[Jignesh]

Hello All,

Greetings.

This refers to a nasty accident that happened in January 2012, but all these months I was in dilemma whether to make this incident public or not. Actually none of our close relatives & friends knows about this except for my parents.

After the incident I really lost my confidence in Driving, especially when Driving with my family & only after my recent 540 kms trip to Lonavala & Lavasa, I once again feel confident to drive long distances again.

Anyways let me start with a little history. Last year I got hooked to T-BHP & other websites & was really impressed with people's travelogues. I mentally resolved to undertake a road trip & we decided to go on a road trip to Rajasthan. We were three of us travelling – myself, wifey & daughter – Prisha (5 years), I being the solo driver.

We started from Mumbai on 21st January 2012 at 5:15 am & I managed to reach Udaipur at 9:00 pm in night. Considering this as my first road trip, driving 775 kms in a day single handedly seemed like an achievement. Days went fast & we were happy & we reached Jodhpur on 23rd January 2012.

On 25th January 2012 we started from Jodhpur towards Jaisalmer & we covered 200 kms to cross Pokhran. Now, we were just 75 kms from Jaisalmer & eagerly waiting for first sight of desert & peacocks.

I was always driving at speeds less than 100 kmph & suddenly at approx 1:50 pm the Car slipped off the road & fell on its right side. The Car dragged for approx 30 – 40 meters & came to a halt.

Everything went salient & the only thing I could remember is my Daughter asking “Pappa how will we come out of the Car?”
I said “Wait I am trying to open the door lock” but it did not opened. There was dust flying all over & I cannot understand what is happening. Then some people gather around, open the Door & pulled us all out.

I regained my state of mind & was astonished to see the Car lying on its right side & checked whether my wifey & daughter are alright. The people gather around pushed the Car back on its wheels & suggested me to take its photographs for insurance claim.

I first checked whether myself & my family was all OK & was surprised to see that all of us are perfectly alright & most important my Daughter was absolutely safe without a single scratch. I & my wife had suffered minor cuts & bruises here & there but nothing serious. We hugged each other & could not stop our tears. We thank God for saving our lives & escaping us from any major injury.

I am trying to erase the bitter incident from my memory & I have also deleted all the pictures of the damaged Car, except for these two pictures:





I honesty do not know the cause of accident. I was very alert every moment & everything happened in a split second. Even my wifey swears that she was talking to me & I was awake & alert as usual.

Subsequently the car we returned to Jodhur in private Taxi, stayed there for two days & returned to Mumbai via Train. The Car was transported back to Mumbai & later it went as total loss case. My experience with Insurance company is documented here:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...loss-case.html

I sincerely thank the local people at a small village at the site of accident who helped me & my family for couple of hours when I was speaking to insurance company & arranging for a truck to carry the damaged Car to Jodhpur.

I will also like to thank T-BHP members H V Kumar, MX6 & Parag Sachania for kind words & motivation after the accident.

I also sincerely thank my parents & wifey for motivating me to drive again & in last 8 months not even at a single instance they have reminded me of the incident.

Thanks,

[vnabhi]

Thank God you are all fit and fine, despite toppling sideways!

But what surprises me is that how could that have happened? I know that there is a lot of body roll on the WagonR, but did you go off a sharp and steep embankment?

Further, the car does not look like a total loss, though the damages were heavy, but I may be wrong.

Drive safe.

[Off Roadie]

Firstly I am glad that all 3 of you are safe and that your confidence for long drives is on the upswing, kudos to your family for being supportive.
If you did not leave the Tarmac I am quite perplexed as to how this happened as the 3 visible tyres seem fine, I don't think you suffered a tire burst.

[pganapathy]

Wow, it is a good thing that all of you are fine and got away with minor injuries.

I guess you must have gone off the road a little bit and the sand pulled the car, but there is no point in dwelling on that now.

The good thing is that you are back to driving and the confidence is there.

[harishnayak]

It looks like a newly laid road and there's some distance between the tarmac and the side road and your tyres may have gone off road and in a unconscious bid to come back on track something must have gone wrong.

Good that all of you escaped unhurt and specially your daughter.

[mango_pal]

This is quite an experience. I'm glad that all of you were safe and it looks like the 3 of you were wearing your seatbelts which most people don't do on highways!
Incidents like these remind me that anything can happen to anyone. Count your blessings and keep smiling.
Looks like you got a pretty hassle free and reasonable claim out of the deal too. Not that anything's more important than your lives.
Have you any further clues of what might have been the cause of the crash?

[drmohitg]

Glad that you lived to tell the tale. The car is damaged quite a bit and I am guessing all of you were wearing seatbelts which is what saved you from any major injury.

So as an afterthought what really happened at that moment? I mean there must have been some reason for the car turning sideways? Some bad patch of road or a tyre burst or something?

One thing I recently noted on Rajasthan highways while driving down from Delhi to Baroda was that the roads melt in the heat. And it causes a kind of wave formation on the surface. The problem with this is that your car starts getting stuck in between 2 waves and it becomes very easy for you to lose control if you are on high speeds and specially while changing lanes to overtake. People who drive in and around Rajasthan roads would probably be able to relate to what I am trying to say.

[dockap]

Something like this almost happened to me on 19th of this month. Me and my family (my parents, my wife and son) had gone to Bramhavar from Mangalore for Ganesh Chaturthi in the morning and after the pooja and a heavy meal were returning to Mangalore in the noon. It was around 3 PM and i was driving. My parents and son has fallen asleep and i was chatting with my wife and the next thing i know is the XUV is at the extreme right shoulder of the road and the thick vegetation which had grown almost onto the road is scrapping the right side of the XUV. I brake hard and i think the safety of my XUV W8 AWD come into play. The tires screech but i dont loose control and i am able to steer it back to the left side of the road.
All this happened in a split second and everyone in the car had fallen asleep. My wife remembers chatting with me and the next thing she hears is screeching tires. Luckily i woke up just in time and there was no vehicle approaching from the opposite lane If there was i would not have been here typing this.
I am attaching a crude ms paint sketch of where my XUV(purple rectangle) was when i woke up. It still scares the daylight out of me when i think about how close we were to getting killed.

[negativeH]

Wow, that's a lucky escape for you; particularly for the person sitting behind (I assume your daughter) cause rear seat belts are rarely used.
The brain sometimes blacks out after moments like these, best not to fret about not remembering I'd say, it'll come back itself.
Could have been a boulder or some other dropping on the road that inclined up your drive from one side and sent you skidding.

[Off Roadie]

Wow dockap, you really were lucky.
Note to all fellow travellers, always drive on a light stomach and don't ever push yourself when feeling drowsy, just pullover and take a nap. I have actually done that and it helps. Keep the engine and AC running if it's hot.

[Jet-thrust]

@Jignesh : first and foremost it is very fortunate that all three of you escaped without major injuries. You must cherish the fact that all of you are alright because it is so easy to be overpowered by the thought that something might have happened. So be positive and get back on the road.
Your experience is a learning lesson for all of us and by sharing it you have added to our safety. Thank you.

@dockap : a very similar thing happened to me a few years ago in a Sierra. I was traveling alone and was a little drowsy. Next thing I know, I was at the edge of the road. I recovered just in time.
It was a wake call for me (pun intended) and since that day if I am drowsy, I never push myself.
If sleepy, Pull over and take a break. No amount of time saving is worth the lives of your loved ones.

[akas_chauhan]

Note from Mod: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the board experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[1self]

I think this is where...
1. Strong Coffee after a meal
2. Redbull
3. Moving ones eyes all round, ie. looking at left OVRM, right OVRM, overhead mirror in turn
4. Good beat music
5. Moving at a speed which forces you to stay alert,
...all come into play.

Stopping is obviously THE BEST option. Slowing down is BAD because it comforts you & makes you even more relaxed...NOT GOOD.

[pganapathy]

Originally Posted by dockap

Something like this almost happened to me on 19th of this month. Me and my family (my parents, my wife and son) had gone to Bramhavar from Mangalore for Ganesh Chaturthi in the morning and after the pooja and a heavy meal were returning to Mangalore in the noon. It was around 3 PM and i was driving. My parents and son has fallen asleep and i was chatting with my wife and the next thing i know is the XUV is at the extreme right shoulder of the road and the thick vegetation which had grown almost onto the road is scrapping the right side of the XUV. I brake hard and i think the safety of my XUV W8 AWD come into play. The tires screech but i dont loose control and i am able to steer it back to the left side of the road.
All this happened in a split second and everyone in the car had fallen asleep. My wife remembers chatting with me and the next thing she hears is screeching tires. Luckily i woke up just in time and there was no vehicle approaching from the opposite lane If there was i would not have been here typing this.
I am attaching a crude ms paint sketch of where my XUV(purple rectangle) was when i woke up. It still scares the daylight out of me when i think about how close we were to getting killed.

Wow, it is a good thing you woke up in time. No telling what could have happened. I guess the good thing is you learned a very valuable lesson. Do not continue driving if you are feeling tired and sleepy. If possible hand over driving to someone else who is feeling fine. If nobody can drive, pull over and take a bit of a rest for a short while so that you are in condition to do the remainder of the drive safely.

[acroback]

One of my relative lost his life while returning from Haridwar because he dozed off mid way after a good lunch and a nice bath in the Ganges. Also, he was not wearing seat belt.

I learnt lesson that day. Never drive if you are feeling sleepy and without seat belts.
There were 4 more members in the car and all of them survived with minor injuries.