[DueLLeR]

Dear BHPians,

Here's a heads up warning for TBHPians using the Mumbai-Pune expressway.

Today, Saturday, 4th June 2011, while returning to Mumbai around 7 pm, I expressed something on the Mum-Pun expressway that I haven't ever experienced in the last 7 years: There were stray cattle on the expressway!

I was traveling to Mumbai from Pune on Saturday. I was just reaching Lonavala when the car ahead of me braked hard and steered hard to the left. I saw a COW straight ahead in my path, which caused me to brake hard and steer left to avoid it too. Soon enough, I saw 10 to 12 cows on the fastest lane, running wild scared by the cars.

Just about when I felt I regained control of my car, I heard a loud bang and my head felt like being pushed back into the head restraint. I had been rear ended.

Switched on the hazard lights and moved to the shoulder. Got out to inspect the damage and found that my rear right of my bumper has caved in and parts of it are touching the tyre. Soon enough a tourist Indica pulled up behind me. It was the car that rear ended me.

The Indica had a bullbar which absorbed most of the impact and left the cab largely intact. Took down the car number, driver's name and the owner's details. The car was hired by two people who were on their way to the Mumbai airport to catch a flight at 10 pm. Decided against creating a scene and/or filing a complaint on grounds of humanity.

However, a bigger concern remains that cars behind me would have reacted similarly to the cattle, and the cattle have no where to go thanks to the fencing. Hope there were no serious accidents.

I now have a 5 month old car damaged for no fault of mine. Making the yellow-board Indica pay for my damages is highly improbable.

Will post a picture of the damage on my i20. I urge all BHPians to be extra careful on the expressway.

Cheers!
DueLLeR

I cannot emphasize enough about the hazards of having stray cattle on the expressway, where the average speed of cars is between 80 to 100 kms per hour.

I cannot imagine the consequence of going straight in to a cow at those speeds! Just feel lucky to get away with a damaged bumper.

Cheers!
DueLLeR

[Cyrus43]

Its nothing new. We have had everything from Cows to goats to dogs to dumb humans on the expressway. Just pay more attention to what is in front of you next time. Simple.

[msupercool]

Just a few days back I was driving to pune and I see 2-3 buffalos eating grass which is in the centre of the expressway and later I also saw a beggar walking on the road, that was crazy! I just freaked out.

[ukderebail]

The survellience on the expressway seems to be tardy, i believe it is the duty of the toll collecting agency and police together to keep the expressway cattle free. They should educate the farmers regarding the possibility of extreme fatalities. I hope this is a wake up call. The morale of the story is that expressways are no more safe, so caution is the buzzword. Better to keep a distance of 100 meters from previous car in such exigencies. I feel bad for you Dueller.

[typeOnegative]

Standards are dropping. If you are driving to Mumbai from the Pune side, you will notice that there is a road that joins the Expressway from the Sinhgad Institute. This is ridiculous. Also, as ukderebail has pointed out, regular maintenance and security seems to be going slack.

Thanks for the heads up.

[undead]

Only Cows? We get to see lots of Goats and Buffalos crossing too in the NH47 in my area. Always drive at a speed where you can control the car in case of emergency like these. We cant blame anyone for this .There are villages and grazing lands near the expressways and domestic animals had to cross these areas.

[hvkumar]

The quality of the expressway is inversely proportional to the increase in toll charges!

[noopster]

DueLLer, sorry about the damage to your beautiful i20 and am glad you're safe. I have heard stories of cattle on the e-way but this is the first 1st-person account of this nonsense.

This is highly dangerous and I hope the authorities are aware of this and take some action. Why don't you file a complaint? This is just ASKING for a serious accident to happen sooner or later.

[Bumble Beast]

This is freaky, feel really sad for the damage on your car.
To share my experience, I was driving to Mumbai from Pune and suddenly I saw a car brake hard at a distance from me, I did the same and saw that a beggar had jumped in front of him. Just a heads up!

[raul]

This is news, I drive to Pune on average 4 times a month and have been doing that since the expressway started and honestly I have never ever seen a stray cow on the expressway during the day or night. Given the way folks drive on the express way me included this is highly risky, thanks for the heads up. I am definitely going to be alert to this.

[alto99]

Originally Posted by undead

Only Cows? We get to see lots of Goats and Buffalos crossing too in the NH47 in my area. Always drive at a speed where you can control the car in case of emergency like these. We cant blame anyone for this .There are villages and grazing lands near the expressways and domestic animals had to cross these areas.

Not sure if NH 47 is a expressway. It may be a 4/6 laned national highway. Mumbai-pune expressway is fenced (supposed to be fenced) throughout. It has higher toll than a parallel running national highway NH4. Stray animals/ 2/3 wheelers are not supposed to be on the express highway unlike normal national highway and hence it is surprising to see them (probably recently).

[mdsaab]

@dueller
sorry to hear about your rear ended collision. Can't believe i am reading and hearing about so many of them. me included. It's really sad that for no fault of ours we have to go through the whole ordeal of getting our cars back to shape. and yours is only 5 months old. Really feel bad.

Having stray cattle on the expressway is just unacceptable. Last month when returning from Goa we were on a four laned highway and a cow crossed over the divider. i had maintained a decent gap between the pajero in front which swerved left. It was at twilight and spotting the cow was quite difficult under this light.
I always try and keep a 1/2 cars length distance between the car in front. This really helps and gives you a reasonable time to respond in such situations. We need to bring this to attention of the highway police. Hopefully they will respond and ensure such incidents do not take place in the future.
The best of luck with getting your i20 back on the road and that too in top form.
Drive Safe!

[noopster]

Half cars length is inadequate at tha insane speeds on the e-way, mdsaab! Please maintain at least 3 cars distance unles planning to overtake.

[issigonis]

>>>

The Mumbai-Pune Expressway is a limited access road, which implies that there are no roads joining it, except exits at designated places with necessary signage. That is what an expressway is supposed to be, much like the Baroda-Ahmedabad Expressway.

The autobahns were designed to be limited access/no access highways and hence characterised by higher driving speeds.

When it is limited access, it automatically implies that it should be cordoned off from the surrounding environment, of villages, habitations, cattle and so on. Fast patrol cars (and radar surveillance if you want to be absolutely sure) is de riguer for limited access/no access roads- there is no point in using an Indigo as a patrol car if you want to book an overspeeding E Class.

This hair raising incident means that operations and maintenance of the expressway is inadequate. Is there any way to provide feedback to the traffic management authorities?

It is even more dangerous as most of the drivers (especially taxi drivers) love to tailgate and do not maintain a safe driving distance in our country; hence the danger of being rear ended.

Remember, the 'rear end-er' is at fault, for not maintaining safe driving distance, whatever may be the provocation/excuse.

Regards, drive safe

[libranof1987]

One thing comes to mind : what's new?

I wonder if the guys collecting toll even know what the job entails.

Originally Posted by DueLLeR

I cannot imagine the consequence of going straight in to a cow at those speeds! Just feel lucky to get away with a damaged bumper.

There's a thread on a exactly the same by TGO (End of Qualis); the car was totalled!

Originally Posted by noopster

Half cars length is inadequate at tha insane speeds on the e-way, mdsaab!

Quite true!

More than the distance, the moment you see a car swerving in front of you, you have a split second to figure out what the cause could be and take preventive action. And at 80 km/hr, it's a diff. ball game altogether.