Accident on Nagar Road right behind me - last Friday

[wanderlustindia]

Last Friday, wifey was supposed to drop me to work. I was travelling to Bangalore in the afternoon so taking my bike to work was not planned.

We started off at 7:45 from our place. Reached Pashan circle only to see a Santro rammed in the roundabout head-on. An accident that had happened in the wee hours of the morning apparently. We move on and reach old Mumbai-Pune road and see a truck rammed into a school bus, another accident that happened just an hour back. Thankfully no occupants in the school bus. This certainly was a bad day to start with.

On Nagar Road, we cross the Kalyani Nagar junction and I am behind a truck who is moving at a brisk pace. Behind me is a maniac in a Wagon-R honking constantly. An Aunty to my left lane, honking and speeding away in her M800. Both Maruti's looked like having a track day on Nagar Road!

I signal the Wagon-R guy to relax and wait for his turn to overtake, but he is in a different mood. I keep my line and then cross another junction slowly as there is traffic coming from my right as well. The moment I crossed, some biker guy came right in front of the Wagon-R, who is still not prepared to go slow and now rams his brakes. Behind him is a white Indigo followed by a desi MUV (forgot if it was a Sumo or Scorpio). The Indigo rear-ending the Wagon-R and in turn gets rear-ended by the MUV.

If only the Wagon-R drove patiently. Perhaps, me not leaving my line bothered him a lot! He seemed to be a level-headed guy by his looks, be-spectacled, formally dressed.

I am happy to have come out unscathed. We headed to have breakfast at a small joint in Viman Nagar and pondered what might have happened if the Wagon-R got more aggressive than he was! He paid the price for his stupidity on the road. Hope it teaches him a lesson.

[BWN]

Good that you didn't lose your cool for his intimidation. He has paid a rather hefty price for his sheer stupidity and uncalled aggression on road. But I feel he deserves this bill for what he has done.

Hope the biker is safe.

[lambuhere1]

Many a times, a simple civic sense can avoid these collisions and loss of life. PATIENCE is what we are loosing in life these days I believe. Good to hear that you were in your lane throughout.

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by BWN

Good that you didn't lose your cool for his intimidation. He has paid a rather hefty price for his sheer stupidity and uncalled aggression on road. But I feel he deserves this bill for what he has done.

Hope the biker is safe.

I think the biker came out unscathed. Must have been really scary for him as well.

Originally Posted by lambuhere1

Many a times, a simple civic sense can avoid these collisions and loss of life. PATIENCE is what we are loosing in life these days I believe. Good to hear that you were in your lane throughout.

Frankly, its hard to be in the same lane throughout because of continuous pestering and honking by fellow riders/drivers. I give way if I get the feeling it could lead to stupidity on the other guy's part.

For this fella, I would have given way, but I had no opportunity. Bikers to my left and truck in front. I was left with no choice but to continue in the same lane until the road cleared ahead. How I wish he waited just another 100 mtrs, he would have got his chance to rip on the best stretch of Nagar Road from thereon.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Good thing buddy "wanderlustindia" that you came out unscathed. I always fail to understand why folks behind the steering get so maniacal and hyper and think that they have the right of way no matter you have vehicles ahead of them and hardly any space or way to go. Well! people get so frustrated, why don't they lay a road or a fly over directly to their destination. Huh ! I think am venting out...anyways i think here in india they should give a Steering License rather than a Driving License @least it justifies their sitting behind the steering wheel.

[spadival]

WLI, You should just let these aggressive honking drivers go past. They spend more effort honking than learning how to drive decently.

The other day, I let an aggressive Santro guy go past me.. erm, not once, But thrice !! Each time he ended up behind me.. I got fed up, parked the car on the side and let him thru the fourth time while laughing my head off.

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by spadival

WLI, You should just let these aggressive honking drivers go past. They spend more effort honking than learning how to drive decently.

The other day, I let an aggressive Santro guy go past me.. erm, not once, But thrice !! Each time he ended up behind me.. I got fed up, parked the car on the side and let him thru the fourth time while laughing my head off.

Thats a good strategy spadival. Makes a lot of sense.

[snaronikar]

Good that nothing happened to you and your car. Yeah..some people does not have patience and when you do not give them the way they tend to become impatient and will do all sorts of things to overtake you and then STARE AT YOU.

BTW, was the road empty in front of you (No traffic)?

[gods-envy]

glad that you did'nt lose your cool
really hope that minor accident to the Wagon R guy taught him a lesson.

if i look back on my earlier years, I too was very rash in driving and quite fast on the road. luckily and thankfully nothing went wrong.
Now, i prefer to be a more sedate driver sticking to my speed (below 40kmph) and RPM (between 1000 and 2000)

[1100D]

Sometimes, non-traffic situations add to impatience on the road. Sometimes people have an urgent need to get somewhere fast. I know you would have let him through at you earliest convenience. However its alway advisable to take your mind off the matter of worry and concentrate on driving.

[RX135]

I fail to understand how is Wagon-R guy entirely responsible for this?

May be he braked hard, but the Indica and Sumo should have maintained good distance if they doing good speeds. To me, it is more of their fault than Wagon-R driver's fault. With all his impatience, he still didn't bang on the biker.

BTW, I saw that Santro crash in Pashan. Driver probably didn't know the road well and was taken by surprise by the circle, or was too fast on the slope to control the vehicle.

[sriturl]

Preliminary investigations reveal that you might be one of the reasons for the crash.

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

On Nagar Road, we cross the Kalyani Nagar junction and I am behind a truck who is moving at a brisk pace. Behind me is a maniac in a Wagon-R honking constantly. An Aunty to my left lane, honking and speeding away in her M800. Both Maruti's looked like having a track day on Nagar Road!

Some one overtaking you from left side suggests that left side is empty. When you wanted to drive slow, why were you on right side. That is why the Wagon-R guy was honking at you. Possibly correct from his side.
Negative points for you here from evidence presented.

Originally Posted by wanderlustindia

I signal the Wagon-R guy to relax and wait for his turn to overtake, but he is in a different mood. I keep my line and then cross another junction slowly as there is traffic coming from my right as well. The moment I crossed, some biker guy came right in front of the Wagon-R, who is still not prepared to go slow and now rams his brakes. Behind him is a white Indigo followed by a desi MUV (forgot if it was a Sumo or Scorpio). The Indigo rear-ending the Wagon-R and in turn gets rear-ended by the MUV.

Here his impatience and frustration at you blocking him for so long on right lane might have been the reason.
But he should watch out for traffic. Should not be aggressive. Some negative points to him here.

Also negative points for Indigo. Always, rear cars are to be blamed in a crash. Because, it is the responsibility of the following vehicle to maintain safe distance, and adequate response time.

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

BTW, was the road empty in front of you (No traffic)?

I was following a truck and to my left a lot of bike commuters. Ahead of the truck, the traffic was not much. However, I could not have overtook the truck at the junction where the accident took place. I was waiting to cross the junction and then the road opens up a bit and thats where the opportunity to overtake comes into picture. I was hoping the guy behind me would have similar thoughts, but unfortunately not!

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by RX135

I fail to understand how is Wagon-R guy entirely responsible for this?

May be he braked hard, but the Indica and Sumo should have maintained good distance if they doing good speeds. To me, it is more of their fault than Wagon-R driver's fault. With all his impatience, he still didn't bang on the biker.

BTW, I saw that Santro crash in Pashan. Driver probably didn't know the road well and was taken by surprise by the circle, or was too fast on the slope to control the vehicle.

You are right to some extent, it may not be entirely his fault, but he sure lost cool at a critical juncture and thats what cost him eventually. Since he was maintaining a good speed throughout the Indigo and the MUV following him would have been doing similar speeds. In such situations, if one of them panic brakes, there is little chance of avoiding an accident.

[wanderlustindia]

Originally Posted by sriturl

Preliminary investigations reveal that you might be one of the reasons for the crash.

Some one overtaking you from left side suggests that left side is empty. When you wanted to drive slow, why were you on right side. That is why the Wagon-R guy was honking at you. Possibly correct from his side.
Negative points for you here from evidence presented.

Here his impatience and frustration at you blocking him for so long on right lane might have been the reason.
But he should watch out for traffic. Should not be aggressive. Some negative points to him here.

Also negative points for Indigo. Always, rear cars are to be blamed in a crash. Because, it is the responsibility of the following vehicle to maintain safe distance, and adequate response time.

Well, the truck ahead of me was doing decent speeds and I was following him at around 55-60 kph. Is that not good enough to be in the right lane on a Nagar Road stretch that has hardly any leeway to make an overtaking manouvre? Like I mentioned, to my left, it was the bikes who were overtaking squeezing in every inch of the road. How would you expect me to make a sharp left at 55-60 kph, that would surprise the hell out of fellow commuters.

Anyways, your points are well taken. Will see if I encounter such a situation again, if I can manage to do better than what I could do the other day.