved in an accident with a cow and hit a pedestrian and an Activa. From the news report, it stated the female rider of the scooter died, and pedestrian legs were broken and finally ditched into the drain in the opposite direction.

[sarathlal]

A minor accident involving an uphill bike and downhill loaded truck. No injuries except for damage to the bike.

Although an unfortunate accident, an insightful one at that, showing the difficult to understand vehicle dynamics of loaded trucks, dangerous hairpins, lack of proper driving awareness in general, incorrect road markings et al

Watch from 7:12 onwards for the incident section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYxAX3QhoL0

Although I cant fully understand the language, it appears like the lorry driver is explaining to the bikers that he could not brake fully or else the lorry would have toppled.

[GeeTee TSI]

This is why our ghats roads are not be treated like some hill climb in developed countries. I am ignoring the biker attempting an overtake around a bend (that stupidity did not cause this accident) since the contact with the truck happened when he was well inside the line.

For one, our ghats are dual carriageways. Further, it is not designed to keep all vehicles within the lanes.

As someone who has travelled along Wayanad ghats from childhood, it is a known fact that long/heavy vehicles will take the outside (read wrong) lane and other vehicles have to wait in the lane till they pass.I have seen some car drivers take their wrong lane to cross a truck negotiating a hairpin (like how one biker sneaked through) which is actually more dangerous in my opinion.

As with every accident, higher-than-safe speed for that stretch is the root cause here.

[BullettuPaandi]

Originally Posted by sarathlal

Although I cant fully understand the language, it appears like the lorry driver is explaining to the bikers that he could not brake fully or else the lorry would have toppled.

I can confirm that he is saying exactly that. But, he did take way too much of a wide turn on the wrong lane than necessary- same goes for most cars throughout the section. You can see how the previous lorry managed to turn much shorter and only barely on the wrong lane, which is very much acceptable for a lorry- perhaps a more experienced driver; heavier the load, only shorter needs to be the turn. Though the cars and van behind the 2nd lorry have no reason, being completely on the wrong lane- every single one of them!

Both bikers- the one that nearly escaped and the one that got hit- were careless. Riding with one hand on the middle of a mountain road, looking at the view on the left, looking at the 1st lorry after nearly escaping that,... all this while arriving on a hairpin bend at a little too much speed- seriously? The one that nearly escaped is only ironically lucky that the cars and van behind the lorries were on the wrong lane.

[MyLife_MyCar]

While we are talking about the usage of indicators, I’d add my two cents before posting couple of pics of an accident that I (almost)witnessed on Manali highway yesterday.

Off-topic
Indians, in general, gracefully copy the things from western world and blissfully ignore the correct way of implementing it.
And that’s not just about the safety on road but everywhere. For example, I’d never do a paragliding or a hot air balloon ride in India.

Coming to the roads, give us a new thing and we will ensure that we overuse it to the extent that we start to feel that it gives us a right of the way:

• Horn: to be used to draw attention of unsuspecting people/vehicles. What we learnt: give way, I’m not gonna stop.
• Indicators: indicates the intent to turn/change lane. What we learnt: give way, I’m not gonna stop.
• Headlight flashing: well, different countries use it for different reasons. What we learnt: give way, I’m not gonna stop.

Back to accidents:
While returning from Manali to Chandigarh, almost witnessed this accident where a Dzire taxi was crushed by the falling rocks. There were just 4-5 other cars between that Dzire and our car. So, I couldn’t see how it all happened as it was a slightly curvy road.

Luckily there was an ambulance coming from the behind carrying another patient. Passersby stopped it and carried the injured people to it. Unfortunately, the girl passed away (on the spot, as claimed by the news). I could only watch that girl from a distance when she was being loaded in the ambulance.

This accident happened at an area where a new road was being carved out by cutting the mountains. I saw one JCB and some trucks on the rocks above, a little distant away. Wondering if the vibrations from those machines caused the landslide. Also, small blasts are often done when carrying out such constructions on the hills.

https://www.timesnownews.com/mumbai/...icle-116799475

[VaibhaoT]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

A container truck fell over a Volvo Car near Nelamngala,Bangalore. All 6 passengers in the car are no more.

Attachment 2701551

https://newsable.asianetnews.com/kar...tch-snt-sou7lf

Unfortunately, I crossed this accident site within 30 minutes of incident. Sorry for delayed post. I was on my way to Pune for 10 days' vacation.

There was a long traffic jam & traffic was not moving at all. Traffic was blocked on both lanes. People were trying to use, non-existent service road. I also tried to take the same. After lot of tussles, I finally reached spot of accident. Initially we saw that a trailer had overturned. There was crazy rush on the spot. There were too many people. I was little confused about why so many people are interested in an accident which did not seem to be a big one. We also started crossing it slowly to notice what exactly happened.

In few seconds, we saw that a car was sandwiched below trailer. Car was reduced to half. We got all our answers. Image of what I saw is still fresh in my mind. There was silence in our car for a minute. My wife' first reaction was, there is no way there will be any survivor in that car. We prayed that car was having minimum passengers. Alloys were really shiny, so I said to my wife that car seems pretty new. There was ambulance in position to receive any survivor. But till the trailer is taken off from car, it was useless. It was heart wrenching.
There was also an overturned Nandini truck at some distance. We were again clueless. No one was bothering about Nandini truck. So, we assumed that driver from Nandini truck is rescued.

When we crossed, there were many policemen on the spots. Two cranes were on the spot. Many of the onlookers were seating on side of the road. Many were taking photos/videos on mobile phone. Infact there were few policemen trying to control the crowd. Some volunteers were requesting cars on service road to keep on moving and not to stop. But few in front of us still stopped. We continued our journey while we were still recovering from what we saw.

In evening, we reached Belgaum. I read some news article. Unfortunately, car was fully loaded with passengers. Finally, I think it took 6 cranes. IMHO, Police and volunteer who were helping with recovery had to spend lot of energy to control the unwanted crowd. I do not understand why so many people have to stop at accident site, just to record what is going on. It hinders the relief operations. In a matter of life and death, its waste of resources to control the unwanted crowd.

I hope the family of departed soul get enough strength to recover from sudden loss. May their soul RIP.

[deathwalkr]

School Bus Accident: Kannur School Bus Accident Claims one life, Many injured....

Read more at: https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...t-updates.html

Always used to wonder why our children can't have proper safe rides to school. With all the focus on passenger vehicles with seat belts and air bags and what not, why are school buses not talked about?

[M35]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

School Bus Accident: Kannur School Bus Accident Claims one life, Many injured....

Read more at: https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...t-updates.html

Always used to wonder why our children can't have proper safe rides to school. With all the focus on passenger vehicles with seat belts and air bags and what not, why are school buses not talked about?

As far as I see, the school/college bus drivers are one of the most reckless bunch of idiots on Kerala roads. They are so arrogant that they assume thenselves to be privileged to own the roads being educational. I would never send my child in until the situation changes. The situation is totally opposite in other more civilised countries/societies.

[Rasmo3689]

Wishing all a Happy and Safe New year. 2024 was very unfortunate for us. Hope 2025 would be better.

The location of both these accidents is Almora-Pithoragarh Road, Uttarakhand. For those who do not know, this is a narrow, steep road post Nainital.

All these pictures are from April 2024 and September 2024. The Brown Duster was being driven by my father; he is a very sedate driver. The speed at impact was 48kmph as per the GPS device. As my father recounts the event, there was a small laptop bag that my father keeps on the second row secured to the seatbelt but this time, he just kept it on the front left seat, on a tight left corner, he steered the vehicle left, at the same time the bag moved towards right, my father for a second tried to put the bag back in its position and the accident happened. He said, the events unfolded so fast that the car was hanging by the cliff and hit the tree before he could even touch the brake pedal. I REQUEST ALL THE PEOLE NOT TO KEEP ANY FLYING PROJECTILES, these things do make a difference.





The second instance was on 28 September, 2024. I was on my way back to Delhi from my home, barely 60 kms away from my home. An ITBP truck, a Tata 1613SE, when he decided to take a right turn (the truck's perspective) as if he was driving inl a left-hand drive country. This accident happened at about 30kmph, please note that this was one of the widest section of this road and there was plenty of space for the truck to pass, I have been driving our own Tata 1212 on this route with even 15 tonnes of load during the rains, sand gets heavier due to water. Result: The ITBP driver accepted his fault and I did not make any claim given these guys work hard for this country and the damage to my vehicle was mostly cosmetic, the car was still driveable and did complete the trip to Delhi in same condition, except for the bent steel spare that I was using that day.

[SS-Traveller]

Sad to know you had multiple crashes in 2024. Your father's crash...

Originally Posted by Rasmo3689

...there was a small laptop bag that my father keeps on the second row secured to the seatbelt but this time, he just kept it on the front left seat, on a tight left corner, he steered the vehicle left, at the same time the bag moved towards right, my father for a second tried to put the bag back in its position and the accident happened.

...reminds me of a similar crash some 40 years ago, when my brother-in-law with a brand new Maruti van as well as a newly acquired driver's license, took a sharp left turn with some food item sitting on the front left seat. In his effort to save the food, he managed to crash the 2-weeks-old car into a wall, with substantial expenses incurred subsequently.

May 2025 be a safe driving year for everyone.