[Doc_nikhil]

Guys, come on. This was a thread started to show the potential hazards on a typical Indian road and how driv3r handled it. I’m pretty sure he did not post it here for attention seeking (as somebody was not so subtly suggesting) or to see how others would have reacted. I guess we can all replay the scenario in our heads and imagine what we would have done differently but you cannot take away the credit from driv3r for some really quick thinking, reflexive action and the outcome which saw all of the involved people driving/riding away without a scratch. While we are battling away back and forth about the righteous thing that should have been done and whether Driv3r should have moved left, right, or stayed in the centre and moved upward, the bloody mini truck driver who is the main culprit behind the mess, has probably put his mobile phone on charge, has had a large glass of brandy or whatever tickles his pickle, and started off on another journey to jostle somebody else.

Our forum is huge. Can’t we actually do something about the scant road sense that has led to this scenario? We have members from all over the world. We have members who have political as well as social clout and presence, on our side. Is there nothing we can do to teach some road rules and driver etiquette? To get the local RTO and traffic cops let us help them in doing that?

I don’t know about others, but I say, instead of wearing out our keyboards and touchscreens by arguing over this , let’s be grateful no one was injured, go out and do our bit to make the roads a little bit safer. It could be asking your fellow road user to wear a helmet, despite risking a death stare from him. It could be making sure your family buckles up, even when the rear bench passengers protest. It could be teaching road rules and riding/driving responsibly to the young ones in our family, so that the future drivers turn out to be a better crop. Or it could be something as simple as pledging not to use a mobile phone while driving or riding. Change begins with us. Cheers guys, drive safe.

And driv3r, that was an awesome save, no matter what anyone tells you, you did your bit to keep you, as well as the idiot in the mini truck safe.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The actions in this video are performed by an ordinary, but skilled, driver. Wherever in the world you are, try to follow the rules, but staying alive is more important.

I believe the skill was displayed in the video but some don't think so

I like the last line. Staying alive is the most important instinct that drives our actions in extreme situations.

[batterylow]

A lot of what-it scenarios are being bandied about, all of which detract from the main purpose of the thread, that shows a dangerous situation that the OP encountered and how he came out unscathed with a combination of smart thinking and sheer good luck. Sure, the odds were in his favour that day and nothing untoward happened.

If a single factor had gone differently, things would have ended badly, but that point is moot!

Going on a tangent and claiming that OP is out for internet brownie points sounds very outrageous, notwithstanding the facts that they hardly matter in the real world.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by batterylow

the odds were in his favour that day

The odds were heavily against him. Perhaps the gods were in his favour!

As an atheist, I'd give the credit to him and his reactions, but I can understand why some might see a divine hand in such an extreme escape.

[scwagh]

Another aspect to consider. In US, Australia and several other countries, majority of the roads are divided four lane highways. Had this been a divided four lane highway no one would try going towards right direction as you risk hitting the dividers. There’s only one way left for you, i.e. the Left.

Once you start driving largely on divided highways and freeways, your driving instincts get attuned to those conditions only.

[mallumowgli]

Have tried to put what happened in an image



The red line being the pick up and the brown line being DRIV3R

If the pick up had decided to come back into his lane, he may have had to take the dotted red line, being a pickup van and not a bicycle. And in that case, with the evasive maneuver done by DRIV3R, the van would have taken the road behind his car or may clipped the rear at the worst.

If DRIV3R had decided to move to the left, there is a possibility of head-on collision or being T-boned

He decided to go into the safest zone possible and that saved everyone's life. I feel it was lucky that he did not know the SOP here, else he would have stuck to theory jeopardising everything

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by DRIV3R

What was dangerous? The minivan darting into my lane and dilly dallying or my evasive action? If my evasive action was dangerous, how and for who was the danger?
Blindly flaunting the rule book is not always defensive driving. Defense is avoiding danger. I was farthest from all obstacles only on my right most. Period.
Drop the holier than thou hat, consider how many nanoseconds I had to respond, and take a chill pill.

With due respect, I think you are taking things the wrong way. We are all glad that you did what you think was right at that moment and escaped injury and damages. You showed good reflexes and handled the situation the best you could. Perhaps many others might not have been as good as you were. That is not the point. The purpose of this discussion is to analyse the situation later in a clam manner and learn what lessons are available.

In that spirit, it is good to receive diverging opinion with an open mind and if necessary, accept that there might have been a better course of action available in the light of hindsight. As I stated earlier and as Samurai has explained in detail, it is far better to try and stop, move as far left as possible and honk your horn and flash your lights. Moving to the wrong side of the road is more dangerous as the transgressing vehicle is likely to try and fix its error and move to the correct side. In your own video, you can see that the erring truck did try to go back to the correct side. Look at the beginning of 08:00 in your video; before you even started moving right, the truck was starting to correct its mistake. Sure, you can claim that one doesn't know if the truck would have corrected its mistake. True but one also doesn't know that the truck would not correct the mistake and the logical thing to assume is that it will do so and this very incident that we are debating actually shows that the truck corrected its mistake. Hence following the established safe driving practice would have worked better and would have put you in less danger. You couldn't have known that another vehicle had not arrived in the right lane and was hidden behind the truck. Had that happened, you would risk another head on collision. There is nothing you can do to change it now but this is to keep in mind in the future. If you are convinced that nothing else could have been done, fine.

This reluctance to review the procedure and incorporate safe practices is a big problem in India. This is why people argue against wearing a seatbelt while driving, a safety harness while hanging from high floors, a mask while working with paint or dust and so many other things.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Have tried to put what happened in an image

Sorry but that graph is wrong. At 0.09 seconds the AL driver makes a course correction and attempts to get back onto his left side of the road, notices that the OP has already swerved onto that side of the road and swerves back.

This isn't shown in the graph.

Not fault finding with the OP AT ALL as these are split second decisions.

In hindsight however, there may have been another option to avoid the AL driver by sticking onto the OP's left side of the road. As I said, this is HINDSIGHT.

[jhaji]

Even on hindsight, I don't see how we can say that going left would have been better or safer with so many dangers lurking that way - the other vehicle can go further down the same way, 3 bikers in the same direction, a big tree looming.

OP took decisive action as soon as the opposite vehicle started veering into his lane by starting to steer slightly to the right. Slightly, yes. And once the other vehicle regained control, moved further to the right and passed him safely. He responded early and decisively. (watch 06 to 08)

In fact he made it easier for the errant vehicle. Imagine if OP had started going left. The other vehicle would have had another vehicle to deal with apart from the bikers. He would try to make a sharper correction of his course by going more and more left, and veer in the opposite direction, with possible loss of control.

You have to see this unique situation, and the response to this unique situation, which would result in safely for one and all. We can't say, what if there were other vehicles on the road. There were no other vehicles in the vicinity. If it was a different situation, it would have called for a different response. It was day light and a relatively empty road. And it was done beautifully in this case.

The 'disclaimer' being suggested is beyond my understanding. OP was not performing a stunt. He kept himself and others out of a threatening situation, when it would have been so easy to falter. It is lesson for all that don't follow rules and guidelines blindly. Be aware of the situation when driving (even on a relatively empty road) and respond accordingly.

Our first reaction on seeing the video, for many of us at least, is that we would have gone left, unlike what OP did. Maybe we find it hard to accept that what OP did was safer and better.

[venkyhere]

The reason the dashcam footage was posted and further on a separate thread created, was "hey, look what happened... phew, narrow escape".

Beyond "lucky, you" or "nice reflexes" or "could have done it better, but thank god u escaped" ; no other comment is really going to serve any purpose :

1) comments which say "I would not have survived this" or "wow, you are a racing driver" or to that tune, will only do more harm than good. Driv3r should be commended for the reflex and not more. We should not subconsciously make Driv3r (and more importantly 1000s of people who read this thread) think - "im damn skillful" even for a fleeting second ; as there is no guarantee such a situation would not repeat. Lets pray such 'skills' are not called into action again.

2) comments which say "you escaped - but thats not the right thing to do, your survival is pure luck" is again a bit harsh. This is india. There is no such thing called "agreed upon standard operating procedures when in danger". This is useful only if both parties follow the same procedure. The only way to bring down the accident rate is for RTOs to not issue licenses to any tom dick and harry - will this ever happen ? No. In india you are lucky if you find a motorist who acknowledges his mistake, however glaring it be. There is only 1 way to drive - defensively and with a prayer on your lips. 99.99% of people overestimate their skill behind the wheel, including us BHPians ; so most life saving maneuvers are INDEED going to be reflexes and not muscle memory from exhaustive training (like scandinavian countries). We can argue for academic sake, but thats the truth. If (BIG if) swerving one way saves 2 lives and swerving the other way saves 1 life (again a matter of debate and prediction), vehicles be damned, who is at fault be damned ; the action which saves 2 lives always is better.

I think this video and the corrective action, whether it was right/wrong has been beaten to death. Time to close the thread. We all have different perspectives about the same incident, and rightly so, lets leave it at that.

[Dr.Naren]

Mini-truck on his lane

He comes to the wrong lane, reasons unknown, It looks like he was on a mission to murder 2 wheeler guys

2 wheeler and mini truck avoid each other, he tries to get back to his correct lane

OP and Mini truck are heading towards each other

Both avoid collision, All is Well!!


Mini truck, 2 wheelers, OP all were very lucky. I don't think there is any time to think much here. Everybody did whatever out of panic and what they thought right at that moment to save their life.

Mini truck driver is a moron, the guy for all this drama. But, that dude has got some skills . He avoided the bikers, tried coming back to correct lane and then again avoided collision with OP. If there is Dost mini truck race on track, he is the man .

[Vid6639]

I don't see anything wrong with what the OP has done. If anything #101 is avoid an accident and then worry about what was wrong and right later on which is what was done. There are many options possible and there's no way to know which is the right one in hind sight.

If that mini truck driver had not corrected and continued on the wrong side, a swerve to left shoulder and braking would have resulted in a head on. if the mini truck driver fell asleep then the OP might not have been here to post. So in effect the right thing i.e. to swerve left and brake would actually have been the wrong thing to do.

There are many more if's like what if there was a car behind OP's car, what if there was a car behind the mini truck. What if mini truck came back right even more.

So there's no real right or wrong except for the fact that the OP is here alive to post about it.

[noopster]

^^All true Viddy and I agree with you for the most part except that what Samurai is saying is 100% correct.

Darting across to the wrong side was a clever move and possibly saved OP’s life but it is not something somebody trained in defensive driving would do. That was the point and I don’t think anyone here is countering it except by saying, “Oh come on...stop being pedantic!” or something to that effect

Have deleted some of the more snarky comments and hope everyone just sticks to topic instead of making this personal. These are the kind of discussions we should be having here so let’s do it in the spirit of mutual respect.

[Sheel]

We can definitely do without being judgmental, this thread reminds me of audiences who could have done better than Sachin Tendulkar or Virat Kohli had they been on the field.

After watching the video, I personally think, I might have slowed down and would have taken a left, but it is very hard to comment and prove that the OP is wrong and you are right. So, lets stop at that

Originally Posted by ramzsys

If it has been a Maruti, Hyundai or Tata, I would have swerved left and aimed for the ditch/tree.

If it has been a fiat, ford or VW I would do exactly what OP had done.

Can you please shed some light on this aspect?

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Can you please shed some light on this aspect?

My point being if you have a good handling car with sorted dynamics, you can afford to throw it around - here in this case to take that risk ( of getting into the oncoming lane ).