[thirst4torque]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Mr. Munna (bodyshop manager, Mandovi motors, Mysore) personally assured me that the vehicle will be safe for long drives from a structural point of view.

Glad to know that there was no serious injury and the car is repaired.

Can you share what kind of repair was done? Was the body shell replaced? Just curious to know. Usually these guys do a neat job.

[PranavDesai]

I do not believe you should blame yourself solely for what happened. If the biker had not turned abruptly, the accident would not have occurred, but then idiots are in abundance on our roads (from a TV commercial).

The most important lesson from this episode, according to me, is the necessity to wear seat belts. If not for seat belts the outcome could have been horribly different.

Drive safely.

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by thirst4torque

Glad to know that there was no serious injury and the car is repaired.

Can you share what kind of repair was done? Was the body shell replaced? Just curious to know. Usually these guys do a neat job.

Sure, I'd share the details. All the panels of the body shell were replaced. Radiator & Condensor replaced. Steering assembly replaced. Engine & Suspension was found ok(thank god!). I am really happy with the work done by MASS.

OT: My family's one grudge about the repair work is that, FM radio is not properly played by the stock Nippon unit now. The FM receiver (which resides above the cabin light) is shot.I took up this issue with Mandovi in Mysore & Bangalore(Sarjapur Road unit), Pratham Motors (ORR) & Bimal Motors (Whilefield Road). None of them could come up with a solution. Apparently, they do not stock spare Nippon FM receiver unit OR don't know how to fix one.

[NPV]

Ankan - Good to know that injuries were not major and everyone survived such an accident. I think you've made peace with yourself by "accepting" your mistake, so you can move on.

The key points you've highlighted like concentration when driving, using seat belts, keeping to safe speeds, etc are of utmost importance especially with the kind of city and highway traffic conditions that we encounter.
Take care, good luck and Drive Safe

EDIT:Regarding the FM radio - you can try at the service centre behind Bethany School, Koramangala, they are usually good at repair work. I think it's called Hi Tech Service Point and you should be able to get the contact details on the net.

[gopikb]

Ankan, The most important thing is you and your family / friends came out relatively unscathed from such a major accident. Who doesnot make mistakes in life? Everybody does. Learn the lesson and move on. Life is going to be much brighter on the other side

[Balaji31582]

Ankan, thanks for sharing this. I will keep this in back of my mind whenever I try to push my car for 100+.
Sorry for this question at this moment. I see that your Zulu is ZXi, isn't it the airbags were also part of ZXi? Or am I wrong? If airbags were part of ZXi, did you happen to get from maruti,why they didn't deploy during this crash?

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by Balaji31582

Ankan, thanks for sharing this. I will keep this in back of my mind whenever I try to push my car for 100+.
Sorry for this question at this moment. I see that your Zulu is ZXi, isn't it the airbags were also part of ZXi? Or am I wrong? If airbags were part of ZXi, did you happen to get from maruti,why they didn't deploy during this crash?

Maruti provides only front airbags; no curtain airbags. As far as my knowledge goes, the airbags should open when -
(1) Passengers are belted -- which we were
(2) There is a frontal collision --- this is a case of roll-over; no direct frontal collision

Still I would say, what are the exact 'favorable' conditions for airbags to open, is still a grey area.

OT : I remember we had a lot of discussion on airbags not opening in an accident involving a Merc resulting to death of the driver. There was a litigation on this.Don't know what happened with that case.

[callvvijay]

Ankan, first of all, HATS OFF to you for accepting your mistake. Now, please please forget whatever happened and embrace your second life tightly. I have seen people brooding over their mistake for a long period. I really hope that you come out of this emotionally too. Yes, it was a mistake. But, remember - it WAS.

And, thanks for sharing your experience and happy that all of you were out of the accident with minor injuries. Time and again, we see experiences where seat belt has saved precious lives.

Mods: Please add Ankan's experience to the 'Seatbelt saved my life' thread.

[amit_purohit20]

You are lucky to be safe and if you see the whole scenario its only a loss of 70k. What if you or your family members were injured? What if you had hit any 1 of the motorcycles and the guy would have surely died below your car? There were N no. of things which could have gone wrong. You are lucky, thanks to God.
I can emphathize with you better because last week I have met with an accident but luckily not much damage.(I am still searching for the correct place to post as I dont want to create a new thread on it.)
Your Zullu looks excellent now . Enjoy it to the fullest but with 25-30% reduced road speeds.
My takeaway:
1) Under stress driving should be avoided. Its a sureshot recipe for disaster.
2) With modern cars we take 100 speeds for granted. Reduced speed means reduced losses.
3) ABS can reduce the braking distance but can not improve your braking judgement at the speed one drives. Say a ABS car takes 15 metres to brake from 80 kmph, but you are less than 10 metres from the object nothing can help you be it ABS,EBD etc.

These modern gadgets have built in us a false sense of secuirty or safety which we easily overdo it.
4) One should purchase a car with the highest safety features and drive with seatbelts on. You never know which safety feature will help save your life.
5) We take motorcyles for granted. I myself drive a motorcyle extensively. I often have close experiences with cars driving past me so closely that sometimes its difficult to just maintain your balance and straight line. One of our team-bhpian had stated that a motorcycle has equal right to take a car's width when he is driving on-road. We take this for granted and push the motorcyle rider on the extreme left of the road. Give respect to two-wheelers maintain a safe safe distance from them. Expect sudden manouvers as they have to balance the vehicle.
7) Sudden lane changes or even coming up from a road shoulder to the road can become a risky affair with severe implications for the two wheeler rider. Often two wheeler riders have the least regard to lane changes.

At the end I thank you for saving the life of a motorcyle rider and I wish that you and your family and friends never again face such a experience in future life. Also never forget to help people who are in the same situation as yours. Thanks

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

the Aftermath :
SEATBELTS SAVE LIVES. Believe me, now I know. Please wear seat-belts whenever you drive.
....
Lessons learnt : Never let your emotions get clouded with other thoughts while driving. I was very angry which made me push my car 100+. Drive safe, reach safe.
Road rage is a killer. Dont be a threat to yourself and others on the road.
Sealtbelt saves lives, again.

I have to say that you have enormous courage and you are a matured driver. Regardless of the fact that it wasn't completely your fault (can easily blame biker 1), your acceptance of playing an important role in this accident is very important. I am sure it has made you a better driver and above all, a better human being.

I once had an experience in Goa. I would dare to say good experience, actually. There internal roads (even highways, actually) are very narrow. And i was driving little faster than needed while in north goa. On a "S" curve, i zipped at a speed such that a biker coming from opposite direction went off road in bushes by surprise or scare may be. I was scared as, I instantly realized my fault watching my ORVM momentarily. I still continued for 200 mtrs and then returned to him to see if he is all well. You know what he said - "appreciate you checking on me. I am alright. Its good that you saw me on your ORVM crashing into bushes and even though you were good 5 ft away from me, you came back to see." I learned my lesson. And after that incidence I also learned that it can happen to me as well when a dumper (big mining trucks) approach S curve in same fashion. I might end up in biker's spot. And god won't be on my side always. So better be late than "Late Mr.".

I only wish biker 1 in your story realizes the lesson too. But then world can't be ideal! We have to expect the unexpected.

And by the way, your other friend couple would also have cherished the great memories of this trip too! And if they echo your sentiments, they would love to join you again on another trip with of course more bonding than before!

Your experience and learnings will certainly help the fellow drivers and thanks for sharing it with us.

TBHP is a fantastic place for almost everything. I am sure members missed you while you were away from it

[saket77]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

FM radio is not properly played by the stock Nippon unit now.

Check if the aerial input jack is plugged at the back of the stereo unit. The service center guys might have forgotten to plug the jack at the rear point which is resulting in no FM signal reception.

My best wishes to you, again.

Regards,
Saket

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by abirnale

And by the way, your other friend couple would also have cherished the great memories of this trip too! And if they echo your sentiments, they would love to join you again on another trip with of course more bonding than before!

You have echoed my sentiments. Sadly, I have a feeling that our friendship has undergone a subtle change after the accident. We are still good friends, we meet regularly. But my friend and esp. His wife totally refuses to go with us anywhere, not even shopping or movies if I bring my car along. They absoltuly refuse to sit in my car. I understand their sentiment as they underwent same trauma along with me and my wife. Still their behavior pains me silently. My friend doesn't drive, and postponed decision of purchasing a car post accident. What can I do to convince him? On the other hand, my wife has been my strength through the entire episode. She is a regular visitor at T-bhp but not a member yet.

Originally Posted by saket77

Check if the aerial input jack is plugged at the back of the stereo unit. The service center guys might have forgotten to plug the jack at the rear point which is resulting in no FM signal reception.

My best wishes to you, again.

Regards,
Saket

Yes the jack is plugged in. The problem is FM plays while the car is standstill. But starts fading once it picks up speed.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

What can I do to convince him? On the other hand, my wife has been my strength through the entire episode.

No wonder you have an amazing family. God bless you all.

About your friend, show him this thread and request to read over a weekend. I am sure you sentiments as they reflected to us, should reflect upon him/ her too. Didn't you notice many of us saying, it takes courage and big heart to learn, accept and get over it! Your friend might just need some more time to go over this episode. You are probably tougher than most of us, hence could revert back to life quickly

Hey and by the way, I live in namma bengaluru too. I would love to ride with you

[devansn]

It was a really bad experience, but most importantly, all are safe! Also, good to know that you realize your mistakes well - at least you as well as many of us reading your experience here would have got a fair understanding of a few things that must not be done.

1. Did you have any children on board when the accident took place? If there were, the story may have been a little different. My daughter doesn't sit on her child seat how much ever hard you try. So most of the times she sits on her mother's lap.
2. Not saying that emotions are not to be taken into consideration, but personally, I would have gone for a "total loss" claim and bought a new car. Logically, the repaired car cannot be as strong / safe as a new one.
3. Don't remember if Ritz ZXi has airbags - if yes, why didn't they pop out?
4. I am not sure how many such incidents would it take to help people understand that seatbelts save lives, even at 40 kmph! I have a few relatives who don't sit in my car just because they will be asked to wear seatbelts! Appreciate that you insisted and all others honored your request to wear it.
5. Just like you, even I used to drive at a very high speed when I am furious over something, but since the day I became a father, all these silly things took a back seat. :-)

"Holding on to anger is like eating venom and expecting the other person to die" - Budha :-)

[saket77]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

You have echoed my sentiments. Sadly, I have a feeling that our friendship has undergone a subtle change after the accident. We are still good friends, we meet regularly. But my friend and esp. His wife totally refuses to go with us anywhere, not even shopping or movies if I bring my car along. They absoltuly refuse to sit in my car.

I would say let them do & think whatever. The true people who matter and trust you are with you even now and that should be so encouraging for you.

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

I understand their sentiment as they underwent same trauma along with me and my wife. Still their behavior pains me silently. My friend doesn't drive, and postponed decision of purchasing a car post accident.

Let them be deprived of this wonderful world that cars offer to their owners. I can understand that their behavior would keep you reminding of the mishap, but for the tough, it really does not matter. Don't believe? Been there, done that.

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

What can I do to convince him? On the other hand, my wife has been my strength through the entire episode.

You don't need to convince people. Who matter the most still trust you. May be in time, they will understand. Let them take their own time to get over it.

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

She is a regular visitor at T-bhp but not a member yet.

Lucky you! For my wife, teambhp is like my other wife!
Ask your wife to join T-bhp. I always believe that the girls/ women can add a very different dimension to all the discussion that we think is the domain of males. They always have a different angle of looking at things than us, males, which can be very much valid but we tend to overlook somehow.

Regards,
Saket