A rock hurled at you at 100 km/h

[Ram]

Hi friends,

May I share a recent bus experience on the Pune-Mumbai expressway.

I took a “Shivneri” Maharashtra State Transport Volvo B7R this afternoon from Pune to Mumbai.

Enroute past Lonavala, as we passed the Kaivalyadhama ashram, some miscreants tossed a large cricket ball-sized rock at the coach. The coach had been doing about 100 km/h and the rock hit the third window on the left hand side with a loud thud.

The glass crumbled in a four-inch circle, delaminated and formed a one and a half-inch deep hemispherical deformation.


Shards of glass inside exploded onto a lady inside the bus at the window seat. She had to pick fine shards and needles off her cheek and left eyelid.

The driver pulled the bus over.



His assistant and himself and a couple of vigilante passengers chased the stone thrower and his cronies.



There is a rocky outcrop where the expressway’s GI chain-link fencing had been cut. The miscreants skittered up the rocky outcrop, and fled through the hole in the chain-link fencing to waiting bicycles.

Apparently the next procedural step for the government chauffeur was to inform the authorities. First on the scene was a Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation's Delta-Force motorcycle rider with a fluorescent orange jacket.
It was interesting to learn that all of five different entities enjoy jurisdiction over the 98-km expressway.
The Pune rural police, the Raigad police, the Navi-Mumbai police, the highway police (for National Hwy 4) and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation's own Delta Force.
In case of a mishap, welcome to the bureaucratic red tape of jurisdiction.

One passenger who was with the Times of India called the expressway emergency number 98224-98224 from his mobile phone. In five minutes an ambulance was on the scene.
It was such a happy relief to see that one mission-critical system really worked!
Two paramedics examined the lady and ruled out damage to her eye.

A passing Opel Corsa pulled over. We requested the occupants to inform the authorities at the toll-station ahead. 20 minutes later, a navy-blue Mahindra Commander arrived on the scene with a bunch of white & khaki traffic cops. They really had no clue what to do.



Ignoring the delay of a Volvo-load of stranded passengers, they came up with the absurd suggestion that we turn the bus around and drive back to Lonavala, to have a “Panchnama” done at the local police station inside town.

Finally passengers convinced the traffic cops and the harried chauffeur, that the “Panchnama” could be deferred until the next day, when the chauffeur could visit Lonavala and have his statement recorded.

And the B7R coach started up after a one-hour halt (on a two and a half hour trip) and rolled on towards Mumbai.

Two thoughts rolled in our minds:

1. Had it been a conventional bus or a car, wouldn't the window damage have hurt the people more seriously?
2. What can we do to make our 120 km/h expressway travel more safe?

[pics. taken on my Nokia 3230 cellphone]

[sajo]

Whoa...that was a shocking incident! The miscreants must be caught and thrashed soundly (and publicly). Reminds me of the stone throwing incidents on local trains some time back. ?

[aniguchisan]

Nice summary. People don't try hard enough when it comes to chasing the miscreants. Believe me...

[karthik247]

Damn, *** are these guys upto?!

And the next time anyone hits the highway, do keep an eye out for stones

[bigman]

There were several cases in the UK like this a few years ago. Some stupid idiot was a serial offender. He used to throw rocks from bridges over motorways. He was caught and put in prison for about 5 years.

It is time these idiots were given a good beating and a custodial sentence. Their stupidity is going to cost someone their life if they persist with their acts of stupidity.

[sajo]

[SIZE=2]What a shocking incident! The miscreants must be caught and thrashed soundly (and publicly). Reminds of the stone throwing on Mumbai local trains a few years back.[/SIZE]

[lamborghini]

Correct me if i am wrong but i believe that this incident has appened before.
They throw the stones from the bridges on the expressway.
It came in the Mid Day sometime ago.
Anyways, will look out for such miscreants next time i go to Pune (but our beloved car - GTX - is going tomorrow)

[Mpower]

Dosent look like shatter proof glass. probably some thing we need on buses.

[speedsatya]

a similar incident had happened when i was doing my first mumbai-mangalore in a B7r and was in the left front aisle ...we must be doing about 100kph in the night somewhere near belgaum when this pillion guy in a scooter from the opposite direction just hurled a stone at the windscreen.... it hit on the LHS ...the glass got a crack and we were able to proceed as the driver;s vision was not affected ...the driver did not stop the bus for long and the reason ...the locals

[Rtech]

This, unfortunately, was a regular thing that used to happen some time ago. The local village kids would gather on the overpasses and throw small stones (and large ones as well) on passing cars for "fun". Little do they realise the impact even a small stone can have when it hits a car doing 100kmph.

This almost happened to me once. I was driving to Pune at the time, and I was specifically keeping an eye open before all overpasses. As I apporached one of these overpasses, I saw a group of people on top, above the center lane. Somehow I figured they were upto something. So I remained in the centre lane and at the last possible minute, I swerved to the extreme left lane (had already checked the traffic situation around me). Sure enough I see them toss a stone down and had I not switched lanes, I would have had a stone through my windshield and I don't want to think of the consequenses.

The highway police then cracked down on this sort of behaviour and it seemed to be under control. However its really impossible to completly stop this as it is just not possible for anyone to man all 100km of the expressway.

[tifosikrishna]

i personally had to go thru a similar incidence a week back. me along with my relatives were travelling in my new scorpio (just 3 weeks old) near kathipara junction in chennai, suddenly all of us could hear a thud, immediately i looked at my rear view and side view mirror to see anyone had banged. but dint notice anything strange. however there was some kind of liquid over the left rear window (last row), there were three little girls sitting on the last row and were making wild guesses of what it could be (tomato thrown from bus, or some sambar thrown out of window, somebody puked and all sorts of things), i personally thought that somebody would have thrown some eateries from the bus standing next to us or some puke), i dint bother to stop the vehicle. however when i reached my desitination after 10 minutes and got down see what happened, i found a big splash of metal paint over the entire left hand side, but mainly concentrated above the left rear tyre... tried to wipe it off with cloth, but dint work... then immediately took it to the service centre.

i had to spend two hours in the centre to remove the entire paint with thinner and polish and wax it again.

many said it was kind of intentionally done by some mischevous element, however i feel the paint would have spilled over from the roof top of the bus standing next to me....(had i left it unattended for a couple of hours, i would have had to repaint the entire thing again costing me around 20k).

have anyone had similar experience, at the moment i think its purely an accident, but after reading this i really donno...

on the same note, people at india garage service centre attended to the problem immediately and did a great job. they dint even charge me anything. i just gave 200rs to the person who did the job.

regards
krishna.

[Scuderia]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Correct me if i am wrong but i believe that this incident has appened before.
They throw the stones from the bridges on the expressway.
It came in the Mid Day sometime ago.

The reason was different. Many of these guys were farmers whose land was taken by the govt for the expressway. This was their way of reacting to the situation.

But the current scene seems to be more of some pranksters (understatement I guess).

[Conan]

I wish this country allowed people to carry guns. Such incidents will come to a stop in a hurry for sure.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by Conan

I wish this country allowed people to carry guns. Such incidents will come to a stop in a hurry for sure.

then instead of stones...bullets will come at u

[Conan]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

then instead of stones...bullets will come at u

They cant afford it mate.