[esteem_lover]

Very sad to hear this ch.nathan. Hope the old man recovered and you were spared police ordeal. Please continue.

[ch.nathan]

Originally Posted by jaisha8

By the way which car were you driving.

Originally Posted by vkochar

What car were you in by the way ?

Fiat Palio MJD (SDX).

And BTW, I am not sure whether ABS would have saved us from this accident. Because the respose time available to me was not even in the units of seconds.
When I try to recollect those moments, I feel that I hit the brakes only after I hit them.

Comments

Originally Posted by vkochar

I should get one soon for my year old son too !! I do Agra - Delhi runs every week and still haven't bought a car seat !! Stupid me !

Please.. Please... Please buy one immediately.
A few thousands of rupees is no match to our kids' safety.

Even if it's very minor accident babies which may cause a small bruise or a sprain, babies are too delicate to bear it.

And imagine the amount of guilty feeling it would leave in our minds which is extremely difficult to erase.

Very sad. But these things are common in high ways running thru rural areas. I have seen many young and old people riding bikes. They know how to ride the bike, but don't know anything about the road rules/manners. And they talk like, they are free to ride on the road the way they wanted. Because they have paid the road tax.

[issigonis]

Originally Posted by issigonis

Please continue. It seems to have been very very bad.
I am jumping the gun, but this might help you in your elucidation of the events preceeding and in the aftermath of the collision :

1. Which lane were you in, when you initiated the overtaking of the Santro - in the middle lane behind the Santro (and then went to the right lane) or in the right lane from the very beginning?
2. At approximately what speed was the Santro being driven at? Your illustration seems to suggest that the scooter turned left in front of the Santro and proceeded to collide with your car. If that be so, the scooter was travelling at a higher speed as compared to the Santro.

Regards

Originally Posted by mobike008

Very unfortunate incident. This kind of accident is becoming increasingly common on our highways.

After experiencing many near close calls for scooterists coming on to your way at the speed of lightning. I follow a thumb rule :-

Always drive in center lane so you have enough time/reflexes for people jumping on to your path from median or like in this case, scooterists swerving from the shoulder and take a perpendicular cut to cross over the median.

Hope the pillion rider is safe and no case was registered by the police. Having experienced a court case for something similar, i can vouch the hellish experience that i had for more than 2 years.

Wish you all the best

>>> That's what I was getting at. Being in the centre lane initially might have helped in this case. The scooter wallah would have been visible. Then use your blinkers and your horn to signal to the Santro ahead that you are about to overtake. Whilst overtaking sound the horn.

This has been my learning, after an unfortunate incident ( which I will eventually cover in my post in the travelogue section here).

Nowadays, I keep to the centre lane (to allow all those wanna be Schumachers get away fast), flash my headlights and sound the horn whilst initiating an overtaking. I sometimes find lorry drivers drift from their lanes, especially on curves/bends, so avoid overtaking there.

Also almost nobody, but nobody sticks to one's lane, especially in our commercial capital- it is most irritating for me as I try to and succeed in keeping within my lane even on curves.

Hope you did not have post accident complications - police/extraction of money by the guilty party ( scooterwallah plus pillion rider)/insurance co.

Most importantly, your family is safe- which is everything.

Take care.

[Newpunter]

That's a very sad accident. I wonder when things will improve in our country regarding road safety. So many morons on the road without a single concern about following traffic etiquette. I get so depressed when i read about so many incidents which could have been avoided simply by following traffic rules.
I had a similar incident around 5 years back. However, I was on a two wheeler and the guy was on a bicycle and drunk and started crossing the road from the wrong side right in front of me. Luckily he wasn't hurt but his bicycle got mangled. Had to visit the Police station for the first and only time in my life so far.
The sad thing is that the crowd that gathers immediately tries to benefit from this unfortunate situation instead of trying to help the people who are hurt. In my case, my cousin's ( he was riding pillion with me ) gold chain was stolen when he fainted due to the bleeding and the auto rickshaw drivers charged 150 rs for taking the guy to the hospital which was like a 100 metres away :( .

[ch.nathan]

Originally Posted by aargee

Trust me, you handled things very well;

Thanks aargee!

Actually, I was trembling like hell from inside. My heart-beat could easily have been double the normal rate.
Imagine two people injured on the road, damaged car, 50 villagers around, wife and kid standing on the road, other highway traffic & passengers eagerly looking-on me like a criminal.
OMG, I dont wanna be in such scene again ever.

But somehow I managed to pretend bold and under control. I think the scene of me helping the injured and lifting him to the car pacfied the crowd to some extent.

[MX6]

Is there an FIR filed? I'd advice you file one to save yourself. I've not read through completely. Seems like the Santro guy made a mistake in slowing down abruptly and not warning you of the moron who came in front of him. Normally I overtake only when I get a clear indication of what lies ahead. And as a matter of rule, I don't overtake vehicles near breakages in medians as that's a place where two wheelers, tractors, auto's etc try to take u-turn or branch off to villages nearby.
No point in advices now. Good that the car seat saved your baby.
ABS wouldn't help in such cases. Most importantly, I never take the right lane. It's always the centre lane/ left lane. I only use the right lane to over take and quickly come back to the other lane. It gives me a good view of what's in front.

Just like how you couldn't see the two wheeler in front of the Santro, the two wheeler couldn't see you behind. The Santro guy who had visibility at both ends did nothing to honk and warn both the parties. He should have either signalled you to stop with his hand or honked like crazy to show there's some potential danger. And the bugger goes scot free.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

Seems like the Santro guy made a mistake in slowing down abruptly and not warning you of the moron who came in front of him.

The Santro guy who had visibility at both ends did nothing to honk and warn both the parties. He should have either signalled you to stop with his hand or honked like crazy to show there's some potential danger. And the bugger goes scot free.

Oh!!! C'mon boss, don't tell me we all indicate people to slow down when a moron appears out of no where, besides we do not know what kind of situation would that Santro undergone due to the suddent twist of the two-wheeler; besides, no one can forsee such situation.

Originally Posted by MX6

Normally I overtake only when I get a clear indication of what lies ahead.

If I say +infinity to this will also be insufficient because is this more than true & has become my thumb rule. Trust me, after reading the potential dangers of tailgating in TBHP, I follow this rule very strict.

Originally Posted by MX6

And as a matter of rule, I don't overtake vehicles near breakages in medians as that's a place where two wheelers, tractors, auto's etc try to take u-turn or branch off to villages nearby.

Again you're right, but I cannot help to slow down & instead horn heavily; I turn ON my twin horn at highways that turns people mad & stick.

[vinaydas]

im sorry to say this , but the villagers had to learn the hard way.
Im happy that you went through this ordeal fine. I have been in such tight situations before and when ever i read through such incidents, it reminds me of mine.

Nh7 is full of these uneducated villagers who have literally 0 road sense. The institution which supply these people licenses should be closed. Let it be, taking blind turns or driving in the wrong lane(4 lane) and worse driving in the Fast lane , this is very dangerous as there are blind curves which gives you very little time to react.

This is one reason why i prefer night travel over day on highways. You dont need to worry about such idiots on the road.

all said and done, believe me you could have been in a worse situation .

[mobike008]

OT: Actually, not really an OT but, an experience which is slightly similar wherein things happen so suddenly without leaving you a chance to react but, in my case as you will read below, i acted fast and there was huge support from god.

Hence, sharing an incident that happened with me recently ( April'10) during a recent trip to Mahabaleshwar that left me shaking for quite a few days as this was the closest shave that i ever had without making a contact.

I was driving my Viva with wifey next to me and mom in backseat. People who are familiar with Hyderabad, Just outside the city while going towards Mumbai highway after crossing Patencheru the road widens into a 4 lane with a divider running through all the way.

It was around 6AM in morning and we were heading towards our weekend vacation (Mahby) and road was absolutely empty except for one large truck that was ahead of me moving in same direction as me. This truck was in the fast lane ( right most) but chugging along at 50kmph or so speeds.

As its natural for anyone, and as there were no vehicles behind me/front of me except for that slow moving truck in fast lane ahead of me, i increased my speed to 100kmph and started overtaking it from left (centre lane).

I was almost coming abreast of that truck, to my horror this lorry fella decides to immediately put a left indicator and turn at the same time to left ( he must have spotted a break in median as he wanted go to shoulder and probably stop)

I was too fast and truck had already started moving towards left. I had no option, but swerve left and i was in collision path of that truck.
In my mind, i can already visualize the horrific impact as i was heading straight for the truck.

I kept swerving left, more left and this is where god intervened. I took the gap in the left divider ( that leads to shoulder) just inches before the truck was moving into it.

I was at such a high speed, i had already crossed more than 0.5kms before i brought my shaking self to slow down the car.

I wanted to go back and break that truck drivers bones. But, my car's momento had carried me quite ahead, so i just decided to carry on driving (albeit now with a grave realization and quicker reflexs to look out for morons like that truck driver)

Sometimes i still think of that incident and cannot thank god enough for intervening and saving our lifes.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by aargee

Oh!!! C'mon boss, don't tell me we all indicate people to slow down when a moron appears out of no where, besides we do not know what kind of situation would that Santro undergone due to the suddent twist of the two-wheeler; besides, no one can forsee such situation.

I disagree to this. There are 3 lanes. The two wheeler guy tries moving ahead of the santro guy in a highway. Had I been in the santro guy's place I'd have done one of the two.
1. Honk like mad and show who's boss had I been a pathetic slob, unwittingly alarming the vehicles behind me as to what's eating me. Unfortunately, I'm not a pathetic slob.
2. Slowdown and immediately hand signal people behind or use my hazard lights (that's the real use for them and not to flash like moron taxi drivers of mumbai pune e-way who use them in every tunnel). It's for the other drivers to catch the hazard lights or my hand signals to proceed cautiously. Beyond that if it's fraction of a second and the accident does happen, it's fate. But trust me, I'd have done this to warn others of impending danger. Averting accidents doesn't only mean slamming your brakes hard and swerving out. It also means you indicate with presence of mind to people behind so that you don't get rear-ended.
On the sivaji highway when we were proceeding at 65 kmph on way back from office, the innova in front put his hazard lights and hit the brake hard. I could catch it in time and slowed down and avoided hitting him by inches. I did the same so that I don't get rear ended. It was luck, gods grace and a lot of practice that saved us that day.
Reason for his abrupt stop? A two wheeler female rear ended a swift on that road and the innova had to stop so that he doesn't kill her. We were aghast to see that oblivious to what's happening around, the lady was screaming at the poor swift guy for a mistake that was literally hers, right in the middle of the road. I still wonder what made a lady in a two wheeler get in between a swift and an innova dangerously at above 60 kph without a helmet at 7:30 pm on a 4 lane highway on the right lane.
Had the innova guy not warned me and me the vehicle behind, there would have been a 10 car pile up.
Just because you have multiple lanes, it doesn't mean that the vehicle in front is absolved of signalling us to overtake or not, especially with so much stray traffic on our highways.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

On the sivaji highway when we were proceeding at 65 kmph on way back from office, the innova in front put his hazard lights and hit the brake hard.

35 Kmph makes all the difference (100-65). At 65, anyone can signal; but at 100, when the reflexes are working, one will try to stop the vehicle & avoid the disaster rather than signalling & stopping both put together.

[praful]

@ch.nathan: Glad to see that nothing extremely untoward happened. Also good to hear that the pillion did not get any more grievous injuries! Also good to see that everything was happening in their proper manner.

Till about a year back was a frequent traveler on the Chennai-Bangalore stretch of NH7 and I've seen this similar instance of crossing from extreme left to extreme right in order to get across the median happen a multitude of times. Never witnessed anything first hand though!

Sadly our License issuing authorities are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. But can't blame them entirely.

[MX6]

@aargee. I still don't buy that idea. A tvs 50 overtaking a santro at 100 kph, why even 65 kph from a left lane on to middle and then to right and you say the santro guy didn't have time to react?
Trust me, the tvs 50 with a pillion rider can't go fast to over take santro at 65.
The santro guy definitely has lost concentration and when he saw the tvs 50 at something like 30 taking a turn he has hit the brakes. (even if the tvs 50 manages to go at 100 +, he can't take a turn between the median at such high speeds cutting across 3 lanes!)
It was plain suicidal from the tvs 50 guys and to make matters worse, we have a sleepy santro guy who didn't know what's to his left and right.
Else he didn't notice Nathan trying to overtake him on the right and slowed down gradually to let the two wheeler guys go.
I will agree if you say that speeds above 65 has impact on reaction time in a single lane highway when the bike comes in suddenly and it is not a 50cc vehicle.

[dadu]

Good to know that you were able to manage the situation yourself bravely and provided first aid to the injured. I can say that on indian higways and even expressway, 80-100km/h is a decent speed limit to follow. Anything above that is dangerous and should be done in short bursts only because you never know if someone like these TVS guys will drop from where onto the high speed lane, assuming that other vehicle has to stop.

I agony of going through such accidents is painful specifically for the bigger vehicle even if its not their fault.