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Old 16th June 2010, 16:53   #106
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Sorry ch.nathan - if I have insulted you.
Handling a road accident is not at all an easy job especially with villages near by. You seem to come out of the crisis well.
But can we allow this to continue and increase day by day. Precious lives are lost - all classes, rich or poor, village or city...
We need to tighten the screws at one point - hence a bit of frustrated post from my side.
When said about insurance claims, I have seen lawyers trying to capitalise on the accident cases to earn huge commissions. This is one of the MAJOR reason that insurance premium was hiked 3 to 4 times around 5 years back.
You have been into a huge mental torture for not a fault of yours. Why we need to bear the pain if the mistake is not ours.
This may happen to anybody anytime anywhere.
We need to change a lot ourselves, our system and on seeing the rate of growth of auto industry are we geared enough to raise our road safety standards (if at all there).
To conclude we may see more accidents (bitter truth) in the coming years if we do not take safety seriously.
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Old 16th June 2010, 17:17   #107
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Hi Nathan

Such a chilling experience. I am glad all are safe.

I saw this thread only today and read from the beginning. As you said somewhere the purpose is served in the sense we learnt lot of do's and don'ts through the discussions. I am sure more suggestions will come on safe driving.

I decided not to overtake any vehicle at speeds of more than 80 kms. hereafter. If the vehicle in front of me is cruising around that speed I prefer to follow it at a safe distance.

I do overtake from the left side sometimes as the lorry drivers on the vijayawada hyderabad road keep going in the right lane at 40 kms speed. I keep honking continuously for a few minutes and if I see no intention from the driver to change his lane , I overtake from the left while sounding the horn continuously till I cross completely.

I know it is risky but what else to do? He won't change his lane , come what may. Is this peculiar to this road ? Does it happen on other highways too?

Murthy
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Old 16th June 2010, 17:20   #108
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RGK View Post
Sorry ch.nathan - if I have insulted you.
RGK,
You have done nothing to insult me or anybody here.
All I could see in your post is constructive feedback only.
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Old 16th June 2010, 17:52   #109
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Nathan, happy to know that you are all safe. Spent the last hour reading the thread. Think you handled the scenario pretty well,( except for the stolen phone; over which you had no control).

I think in addition to these suicidal 2-wheelers on highways, I have also encountered tractors, making turns wherever they feel like. I had the bad experience of meeting a tractor at 8pm on the GQ, on the wrong side of the road. And without lights. Was lucky to stop in time, and gave a good earful to the driver.

In our country, its always safer to be slower. After the tractor incident, I have reduced my speeds by a good 30km/h just to be safe.

Come to think of it, how much ever we may follow the rules, there are always others who care hoots for rules and regulations. At least for the foreseeable future, luck has a big role to play on Indian roads, equal or greater than driving skill to be able to make it back in one piece.
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Old 16th June 2010, 17:53   #110
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dear ch.nathan ,

good that you and your family are safe from the incident , its all because of the lords mercy . i hope the bike driver is also safe and recovers soon .

in my opinion an accident is something which can happen even to a michael schumacher hence it has nothing to do with how you drive . or how are the conditions , visibility etc ; its just happens without any particular reason .

the only thing i feel is that we can take precautions for the things which are under our control like presence of mind , wearing seatbelts , keeping the speed to a minimum 50-60 kmph . checking tyre pressure , giving proper signals , maintaining lanes and other regular checks

to things we cannot control we should leave it to god . we only have a privilege to drive a vehicle rest of the things are driven by the lord .

hence drive safely and take care .
 
Old 16th June 2010, 21:51   #111
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vihang15 View Post
in my opinion an accident is something which can happen even to a michael schumacher hence it has nothing to do with how you drive . or how are the conditions , visibility etc ; its just happens without any particular reason .
Without any reason? Isn't it because we (as a nation) give licenses to the undeserving? To me that looks like the main reason. A correction here would the first step in the right direction.
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to things we cannot control we should leave it to god . we only have a privilege to drive a vehicle rest of the things are driven by the lord .
Or has the lords given up on us?
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Old 17th June 2010, 14:29   #112
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Thank god you and your family are safe nathan.

Highways driving can spring up nasty surprises. One thing I generally do before overtaking is to step down one gear so as to ensure you have enough torque to zipp off in case of last moment surprises. This is is response to one of the posts above where an esteem got hit at the boot by a bus which was being overtaken. Had he been one gear down and if he had floored it, i am sure he would have made it out safe.
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Old 17th June 2010, 16:33   #113
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ajman28
4. Do you have to appear in court or is there any possibility of settling this outside?
You can settle it outside if no FIR is registered if other party is willing to. If traffice police guys are aware of settlement, they ask a share of it.

I still remember my friend being a cause of a chain accident.
He was responsible for it and he was drunk completely.
His bike crashed on to an oncoming bike and both fell on road.
Other driver is severely injured. To avoid hitting my friend, bus goes and hits an oncoming truck. Traffic cops arrive at scene. I reached spot after some local guys calling me and i immediately took my friend to a hospital where i have some contact.
Next day we collected bike from police station paying 200 bucks and paid some 3K to other biker. He was poor, he was injured, no bike papers and no insurance.
I know what i did was wrong but still have to help friends.

Last edited by djay99 : 17th June 2010 at 16:34.
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Old 17th June 2010, 17:27   #114
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sbraj View Post
Without any reason? Isn't it because we (as a nation) give licenses to the undeserving? To me that looks like the main reason. A correction here would the first step in the right direction.

Or has the lords given up on us?
License getting is the easiest job in the automobile industry. If your license is locked in one city/town, you can very well apply in another place and drive again. Unless we centralise this across India and have tougher tests, we cannot produce disciplined drivers. The sad part is even educated mass never know or follow rules but shout in English.
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Old 18th June 2010, 01:50   #115
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Sorry to hear what happened. At the first place, I wish this would have never happened. The culprit did not have drivers license, it was his mistake but still it's you who have to make rounds to the PS and courts. Why is that your statement is not taken?
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Old 18th June 2010, 02:43   #116
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Nathan

I know its really painful when such incidence happens. I regularly travel in NH-7, the major concern which I have seen is most of times where villages are nearby the tractor, bus, 2 wheeler all come in opposite direction (righ side of the lane) so its better avoid right lane. I am not sure if others have observed this.
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Old 18th June 2010, 11:19   #117
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Hi
I am really happy that you and your family came out of the ordeal safe. Definitely reading this post has made me change a few of my misconceptions regarding driving on National Highways. I have made my rules while driving my car and have updated it with this post so hope i can add many more miles without any issues. I have had my close calls and near shaves but as long as we can walk out of the mess we should be happy.
Regarding private hospitals :
Most of them have a baseline that in emergency they will do their best to save the patient but it wont be cost free. If the parties involved refuse to pay the bill the hospital will transfer the patient to a government hospital after stabilizing the patient. Though speciality centers do it lot of other hospitals do not abide by this and tend to transfer the patient without resuscitation to government hospital.
I still feel it would be better if you get the patient to government hospital as it would mean less hassles but might not be the best for the patient if he is critical. Early medical response is the crux of the issue. Instead of looking for the best take the person to the nearest place if he or she is critical.
As advised by a Senior Administrator:
If you have hit somebody and you have definitive signs that he or she is dead (such as decapitation or if you have the skills to assess and confirm the person is not alive) its better that you drive to the nearest police station and surrender the car.
Anyway hope this incident does not take away the fun of travelling from you and your family. Cheers
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Old 18th June 2010, 12:03   #118
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drrajasaravanan,

Good points there. Thanks for sharing.
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Old 18th June 2010, 15:28   #119
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First of all, I'm thankful that for ch.nathan and his family and the villagers involved in the accident matters ended only at injuries and nothing more. I hope the legal and insurance issues get sorted out soon and this incident becomes a thing of the past and doesn't weigh on your mind on a daily basis.

This sort of incident is so common that I just automatically slow down near medians and where lanes join the main road (much to the chagrin of Schumachers behind me). It has become second nature. Nowadays I feel scared to overtake even on flyovers, where there is arguably no merging traffic or scope for someone to cut across lanes to go to the other side of the road. One never knows who in front may suddenly decide to take an abrupt U-turn in the midst of conversing on a cellphone or with the co-driver. Clearly the focus of most drivers is not on the driving, and that results in things like this happening very frequently.

Every time I read accounts like this it send a chill down my spine. I've crashed on my bike once in Bengaluru when a cargo 3-wheeler from the opposite lane suddenly took a U-turn into my lane despite me honking and flashing like crazy. That consigned me to the bed for around 2 months.

I learnt from that experience and managed to maintain a very safe distance (again on my bike) from a lorry in front of me that suddenly decided to pull over into the second lane from the rightmost one and then take a U-turn climbing over the median (yes, there wasn't even a break in the divider) on the Bengaluru - Mysore Road with no indication whatsoever.

And of course there are innumerable incidents in the city itself where people (of all kinds and in all types of vehicles) just shoot out from nowhere and materialize into your path. Luckily this is all at low, controllable speeds.

Every time I go out on to the road these days, whether it is the city or highway, I think my body automatically switches into "high-strung" mode. I don't know how good this is for my health in the long run. But I definitely don't feel bad in not being able to "do abc distance in xyz hours". I'd rather do the same distance in 25% more time, but live to do it day after day.

Regards,
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Old 18th June 2010, 15:38   #120
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkin evoisrevo View Post
2. In the incident of an accident, there is a probability of getting assaulted and/or your car damaged in case of an accident, more so often near villages. I have heard of 2 incidences in which KSRTC Volvos were set afire by mobs during accidents.
More than anything else, I am glad the above (assault/ damage to car) didn't happen.

I have been trashed black and blue when I was younger and in another city, and both times I was the passenger.

ch.nathan: S*tuff happens. All in all, I am somewhat glad it wasn't worse. I am sure you will drive much more carefully in future and be aware of all sorts of blind spots that the Indian road conditions create.
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