Swift crash in Mumbai leaves 2 dead

[vnabhi]

Originally Posted by Shankyz

To add my two cents,

In my opinion, one should drive at a speed where they can control the car given unforeseen circumstances, like a dog, cyclist, pot hole, blind turns or any such thing appears, it's no use blaming someone else when the accident could have been averted if the speed was reasonable. On highways, I think this would translate to 90-100 with a safe distance to the next vehicle in front and in city maybe ~60, one can get away with higher speeds but sooner or later they will come across a situation where the risk will far outweigh the time saved or the thrill.

I agree in toto with Shankyz. Only problem in city driving is that if you keep a safe distance from the car in front, a biker will come in between, thinking you have made space for him to but in

[ramie2400]

one of the main reasons for the crash could be the bad roads,as many of us might have noted Mumbai roads being bad to worst in past 2-3years with alot of patches and uneven levels especially to bikers where the front wheel grooves here and there on the edges of potholes and the cracked lines of the road partition being very broad,But then to i totally agree driving at such high speeds on our mumbai roads are highy dangerous,and above that pedestians crossing without seeing the oncoming vehicles,the major facts the dividers are dug-up and the the blocks are kept besides the area which cannot be seen at night while driving.RIP to the guys who could not survive and i wish the two who surived get well soon and learn from the mistakes.

[hemanthisgreat]

it looked like there was a capacitor installed for the ice. i saw something resembling a capacitor when the incident was being shown on news. well if there were survivors after such a horrific crash, then thats great.

[rks]

Originally Posted by BlackPearl

Swift is an extremely good handler, PERIOD. car comparisons IMO should be done in others threads. this is not the right thread to start any argument about the capabilities of different cars.

Whether a car like Swift should be given to immature youngsters can be discussed in this thread. I recollect at least three incidents where Swift has oversteered and either spun around or went fishtailing. Two fishtailing incidents were described in recent threads in T-BHP; see the following post and the thread containing it:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...tml#post587272 (Near Death Experience - Swift VXi)

One fatal accident also involved a youngster at the wheel near Four-bungalows junction Mumbai, and here the Swift spun around 360 degrees and smashed its rear into a parked auto, killing the back-seat occupant. This accident was also discussed in T-BHP a while back.

This is not to say the Swift is to blame. Rather, the driver should be mature enough to drive it the right way.

[normally_crazy]

Any car driven by a person who does not understand HIS CAPABILITY, the CAR'S CAPABILITY and the DANGERS of driving at those speeds on INDIAN ROADS will be a LETHAL WEAPON.

This was the drivers fault. PERIOD.

No use blaming the car and the roads and the BMC and the authorities. Maybe the damage would have been lesser in other cars, just maybe. It was suicide at that speed.

May the souls of the 2 youngsters RIP and the injured get back to their best.

[gbpscars]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Any car driven by a person who does not understand HIS CAPABILITY, the CAR'S CAPABILITY and the DANGERS of driving at those speeds on INDIAN ROADS will be a LETHAL WEAPON.

This was the drivers fault. PERIOD.

No use blaming the car and the roads and the BMC and the authorities. Maybe the damage would have been lesser in other cars, just maybe. It was suicide at that speed.

May the souls of the 2 youngsters RIP and the injured get back to their best.

Absolutely right!!!

Why do we pick up a general tendency to blame the car manufaturer? No ABS / No safety features, and so on.

One thing goes wrong on a product and the blame falls on the manufacturer even without checking what and how!!

I think a lot of people bought Fiats / Premier 118 NEs and Ambassadors without safety features and still survive to tell beautiful stories of their drives.

It is the driver who should know the capability of each car. Minus that, one is a potential threat to both self and other road users.

Live and let live. Stop showing off your speedos doing 160 odds on forums.

I think we are better off without one such driver living amidst us now.

[abhijit 2284]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

This is one of many accidents in Bombay region involving Swifts and several have resulted in fatalities. Looks like there are some fatal weak spots in the Swift - after seeing a few of the past accidents, I advise all my friends to avoid buying Swifts for safety reasons.

are you serious - get real man - i wud bet my life on a swift ten out of ten times before i step into a scorpio ( my guess is thats what you drive )

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by abhijit 2284

are you serious - get real man - i wud bet my life on a swift ten out of ten times before i step into a scorpio ( my guess is thats what you drive )

If you go through the newspapers in Bombay in recent times, you would have seen 9 fatal accidents involving Swift, but only 1 (near Alibag) where people got killed in a Scorpio. Take a tour of Maruti and Scorpio dealership workshops and you will see impact of collisions/accidents on the respective cars, your respect for the Scorpio will go up. Same with teh car I earlier drove - teh Daewoo Matiz - that was the only car that had passed all the European frontal and side-collision tests and could be safely called the safest car in India.

[srishiva]

hvkumar, get serious buddy. There are more swifts on the road and are being driven faster than others. As everyone here have said there is no point in discussing this issue in this thread.

[typeOnegative]

The Swift in question seems to be a ZXi. The newspapers reported that the side impact was the deciding factor. If it was a frontal impact, the airbags would have deployed.

It just goes to show that no matter what safety features you have in a car, no matter how heavy or thick your sheet metal is, if you drive like a moron, you will die like one. Sad but true.

@hvkumar, there are more accidents with the Swift simply because there are more Swifts being driven rashly.

[khaadu75]

Another unforunate and avoidable deaths of 2 young kids ... !! May their souls RIP .

As for the issue of why it happened and how it happened is of no use ... whatever the reason , after seeing the pic of the involved car one can safely assume that it was a case of something happening at a very HIGH SPEED . Could be anything from fast driving , to a tyre burst to a dog across the path but whatever it was -- It had to have happened at a VERY HIGH SPEED .

What people don't realise is that its never the cars fault ... its always a drivers fault in such cases . Why drive at 140 kmph in city limits and if you really can't control that urge , pls contact guys like mclaren and go for race days and then show how well you can drive at high speeds .

Stupidity on the part of 2 kids .. and for that family has to suffer the loss . UNFORTUNATE , but they will keep happening

cheers

[kpzen]

Thats a horrific crash..!!!
May the two souls RIP and the other two get back to their best health.

[rks]

Originally Posted by khaadu75

Another unforunate and avoidable deaths of 2 young kids ... !! May their souls RIP .

As for the issue of why it happened and how it happened is of no use ... whatever the reason , after seeing the pic of the involved car one can safely assume that it was a case of something happening at a very HIGH SPEED . Could be anything from fast driving , to a tyre burst to a dog across the path but whatever it was -- It had to have happened at a VERY HIGH SPEED .

What people don't realise is that its never the cars fault ... its always a drivers fault in such cases .

What you say is probably correct. But it s very unfortunate that most of these accidents are not thoroughly investigated by experts who can often pinpoint the cause. While rash driving is always to blame, other matters concerning the car's response in such emergencies, its state (maintenance, tyres, etc.) should also have been investigated.

It is a fact that front-wheel drive cars should, by design, normally understeer *before* any oversteer can happen. This is why FWD's are supposed to be safer cars, in the sense that understeer is much more easily controlled than oversteer. But the Swift does seem to have a tendency to oversteer (see my previous post). Were these incidents exceptional cases due to poor tyres/maintenance and/or extreme driving, or is there a genuine problem here that needs the attention of Suzuki? Only a professional investigation can throw up the answers. Remember that the international version of the Swift is a different car from the Indian version, so what applies to one need not necessarily apply to the other.

[prabuddhadg]

Originally Posted by normally_crazy

Any car driven by a person who does not understand HIS CAPABILITY, the CAR'S CAPABILITY and the DANGERS of driving at those speeds on INDIAN ROADS will be a LETHAL WEAPON.

This was the drivers fault. PERIOD.

No use blaming the car and the roads and the BMC and the authorities. Maybe the damage would have been lesser in other cars, just maybe. It was suicide at that speed.

May the souls of the 2 youngsters RIP and the injured get back to their best.

I could not agree more. You are driving. If you reach home early, you feel impressed with your ability. If you get into a mishap, why do you blame your car? Its a machine. It does not know what the road ahead is like. It depends on you for that information. So, if something goes wrong, its you who is to blame.
But still, its sad that two people had to die like this. Such a painful way and so avoidable.

[ggkg]

Originally Posted by rks

other matters concerning the car's response in such emergencies, its state (maintenance, tyres, etc.) should also have been investigated.

In Indian context such investigations, in the unlikely event of bringing out the truth, will not lead to improved car design or features for which no one will pay money, but only offer indirect encouragement to others to drive at 140-150 and kill others besides killing themselves. Our city roads and so-called expressways are not safe at any speed over 60.

The redeeming feature of this crash is that the suicide-drivers killed themselves and not innocent folks. Wish they had crashed against the other bunch of morons driving the car they were racing on the streets, if that report is true.

Mumbai cops have been jailing drunk and rash drivers in a campaign that will hopefully not be short-lived. Time these cops work three shifts.