[Holyghost]

It was around 2AM and we were another 100 km short of Pondichery. We had started at 10PM from B'lore and were stuck for more than an hour on Hosur road. I should have been around 100 or 110, not more than that. as I mentioned it was raining slightly and I misjudged the turn. I should say I didn't even notice the turn as there were no sign boards nor center markings on the road, and a truck with their usual blinding high beam was coming in my lane already. I almost went to the edge of the road to avoid the truck and once it passed by, I see the turn .

I slightly applied the brakes and started negotiating the turn. The vehicle started skidding and I had to straighten the steering a bit to control the skid (that was a bad move, I shud have downshifted instead. Anyways, lesson learned). This sent left wheels off the road, into the mud and the rear started swaying. I knew it is going out of control and braking was not a good idea then (its an EX, no ABS). Immediately downshifted, still trying to control the skid, I notice I am heading towards the river and the bridge is much towards my right.

Then it was just plain reflex, and no brains. I slammed the brakes, turned completely towards right. After that it was all happening by its own in ultra slow motion as if in the movie matrix. I was helpless and just a spectator watching and feeling each milli second, doing nothing (or did I do anything, dont remember. But still wouldn't have made much difference).

The rear wheels completely drifted towards left, spinning the vehicle 90 degrees to the road. I see it entering the bridge and was still drifting at 90 degrees. I feel the driver side going up in the air and BANG!!!! It would have skidded another 2-3 feets further in that position (This i made out from the skid marks on the road).

Next I open my eyes, I see my self standing upright inside the car. I cant make out the position of the car, all I see is a steering right next to my head and I am wondering how the hell did the steering reached there . I keep looking around suddenly I feel someone on the floor. It was my friend, co-driver. I pulled him up, and then I realise the position of the car. It clicked there is a door above my head. I pull the door lever, and we tried pushing the door up but that bloody thing is not even moving an inch. You know the weight of the front doors of a Safari. By the time, a group of people from somewhere lifted the doors, and we jumped out. Then we lifted the rear side doors, and the other 2 friends came out.

It took us some minutes to get back to our normal senses. We were checking our hands, legs, everything to see whether all our body parts are okay. By the time people started pushing the vehicle, trying to make it upright. We knew how much we struggled to lift just the front doors, How the hell are they going to lift this 2+ tons monster. As exepected, they gave up and started sliding the rear side. I didnt know what they were upto, but in a minute, they managed to push the vehicle to the side of the bridge and in a split second everyone vanished. We see Buses and trucks moving through the only available side of the bridge.

That was a brief about the accident. And Thanks to tsk1979 for starting this new thread for me.

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[akshay4587]

Gosh you were lucky to have escaped such an incident on a road like that.
Please start wearing seat belts now.

[kb100]

Truly Lucky!! ALWAYS wear your seatbelts!

[Holyghost]

Originally Posted by ravi@64bhp

Holyghost: You must really thank your lucky stars that you just ended up on the bridge and not under the bridge. Thank god, you are safe.

I'll never forget those stars nor do will any of my friends who were travelling with me. I know whatever way I thank God, it wont be enough.

Originally Posted by raj_5004

atleast now onwards, i hope you start wearing seatbelts.
cheers.

Originally Posted by white_vdi

holyghost mate you cant thank god enough for this. learn something and start wearing seat belt no matter where you are driving.

Lesson learned. Infact we were wearing the seat belts till 2 mins before the accident. We stopped on the way to have a coffee, rested for sometime and then started the journey. But this time no seat belts and had hardly covered 1KM before toppling. When your time is bad, everything goes wrong at the same time.

Originally Posted by adc

Looks like you were doing an overnight journey and waited till morning for the crane to come up. Did the sharp right turn come up suddenly due to inadequate lighting from the headlamps?

What are the Safari damages that make it now sit over at TASS for a month?

It was an overnight journey and the accident happened at 2AM. We had to wait untill 8AM for the crane to show up.

I misjudged the turn. It was not bad lighting, but due to a high bright beam of an incoming truck that did the trick

And for the one month at TASS, its a long story. Its a story of a battle with ICICI Lombard for insurance . We came to an agreement last friday, and work resumed on Saturday. Expected delivery date is Dec 10.

Originally Posted by jkdas

Lucky you!

What was the estimate? Was it coz of excessive speed? And you use blue vision or so?

Originally Posted by white_vdi

entire left side is scrapped? any estimate? and what bulbs are you using?
drive safe!!

The initial estimate is 2 lakhs. Expecting to finish the job at ~ 1.3-1.5L.
I use Crystal Vision bulbs, had been planning to change to better bulbs for 2-3 months, but didnt get time.

[abhinav.gupta88]

Its an old saying
Machine can be repaired and remade , but Life - its precious.

Thank god you are safe.
All the best and drive safe.

[TrueDreamer]

Glad you are safe. Did you have any bruises or any thing after getting settled head to ground position in the beast ?

And did the paint scrape out after the attempt of passer by's to slide the car off to the side ?

[Holyghost]

@abhinav.gupta88: Very true. I'm really grateful to God for saving me and my friends.

@TrueDreamer: No bruises for me. One of my friend who was sitting at the back had some muscle cramp.
There was no point thinking about the paint as the entire side was smashed beyond repair. I have to replace 2 doors and the front fender. The rear body panel was not much damaged. Some tinkering and painting will do the work. Thanks to the gradually decreasing width of the Safari towards its rear.

[Zappo]

I see that yours is a 4x4. I suspect a more expert hand (4x4s) could have saved that mind numbing tailspin that you went into. It might have caused some damage to the transmission but still the vehicle could have fought back instead of spinning out of control and then tumbling over.

By the way, what is with this ICICI Lombard and their calisthenics whenever it comes to paying a claim? All the cases that I know of seem to drag into a tug of war with these guys. Must be the worst insurance company ever. :-P

[kuttapan]

Originally Posted by Holyghost

It was an overnight journey and the accident happened at 2AM. We had to wait untill 8AM for the crane to show up.

I misjudged the turn. It was not bad lighting, but due to a high bright beam of an incoming truck that did the trick

And for the one month at TASS, its a long story. Its a story of a battle with ICICI Lombard for insurance . We came to an agreement last friday, and work resumed on Saturday. Expected delivery date is Dec 10.

All is well that ends well. Hope you learnt your lesson and will wear seatbelts from here on.

Could you tell us more about the 'deal' that you had to reach with ICICI Lombard? How old is your car? WHy would they not pay you full cover(less depreciation)?

[dreamdiesel]

Thats one scary incident. Thank god all of you are safe. The 2 lane highway to Pondichery though smooth has lots of blind curves. One tends to push the vehicle coz of the smooth roads but the curves really come as a surprise. And add night driving coupled with an oncoming heavy vehicle just when your are negotiating a curve is gauranteed to loose the control of the vehicle. 100-110 kmph taking that turn I see in the pic was way too fast to enter the turn.. Just these things that happen really makes the feeling strong that miracles do happen.

[headers]

@Holyghost: Thank God you and your friends are safe!

It was good of you to put this up on the forum for the benefit of others!

Originally Posted by Zappo

I see that yours is a 4x4. I suspect a more expert hand (4x4s) could have saved that mind numbing tailspin that you went into. It might have caused some damage to the transmission

@Zappo: One cant engage 4x4 on such roads. Also, he would have hardly had time to correct the vehicle from the rear end sway. These vehicles are heavy and when correcting, they move from one direction to the other. One trusts one's instinct in such situation.

If the vehicle came with an ALL WHEEL DRIVE, well its a different issue altogether!

[mail4loys]

OMG .... This is one scary incident and thank god that you and your friends are safe to tell your side of the story! I'm very much interested in the ICICI Insurance thing as i have my car's insurance with them. Please enlighten!

[mjothi]

Really bad. But good to hear all are safe wihtout any injuries.

Yes, I am also curious to know about the ICICI insurance. I guess, they only want to get the premium and make sure you dont get any claims. Stupid guys.

Seems thats a one way traffic.

[benbsb29]

Holyghost, glad that you and your friends came out with no major injuries, save for the trauma. I dont want to preach to you, knowing very well that the lesson has been learnt.

Drive safe, and always wear your seat belts.
Do brief us on the insurance episode.

[jerish666]

OMG you are so lucky holyghost.By gods grace all are fine.Next time dont forget to wear seat belts.