[GTO]

Driving back from work on friday evening, I'm listening to some lounge and reflecting on the week gone by. The next morning had a particularly interesting meet, so was making some mental notes at the same time. It's cool, calm and typical friday evening atmosphere.

The junction is marked X:


As I approach the Peddar road Junction (going north) which intersects with the one way road coming down from AltaMount (RHS) and Activity on the left, the light turns red and I bring the Vtec to a slow halt. Stop in the right most lane with a Corolla on my left. Cars from the perpendicular RHS junction start entering Peddar Road, most of them taking a right onto the main road, fewer going straight onto the Activity lane.

Just like a bat running out of hell, I spot a Padmini cab coming down real F-A-S-T and immediately think, man he's going to be entering that activity lane a little too quick. Before I know it, the cab takes a right onto Peddar road itself, in the middle of the junction. I knew he was way too fast to manage what seemed like a last minute right turn and before we know it, WHAM! He drives smack into the boundary wall of the corner building. Glass & metal parts are sprinkled everywhere. The bigger problem is, there is a footpath area bordered around that very building, and one could clearly see a man wearing white clothes being hit by the cab.

There's chaos everywhere, the sound of impact was damn loud. I immediately pull over as I'm pretty sure someone would be seriously injured. As I'm walking up to the damaged cab, which is still stuck in the building wall, I see a stream of dark fluid running down the side of the road. Initial thoughts are "holy cow, that's someone's blood". Luckily, as I reach the cab, there is a crowd gathered around the pedestrian - a senior citizen - who has only some minor injuries. That stream of dark fluid was engine oil!! The senior citizen's guardian angel would have been watching over him, 2 steps more and he would have been sandwiched between the cab and the wall. He is obviously rattled, but the damage seemed to be more mental than physical. Had a couple of bruises but nothing that seemed serious.

Cops had already arrived on the scene and were talking to the cabbie who claimed his brakes had failed. I pumped the pedal and indeed, his brakes seemed to have gone kaput. Question is : These vintage cabs are maintained in the shoddiest manner, is it any surprise that the brakes would have failed?

I offered to take the senior citizen to breach candy hospital for a quick checkup and we started walking toward my car. His neighbour popped out of nowhere, the two exchanged a familiar glance, she called his family down (apparently he lived in that lane itself) and took him away in her car. The cab driver was taken away by the cops. Missing link? The taxi passenger. I distinctly remember a young dude jumping out of the cab, with his hands on his back as if he was in pain. Once the crowd gathered, he obviously made a quick silent exit fearing a trashing.

I did call that pedestrians family an hour later, and was informed that he has been discharged and is on the way home. Man, he was lucky to have gotten away from a near fatal accident.

Pictures of the Padmini:

[amitoj]

That is one lucky escape for the pedestrian!!

I dont think "brake failure" should be excusable if it occurs due to negligence. The owner of the cab should be held responsible in such cases. Meru cabs are compulsarily required to go to the company yard for regular checks.

[prince_pervez]

Looking at the interiors I seriously doubt its road worthiness. But thats the case with most Premier Padmini Taxis. Good to know the victim was discharged and is fine.
Kudos to you for helping. But, being a driver, he should have known the shoddy condition of the taxi and hence managed decent speeds. A sane mind wouldn't attempt a high speed right turn with that vehicle.

[Tejas@perioimpl]

That's the problem with that junction. The carmichael road in a downhill incline joining peddar road. I've seen many accidents like this specially when the signal turns yellow, guys floor it and the taxis on the peddar road signal also start causing accidents. That turn is blind to anyone going south from peddar road. while reading your post, i first feared that someone had jumped a signal and caused a major accident. I presume the passenger in the cab may have at the last minute told the cabbie to change direction & the cabbie must already be speeding to avoid the signal (which is of a very short duration) and thus this happened.
Anyways, you did the right thing by offering to help. I can count on my fingers how many people i know who would stop and help.

[emkay456]

On the positive side, another good riddance of the old Padmini Premier taxi !!

[Abbas]

Very few people like you GTO who would go out of the way to help other, kudos to you. BTW, this incident reminded me of the film TAXI NO. 9211. (John & nana patekar)

[GTO]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I dont think "brake failure" should be excusable if it occurs due to negligence. The owner of the cab should be held responsible in such cases. Meru cabs are compulsarily required to go to the company yard for regular checks.

Absolutely agreed. IMHO, the local RTO that approves these taxis in their annual road worthiness check are equally responsible. I mean, how is a 20 year old Padmini that has run 3 - 4 lakh kms on various engine transplants road worthy? Anyone who has taken a ride in Mumbai cabs will agree with me in that, they are absolutely deplorable road manners.

And then, you have the retreaded tyres that they run on.

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

A sane mind wouldn't attempt a high speed right turn with that vehicle.

I doubt even my 205mm Yokohama'ed Vtec could take that right hander the way that the cab tried to. It was just one of those situations where you know an accident is going to happen, and you see it unfold right in front of you.

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

That turn is blind to anyone going south from peddar road.

Valid point, easy to miss when driving south.

[suman]

The Senior Citizen definitely had his Guardian Angel watching over him that day. Hats off to you for offering to help out & following up later.

From what you've mentioned, this was pure & simple rash driving on the part of the cabbie.

[JVH]

That was one lucky escape. I hope the senior citizen recovers from the mental trauma soon.

Could it be that the Taxi passenger forced the driver to overspeed due to his urgency? Like in Taxi nr 9211?

Nonetheless, the driver should have been sane enough to make such judgments.

[Rahulkool]

I was these in Mumbai this weekend and was staying on pedder road(not on the road :P ), man that road is horror for pedestrians. Once i waited almost 20 mins to cross the road. at last i went to the next signal so i can cross when it turns green, but no one was bothered about the light. One guy in beemer 650i jumped the signal and 100% sure he was goin over 100kmph, what happenes if someone is coming from the otherside, i am sure bmw will save him but what about the other guy in a hatchback :( .

PS: but listenning to the amazing exhust of the cars and bike from balcony was awesome lol

[Rehaan]

Thats definitely a place i have considered an accident spot -- but luckily have never seen an accident there in the last two decades.

I have however seen atleast 5 cabs stranded on peddar road after their front wheels flew off!!! This just reaffirms the point about the requirement for some regular equipment checking, especially for older commercial vehicles.

As far as the comments on the taxi driver being at fault - well, sure, he might have been able to avoid this situation if his car was in better condition -- but in his defence, the approach road is about 150-200meters of fairly steep downhill and perhaps he thought he would be able to take the turn and then bring the car to a halt - but the continual acceleration got the best of him.

I wonder if he thought about putting the car in a low gear and leaving the clutch - probably not, otherwise GTO would have heard the enginge howling.
Also, i guess taxis dont have handbrakes!

Indeed a very lucky pedestrian.

cya
R

[Gilead]

GTO, you could have been tampering with 'evidence' by jumping in and pumping the Padmini's brakes.

Good to know the pedestrian is safe.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Rahulkool

I was these in Mumbai this weekend and was staying on pedder road(not on the road :P ), man that road is horror for pedestrians. Once i waited almost 20 mins to cross the road. at last i went to the next signal so i can cross when it turns green, but no one was bothered about the light. One guy in beemer 650i jumped the signal and 100% sure he was goin over 100kmph, what happenes if someone is coming from the otherside, i am sure bmw will save him but what about the other guy in a hatchback :( .

What about the BMW if the "other guy" is a truck! Whilst a BMW might be able to survive any given accident with its occupants in better shape than if they had been in a Maruti 800, it cannot be said for certain. The security of a thin steel box is illusory; the more we pay for our boxes, the bigger illusions we have.

To drive like that is the ultimate arrogance; if not against any individual, then against life itself. Arrogance fuelled by ignorance.


(Err... I'm not making claims to being perfect myself, of course <blush>)

[Rahulkool]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What about the BMW if the "other guy" is a truck! Whilst a BMW might be able to survive any given accident with its occupants in better shape than if they had been in a Maruti 800, it cannot be said for certain. The security of a thin steel box is illusory; the more we pay for our boxes, the bigger illusions we have.

To drive like that is the ultimate arrogance; if not against any individual, then against life itself. Arrogance fuelled by ignorance.


(Err... I'm not making claims to being perfect myself, of course <blush>)

thats right, but what i meant that anyone breaking a red light at 100kmph deserves to die lol, but what about the other guy obeying and going on green light. law enforcement should be made more strict as 1000rs fine will not do any harm to that guy even if he is caught.

[bblost]

A bmw is a very intelligent car.
It has all those electronic and gizmos.
airbags, abs, ebd and many such abbreviations that require a dictionary of complex words.
Its driven by very smart people. They may even have a couple of ph.d's and more rupees in their wallets than most have paises in banks.


A block of concrete is stupid.
It has nothing except more concrete in it.
Has very little thoughts going and its sense of awareness is measured in centuries.

But when the two meet, guess who wins.