[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Were they alerted by someone about the accident who saw it? Or were they watching it by some chance and rushed to the spot?

I had thought of this too, but one of my friends told me the cops do rounds of the e-way so perhaps our lucky star here was there at the right place/ right time combo jackpot too.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Most people in your situation would've done the exact same thing. So don't beat yourself up mentally over it.

+1 to this. In fact with such limited reaction time I think your reactions are commendable. The only thing I would recommend is to check for any head/ spine injury before moving from the vehicle. But I think you were more worried about car engine combustion and wanted to get out soon?

Richard Hammond (the little one from Top Gear) had a horrendous crash and it was analysed a lot. Apparently in terms of reactions, he did very well too. Do have a look at it on wiki if you think you could have done any better!

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by Tejas Ingle

Air bags are called SRS Air bags. SRS stands for SECONDARY RESTRAIN SYSTEM. Your primary restrain system is your seat-belt.

I think, you meant, Supplemental Restraint System, which is what SRS stands for. And yes, as you rightly pointed out, without seatbelt, a system with Airbag is more dangerous.
After all, will airbags deploy, without the occupant wearing a seatbelt?

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

Some concluding points if I may say:

1. I should have accelerated rather than braking - so if there are any advanced driving courses near Mumbai please direct me, I would like to learn.

2. More careful in the rains (always room for improvement) & otherwise as well

3. Yoko S-drives or any performance tyres not to be used for more than 15K kms. (Atleast a threshold level for me) - do periodic checks.

Thank god/higher power/luck whatever one may call it, to escape from this shunt. One suggestion my friend. Do not over analyze. You did, what best came to you/natural reaction. Accelerating and all is fine to say in hindsight. What if instead of a truck pushing you, had you suffered a rear right Tyre burst, and the car had gone into a spin? Will acceleration help?
Racing lines and advanced driver maneuvers are for race tracks, not for public roads.

More careful in the rains, yes, always helps. Maybe checking the left ovrm periodically as a part of a scan would help. Something like say every 5 mins, scan instrument (Speedo, tacho), right ovrm, rear view, left ovrm. Would help predict traffic around.

Just a quick question, may be would help analyse the root cause. Could it be possible that you may have unknowingly drifted onto the faster truck's lane? Its quite possible considering the rains and the featureless Mumbai Pune expressway.

[Tejas Ingle]

Originally Posted by sarathlal

I think, you meant, Supplemental Restraint System, which is what SRS stands for. And yes, as you rightly pointed out, without seatbelt, a system with Airbag is more dangerous.
After all, will airbags deploy, without the occupant wearing a seatbelt?

Yes, Supplemental. No, the air bags wont deploy if the occupant is not wearing a seat-belt in almost all cars. If at all there is any car where the air bags deploy without the use of seat-belts, it might be done for cost cutting. As I said earlier, high end cars not only detect whether the seat-belt is used, but they also check many other factors like if it is occupied by an adult, if there is a need to inflate the air bag for the second time, did the car have an actual impact or just jumped over a bad bump and so on.

[getsurya]

I understand God has given me a moment to pause in life, have a relook, take stock of the situation and decide how my rest of the life should be

Frontosa,

Many congratulations for making it through!

One incident changes our lives for ever! Good to know that GOD likes you for your deeds and wish you a speedy recovery. Your parents are one lucky lot, as well!

Drive safe & Happy Motoring!!

[Frontosa]

I asked the highway cops how they came to know? It was just luck that they were approaching me from the other direction, albeit a little far off and could vaguely see a car disappear ! The first team that saw had already alerted other patrol cars and ambulance and hence all of them rushed to the spot ASAP. Thats all I know. I dont think there are any passerbys on the exp way. Thats all I heard from them and didnt poke much on it

[thebluez]

Frontosa - Maybe GOD wanted you to be on this earth for a second time. Glad nothing happened to you looking at the state of the car. Totally spooked on seeing the pics. I'm driving down to Goa tomorrow via the expressway with a lot of prayers!
Wish you a speedy recovery dude!

[mkpiyengar]

Dear Frantosa,
Get Well Soon and May God Bless you.

I can very well recollect the stretch as I do Mumbai-Pune often, and whenever i take this turn I'm very scared !! Mainly because people are often driving so fast (unknowingly because of the slope) that they cut lanes while turning as it is a sharp turn.

Heavy vehicles are becoming major pain in Expressway as they do not stick to slower lanes. Many of them occupy the right lane and cause lot of inconvenience.
Kudos to the highway patrol guys for providing quick attention !!

May God Bless !!
Cheers
MKP

[Omtoatom]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

I asked the highway cops how they came to know? It was just luck that they were approaching me from the other direction, albeit a little far off and could vaguely see a car disappear ! The first team that saw had already alerted other patrol cars and ambulance and hence all of them rushed to the spot ASAP. Thats all I know. I dont think there are any passerbys on the exp way. Thats all I heard from them and didnt poke much on it

Again, HE was right there as your co-passenger mate! It was destiny! Looking at the state of that Polo, what other explanation is there?? There is Goodness (or Godness) still in the world.

The timing of it all fell into place so wonderfully. Read your post like 5-6 times and it still gives me goosebumps. Man that you lived to tell the tale is just amazing. I'm very familiar with that notorious spot and I've stopped many times to think to myself how motorists negotiate that with utter callousness and disdain. Anyway here's to life giving you a second chance.

Godbless and drive safe partner!

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

The duct you see in one picture has RCC walls on all 4 sides. My polo crashed into one of it, broke it completely & I fell inside with the car upside down.

Others are the car pics :(

I read your post and then saw the snaps. Looking at the snaps one must say that indeed you are correct that just God wished that you need to stay in this world, you are alive. You also have a strong heart and a great presence of mind. Hats off to you!

The pics have created ghoose bumps on me.

The truck drivers and most of the idots in India don't know how to drive on an Express Way. They don't know the difference between driving at high speed and rash driving. Driving on Mumbai-Pune express way is a bit scary looking at the way the people drive here.

Based upon your description of the work done by the highway patrol, seems that things are changing in India for good.

As far as the airbags go they should have had operated and inflated. You need to contact the VW for this case. Its absurd that that the ABS also did not work properly.

I was going to buy the VW Polo but I decided against it due to its only 3 cylinder engine. But never knew that it had also such problems.

[prithvi_seln]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

Hello Dear Friends,
God wanted me to stay alive and I really thank him. On 14th August it was raining moderately on Lonavala Ghat section. I was alone, time 12 noon or so. Speed of the car about 80 at that junction.


7. The car just lost control as I applied breaks in panic, I could hear or feel the ABS.
8. The car swirled around atleast 6 times ( I counted) on the highway in the same direction I was travelling (towards Pune)
9. I could see the car move into the divider section & I began praying that I dont get crossed to the other side of the expressway just to be tossed by speeding vehicle coming from the front.
10. I dont know what happened then (after i broke into the middle part of the 2 highway sections).. I started hearing lot of noises and car taking weird directions (turning topsy turvy) or whatever.. I couldnt see anything...Either I was **** scared or I dont know..
11. I heard a bang and the next moment I realised all this action had stopped.. (i.e. swirling, bouncing, crashing etc.).. I saw that I was upside down. I again began praying that I am not on the opposite side or in the middle of the highway and someone comes and bangs me.. I couldnt figure out where I was.. (ofcourse I was in the car)
12. I was upside down. The first thing I did was -- started honking continuously thinking I am in the middle of road and people should get alert.
6. I could count the number of turns, the hits the car were taking, and I didnt forget to breathe. The cars which meet with only maybe 10% of what happened can kill people (Cops told me they die of cardiac arrest).
7.Please suggest me a safer car.


I think only GOD saved me and no other car would have. Please share whatever thoughts you have for this incident.

Thank you for reading my post!
Drive safe!

The first thing i felt after reading and seeing the post was ... GOD must be great and the person who traveled in the car is lucky.

to answer to your point with relation to ABS and airbags is that

ABS - Going by your narration i could see that the car started to spin immediately after truck hit your rear and when you start braking ABS wont help - because the use of ABS is not to lock the wheels and make you skid during panic braking , but in your case you have already started to spin.

AIR BAGS - I could see your car has had severe damages on all sides - The AIRBAGS on the Driver Side (DAB) and Passenger Side (PAB) are specifically designed for frontal impact protection and go off when it gets the signal from the frontal sensors and a combination of inputs from the speed sensors and ESPS impact module (if a sudden retardation in speed has happened due to frontal impact.
In your case the car has had more of side impacts and less of sudden retarded frontal impact. So Driver airbag would have been of no use, if your car had side airbags it would have helped you. Please go through the presentation i have attached in the other thread regarding basics of air bag construction and deployment...

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2059886

[SR71A]

Amazing Narrative and Good that you were saved by divine providence. Mumbai Pune E way as such is pretty dangerous as it is made of concrete. Concrete though durable and more fuel efficient is less safe than asphalted roads especially during rains due to lesser skid resistance.

Also given the fact that MP E-way has large gaps between concrete panels, resulting in bursting of poorly maintained and old tyres at high speeds

Safe Driving to all venturing onto this killer highway.

[jeganatu]

Originally Posted by Frontosa

Hello Dear Friends,
6. Anyway at that crucial turn about 100 meters from Singhad institue, a speeding truck just kissed my Polo's left back side.

Welcome to your second re birth! You are one living example for Luck!

I could read that your car was kissed exactly above your rear fender which caused a pit maneuver. A maneuver commonly used by pursuit cops to trap down run away cars while in pursuit . This was the exact reason for the chain of events after you were hit by the truck. Moreover the rains and curves acted as a catalyst to the maneuver inducing more sliding and swirls you experienced.

PIT Maneuver Example - YouTube

[Samurai]

I am very glad you escaped the accident almost unhurt. I have not read the whole thread, but only read the first few posts. I notice that you thanked god for saving you and then go on to complain against the car for not deploying the airbags.

By now enough people must have mentioned why airbag may not have deployed in this case. So I won't address that.

But the car looks totally demolished, yet you came out of the car by yourself. That means the car did it's job, it destroyed itself (crumple zone works) to save you.

In my opinion you should be thanking the car (and VW) for saving you, and complain to god for causing the accident in the first place. If god saved you, he could have gone ahead and avoided the accident in the first place, no?

[Frontosa]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I am very glad you escaped the accident almost unhurt. I have not read the whole thread, but only read the first few posts. I notice that you thanked god for saving you and then go on to complain against the car for not deploying the airbags.

Ok I understand you didnt read the whole page. I'm absolutely not complaining about anything. Whenever you get chance read the whole thread or atleast my posts in the thread to know the true intention of this post.