[tazmaan]

Really sad and I wish you full recovery both physically and from mental trauma.

The Innova has take a hit at the weakest point thats above the window line. Thats where the sheet metal, crumple zone, safety bar are replaced by glass and frames.

The practice of driver running away is very common, I have even seen drivers of high end cars running away from accident spot. My uncle faced a similar accident on surat highway when he was in Maruti 800, he too barely survived and driver didn't make it.

This is one of the reason why I hate night driving where even large vehicles like trucks are not visible until they are few meters away (forget about well camouflaged buffaloes).

I wish you all the best in pursuing the case and may you get the strength and patience to fight it through.

[schakra]

This is really scary, none of the posts on the Accidents thread scared me so much, I don't know why. I am glad that you are safe and feel really very sorry for the 2 people who passed away, RIP. This legal battle will be dragged for ages, these drivers are the only bread winners of the family in most of the cases and these family members would be the one's to suffer the most. Hope justice is served at the earliest and may God give strength to the family members of the departed souls.

[rdhawan15]

I am sorry to hear about the cab driver and your friend. May your friends' souls rest in peace.

Also, Anish best wishes to you for having been given a second chance by God. May good health be yours.

It is very sad to see the condition of Innova. Would another car/SUV have been safer in such a situation?

[hserus]

Originally Posted by rdhawan15

I am sorry to hear about the cab driver and your friend. May your friends' souls rest in peace.

Also, Anish best wishes to you for having been given a second chance by God. May good health be yours.

It is very sad to see the condition of Innova. Would another car/SUV have been safer in such a situation?

Good god, no. Not when a vehicle more than twice your vehicle's weight **unladen** hits you diagonally and then keeps moving.

This is where all your accumulated luck is drained in one fell swoop - only God can protect you in such a situation.

[ajitstreet]

So sad. Though I have seen many images of motor accident, this one is really scary. Hope you have recovered fully. My best wishes with you. So sad that many lives were lost for fault of one.

Originally Posted by rpunwani

If you want, you can force the cops to take necessary action as per the Motor Claims Tribunal, however the process is very time consuming and it involves the seizure of both vehicles involved in the accident, appointing lawyers and frequent visits to courts.

Does anybody have first hand experience with Motor Claims Tribunal?

[model-t]

I hope you have recovered fully and the others with serious injuries are better as well . I work really erratic shifts and have to travel from Gurgaon to Delhi at 4 in the morning 5 days a week. The truckers do not follow any rules, drive in all the lanes, do no respond to any prodding and are really unruly. I do understand their stress but better training and sensitization can maybe reduce this to a great extent. I am not sure if they are aware of the basic traffic laws but a lot can be done to make them more educated on the same.

[anish29]

Originally Posted by smartcat

The crumple zones of Innova (or any other car for that matter) are useless in these circumstances. The truck sliced through sheet metal on the right hand side of Innova - with crumple zones absorbing very little impact force.

Originally Posted by tazmaan

The Innova has take a hit at the weakest point thats above the window line. Thats where the sheet metal, crumple zone, safety bar are replaced by glass and frames.

Originally Posted by hserus

Good god, no. Not when a vehicle more than twice your vehicle's weight **unladen** hits you diagonally and then keeps moving.

This is where all your accumulated luck is drained in one fell swoop - only God can protect you in such a situation.

So this proves that no vehicle is safe unless you plan to buy an armoured tank or something. And I completely agree with hserus's last statement.

Originally Posted by ajitstreet

Does anybody have first hand experience with Motor Claims Tribunal?

That will be really helpful for me and all of us here. I did find a thread but did not find any first hand experience there.

[sunishsamuel]

Thanks for sharing this incident. Prayers with the departed and really happy to hear that you are doing better.

I really hope justice gets done. The culprit driver should be traced immediately otherwise he would find another truck driver job and continue to be a threat on the road. I hope the government would take serious action to prevent such accidents.

[TheRajput]

Originally Posted by anish29

Hello all,

India is indeed a place where when you drive, inspite of following all rules and regulations and being utterly cautious, you suffer because of the mistake made by the opposite person. There had been many times when I just cursed them and carried on, but on the night of Sep 19th, it was something different

Glad to hear you're safe. I feel really sorry for such incidents where people driving safely have to face life threatening situations.

The same thing happened to me yesterday on my way to Meerut on NH 58 which is a good divided road. I was seated on the front passenger seat & the car was being driven by my cousin. We were in the right most lane doing a steady 70 KMPH & after a curve, suddenly a tractor trailer containing bricks appears bang in front of us My cousin swerved the car towards the left in no time & by God's grace there were no vehicles on our left & I'm safe writing this.
Don't know when people would learn to care about their lives.

No offence meant, but in my seven days of driving in UP & NCR, I think that hardly 20% people follow rules & there are accidents waiting to happen everywhere.

[luvDriving]

I was driving from Pune to Kolhapur on the Pune-Bangalore highway with family. In the Khambatki ghat which is a one way for vehicles heading towards Satara, I was on a turn when a truck (no less!) came driving from the opposite side with no signs of stopping or slowing down. I had to take quick action to avoid getting smashed.

I got a look at the truck driver and he seemed pissed (hope he wasnt a second Santosh Mane)! Driving against the traffic and that too in a treacherous ghat such as Khambatki is invitation for a sure accident.

[landcruiser123]

The innova in that state is very disturbing. Thank the almighty that you have recovered.


It shows to what level people would come down to save a few bucks. Hope you can file a case against the owner and the police find the driver.

Just a question: were you travelling in the left lane?

[JLS]

I think equally responsible and culpable are our keepers of laws, RTO and traffic police.
Sad situation is that for traffic police a 'without helmet' two-wheeler rider or a 'without seat-belt' for-wheeler drivers are more catchable and probably more important (for collecting petty bribe!) crimes than large-medium-small vehicles driving on wrong side with impunity.
I have hardly seen any body caught for life threatening crimes like driving on wrong side, making sudden entry on a main road from a side road, parking big vehicle bang in middle etc.
And also if superstars and corporate lawyers are caught and prosecuted after seemingly open-and-shut hit & run case, they are left free - peace of mind restored and license returned honorably due to wanting-to-make-bucks lawyers and leaky legal system.

To OP, thank god for your life, take care - may be you can start a petition on change.org for harsher punishment for wrong side driving.

Regards,
JLS

[faustus77]

Anish
Hi
Great to read that you are safe. Unfortunate that people lost their lives for no fault of theirs.
I have been advocating an amendment to the law of torts here on TBHP and on other forums. People driving on the wrong side, breaking signals( Oprah Winfrey had commented that the signals were not ornamental pieces) with impunity etc. A question to them. If the penalty was,say rs 5000, for wrong side driving, would the truck driver have done that..definitely not.
Yes, there are drivers who pay bribes and get away but the amount would be commensurate to the official one. An unfortunate/sad outcome of such a high deterrent would be the extortion by the authorities even when you have obeyed the rules.
Regards
PS: JLS. The petition is a good idea. Hope things change because of its pressure.

[drmohitg]

This is the reason I avoid travelling at night on our highways, regardless of the road condition. It is just sad and agonizing to see lives lost uselessly like this.

Can I ask how did the truck appear suddenly? As in it came in through some gap in the divider or what?

[anish29]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Can I ask how did the truck appear suddenly? As in it came in through some gap in the divider or what?

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Just a question: were you travelling in the left lane?

It happened soon after a curve. We were on the right lane and the truck was also on the right lane. So the driver had very less time to steer away (towards the left) and thus the right side took the impact instead of a frontal collision.