[Ravi Parwan]

Originally Posted by Gildarts
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.

Originally Posted by Samurai
I have to go with the minority opinion here.

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.

Originally Posted by R2D2
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.

I would like to reiterate that The OP was very very fortunate in evading the dangerous situation with God smiling down on him.
I was in a similar situation on NH1 nearly 15 years ago, driving from Faridabad to Hoshiarpur, with My parents, My sister and her family in an Indica. That was the time when NH1 was being fourlaned and there were stretches where the road was single carriage with both directions of traffic on the same side.
it was around 9 AM and I was driving at around 30-35 with a long line of cars behind me some distance before Panipat and with traffic equally thick on the other side. I had my headlights on, it was a clear day in March or April.
There was a lull in the traffic on the other side, allowing me to speed up to around 40-45 (I did not speed up further as I was unsure of the turnoff to the left side of the road where the road became dual carriage.
Suddenly I saw a haryana roadways bus hurtling towards me from afar at above 80-90. You know a time when you start feeling that the situation is no good. The bus was still more than 1 km away atleast but his overtaking maneuvers left me slightly uneasy and I started flashing my lights and turned on my Hazards. I was also intermittently honking my horn, hoping that the bus driver would take note of my car and leave my lane.
As he approached me, I slowed down to around 30 to give him space to maneuver.
Finally around 100 mts ahead of me, the driver finally swerved violently to his side of the road and I breathed a sigh of relief.
However as soon as the bus driver went to the left of the road, leaving space for me to cross his vehicle, out comes an indica/indigo ( I am still not sure of which car it was till this date...)
This guy was apparently racing with the bus driver and trying to overtake. As soon as he saw the opening he gunned for it without waiting for line of sight.
I was at 30 KMPHish, he was easily above 90 and I felt for sure that we would be into a head-on.
All I could do was to move my car fractionally to the left, towards the curb and brace for impact. I and my brother in law in the first seat were the only ones wearing seat belts.
To this day, I do not know how the other driver managed it, but he swerved back to the left and managed to avoid a head on with me.
However, his car swiped the entire left side of my car from the front fender to C pillar, without hitting my headlights or the taillights. The entire car shook like anything. My side view mirror broke off like a shot and vanished. The sound of two cars kissing and scraping along each other was loud...
And then it was over. I was still moving at around 20 kmph, so I straightened the car and seeing the turn ahead, move to the left side of the road before stopping.
The only injury was my nephew, who banged his teeth against the front seat headrest and got bleeding gums.
Everyone was so shook, as half the occupants in the car never even realized it was gonna happen before it did.
The other car did not stop at all and vanished. I got down from the car and within 5 minutes I ascertained that the car was functioning normally and I continued on to hoshiarpur and back, around 500 km.
But that close shave was really something that has stayed with me in my more than 25 years of driving experience.
I was reminded of that incident, looking at the video. And I have to go with the minority view. I am sure the OP did keep in mind the traffic behind him and oncoming traffic before doing this maneuver.
However it is not the right thing to do in such cases, as pointed out by members. it is better to slow down and move to the left. Even if you end up in a side swipe, it is better to avoid an unseen headon with another unsuspecting oncomer.

[jhaji]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

This happened today morning on my way to Bangalore. Between Veppur and Chinnasalem.

Originally Posted by chaudh2s

Your actions and your luck saved the day for you, but this is definitely not a correct this to do.

I have watched the video again and again trying to imagine what would I have done. First few viewings it seemed I would have gone left and kept going left. I am not so sure now. Of course, there is no rule to follow in such situations and it all depends on your reading of the situation in that split second.

When the truck begins moving to its right it is doing so out of loss of control. It could well have kept going right. This possibility will prompt you to move to your right.

Once the control is regained by the truck driver and it straightens, it is relatively safer to pass it from your right (truck's left) , exactly because the driver is now in control and can see you and react accordingly. Of course, the truck could have over-corrected and kept coming to your right. But even before he crossed you he seemed in control. You were lucky that there were no vehicles behind him. One needs some luck. Or maybe you were aware of the road situation behind you and behind the truck in a peripheral way.

In any case, well done! And a lot of food for thought for all of us.

[sunny310c]

@DRIV3R, that's one heck of a save. I watched that video a few times and I have to say, you chose the only option that could have resulted in no harm coming to anyone, and it worked. Hats off to you Sir.

On initial viewing, I thought I would have veered left and hoped to avoid that idiot, along with the bikers and the trees but on viewing the video a few times, I can see why you chose to move right instead.

Also, this incident shows why it's always a good idea to constantly be aware of what's around you on the road so that when such incidents occur, you don't waste that split second checking your mirrors before making a decision.

[DRIV3R]

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. Always take the path that has less probability of accident.

Appreciate your views and the other minority views here as well.

Let me elaborate more. I would or could not have pulled the same manoeuvre if there was no daylight. Would have most probably panic braked into the bikers or crashed into the Dost.

Here I had full view of the available space for me, and I took the best possible evasive action I could afford at that split second. It’s easy to sit and talk on the rule book, but going by the sequence of events and the time gotten in hand, right was the place to go, for me atleast. There was more room for error if I took right, given the uncertain next step of the errant driver, and I could be as farthest as possible from the errant Dost. Also, as I said already, I avoided left due to 2 reasons. 1) The minivan could have continued in the same path after knocking down couple of bikers onto me, 2) I was also at the risk of getting too close for comfort to the bikers and the need for me to panic brake.

Though I periodically check my I/O RVMs, I didn’t have time to do that just before I maneuvered, though I always try to make a mental note of the car following me and it’s pace. There were no vehicles behind me then and there was a Force Trax few hundred metres behind the Dost.

Panic breaking with two wheels in loose red mud and other two on the tarmac is also going to increase the braking distance, with EBD working full time.

So, agreed that SOP is to move to the left most and brake, but this use case was not under SOP atleast for me.

It was just luck and presence of mind along with reflexes that saved the day for me.

[shifu]

I had a very similar experience today. I was searching for a shop, slow at maybe 15kmph, in the left most lane. Gmap on the phone said I have reached my destination so I took my eyes off the road to look at it and when I looked back in 2 secs, there was this two wheeler who was coming the wrong way (and hence in my lane) and had decided to cut across the road to take the gap in the median. Being very slow I was able to stop in a sec, but I was reminded of your video where if you weren't as attentive as you actually were, the results would have been very different.

[Speedshift]

Brilliant manoeuvre
You spotted him and took preventive action well in time.
I might have just panicked and gone off road to the left.
Classic case of undivided roads being much more dangerous than divided highways.

[scwagh]

Great maneuver DRIV3R. As much as the quick reflexes and thinking on your part saved a mishap, you were extremely lucky that neither of the vehicles were followed by some other car or a bigger vehicle. Your approach in that case would have been totally different and timing was the key here. If you see the video from .06 seconds to .08 seconds, that was the time window available for taking a call on which side to drive. Must have been a nerve-racking moment.

Your maneuver has gone viral now (took this screenshot from FB)

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Appreciate your views and the other minority views here as well.

Easy for everyone to sit and analyse now.

But with around a second to react - you did manage to come out of the situation safe and sound - and without causing harm to anyone else as well.

All that matters.

[harsh79]

@DRIV3R

Good save!

BTW it was a near hit, not a near miss.

[F150]

I had to go thru a similar incident, when I was driving from Prirangut to Pune. I was following a slow moving Mahindra Max and was planning a overtake, suddely a Scorpio from the other direction swerved between me and the vehicle ahead. Only God's hand saves us in such situation.

Since then I hate driving on single lane roads without dividers.

Luckily no one was trying to overtake you from the right hand side.

Praise the Lord for such a save.

.

[chaudh2s]

Am not writing this post as a fault finding post, but trying to advise people here what their line of thinking should be. If you know in your head what is correct and what is not for a given situation, there is a high chance that you will take a correct decision when the need to implement that decision comes, because that line of thought now goes into your subroutine and becomes your habit.

I see two scenarios:

1.) Real Scenario (truck returns back to his lane)
a) Had OP remained in his lane(left) nothing would have happened. If the truck didn't hit bikers, he sure wouldn't have hit him.
b) His decision to go to right lane made life complicated for himself & truck driver too as he rectified his mistake and chose to go back to his
lane, but couldn't as OP were there. OP created a potentially dangerous situation for everyone around him.

2.) Hypothetical scenario (truck continues to come into your lane)
a) If he pulled onto shoulder or nearby fields and braked hard, he would have either been hit or missed.
b) If he went to opposite lane, he might get hit by any oncoming vehicle or if lucky nothing happens.

So, in a hypothetical case we know anything could happen and we are not discussing it.
In the real scenario, sticking to his own lane would have been correct thing to do, rather than jumping to opposite lane.

These are unwritten rules, and following them would ensure higher chances of survival.

[RGK]

Great reflexes . Both drivers did not panic and had full control of their vehicles.

Generally, we are not taught to handle this kind of situations. It is the vast experience and the presence of mind at that time helps to succeed.

-- The bikewalas on the left are way ahead at the time of intersection of the two vehicles.
-- On seeing the opp vehicle in the wrong direction, the dhost IDIOT did not confuse you and was able to stick to his lane.
-- I am sure that you would have escaped unhurt even if you have swerved to the left and stopped.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

This happened today morning on my way to Bangalore. Between Veppur and Chinnasalem.

Thanks for sharing !! I doubt if I would be that fast to react !!
Since we are on this topic, let me ask few valid questions, it would be really helpful if someone could answer them :
1. Suppose I failed to avoid him, its a head on, what's next ?
2. We are on our track, but how does it help in the real situation ?
3. Whom to call (if airbags protect us to that point) ?
4. What measures to be done ?

[famousshoes]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

Though I periodically check my I/O RVMs, I didn’t have time to do that just before I maneuvered, though I always try to make a mental note of the car following me and it’s pace. There were no vehicles behind me then and there was a Force Trax few hundred metres behind the Dost.

Panic breaking with two wheels in loose red mud and other two on the tarmac is also going to increase the braking distance, with EBD working full time.

So, agreed that SOP is to move to the left most and brake, but this use case was not under SOP atleast for me.

It was just luck and presence of mind along with reflexes that saved the day for me.

I think you went with your gut reaction and followed it through all the way to save the day. Like you rightly said being aware of the surrounding environment always helps in making that split second decision of the right evasive manoeuvre. I believe fully that this was was the safest thing to do under the circumstances. Swerving left could have meant all the things you mentioned plus the added risk of running into that tree, if not the bikers.
Its easy for people to say in retrospect that this was not the right manoeuvre but in these sort of situations normal traffic rule solutions may not apply.
On a lighter note, may i add that this situation reminded me of Dhoni tossing the ball to Joginder sharma for the last over of the 2007 ICC T20 Worldcup final against Pakistan. Seemingly a daft move, but then he did have the last laugh, didnt he

[kiku007]

A fellow BHPian has saved himself and other fellow humans from being hurt on the road. Liked it? Hit thanks and say some nice words.

Think you would have done it better/differently because you have proof of your own experience? Great. Please share the video along with the details. I'll hit thanks and say some even nicer words.

But if you only have armchair criticism then it seems unfair to me. It's so freaking difficult to not panic in such a situation, let alone handling it like how the OP has.