[mykal shoemaker]

Originally Posted by MX6

<snip>And when I honked, the guy ran towards the divider and the biker tried pushing his tvs 50 towards the shoulder. Guys just tried rushing to the ends they were facing.
Worst part was that their flowing lungis weren't even folded upwards from their knee (which normally they do) and it restricted their running. </snip>

Exaclty.
They in fact row the moped like a boat (with legs) and move at a pace of <10KMPH.
Maybe enjoying this old song:

YouTube - CHAL MERI LUNA

[deehunk]

Originally Posted by ajman28

Highway's I agree they should not be allowed since it is too dangerous for them. But in a city, how else will an average middle class commuter move from place A to place B? The public transport is already packed to the brim!

Hi Ajman, on powerless two wheelers- I was referring to old vehicles(unfit ones) and overloaded 3 wheelers- I was referring to the luggage autos, 3 wheelers are really unbearable on flyovers and NH's. Atleast their numbers should be restricted in major cities.

[ch.nathan]

DRIVE SAFE:

Driving safe in India is an extremely difficult task. We have to be vigilant every second and concentrating only on driving and nothing else.

• None of the indian roads are capable of supporting speeds in excess of 100kmph (Highways-100 max, minus 40 while crossing towns, minus 20 during nights, minus 20 in rains).
• Which lane to keep on highways - majority votes go to the "Middle lane" in case of a three lane highway. But it depends on individual situations like road condition, traffic, etc.
• No compromise on safety features like ABS and Airbags. My next car will definitely have ABS atleast.
  And it IS the duty of us, BHP'ians, to educate others as well. (I recently convinced my friend who bought a new car to go for ABS version).
• Drive not only your car. "Drive for other vehilcles also". Don't race, Give way, Give signals.
• One more disease commonly seen nowadays is "it-wont-happen-to-me" syndrome. Everyone thinks he/she is the best driver.
  This attitude can be very dangerous for others on the road as well.
• Accidents can happen to anybody, anytime, anywhere. All it needs is a small mistake or a concentration lapse for a second.
  And once it happens, the consequences are ALWAYS bad and it never fades away from memory.

[AutoBond]

Hi Nathan, Indeed you should be very thankful to god to save you and your family from such a unfortunate incident. For me, I think you did handle the situation with great senses even during such stressed hour .

Happy to know the things dint take a nasty turn when the village crowd gathered. In most of cases, people will act like maniacs if you are driving a bigger vehicle and few will go to the extent of threatening and mugging irrespective of the injured person's state .

One lesson to learn for all us may be to drive in the center lane and be very cautious during overtaking any vehicles near to any habitant area driving through the highway.

Dear nathan ,

1. even if you give our gulli schumachers the best of the 6 lane highways , still they would do lane cutting hence good roads is not the answer . the chalta hai attitude needs to be changed . we do have mumbai-pune expressway still accidents do happen .

2. yes i do agree to you for safety features . but at the end if you drive a 6 airbag sedan and cut lanes . you are still risking other lives .

3. i agree 100% that we require to drive for others . given the road condition and traffic you can go at any speed you are sure to meet at the coming signal . hence there is no point racing . racing has to be done in controlled conditioned and our roads are only meant for commuting .

4. yes some people think that they are the best drivers to have taken birth on this planet because they have the latest technological invention in there hands . my advice is to please leave your egos at home and not to bring them on roads , its fine if a tata nano overtakes your mercedes .

5. and lastly as you rightly said focus while driving is of prime improtance . dont text , talk on phone or do gadget R&D while driving . it is risky and should be avoided . only drive while driving .

drive safe . thanks.

[ch.nathan]

2.SEAT-BELTS:

Maybe this is the thousand'th post in TBHP talking about the importance of Seat-belts. But it's worth repeating another 1000 times.
I used to wear Seat-belt only on highways. But now after this accident I wear it in-city also.
Not only the driver, but the co-passengers also.


3.CHILD-SEAT:

If there is a child in the family, child-seat is the first item to have in the travel checklist.
A few thousands of rupees is no match to the safety of our children.
I am very happy that in my case it has proved its priceless worth.

• The child-seat MUST be in the rear seat of the car, child facing the rearside.
• Never forget to secure the child-seat to the car's rear seat using seat-belts (The child-seat has a groove to insert the car's seat-belt).
• Also move the front seat of the car back till it supports the child-seat to avoid slipping in the event of sudden break.
  I am guilty of not doing this and my son along with the child-seat slipped into the rear legspace when the accident happened.
  Though it didn't cause any injuries, he was under shock.

hi friends ,

had a freak accident today with a tempo driver . i was heading straight line after a green signal and the tempo was to my left .

suddenly he manuovered the tempo to right . i was at the exteme right lane and had no space to take my vehicle to the right . and the tempo rear end cut though my front bumper until the headlamp .

thankfully i braked the vehicle in time and kept the damage to minimum . but it has caused damage to my new vehicle and it feels real bad.

i caught the tempo driver at the next signal . he pleaded sorry . however i am thinking of registering a police complaint against him and his boss . such morons should not be given a license to drive .

lets hope police takes action against them and my car gets repaired without much damage to my pockets .

[YC.BALENO.CHD]

Originally Posted by vihang15

hi friends ,

. and the tempo rear end cut though my front bumper until the headlamp .

Sad to hear it. It really hurts when your new car gets damaged.

i caught the tempo driver at the next signal . he pleaded sorry .

Am amazed he did so. Most of them are rude blokes always ready for fist fights.

however i am thinking of registering a police complaint against him and his boss .

Yes. But only if you are willing to go through all the headaches associated with legal proceedings.

such morons should not be given a license to drive .

Look calling some one a moron is not the solution to your problem. Even you know that it was an accident and the guy didn't do it on purpose.

Who are we to judge whether he deserves a DL or not? We aren't the competent authority. Maybe he too passed a Driving Test before he was issued a DL just like you. Am not of opinion that your driving skills are same as his, just that passing such verdicts wont lessen your loss.

lets hope police takes action against them and my car gets repaired without much damage to my pockets .

What is insurance for? Sure, you'll lose your no claim bonus and all that but still. God forbids but what if instead of that tempo, a tree had fallen on your car and damaged it? Would you had sued Municipal Corporation ?

And if you really do not intend to spend from your pocket, best deal will be to lodge a complaint and then go for an out of court settlement if the 2nd party is willing. Will save you a lot of time and headache and you may get your car repaired soon. I guess you aren't willing to drive a damaged car as long as court gives a verdict on your case?

Regards

[ch.nathan]

What to do in the event of an accident:

1. Don’t panic. I can say from my experience that this is extremely difficult, but try to come back to senses ASAP.
2. Check for injuries on yourself, your co-passengers and others.
3. Move the vehicle(s) and victims out of the road. This will avoid traffic blockage, more crowd gathering and another possible accident.
4. Try to help the victims with with First Aid. Call for ambulance / police if required.
5. Don't ever feed water to the victim. Even if others do this, stop them.
   Most probably the victim will ask for water because of depression, panic and stress causing dehydration. But water at this stage doesn't help in anyway.
6. Lock your vehicle and safeguard other belongings like Mobile, Wallet, etc.
7. Be (or atleast pretend to be) bold and under control.
   Watch-out for the behavior of people around. If anyone gets aggressive, leave the place immediately. Avoid arguments / fights.
   A small hit / push is enough to spark a huge attack on bigger vehicle's driver. When it happens just ignore and divert the crowd.
8. If your vehicle is in running condition and if there is a delay in the arrival of Police, drive to the nearest PS and hand-over.

I did all of the above except no.6.

[ch.nathan]

After the accident:

1. Co-operate with Police, RTO. Arguments will only delay the process.
2. Take back your original documents.
3. Inform the insurance company.
4. Take the FIR copy if it's registered (very important)
5. Don't fall into the traps of Out-of-court settlements (unless if you are a local don).
6. Drive safer.

If there is an FIR filed, you will be called to the court later (in my case it took three months).
It's our choice to pay fine and close or to argue in the case and continue. Since I am always sick of the court, police, etc., I had decided to go by whatever the judge says.
I reached the court at 09:30(morning) and I was called in at 16:00(evening). Once inside, the case took exactly three minutes to close.
The judge read the FIR, asked me if I was ready to pay the fine. I said yes and CASE CLOSED.
I paid the fine to the clerk, got the receipt and ran out of the court premises.

If the third party files a claim case the insurance company has to deal with it.
You don't even have to go to the court - though we may also receive summons if the third party has named you as respondent.
Just make sure that you keep the insurance company informed at all stages and have proofs for such communications.

[Spitfire]

I fail to realise why our law and the courts are filled with so much uncommonsense when it comes to road accident cases.

If the other guy did not have a license, what in the name of justice is it a case in the first place. I might have ran over him when he was riding the bike for all I care. He shouldnt be riding in the first place. Case closed. He can go to hell.

Whoever does not have the license and is involved in the accident is automatically the one to be prosecuted. Who, what, how about the accident comes later.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

I fail to realise why our law and the courts are filled with so much uncommonsense when it comes to road accident cases.

If the other guy did not have a license, what in the name of justice is it a case in the first place. I might have ran over him when he was riding the bike for all I care. He shouldnt be riding in the first place. Case closed. He can go to hell.

Whoever does not have the license and is involved in the accident is automatically the one to be prosecuted. Who, what, how about the accident comes later.

Courts go by what is presented in front of them. Police is to blame, as is the case often, for filing wrong information in FIR.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by sbraj

Courts go by what is presented in front of them. Police is to blame, as is the case often, for filing wrong information in FIR.

DUH??

How is that, the details of the other party are not on the FIR?

[MX6]

Here are a couple of things I saw on the way to office.
On the 4 laned Baner road towards the NH4, I was going on the right lane. There are no dividers and hence a Santro flips over to the other side pushing oncoming traffic to their left lane and tries to over take me. I have a scorpio in front. and 3 bikers to my left.
My Owl sense (like spider sense) immediately told me that there's going to be some issue soon.
In front a few 50 odd feet away I notice an old man (may be in 60s) ambling along casually as though it's a jogger's park. I quickly slow down, signal to the santro guy to slow down too and he get's the cue and slows and falls back in line.
The old man crosses the Scorpio right ahead of him and the scorpio guy (god only knows how could he miss a man crossing the road when I'm right behind him and still noticed in the corner of my eye), completely caught unawares, swerve and stop abruptly.
Luckily, I'd moved out of the right lane in to the left lane and seeing a gap, one of the biker rushes in as the santro also moves to close in. The scorpio guy missed the old man by a whisker, but the biker couldn't stop abruptly and he bangs the scorpio and falls down. Thankfully, the santro guy understood why I signalled and moved out and he managed not to run over the biker who was on the ground right ahead of him.
As I went ahead, I noticed in my rear view mirror, people congregating around the fallen biker to the left of the scorpio and the old man walking nonchalantly over the other side of the road, oblivious to the fact that he caused an accident.
Since the biker sprang to his feet, I realised that it's not serious and didn't want to be another bystander and proceeded to office.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

How is that, the details of the other party are not on the FIR?

I am assuming from the below posts that court was not aware that the other party did not have valid license. Would the FIR itself be valid if one of the party does not have license? Local police would have fabricated some details for the other party. It was a one sided FIR in the first place anyway.

@ch.nathan, was that the case?

Originally Posted by ch.nathan

They filed FIR with the injured party's statement. They didn't take any statement from me.
...
They had booked me in two counts of rash driving and causing grievous injuries.
...
Later I had a chat with the police constable and found that the two wheeler rider didn’t have license and insurance.