Team-BHP - Accidents in India

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Originally Posted by amitoj (Post 2116966)

Aargee, those accidents are too frequent to shrug off. Anyone would be shaken by this series of accidents. I think you should take some alternate route, even if it means longer travel.

Thanks for comforting; I try to keep myself away from these incidents, but still, I'm alarmed at the rate of accidents happening around me. If this were the case now, what would happen in a span of 5-10 years from now when we'll have all those 3,4,6 & litre class motorcycles available at much lesser prices? And not to mention Nano!!! People would turn roads to battle field I guess!!!

May be I should get an Arai & top of the line A* riding jackets & wear them not only when I ride, but also when I drive :Frustrati

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Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2116955)

Just wanted to vent out my feeling that I'm feeling scared. Yes, I'm getting really nervous..... absurd to consider this, but still, my mind refuses to think positively.

It is true but that has to be taken in one's stride.
I remember my trip to Guruvayoor from Ernakulam in a scooter two decades ago through NH47. Before I reached Trichur I thought of culminating the ride by seeing too many bike lorry collisions. True these overdose sightings will make you tremble at least internally. I still remember most of the bikes involved on that day were Yezdis. (Only Yezdis, Bullets were there on the roads then)

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Originally Posted by .sushilkumar (Post 2116773)

he has mentioned that already . A Maruti 800. between Mohan sir, it;s very brave on your part for accepting your mistake and learning from it .

Sorry I missed that in that instance.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 2116618)

Even if it was in the middle of the road (assuming it wasn't just around a blind curve) it was stationary. How can it's driver be blamed?

The driver certainly takes a part of the blame - for not placing any warning for other road users. Once your vehicle is dead, you are expected to safeguard it from any damage - especially when you are in charge of a public vehicle.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 2116618)

Driver drives into stationary object: 100% driver's fault. Cannot blame the object. Driver is supposed to be alert, looking ahead, and driving at a speed which allows them to stop in case of the unexpected.

While I do agree that the driver is supposed to "be alert, looking ahead", but he is certainly allowed to drive at the maximum permitted speeds for National Highways. It is unfair to say the driver takes all the blame because on highways one does tend to see stationary objects only after you are too close to it - blame it on the lights from opposite, or ill-lit roads, or lack of warnings.

Both the drivers share the blame - the driver of the stationary bus for not have placed warnings, and the driver of the bus that rammed in for not maintaining sane speeds - but remember even 60kmph is enough for causing damage.

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but he is certainly allowed to drive at the maximum permitted speeds for National Highways.

No. He should (err, we should) drive at a safe speed for the circumstances, which may well be very much less than the legal speed limit. I learnt that lesson the hard way myself*!

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one does tend to see stationary objects only after you are too close to it - blame it on the lights from opposite, or ill-lit roads, or lack of warnings.

Again, no. Of course there are those times when we are momentarily dazzled, but the onus is always on us to drive within the safety limits, and those safety limits are constantly changing. Ill-lit roads? Drive slowly then. That's easy!

You know that, if, in traffic, you run into the guy in front of you, it is always your fault? It's an easy extension of logic to say that it is always your fault if you drive into a stationary object. Unless it falls out of the sky in front of you.

There is not really any such thing as an accident. There is such a thing as mistakes, bad judgement, lack of correct education, lack of sense of responsibility.

All the things the other driver should have done are all valid. I agree with them all: basic safety and courtesy measures. But that is a separate subject.

*I drove into somebody who entered the main road, to cross it, and stalled right in front of me. You could say that I hot a stationary object, but it had not been stationary a few seconds before. Whilst there were, mercifully, no injuries, the police were involved, and the absolved me, giving the other guy an official warning. I was driving at exactly the speed limit, having noticed a sign just a minute before. As I say, regardless of that official view, my view was that I should have been going slower.

We are way offtopic: I feel the moderator axe hovering!

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Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2116955)

When the roads were in OK to bad conditions, nothing went wrong & I couldn't witness anything. But now? Everyday I'm witnessing an accident?

Average speeds have increased enormously. 120 to 130 are quite common. But what has also increased is the scant respect paid to basic traffic and driving rules by motorists and road users. Obvious that accidents are on the rise.

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Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 2117966)

Oh!!! these roads are NH, but no way qualified to be called "G" of GQ. This is a normal 2 lane with big stones put in the centre as median & people keep jumping from left, right & surprise to jump from top & bottom. How miraculously they appear out of no where!!!

Anyway, point is, like you said, they're speeding up but without sense. I'm literally worried every second on the road thinking what would happen. I spend more than 50% on mirrors than looking forward :Frustrati which is also dangerous.

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Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2117991)

I spend more than 50% on mirrors than looking forward :Frustrati which is also dangerous.

Same here. Now a days driving is like swimming. Only instead of water you are surrounded by people.

Pray to God before starting out.
And tell yourself that you are playing some combat video game. Be alert lest someone comes and finishes you off. Silly but worked for me.

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Originally Posted by 4500EFI (Post 2123216)

Saw this Outlander at kottayam 2 days back. Heard that somebody took a TD and made it to this condition. A friend working at Mitsubishi told me that the estimate for repair is about 6 lakhs!. I was told that a new set of headlamp itself costs about 1 lakh. :Shockked:

That's a bad crash. BTW is the guy who took the TD held liable for any damages or does insurance take care of everything? I remember reading a thread where a fellow BHPian met with an accident during an SX4 TD and got beaten up by the dealer.