[paliontile]

Exp1: Am an avid reader and i rue losing out on my reading time as i drive about 2 hours a day - so tried making up for it by listening to audio books. Unfortunately most audio books are by Westerners whose typical accent is so rhythmic and lullaby-like that while driving on the Hyd ORR at about a 100kmph, it almost put me to sleep :( Was a scary experience and have never played another audio book in my car.

Exp2: We were moving from Vijayawada to Warangal and Dad is driving the alto, fully load with 5 ppl including 90 yr old granny. Dad was so strained the past few days because of his office work and the packing of all house-hold items, and i wasn't helpful as i haven't yet learned how to drive. So there was this moment when he fell asleep on the wheel and the car veered over to the right side of the road and even off the road, on to the pavement, we were all shouting at him when he woke up and braked seconds before we were about to hit a huge advertisement board's poles! Scary! We made him stop, and sleep for 15 mins, followed by a chai to which he is so addicted, before we resumed out journey without any further events!

[Ashley2]

I was reversing my swift just looking at the left side. I was in a hurry to park and so was doing this way. Suddenty I heard a big dash.
My right side hit a Scorpio parked behind. That had additional Hella's and so thought that it was damaged. But later after seeing, I understood only my car was damaged in the bumper and no scratch to Scorpio. Felt extremely bad about my carelessness.
Even in tight space I do take reverse and park in solo, but this experience will often tell me"You are not perfect"

[mempheS.D]

Mine happened in 2008. And thankfully, I'm still alive and unwrecked. My usual rides to work was beginning to get mundane and boring! And I did try many RIDING styles to make every trip a pleasure-aggressive, sober, ipod, etc.etc.. Those were the days with my PULSAR 150 (now SOLD!).

There's a 3km straight between Agara circle and Sarjpaur junction. Time was around 11.45am, and I did have a good night's sleep too. But, this was awkward. After I reached Sarjapur junction, this one time, I couldn't recollect even for a split second what happened between Agara circle and Sarjapur junction. Even today, I wonder. Did I sleep off? Or was it the Zen-art-of-riding that got into me? Whatever it was, it could have been fatal, and I'm thankful to some spirits out there that I got off unscathed.

[t18]

I have an alto, but for a ride from Mumbai - Hyderabad, I took my uncle's new Sumo Victa. Driving continuosly for 15 hours for the first time and that too Sumo with all the NVH it has I was fatigued way beyond. At a point I tried to give my left leg some rest and I use my right leg to push the clutch to make a gear change. My mind got confused and instead of upshifting I shifted down and the sumo made a violent jerk. This completely jolted me off my fatigue.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

Even today, I wonder. Did I sleep off? Or was it the Zen-art-of-riding that got into me? Whatever it was, it could have been fatal, and I'm thankful to some spirits out there that I got off unscathed.

You did not sleep off, this happens sometimes especially when one is in either deep thought or mind is switched off from what is happening around you.

Although not while driving it has happened to be at home, and the span was not few minutes, it was summer and i was sleeping mom/dad had gone out with instructions to run the house for few days. Maid came rang bell, i did not wake up, then she came to the window near the bed room and called me out. I got up opened the door, she finished work, and i closed the door and slept again. Till this this day i don't remember doing that.

[rajeshchand]

I had a brush with a collision just few days back. Bought the new BMW X1 and was enjoying the ride on Gurgaon expressway on a Sunday and the traffic was light. One Skoda Yeti in front and front left of Skoda was another heavily loaded tempo. Tempo guy suddenly for some reason braked hard and screeched to a halt in the 3rd lane from right (there are 4 lanes on the expressway and i was on first, skoda on 2nd and the tempo guy on the 3rd and we were all extending ourselves on each others lane), Yeti just managed to break hard and came to a halt right behind the tempo (without touching it), i was listening to music and enjoying the ride of BMW (obviously distracted), somehow i realised that everything has come to a halt except me and i just stood up on the brake, well BMW being BMW just stopped where it was a feet away from the skoda, my first reaction was to look in the rear view mirror and split second i realised there was an Indica coming at me at atleast 40 km per hour and it was very obvious that he is yet to touch the brake or he is in the process of it, i had no time, just rotated the steering once to right and i kicked the accelerator, the bimmer just took off and i saw in my rear view mirror indica crashing on to the skoda yeti and then swaying to the right and hitting the divider, i just missed it by 1-2 seconds. I was completely shaken, my heart thumping faster and louder than ever. Now whose mistake it was, was i correct in doing what i did, the skoda guy got the hit for no fault of his, it was a mometary lapse by the tempo guy who was not at all affected by what went behind him or the indica guy who was driving but not behind the wheels mentally.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by rajeshchand

Now whose mistake it was, was i correct in doing what i did, the skoda guy got the hit for no fault of his, it was a mometary lapse by the tempo guy who was not at all affected by what went behind him or the indica guy who was driving but not behind the wheels mentally.

You did the right thing by saving yourself, the yeti got hit for no fault of his own but you cannot help it, can you. If at all the fault was of the Indica guy who without realizing the braking capability of his car was driving at higher speed and did not maintain enough gap between himself and the guy in front. Hopefully he will pay the price of his stupidity, as the front would have got decently damaged.

This is a problem very few realize that the Disc/Drum combination takes a few extra meters to stop as compared to Disc/Disc combination, and do not maintain enough distance between themselves and the car in front. I have had very close encounters with someone bumping my behind when i brake hard on Civic.

[ricky_speed]

Coming back from Chandigarh to Delhi, I had the weariness of the long trip I had done in the past couple of days. On the itinerary was Amritsar and Wagah which included a few hours of jam from Amritsar to Jalandhar 2 lane NH1. And yea, disturbed sleep from a friend's wedding I had to attend in CHD.

So with a lot of driving behind me and lots of tiredness, I was cruising at 80 - 100 when I entered Delhi border and failed to notice that traffic has started to slow down in front of me. On my rear view mirror I see an Eeco dancing across all three lanes driven crazily. Thanks to this distraction, I had a lapse in attention and had to hesitatingly screech halt to account for sudden halt of the traffic in front of me.

I heard a loud thud, and for a moment I was confused if I had hit the car in front or not! I realized I was safe in front but the eeco had rammed into me from rear. Took the car to side to see that eeco had some green oil / coolant spilled all over the road and his stupid bumper grill had intruded to the engine.

I survived with a dent and minor tear in bumper. Unsurprisingly, the eeco was driven by a minor who happily claimed he had no DL and even insurance and also shared details of his past accidents which were 'even worse'!. The eeco guy was stupid but a little more attention from me would gave negated the need for a screech halt that I did.

Interesting points: (1) I was preaching 2 sec difference to my co driver friend during the whole trip (2) I had just stopped at Haveli for tea.

[KiloAlpha]

There have been quite a few lapses in concentration on my part. Most of them because I have been deeply pre-occupied thinking about something other than the task of driving.

The first such incident I remember, was when I was in college. Riding a TVS Astra. I came out of the college gate, turned right into the street - BANG - I had hit an auto that was making a U-turn to join the auto queue just outside the college gate. My mind was a million miles away, I simply did not see the auto despite it being the middle of the day and my having 20/20 vision!! Minor damage to both vehicles and Rs.100 damage to wallet.

I haven't had a lapse-in-concentration incident since November 2003 - the last such incident.
I was driving from Bangalore to Chennai on Old Madras Road (NH-4). 10km past Hoskote, I was in a contemplative mood and deep in thought about girlfriend-relationships-life-etc. It was 4pm, I was doing about 80kmph, had clear visibility of the road ahead for nearly 1km. Did not notice two state transport buses in a race with each other approaching me. In the last minute, when I noticed them, I swerved left into the shoulder which at that point was a good 3-4 inches below the level of tarmac. Lost traction, over-corrected, and went straight into a tree.
This incident cost me my car and my entire bank balance.

Never had a lapse-in-concentration incident since!

[coriollis]

I distinctly remember one instance 2 years back, on the Mumbai- pune expressway.
I was driving my Indica Gls and was on return trip from Mumbai to pune.
Had been on official one day visit to a vendor.
Almost 15 kms on expressway, saw a Tata 407 on the middle lane almost half a mile ahead. Overtaking lane was empty both at the front and back, so I changed to the overtaking lane, signaled with my headlights couple of times and drove on.
Suddenly I find the 407 right in front of me. I had no clue when the vehicle came onto my lane. Completely missed it. I was doing speeds around 100kmph, braked.. Braked hard. But the car had no intentions of stopping, so I swivelled my car to right side and went off the tarmac and onto the gravel. By gods grace there were no barriers and I didn't go on the oncoming traffic. Stayed in the car for few moments to regain my breath , then got out, inspected the car, everything was fine, so drove off thanking my good luck.
Points to be noted.
1. Had got up early and had disturbed sleep.
2. Had a off day with vendor.
3. Had full blown lunch before half hour.
4. Was beyond the speed limit prescribed.

I well may say that the 407 guy was at fault, but I also had a slack in concentration which would have cost me dearly. Then onwards I seldom drive solo on expressway.
Cheers.

[acatgain]

I was on my Bajaj bravo about 8 years back with a friend of mine and was doing a catch up so that we could get to the movie theater before the filim starts. It was in NH 17 at Thalassery. I was in my Bajaj Bravo and doing about 65+kmph. Infront of me there was a TATA 407 truck about two buslengths away and a bus infront of the 407. The gap was maintained and the truck was at a constant distance from my scooter.

As in my mind the titles of the film has started to rolling i suddenly felt that the rear end of the 407 was fast approaching me. Then the reality kicked in and i understood that the 407 had came to a halt as the bus infront of it stopped to pick passengers at a bus stop.

I felt that the time started to slow down and there were few options & Results open infront of me..
1. Brake hard and try to stop - Chances of skidding are more.
2. Slow down and overtake the 407 on the right - Chances of getting hit by a oncoming traffic as it was a turning.
3. Slowdown and over take on the left - Chances of falling to the drainage as the clearence was very less .. almost just to fit a scooter.

I opted for option 3 and took the scooter for a drive thro the narrow gap. Luckily we didnt fall and i am still alive to say this story to all you buddies.

Drive safe !!

[Farukh]

(Apart from many other incidents) This happened 29th August of 2012. Remember the date because I was returning from a friend's birthday party. It was around midnight and I was on my Pulsar 180. Lone rider in the night. It was pitch dark and I could not see the dung on the road. The front wheel hit the dung and it flew on to my shoes. I am a shoe lover and it cost me. As the road was empty, I tried to assess my dung covered shoe. It wasn't much. But as soon as I managed a proper posture, I see a buffalo right in front of me. I was doing 50km/h and swerved right trying not to hit the buffalo but it was too late. My left handle hit the buffalo and it made me skid and then I was dragged for 5-6 metres. Dark night, black buffalo and poor headlights of Pulsar - The culprits (Including me). Apart from few bruises and peeled palms, no other damage. Glad I was wearing helmet, I see the drag marks on helmet and thank god! I still use the same helmet to keep myself grounded (no other damage to helmet). Those few seconds of concentration lapse could have been fatal if I were to be on a higway or a busy road.

[SDP]

Interesting thread, let me share my experience.

I was coming back from my son's school and had casually flicked a diary or a book (don't remember exactly) on the dashboard. I took a spirited right turn to join a road with a divider. The divider was huge - easily 3-4 feet broad, 2-3 feet tall and plants & grass between the concrete side-walls.

As I was taking the right turn at a good speed, the diary on the dashboard flew to the left across the dashboard and was about to fall off the dashboard from the far end. This happened in a split-second. What's the natural reaction when you see something that own falling? You extend towards it to catch it. Instinctively I did just that by stretching across to the passenger side and extending my arm. For that split-second, I had forgotten that I am driving and I am in the middle of a turn. Ended up turning the steering more than needed. In the next second, to my horror, I saw my car headed straight for the divider . With heart in mouth, corrected the steering and barely missed hitting the divider.

Lesson learnt: I do not keep anything on the dashboard now. No maps, no loose papers, no ID card, no wallet, no mobile. Absolutely nothing.

[kaushik60]

I was on my Pulsar 150 and it was about 8 PM. I was returning from a short rain ride. Just as I was reaching Mysore, I got stuck for a while behind a truck that just would not let me pass! It was a four lane road with a nice broad divider. As I was stuck behind it, I was pretty frustrated and I was looking for the first chance to pass him. Suddenly he switched lane to the left, so I was very happy thinking that he is giving me space to overtake him. So, on impulse, I switched my lane to the right, all the while accelerating to get past the truck. To my horror, I suddenly realised that the reason for the truck to change lane was not to let me overtake, but to avoid a zig zag police checkpost barrier! I had no time whatsoever to react, to either brake hard, or turn sufficiently to the left to miss the barrier. Also, since it was raining the grip levels were minimal and I was at about 65 kmph. To my luck, the barrier was not placed flush to the divider, and so there was a tiny gap between the barrier and the divider. I had no option but to pray God and go through it, and ,mercifully, I just managed to squeeze in. This incident occurred years ago when I was very much a novice, but after that I have been very aware of blind spots. I have also learned never to get frustrated while waiting to overtake, as it can make us prone to errors and rash riding/driving. Touchwood, no incidents after that.

[deehunk]

I used to feel proud of myself until last Monday when I bumped into someone's car, this was a serious lapse of concentration/over confidence on my part. The incident took place near Lalbagh main gate, it was 19th November, 2012 around 6.45pm, there was heavy traffic, I was standing on the left lane close to the footpath, a two wheeler was trying to find some space in a non-existable area and a Maruti 800 was also trying same thing on right side, a cab was there to my front. A few metres away before coming at this spot I had seen a man-hole cover nearby but failed to realise that I had not crossed over it, little later vehicles started moving one by one and I was still trying to maintain the car on the left lane but pressed the throttle just enough to bump the cab which was in front of my car. I managed to resolve the issue with the cabbie and paid him Rs.1k for the bumper painting job, but I was lucky that day.