First and foremost, I'm glad and happy to hear ch.nathan's family escaped unhurt.
I also wanted to share a few thoughts.
We team-bhp'ians are the most privileged of all the road users in India because
(a) all of us have cars and most of us have safe cars and
(b) most of us are educated, internationally traveled and 'know' what is good for us and our families.
I don't think any other road-user in India is as privileged as we are. And we can't blame others for it because its not a poor / illiterate guy's fault that he is poor and illiterate. Its probably the governments fault.
To be honest I don't like the general tone of postings here that looks at other class of highway users in a condescending manner. From a compassion viewpoint, the TVS-50/Luna user who cuts across dangerously, shifts lanes at will, probably does so because they are just incapable of appreciating the benefits of safety and discipline or maybe it doesn't help them in practical life. Maybe we would do the same thing if we were in their shoes. After all, if I'm earning 10k per month and struggling to pay for kids education or mothers medicall bills, a Rs. 1000/- bribe to get a DL would look like an unnecessary expense. If I live in a village beside the high-way, I'm sure I wouldn't travel 3 kms either way to take a U-turn whenever I visit my sister 4 kms away. The government needs to take the blame for planning highways so that two-wheelers use them and for allowing slow trucks in the lane meant for high-speed vehicles. And we all know how good our government is, leave alone traffic, in other life threatening areas like health or rail travel.
End of the day, as mature knowledgeable people, it is fully our responsibility to be safe and avoid situations that have a high probability of accidents. I agree with other posters who suggested driving at 80 kmph at all times in highways. God forbid, if we hit another vehicle at this speed, we might have seat-belts and air-bags, but the other guy may not and he will be the one who gets heavily injured. In all likelihood, we would just be worried about our discomforts in handling the police, mob, local illiterate villagers and so on, but the other guy might be worried about his life or permanent disability.
More travel just increases the probability of an accident exponentially. Probability doesn't fail, given adequate number of times, an accident will definitely happen. India is one of the most unsafe places in the world for travel in any mode. So please keep your travels to minimum and always drive at a sane speed, you'll be good. I realise the ironic conclusion I've given in a travel forum.