I have almost never had a near miss when driving a car. Largely I'm a defensive driver and have overcome aggressive instincts of the youth by practice. I have had one instance of a Panic breaking in 10 plus years of driving a car, when on a two lane road a TVS moped rider on the right side of the road decided to cross the road without seeing the cars coming from his left. ABS and reflexes saved me. But there was one when parking it. And the one I'll never forget.
I had my Kwid AMT then which I always parked between two trees on the roadside. On this fateful day, after parking I saw I could move another feet to the front. And I decided to do this with one feet and one hand, the wrong ones. With the door left open, I cranked on the car and while slowly releasing the hand brake , used my left feet to press the accelerator. Bang! The left fender had grazed the tree and detached from the chassis, breaking the left headlamp. All this while my wife questioned my intentions when I had left the door open and tried to move the car.
The most fortunate part is that the collision was not head-on and I somehow got the car to stop, or possibly the tree. My then 5 year old was inside the car and was thrown around in the back seat and I am lucky he was unhurt. I curse myself until today on my foolishness. Scares me to think that there was a junction a few feet ahead and I could have completely lost it with my life or my son's or someone else!
Lessons learnt:
1. Always accelerate and brake with the right foot, that is what I'm trained for.
2. Always close the door of the car before moving it. Even if it is a few inches.
3. Ensure safety of occupants.
4. Never overestimate your own driving skills. There's always that additional room for improvement.
I'm sharing this so that someone can learn from my mistake.
And yeah. I was really thinking hard and thought I had missed something, after all I could not be perfect. Then recalled a mistake. Well it wasn't a mistake, possibly not a near-miss either, but pure luck.
Four friends drove to Kemmangundi in a M800 with myself and a friend as primary drivers. Possibly I had not yet clocked 5000 kms of driving then. On the way back from Kemmangundi, there was this two lane, well actually a single lane road; the width of two cars basically, where one has to drive on the mud to let opposite guy pass. In one such section with me on a downward incline, there was this Tata Sumo who came bang opposite to me trying to overtake something I can't recollect anymore. It wasn't an option for me to get two tyres on the mud as the height difference between the road and mud was too much and the car would likely topple. I was possibly doing 45 or 50kmph. Once I saw the Sumo, I saw two village women possibly in their 50s walking right on the road behind it. I slammed the brakes as hard as I could and kept the car on the edge. The Sumo passed, but just as the car halted, it touched one of the ladies. Literally touched, like a firm tap on the shoulder. The Lady fell. Immediately we took her to a nearby clinic in the village even as villagers were trying to crowd around. Got her some treatment, paid the doctor, and some to the kin of the lady. The doctor examined and said she just had a mild bruise and wasn't a worry but advised us to leave the place soon.
After paying the dues, I told my friend that I will still drive. I was a bit shaken, well truly shaken. But I took the keys and started driving at 40s again for a few kilometres to be able to regain confidence for a lifetime, then handed over to the friend the driver's duties
Lesson learnt:
1. When crossing villages, drive much slower than you can, honking doesn't help, at all.
2. If the roads are built for X speed, drive 5 or 10 kmph slower to be on the safer side.
Ever since, I have had just one close shave as indicated in the previous post.
Last edited by Sheel : 19th September 2021 at 11:35.
Reason: Please use the EDIT or QUOTE+ (multi-quote) button instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD! Thanks.
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