[dadu]

I was coming back from my trip to pondicherry and on the Krishnagiri - Bangalore expressway was keeping speeds of between 100-140 depending on the traffic and available freeway on the road.

I crossed hilltop and we were supposed to stop at Reliance A1 palza but somehow got overlooked and the speed was 120km/h so couldnt stopped immediately too.

Far away I could see two trucks (1 eicher canter) one behind the other at close gap travelling in the rightmost lane as usual in the southern highways. I saw them from a distance and they kept their lanes which was fine.

So now I decide to overtake them, see that a slight change in level is there and the expressway has a side mounted alloy guards but still one lane free for overtaking.

I attempt to overtake them and start honking so make them aware I am coming but stop honking just a few meters before them as they both were constantly travelling in their lane.

As I approach them at a car's length to my horror the rear eicher truck suddenly attempts to overtake the bigger truck from the left and I could see his left nose starting to protuding out of the lane, no hand signal, no indicator.

I immediately brake hard and instinctively moved the steering slightly to the left to avoid a direct hit (my wifey told me speedo was at 120). Big screeching noise/ rubber burning and I guess that made the overtaking truck move back into his lane immediately.

I was concentrating on the braking, road and handling the safari and then I hear a "thud" on my left, realising that the rear gave way to the left upon hard braking and might have hit the roadside alloys guards, I let go of the brakes and immediately the rear falls back in line as if someone has lifted it put it back, I could feel it. The safari came back onto the lane and back in line.

All this happenned within a fraction of a second so I was a bit shaken at first but took control of the vehicle and we are back in line, speedo was still at 60-70 and the trucker was in his lane with no injury to anyone and seatbelts secure.

I come parallel to the trucker and now he is signalling me to go and he was driving alone so no helper to signal. The only good thing he did was to move back in his lane immediately otherwise this experience could have been fatal.

I was still trying to recover so carried on thinking that the left door is gone man and huge damages to the side.

But surprisingly look at what was the damage. Noone could believe at what the damage was, we were expecting big time damage.







Safari is definitely a safe SUV, even the cladding are intact, it scraped the plastic and the paint at some points in a straight line across the length but as fate would have it, a major one was averted. Thank you god.

Initially I thought of replacing the complete cladding under insurance but on rethinking and relooking, a touchup job might work well here.

Does anyone know/recommend a good painter in the south of city.(J.P. Ngr, jayanagar).

[suman]

Lol! That was a close one, thank God you guys came out of it with no injuries. Yes, the beast is a very safe vehicle - you are well insulated apart from the thuds & the bangs that you hear but this one could have been one big mess!

Take care & drive safe

[HappyWheels]

dadu,

thank God that all are safe. trust the vehicle to keep you safe!

damage does not seem to large, but a touch up job is a must.

i would have stopped the trucker and given him a piece of my mind!!! fools on road!!!

[greenhorn]

from what i've learnt with my indica, get the internals checked out. the FRP cladding takes the impact and springs back to shape hiding the real impact.


My indica is currently getting its rear end replaced from a collision. I felt the same thing , that the indica could take a hit , and not get affected. only when the service came did the guys show me the internal damage....

[jaibir]

dadu, glad to hear everyone is safe.

I guess your experience would make you value ABS more for high speed driving.

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by dadu

Does anyone know/recommend a good painter in the south of city.(J.P. Ngr, jayanagar).

You could try MotorSmith behind Ragigudda Temple. He either is/used to be an authorized Tata service station. PM v1p3r - who works there, for details.

[suman]

Originally Posted by theMAG

PM v1p3r - who works there, for details.

OT: ............Lol!

[reachmash]

glad to know every one is safe, the truck is really a safe SUV.

drive safe.

[amit_mechengg]

THANK GOD! u had a narrow escape. Don't mind guys but i think u should keep the habit of honking before overtaking. Some guys feel that it is unnecessary to horn. But why to take risk. Let the person in front hear u loud coming from behind. May be he is unaware or might be in his own thoughts or may be sleeping. Wake him up.
I have put a STEBEL Nautilus 139 decibel on my car which i switch on while overtaking volvos, buses and trucks. Dont ever try to make a silent overtake.

I remember a similar incident took place with me on highway in pune when i was attempting to overtake a truck which was being towed by another truck.
No one could have imagined looking at the trucks from behind that they were towing. They were at almost 60KMPH with not indication of being towed.
when i was crossing the rear truck suddenly the front truck tried to overtake another truck and came right in front of my bonnet and immediately the rear truck was pulled on aggressively out of the track on the side of my car. i braked strongly at speeds of 80 KMPH and missed the rear truck on hitting my sides by a whisker.
i overtook the front truck again stopped him pulled him out of the cabin and gave him a nice thrash. the rear truck driver also admitted their mistake and said that they were too fast of being towed. i had gone so wild that i was ready to kill that man.
these trucks have no respect for small cars and can give a kill to anybody.

[snaronikar]

OMG. That was too close. Good to know that you had put on seat belts and all people are safe and secure. Good to know that no major damages to vehicle.

These truckers do these kind of things often on highways. Thats why I keep on honking and use dippers (at night) when I'am overtaking from right or left be it car/trucks/busses etc. This way these guys will be aware that we are moving in close to them.

[esteem_lover]

Those railings probably saved you from falling over & pushed your truck back on track. Thank god for that.

[spadival]

Need to cautious while overtaking from the left.. 120kmph is definitely not the right speed to overtake from the left. That barrier probably kept you on the road. Cant imagine what would have happened @ 120kmph if the barrier wasn't there.

[jkdas]

Glad everything is fine. Hope the cladding will need only touch-up.

[hellstar]

wow close shave man , drive safe ! thank god everyone is safe !

[kaushik_s]

Yes, it's always better honking while overtaking,I think the main reason being we overtake or overtaken from any side whether right or left.So sometimes that can become a surprise element to the driver on the overtaken vehicle.Even I sometimes feel surprised when someone suddenly overtakes me from the wrong side,normally I won't be concentrating much on the left side and so i feel it's better if someone wants to overtake from that side it's better to let the driver in the other vehicle know the intentions clear.