[DRIV3R]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I suppose the villain just drove off?

Yes, Thad. Hope he did not crash into some other innocent soul that morning.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Considering no one else has pointed this out, I guess this is within "acceptable" norms in today's world; but just putting it out. 80-90+ kmph speeds on such 2 lane roads is always risky and with a higher potential of accidents happening, especially considering the lack of divider and roadside junta sharing the road at all times, even if the road (as in your case) is empty most of the time. Unfortunately we all do it these days (including yours truly).

Good maneuvering in the end. Good work!

Good on paper, not so good on our roads, practically. Also, considering this use-case, issue was not with speed, but something else.

Originally Posted by DWind

@DRIV3R how early in the morning was this?

Sometime around 9 30 AM.

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Your actions and your luck saved the day for you, but this is definitely not a correct this to do. Imagine, you swerve to the right(his lane), he rectifies his mistake (goes back to his lane), you both on collision course, and collide. This happens to us so many times even while walking too. Ideally you should have braked hard, stuck to your lane, went on to the shoulder and prayed that he too did the same. In airlines industry too, the pilots are trained to turn left (or right, don't remember) when they see 2 aircraft on collision course, to avert a collision.
In situations like these, you don't get time to think twice, so not blaming you, but your action was at fault.

Please read this post where I have explained why I swerved right


There was no time for him to actually come back to his lane, he was all over the place already. Nothing else I could have done, been this smooth.

Besides, I was not piloting an aircraft nor on the runway or in flight. It was rural India and anything can happen.

[Lone Ranger]

DRIV3R, given the circumstances, I think you did the only maneuver possible, that did not involve metal on metal contact. Fantastic! It also goes to show the importance of maintaining sub hundred speeds on highways even though modern cars are designed to do much more - there is just no telling what type of lunacy you might encounter. I remember trying to explain this critical fact of life to my younger brother on a highway trip - the person who's not at fault doesn't get to walk away after an accident just because he was blameless, so you must always drive assuming that other road users have a death wish. Your video clip explains this message much more effectively!

[R2D2]

I've seen plenty of nut cases on the roads in my well over 30 years of riding/driving, these whackos are a-plenty in India and some overseas. But this one had my go "OMG!!" Kudos to your reflexes and I am so glad that nobody got hurt. My instinct would have been to drive onto the left shoulder and brake.

You are extremely luck there was nothing following that AL Dost, or whatever the LCV is, on the right hand side of the road (where you swerved to) or you'd have had a head on collision with that vehicle.

Good God! I am so glad you're safe this may have turned out to be a terrible disaster.

[Dieselritzer]

Can you read out his number form your dash cam footage? This dude should be found and punished.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Considering no one else has pointed this out, I guess this is within "acceptable" norms in today's world; but just putting it out. 80-90+ kmph speeds on such 2 lane roads is always risky and with a higher potential of accidents happening, especially considering the lack of divider and roadside junta sharing the road at all times, even if the road (as in your case) is empty most of the time. Unfortunately we all do it these days (including yours truly).

Good maneuvering in the end. Good work!

Fully agree with you here. On proper multi lane highways, the max speed I do in India is around 90 kmph. On such a road, I would be going at 60 or so unless it was totally empty.

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Your actions and your luck saved the day for you, but this is definitely not a correct this to do. Imagine, you swerve to the right(his lane), he rectifies his mistake (goes back to his lane), you both on collision course, and collide. This happens to us so many times even while walking too. Ideally you should have braked hard, stuck to your lane, went on to the shoulder and prayed that he too did the same. In airlines industry too, the pilots are trained to turn left (or right, don't remember) when they see 2 aircraft on collision course, to avert a collision.
In situations like these, you don't get time to think twice, so not blaming you, but your action was at fault.

Absolutely correct. I am glad OP got out of a difficult situation and it is easy to second guess in the light of hindsight. However, if you look at the video carefully, at around 7:00 seconds, the truck starts to drift in to OP's lane. By the end of 8:00 seconds, the truck realises its mistake and tries to go back in to its correct lane. Now finding the car there, it swerves back to the wrong side. If OP had slowed down, it looks like the truck would have moved back in to its lane as per the video. There is a high risk of collision if we move in to the opposite lane as the other vehicle is likely to try and correct its error at some point. In addition, as you pointed out, there is every chance of another vehicle coming behind the truck and crashing in to you. Having said this, when you have just a split second to see and act, one does what comes to mind- right or wrong. I am glad it worked out.

[venkyhere]

With all due respect, an action of reflex has no scope to be analyzed as a sequence of logical reasoning, because rather than processing data, we revert to the inherent instinct of "escaping", it maybe right, it may be wrong. Unless there is enough training and practice to face the danger repeatedly and develop muscle memory for it (for ex, obtaining a license in scandinavian countries takes anywhere from 6 months to 2 years as a learner, learning all surfaces and evasive maneuvers - part of the reason why most rally drivers come from that belt) , there is no guarantee that we can pull off the same move next time we are in the same situation. We must thank our stars and leave it at that.

While on the road, our life is more in the hands of others than our own, especially in our country. In india, the nimbu-mirchi is as important as ABS.

[SJM1214]

What was wrong with the driver of DOST? What happened to him after this? Wasn't there any vehicle just behind you on the left side of road? It's good that there wasn't any vehicle on the right side of road. Amazing reflexes! I would have chosen to go to extreme left and bang my car in that tree.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Your actions and your luck saved the day for you, but this is definitely not a correct this to do. Imagine, you swerve to the right(his lane), he rectifies his mistake (goes back to his lane), you both on collision course, and collide. This happens to us so many times even while walking too. Ideally you should have braked hard, stuck to your lane, went on to the shoulder and prayed that he too did the same. In airlines industry too, the pilots are trained to turn left (or right, don't remember) when they see 2 aircraft on collision course, to avert a collision.
In situations like these, you don't get time to think twice, so not blaming you, but your action was at fault.

I don't know whether I agree that the correct thing to do in such a circumstance is to always keep left.

Rules of road, sea and air are indeed there to provide some sort of predictability, and to ensure that accidents don't happen because the parties both turn the same way. But in an instance such as this one, all bets are off and there is no time to think.

Honestly, I suspect that I would have stayed left --- and been dead as a result.

The only right thing to do is to avoid the accident, and that is what DRIV3R did.

[longhorn]

Some people think with their derriere. They haven't the faintest idea what the brain is for.This video is a prime example of why TN has one of the highest rates of road accidents in the country. The moron in the Dost did not notice the car till the last moment, probably why he stuck to the wrong lane all the way. He almost run over that biker, before narrowly missing the car. Anyways all is well that ends well.

[anup.bronco]

Dear DRIV3R, thank God you came out safe, otherwise anything could have happened, excellent quick reaction whether left or right, you did the right thing at the moment as there was no vehicle from the opposite side. If possible please extract the registration number from the footage and report this to the cops (though I don't know how effective that would be as I've seen reactions from narrowly missed offenders who on confrontation calmly said "Gaadi ko laga kya!!? lagne ke baad bolne ka..!!" ) and also kudos to the biker in front of you, he too executed a great reaction to save himself

[bsdbsd]

This may be a one-liner post. But, please give this man a medal!

I am still collecting my breath and jaw after watching this. Took the stress off my morning emails.

[Samurai]

I have to go with the minority opinion here. It is clear that the mini-truck did try to go back to the correct side after avoiding the bikers, but the evasive action by OP didn't allow the mini-truck driver to correct himself. But the mini-truck driver did not panic, he responded by staying on the wrong side to avoid the OP.

The OP was extremely lucky there was nobody behind the mini-truck coming on the correct side. And it was also extremely lucky that there was nobody behind OP who wouldn't have been shocked to find a mini-truck suddenly appearing in front of them.

The correct response would be to slow down and drive into the left shoulder, which had lot less probability of ending up in an accident. That would warn the traffic behind him too. But OP chose a path that had a very high probability of accident, not only to him, but for any oncoming traffic behind the mini-truck, and any traffic following OP.

I congratulate him for surviving an extremely dangerous evasive action. But I would not recommend the evasive action he took.

[Gildarts]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

With all due respect, an action of reflex has no scope to be analyzed as a sequence of logical reasoning, because rather than processing data, we revert to the inherent instinct of "escaping", it maybe right, it may be wrong. Unless there is enough training and practice to face the danger repeatedly and develop muscle memory for it (for ex, obtaining a license in scandinavian countries takes anywhere from 6 months to 2 years as a learner, learning all surfaces and evasive maneuvers - part of the reason why most rally drivers come from that belt) , there is no guarantee that we can pull off the same move next time we are in the same situation. We must thank our stars and leave it at that.

While on the road, our life is more in the hands of others than our own, especially in our country. In india, the nimbu-mirchi is as important as ABS.

Very True. Analysing it in Hind sight is much easier. However, if some vehicle had been following Driv3r at similar speeds, he would have had no time to react. Imagine the car in front moving to his right suddenly and an LCV coming at you head on in your lane. This maneuver is risky if there had been vehicles behind in either direction. Anyway good that nothing untoward happened.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Gildarts

Very True. Analysing it in Hind sight is much easier.

It is not about 20:20 hindsight at all. It is about defensive driving. If you find an oncoming car on the wrong side, you should not reciprocate by moving to wrong side yourself. Instead, you swerve to the safer side of the road, which would be left side. Always take the path that has less probability of accident.

[Gildarts]

Originally Posted by Samurai

It is not about 20:20 hindsight at all. It is about defensive driving. If you find an oncoming car on the wrong side, you should not reciprocate by moving to wrong side yourself. Instead, you swerve to the safer side of the road, which would be left side.

Didnt mean to find fault. I'm suggesting the same too. braking and moving to the left is the right thing to do. Moving to the right exposes other vehicles to danger of head on collision.