Prado in G Noida expressway disaster - Team-BHP

suman · 17th February 2006, 12:54

Guys, I'm sorry to be posting this so late as I was out of the country when this happened and then in two minds as to whether I should or should not post as I wasn't present myself at the scene of the disaster and it was all hear say. But with all the posts lately on seat belts and not wearing them etc etc, I thought I'd go ahead and post this anyway. If any of you have more accurate details, please excuse me but this has come to us from chaffeur to chaffeur so there could be some inaccuracies.......

It happened in the early hours of 4th of Feb - husband & wife staying diagonally opposite our house were returning home in their Prado on the Greater Noida expressway. The gentleman was driving and I believe he was clipping at 180 (can you imagine!! even if exaggerated, it was close to that figure).

A small car (Maruti was mentioned) apparently suddenly came in their way so he swerved, lost control, possibly went off the road & hit something on the passenger side; the impact was such that the lady (she wasn't wearing seat belts

), flew through the front windscreen and hit the road (or what else I'm not sure) and died on the spot.

The Prado in the meantime toppled & rolled over a couple of times. The gentleman was badly injured but survived.

They had brought the Prado home before it was sent to the workshop (don't know why) and I have a photo that had been taken (discreetly of course) that I'll post later.

The lady was around 45 years of age, they had two high-school going children (boys) and it all is so sad & senseless isn't it?

Why aren't seatbelts used for god's sake? Why drive at 180 kmph in the wee hours of the morning on the G Noida expressway when there have been SO MANY accidents due to inadequate lighting, stationery trucks in the middle of the road etc? Was it driving under influence? Don't know that.....

I was speaking to someone else (stays in Dubai) and he mentioned that apparently Prados tend to topple over on high-speed breaking, some friend of his had a similar experience recently.

The other thing was that the airbags didn't come out - though it was a side impact, I thought the severity of the impact itself should have caused them to come out but they didn't. And, I'm told that the Prado doesn't have side-impact beams so that made the situation worse when it was rolling over (though the lady had already been thrown out and passed away by then, god bless her soul).

So here's what I'm saying guys - PLEASE drive carefully even when tempted to fly through deserted stretches late nights & early mornings, think of the people waiting for you and CONTROL your impulses, ALWAYS, ALWAYS wear your seat belts, they SAVE lives (the gentleman) & do not throw caution to the winds & drive under major influence of alchohol. Our reflexes slow down with age and even more so with liquor inside us.

Our condolences to the bereaved family and to the gentleman in particular as he must be feeling really bad but I keep hearing the haunting refrain of "why oh why take chances"?

ghostrider4385 · 17th February 2006, 13:30

Ouch...sorry for your neighbours loss suman, and hope the lady's soul rests in peace. Ye I know about the dangers of high speed driving on that expressway, amongst the others. If i'm not wrong, I think even an Accord filled with drunk kids had a bad accident there! And not wearing seatbelts in a place like Delhi is suicide... well, hope people have leant a lesson here.

Godspeed.

Alok.

2L8uLoose · 17th February 2006, 13:31

My condolences to the family for their loss....
People are just so STUPID.. first off to drive fast early in the morning.. ANYWHERE is idiotic, and then to compound that fact.. not wear seatbelts..your just BEGGING for trouble on bended knees

sridhar24 · 17th February 2006, 13:49

My condolences the family, going at 180kph is just too dangerous in the wee hours and that too without seatbelts and really no car is safe at that speeds and that too an SUV.

nitrous · 17th February 2006, 14:38

I thought Delhi is a place where Seatbelts is strictly worn.

My condolences.

amitoj · 17th February 2006, 15:02

May the lady's soul rest in peace and may the guy recover fully. He must have realised now the importance of seatbelts.
Be it any SUV (apart from Hummer i suppose), right from Sumo to Prado, studies have shown that they do have a high tendency to topple, owing to the high CG. SUVs and high speed driving just dont mix well.

Amitoj

tsk1979 · 17th February 2006, 15:26

Noida and delhi are on a different planet as far as traffic rules and enforcement is concerned

Sumed · 17th February 2006, 15:33

My condolences to the family... Realy sad that people buy such expensive cars, and one of the reasons they are expensive is due to the safety features... but they dont use those features properly. Correct me if I am wrong but I think that the air-bags will not be deployed in any car if the passenger or driver are not wearing their seat belts.

Realy sorry to hear this incidence.

ksethuram · 17th February 2006, 15:35

My condolences .....
Another incident to stress the use of seat belts.

suman · 17th February 2006, 15:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sumed

Correct me if I am wrong but I think that the air-bags will not be deployed in any car if the passenger or driver are not wearing their seat belts.

Realy sorry to hear this incidence.

The driver was wearing so it should have? Or does it need both? Not sure about that one....

Deeps · 17th February 2006, 15:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sumed

My condolences to the family... Realy sad that people buy such expensive cars, and one of the reasons they are expensive is due to the safety features... but they dont use those features properly. Correct me if I am wrong but I think that the air-bags will not be deployed in any car if the passenger or driver are not wearing their seat belts.

Realy sorry to hear this incidence.

The air-bag will be deployed regardless but it wont be half as effective without a seatbelt. IMO, the penalties for flouting seat belt regulations should be increased significantly. If i remember correctly the fine is 100Rs in Delhi for not wearing seatbelt. And i've come across many people who say that the "hassle"

of putting on seatbelts everytime is not worth Rs100.

tsk1979 · 17th February 2006, 16:22

In punjab its 2500rs. The policement are legally ensured 10% of challans in chd, so bribing has reduced for such crimes

suman · 17th February 2006, 17:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

In punjab its 2500rs. The policement are legally ensured 10% of challans in chd, so bribing has reduced for such crimes

And I think that's the way to go about it. I'd heard something similar about Income Tax raids in the metro cities where the members of the raiding party were assured a decent percentage of the value of raided items; as a result it became difficult for the guys being raided to bribe their way out

paharino1 · 17th February 2006, 18:05

Such a tragic loss of life !

I guess fines should be made so high..that they should act as "THE Deterrents"

haryan · 17th February 2006, 18:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsk1979

In punjab its 2500rs. The policement are legally ensured 10% of challans in chd, so bribing has reduced for such crimes

WOW ... thats only word i can think of now ..
I wish our HYD police also do something like that .. our police are the most corrupt .. you can get away with a 20 buck bribe for two wheeeler and 50 bucks for car ... cheap cops ...

17th February 2006, 12:54	#1 (permalink)
suman Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 2,093 View My Garage	Prado in G Noida expressway disaster Guys, I'm sorry to be posting this so late as I was out of the country when this happened and then in two minds as to whether I should or should not post as I wasn't present myself at the scene of the disaster and it was all hear say. But with all the posts lately on seat belts and not wearing them etc etc, I thought I'd go ahead and post this anyway. If any of you have more accurate details, please excuse me but this has come to us from chaffeur to chaffeur so there could be some inaccuracies....... It happened in the early hours of 4th of Feb - husband & wife staying diagonally opposite our house were returning home in their Prado on the Greater Noida expressway. The gentleman was driving and I believe he was clipping at 180 (can you imagine!! even if exaggerated, it was close to that figure). A small car (Maruti was mentioned) apparently suddenly came in their way so he swerved, lost control, possibly went off the road & hit something on the passenger side; the impact was such that the lady (she wasn't wearing seat belts ), flew through the front windscreen and hit the road (or what else I'm not sure) and died on the spot. The Prado in the meantime toppled & rolled over a couple of times. The gentleman was badly injured but survived. They had brought the Prado home before it was sent to the workshop (don't know why) and I have a photo that had been taken (discreetly of course) that I'll post later. The lady was around 45 years of age, they had two high-school going children (boys) and it all is so sad & senseless isn't it? Why aren't seatbelts used for god's sake? Why drive at 180 kmph in the wee hours of the morning on the G Noida expressway when there have been SO MANY accidents due to inadequate lighting, stationery trucks in the middle of the road etc? Was it driving under influence? Don't know that..... I was speaking to someone else (stays in Dubai) and he mentioned that apparently Prados tend to topple over on high-speed breaking, some friend of his had a similar experience recently. The other thing was that the airbags didn't come out - though it was a side impact, I thought the severity of the impact itself should have caused them to come out but they didn't. And, I'm told that the Prado doesn't have side-impact beams so that made the situation worse when it was rolling over (though the lady had already been thrown out and passed away by then, god bless her soul). So here's what I'm saying guys - PLEASE drive carefully even when tempted to fly through deserted stretches late nights & early mornings, think of the people waiting for you and CONTROL your impulses, ALWAYS, ALWAYS wear your seat belts, they SAVE lives (the gentleman) & do not throw caution to the winds & drive under major influence of alchohol. Our reflexes slow down with age and even more so with liquor inside us. Our condolences to the bereaved family and to the gentleman in particular as he must be feeling really bad but I keep hearing the haunting refrain of "why oh why take chances"? Last edited by suman : 17th February 2006 at 12:55.

17th February 2006, 13:30	#2 (permalink)
ghostrider4385 BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 364	Ouch...sorry for your neighbours loss suman, and hope the lady's soul rests in peace. Ye I know about the dangers of high speed driving on that expressway, amongst the others. If i'm not wrong, I think even an Accord filled with drunk kids had a bad accident there! And not wearing seatbelts in a place like Delhi is suicide... well, hope people have leant a lesson here. Godspeed. Alok. __________________ *Ancient Chaineese Saying: Yooo keeso mai arseo!*

17th February 2006, 13:49	#4 (permalink)
sridhar24 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 848 View My Garage	My condolences the family, going at 180kph is just too dangerous in the wee hours and that too without seatbelts and really no car is safe at that speeds and that too an SUV. __________________ Don't limit your CHALLENGES, challenge your LIMITS!

17th February 2006, 14:38	#5 (permalink)
nitrous Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2004 Location: Motorcity Madras Posts: 4,129 View My Garage	I thought Delhi is a place where Seatbelts is strictly worn. My condolences. __________________ The Road less travelled, is less travelled for a reason

17th February 2006, 15:26	#7 (permalink)
tsk1979 Team-BHP Moderator Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Noida, New Delhi Posts: 8,339 View My Garage	Noida and delhi are on a different planet as far as traffic rules and enforcement is concerned __________________ Reclaiming.....!

17th February 2006, 13:31	#3 (permalink)
2L8uLoose BANNED Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Bombay Posts: 628 View My Garage	My condolences to the family for their loss.... People are just so STUPID.. first off to drive fast early in the morning.. ANYWHERE is idiotic, and then to compound that fact.. not wear seatbelts..your just BEGGING for trouble on bended knees

17th February 2006, 15:02	#6 (permalink)
amitoj BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 658 View My Garage	May the lady's soul rest in peace and may the guy recover fully. He must have realised now the importance of seatbelts. Be it any SUV (apart from Hummer i suppose), right from Sumo to Prado, studies have shown that they do have a high tendency to topple, owing to the high CG. SUVs and high speed driving just dont mix well. Amitoj

17th February 2006, 15:33	#8 (permalink)
Sumed BHPian Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Gurgaon Posts: 65	My condolences to the family... Realy sad that people buy such expensive cars, and one of the reasons they are expensive is due to the safety features... but they dont use those features properly. Correct me if I am wrong but I think that the air-bags will not be deployed in any car if the passenger or driver are not wearing their seat belts. Realy sorry to hear this incidence.

17th February 2006, 15:35	#9 (permalink)
ksethuram BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Chennai , London (now) Posts: 193	My condolences ..... Another incident to stress the use of seat belts.

17th February 2006, 16:22	#12 (permalink)
tsk1979 Team-BHP Moderator Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Noida, New Delhi Posts: 8,339 View My Garage	In punjab its 2500rs. The policement are legally ensured 10% of challans in chd, so bribing has reduced for such crimes __________________ Reclaiming.....!

17th February 2006, 18:05	#14 (permalink)
paharino1 BHPian Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Charlotte Posts: 158 View My Garage	Such a tragic loss of life ! I guess fines should be made so high..that they should act as "THE Deterrents" __________________ kya !! sab theek hai ???

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