[kaushik_ak]

I was wondering if anyone had ever faced a scenario where the windshield shatters into pieces when driving or being driven. In my case, this happened when I was being driven, in a private bus, on the elevated flyover in Bangalore.

Imagine the situation where the bus is cruising at around 80 kmph, on an elevated flyover (to give more context, it was the Electronic City- Silk Board Flyover), there is a sense of just pressing the foot on the accelerator pedal and waiting to reach the end of the flyover. In this kind of situation, if, all of a sudden, the windshield shatters with a loud noise, how would one react to the same? My first reaction as a passenger was to take my eyes off the massive dust of windshield glass broken into pieces, but what if the driver does it?

In this specific case, the driver maintained composure and continued at a shorter pace <20 kmph till the nearest bay on the elevated flyover. I got down from the bus and immediately washed my eyes off to eliminate any chances of the dust getting to my eyes while the driver was busy searching for the piece of windshield with "Fastag" sticker on it.

Anyways, the purpose of this thread is to ask the experts and the experienced ones, the following questions.

1. Are there any indications, which we need to inspect, before we start off a journey?
2. How do we avoid causing damage to ourselves in these situations? a. if we are driving, b. when we are a co-passenger?

I captured this pic while the "Captain Cool" drove off the bus to the nearest bay


Mods, Please move it to appropriate post if this doesn't need a specific thread.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Safety Section. Thanks for sharing!

Not just windshield, we should discuss how to maintain composure if anything sudden / loud / unnerving happens.

[Storm2.0]

Originally Posted by GTO

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Safety Section. Thanks for sharing!

Not just windshield, we should discuss how to maintain composure if anything sudden / loud / unnerving happens.

Very true anything can happen when behind the wheel. My friend once narrated an incident where the driver of his car in which his grand parents were traveling in suffered a heart attack and fell unconscious.
Luckily the car was only around 40kmph and rammed into a stationary truck. The car in question was a Nissan Terrano. All of them suffered only bruises and came out safe. I don't know about the driver though.

[saket77]

I’ve slow reflexes. I don’t react quickly and I can tell you with 100% certainty that I would have behaved exactly like your driver did. It’s a personality thing. Some people react to such stuff in a more exhilarated and animated manner in all realms of life while some take time to absorb and react, taking such things in a more calm and composed manner. Not to glorify any one behaviour over the other; both have their own pros and cons. It’s a result of both genes and development of personality and work type. People who analyse things too much have a tendency to react slow (not a blanket statement) and they tend to have slower reflexes as a result. Some jobs require quicker reflexes where people like me might fail.

People who study behavioural science can help here better.

Regards.

[FrodoOfTheShire]

The bus driver was able to maintain his composure because he is a driver by profession and must be having experiences of a lot of different situations on the road. On the other hand, we who all are not drivers by profession and experienced only with normal office commute situations may not be able to handle anything sudden or dramatic. We may be able to discuss the dos and don'ts of how one should react in a given situation, but I am pretty sure when the time comes we'll most probably forget what we have discussed.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by FrodoOfTheShire

The bus driver was able to maintain his composure because he is a driver by profession and must be having experiences of a lot of different situations on the road. On the other hand, we who all are not drivers by profession and experienced only with normal office commute situations may not be able to handle anything sudden or dramatic.

Slightly disagree here - a driver is able to maintain composure not because he/she is a driver by profession, but because of his/her experience, I guess. Going by your point, only professional drivers will be able to maintain composure in the event of a mishap, that doesn't really sound logical.

There are lots of 'professional' drivers who really suck at their profession.

I don't think there's a significant difference between office commute and a professional driver driving in the same route. I thoroughly enjoy my daily commute of 20 Kms a day, At times, after a bad/tough day at work, sitting behind the wheel (& driving of course) is definitely the best part of my day!

BTW, this is how my daily commute route looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi6wGoSXgww

About one of my related experiences - Once I had a (front) tire blast, while my wife (then pregnant) was also sitting with me in the car. Fortunately nothing serious happened since I was at ~20kmph, and I could easily maintain composure, I had to tightly hold the steering and then bring the car to a stop. It felt like some serious mechanical failure - it sounded like something blew apart and metal parts fell on the road or being dragged underneath. Actually it was the steel wheel rolling on tarmac.

The same thing - mentioned by OT - happened with me as well in year 2000. I was travelling in a KSRTC super fast from Kollam to Trivandrum, the bus was packed with passengers and I was standing near the driver watching his crazy maneuvers at high speeds on NH47. There came a TATA 407 on the opposite lane and I knew that a head on collision was imminent, so I held on to whatever I can and waited for it. The moment both vehicles collided, windshield was shattered and it was flying everywhere. The bus toppled after the hit, at least that's what I can remember before losing consciousness, since my head hit the pole anchored between the floor and the ceiling.

[Jeroen]

I am quite surprised to see that happen. I thought that these days most cars/trucks and busses have laminated windshield. So, it does not shatter.

Even my classic cars (early 80s) have laminated windshields.

But to GTO's point: we should be able to keep our composure when anything unexpected happens.

Truth be told, experience helps, but in general people do not cope very well with dealing with unexpected. Nobody wants to hear it, but even (most) pilots do not deal well with sudden unexpected situations.

Again, training / experience will help, but won’t solve everything.

Especially during my Merchant Navy and Offshore days I have been in a few hairy situations, fire, people getting caught in machinery, being shot at etc.

One thing I learned from that; it is almost impossible to predict how people will respond, even the professionals, when something really unexpected and or bad happens. People you never thought of, might all of a sudden step in and become heroes and safe the days. Some you thought of as real leaders will start to cry and sit down.

Jeroen

[FrodoOfTheShire]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Slightly disagree here - a driver is able to maintain composure not because he/she is a driver by profession, but because of his/her experience, I guess.

Yep, that's what I meant, that people who are drivers by profession may have started out as a cleaner/helper/assistant driver and then graduated to full time driver, they would've likely driven cabs/personal vehicles/bus/truck etc etc and would've driven across the length and breadth of their state if not the country, driven during all seasons and different time of the day under stress and obligations. While most regular people would be driving mostly during specific times of the day during home-office commute, and leisurely drives would be undertaken based of suitable weather and mostly choosing the better routes available. In such cases, the drivers by profession folks would've much more varied experience and exposure to different road conditions than regular folks in general. That's not to say that regular folks won't have varied experiences based on your anecdotes

Coming to the point of being prepared to handle unexpected scenarios, I do believe many regular folks may not be able to react suitably even if they would've known in theory what to do. Speaking for myself, when I go through some of the cases in our own accident thread, or when discussing some accident with my friends/colleagues, we think that the person could've done it differently and avoided the situation, but I am not sure if I would've actually reacted suitably in the same situation myself.

[Thermodynamics]

I have faced it firsthand. It was Tamilnadu SETC bus, plying from Thanjavur to Bangalore. It was an overnight journey. I have a habit of sitting in first row so I can watch the road ahead and chitchat with the driver/conductor. It should be around 1:30 AM, passengers were sleeping, bus was doing about 80kmph and there was a sudden thud. The glass has shattered and pieces flying all around, Passengers screaming and I am still wondering how that happened because I was watching all the while and had no clue.

Didn’t panic, maybe I got the same genes as Saket. Immediately checked if the driver is fine or has collapsed. He was active and stabilized the bus. His hand was bleeding profusely, slowed down and stopped. We gave first aid and bandaged his hand. I asked him if he is ok or need help, he was good. Then I asked what happened, he said it was a good size stone shot out of tires of a truck ahead. He drove with injured hand, without windshield for another 3 hours and ensured every passenger arrived safe and sound.

He took my phone number, requesting me to be a witness as there would be inquiry by transport company for verification. I didn’t receive any call though but the following week I met him again on the same route and asked how was he doing. He was good, but the sad part was, He was asked to pay penalty for the windshield.

[SS-Traveller]

Maintaining composure here includes not only being in control of yourself, but also the vehicle you are driving.

Remaining calm & in control during unforeseen incidents while driving can only come with either prior experience of such a situation, or training. However, even the most experienced driver may not have actually experienced a suddenly shattering windshield, and can panic when faced with such an unforeseen circumstance.

Hence, the need for training. One doesn't need to go to a training academy to receive such training - in fact, driver training academies in India are rarer than cows on an Autobahn. The best option then, is to train oneself mentally, based on worst-case scenarios - windscreen breaks, tyre bursts, cow jumping into middle of road, overturning truck in next lane, failed brakes, wheel flying off, four wheel skids, whatever.

[sagarpadaki]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I am quite surprised to see that happen. I thought that these days most cars/trucks and busses have laminated windshield. So, it does not shatter.
Jeroen

Many trucks and bus who had the windshield replaced, do not go for laminated glasses. The unorganized aftermarket has options for non laminated windshield glasses which cost lot lesser than the laminated ones. Most of the trucks and bus go for such products which result in such incidents.

[livetodrive]

Thanks Kaushik for starting a very important thread for Indian drivers. The probability of uncertain situations in our roads are tremendously high, both in cities and highways. My two cents :

As soon you turn that key to ON, be prepared mentally that anything can happen from now onwards. So stay alert, stay cool and every minute thing happening around should be registered in your brain and also get flushed at a high refresh rate. Not sure if this sounds weird. But this does not mean I am the most boring driver around, yes I am enjoying myself while driving solo or with my mates on a long drive. But, a separate processor is running a thread which is continuously doing the above job.

One such incident which is not different what you experienced as a co-passenger, rather dangerous which I faced as driver : It was night and I was driving at 80-100 KMPH on the highway after a heavy shower. Roads are water logged but wipers are off since rain has stopped. While overtaking a bus from the rightmost lane, it splashes a spool of water on my windscreen and for the next 2 seconds I am completely blind. Since we were on a curve of a road I had to keep my vision clear, but instead I was blind. Moreover, the pool of water on the side of the road created a differential force and spun my car towards the bus I was overtaking. 2 things stroke my mind : 1. I have to switch on the wiper immediately. 2. I should not slam the brake right now, let me try with holding the steering little firm, it might help.

It was a scary experience no doubt, but taught me a thing or two to keep in mind while driving in rainy season. Also, I was feeling good that I could keep my composure and handle the situation properly.

[sridhu]

One thing that I noticed when I was teaching my daughter how to drive is that she was gripping the wheel tight. I have seen this with a lot of experienced folks too.

I tend to lightly rest my hands on the wheel and guide the car rather than steer it actively.

This is useful in these kind of sudden reactions as your involuntary movements do not become steering inputs

[arjithin]

This thread cannot come at better time than today for me. I was talking exactly same with a friend of mine yesterday.

My friend is in her late 30s, got her DL recently and still perfecting her driving skills. She is on the other extreme that she cant keep his composure even for small things like somebody honking at her. She screamed loud and closed her eyes when I applied sudden brake recently during a road trip.

I didnt have any strategy to tell her on how to keep cool and reduce her reflexes. Hoping to learn few from this thread

[T-Bone]

Originally Posted by kaushik_ak

1. Are there any indications, which we need to inspect, before we start off a journey?

Only thing i can think off that we can do is do a check before we start off on a drive but it will be limited to visible damages and not invisible damages. Just as pilots do a pre-flight (before starting/takeoff) check by going around the plane to check for any visible damages or anything that can cause potential danger during flight.

Originally Posted by kaushik_ak

2. How do we avoid causing damage to ourselves in these situations? a. if we are driving, b. when we are a co-passenger?

Really can't do much. As mentioned earlier, it's limited to what is visible to you. Identifying if the glass will shatter or tyre would bursting etc is beyond ones capability unless again, if there is visible damage.

I too had a windscreen shattering experience while travelling from Theni (TN) toward Salem (to Bangalore). If any of you have traveled that route would know that it is pretty much straight road (NH) where one can drive fast, depending on the class of vehicle . It was the first time highway drive on my brothers Tata Safari doing good speed, when out of no where a bird swoops down from my top right side and landed straight in the middle of the wind screen. I knew it was a bird because in the final second of the impact I could see it. Since the windshield is laminated the whole thing didn't break and fall but just shatter and stayed in the frame but did throw up a huge chuck on fine glass particles. passenger side my mom was seated and lucky she was wearing her glasses and lucky me nothing fell on my face either. Most of the pieces landed around and below the chest level And yes, I was able to maintain my composure and coast down slowly until I was able to park safely. How I was able to maintain my composure, I'm not sure. May be in the last second I knew I was going to hit something and that got my attention or something else, cant say.