Team-BHP - Accidents in India

Ramming the brakes with left leg is bound to happen to those who are used to manual transmission.

I once did it, but it was intentional though. It was bumper to bumper traffic and my right foot was getting tired. So I tried using left doot for brake and ended up pressing too hard.

The reason is, our left feet are so used to pushing the clutch all the way down. The moment a pedal comes to the left foot, we want to press it hard. Getting used to slow pressing will take time and practice.

And in automatics, the brake is slightly more on the left side anyway, creating more confusion when the mind is already confused.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohanjf (Post 2555698)

Ramming the brakes with left leg is bound to happen to those who are used to manual transmission.

not necessarily. it can happen to people when they switch between cars. has happened to me once; i don't remember the car, but my left foot went to the usual position of the clutch (in my car) which in the new car was between the clutch and the brake (fortunately). nothing happened as the road was kinda empty.

in different cars the clutch/brake/accelerator pedal positions are slightly different from each other. getting used to it takes a bit of time when switching cars. i've made it a point to check the pedal positions and get familiar with them before cranking up the engine :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 2553915)

This was on the road show at Kochi last week organized by the RTO to spread awareness on accidents and to promote safe driving habits.
Your view on the bull bar is not fully correct. True for minor accidents but if of a higher impact it would crumble the crumbling zones and can be really dangerous.

Rajeev, either i did not make myself clear or you were in a hurry :). Let me try again, all i wanted to say is a bull bar is NOT a safety device @ high speeds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by khoj (Post 2555660)

Clutch in an A/T vehicle ??
--------------------------------------------
I have been in a similar incident when driving uphill on a flyover I rammed my TypeI old Honda city in to the back of a Zen whose driver mistook a helmet dropped on the road to be a bomb and stood on his car's brakes.--------------------------

A bomb?
of all things a round object on a road can be mistaken for..........a bomb?
clap:

That City though.
poor guy.

Rule of thumb(dont know if its law, unsure) will not allow him to claim on the front VW, and the sheer "powar" of the panamera owner will subdue him nuff to not claim from him.
All in all, a bad day, and an(un) happy diwali.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aaggoswami (Post 2554276)

3) What leads people towards bull bars? My view it that the modern cars have very high set dashboards and high windows. This does not give them proper judgment, like lets say one could get in M800 or even Esteem for that matter.
This leads people to have bull bars installed which gives them more judgment as to where the car ends.
The particular issue is where the front left corner ends. That is why even the new Wagon R will have bull bar with a small metal antenna sort of vertical rod indicating the driver where the left corner of the car is. I'm always shocked to see this but not all have judgment to drive the cars. Also a high set car like Eeco, Wagon R, even Ritz, etc. give others a feeling of sitting in SUV which further drives the urge for bull bar.

I still feel that slightly low slung cars like Micra have their engineering done correct where judgment is not that difficult to have. Cruze is another car which has this point.

I dont agree with you completely on this, i drive an Indica Vista and the vision i get is much better than the 800 i have. In the 800 i have always felt that the steering wheel is awkwardly placed a little too high and in the line of sight. Where as in modern cars, when you have height adjustable seats and steering, it really helps when it comes to negotiating a narrow lane. I believe people have a false sense of safety attached with bull bars and they get them to make their vehicle look menacing. The corner antenna kind of the rod you are talking about is to do with knowing the corner of your vehicle i agree, but i have not seen this in most of vehicles sporting a bull bar.

Quote:

Originally Posted by S2!!! (Post 2555644)

The good thing was that its airbags did not deploy keeping the cost of repairs yet lower than what it could have been. Ofcourse the Panamera guy was furious but the matter soon settled. I have managed to get the City pictures. The Jetta had no damage so no point posting its pics and could not manage to get the panamera pics. The potential customer was quite impressed with the build quality of the VW though.

Even I am very interested in knowing the outcome of it all. Who bore the brunt of it? I have always been curious to know who pays for damages when a TD car is involved. For instance in VW delhi they make you sign a document saying that you will be liable for any accident during the TD. And you cant TD without signing it. Toyota on the other hand did not ask for any such thing.

Quote:

The funniest part was when the scene occurred on the road my friend opened the rear door and told the customer's mother who was sitting inside, "ma'am I know this aint the right time but please see the build quality of our car.":uncontrol

:uncontrol

Apparantly the City was owned by an 80-90 year old man who was sitting in a meeting somewhere else. When his driver called him regarding the accident he just said that things do happen and spoke to the jetta driver and accepted his apology (full stop). He did not want to be bothered as he was busy and knew that it happens!!

The Panamera guy was yelling on the street at both the Jetta driver and my friend for allowing him to drive the car. Apparantly he knew the owner of the showroom and said that he would talk to the owner directly and drove off.

So I doubt the Jetta driver or the showroom had to bear the cost of damages. Even my friend does not know whether the Panamera guy spoke to the showroom owner or not.

:OT

There is a technique, which I always follow (I learnt the hard way!) which is to keep the left leg tucked back near the seat, until you are so completely and utterly adjusted to driving an AT that you might forget to use the clutch in a manual!

Closer to topic ... the "bomb" thing sounds like a joke (what does a bomb look like anyway) but I wouldn't care to drive over a half-decent bike helmet. It could do more damage under the car than a small stone.

Again (and again and again and again...) however stupid and unexpected the reason for stopping, if anyone runs into the back of the car in front it is their fault.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rohanjf (Post 2555698)

Ramming the brakes with left leg is bound to happen to those who are used to manual transmission.

In any transmission (manual/auto), we use the RIGHT leg for brakes and accelerator LEFT leg is exclusive for the clutch.
In case of Auto transmission, the left leg just sits on the dead pedal, right.
In case one gets confused, then one should have tried to use left and the right leg over the brake in an auto transmission which would have been impossible to achieve.
Our left and right legs are so used to their respective functions, it would be very difficult for a NORMAL driver to switch the functions or the pedals.
Just try using left leg for braking in a safe environment, you will find it will brake hard,
While the left leg is tuned for pressing hard the right leg is something like feedback based.
However I have heard of several stories in which the accelerator pedal was pressed in place of brake (again the correct leg but the wrong pedal).
After all we are humans and mistakes are bound to happen.

HC

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 2556234)

hehe.. i do that on long drives. after shifting to overdrive, i sometimes get my left foot back when it gets tiring keeping the foot on the dead pedal :D

A cool mild victim

During my recent accident in August I met one farmer guy on Whose tractor my car hit. It was a tyre burst and the car lost the control. In a very short distance there was a stationery tractor that too was stationed due to puncture.There was a great damage to my car and minor damage to the Tractor.After the halt the tractor driver came and sympathetically enquired about the tyre burst which he heard and checked my car's damage and gave me company till the alternative car reach the spot. Even he guided us about the towing vehicle and the police station etc. He least bothered about the damage in the trailer of his tractor and both the owner and the driver were consoling me for the escape with out hurt. So though they are lay men they did have the concern at par with me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by drmohitg (Post 2555914)

I smell a scam here - if the TD customer has to pay, then what about Insurance claim? No car can be on the road un-insured. I can understand the customer paying the overheads not covered under Insurance (depreciation etc). Then in the case it is not the customers fault, the 3rd party that crashed into the vehicle can cover with his insurance.

Are the dealers making a fast buck here?

--Ragul