[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

The long distance trucker is the least of my worries. In over thirty years of driving on Indian highways.

Well, make that 13(at least sounds similar...) years of my pan-India driving experience and it is the same view here.

[shankar.balan]

unsafe to me means the humble maruti van - a square shaped, little tin box, mounted on tiny wheels,with a high centre of gravity, an engine which is too powerful for it. We know the self same van is used for all manner of purposes, to which it is singularly ill-suited.

add to this a remarkable propensity for toppling over and there you have the most unsafe vehicle possible on Indian Roads.

Now mix this with the normal scenario of loony drivers and you have a profusion of lovely, potential time-bombs ticking away towards certain destruction of themselves as well as a number of passers-by all over the country!

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

We know the self same van is used for all manner of purposes, to which it is singularly ill-suited.

But what a car it is for crowded inner cities! I remember driving it in the heart of Calcutta back in 1988, in the narrow roads with the exotic English names, and being able to make the quickest progess that any car could have made there. It was a blast to drive in that environment! And I recall carrying 5 others in reasonable comfort too. Trust the Japanese to teach the world about maximizing space utilization. For that application, it left all other cars in the dust. And if you know those streets, there was no safety compromise involved either.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

But what a car it is for crowded inner cities! I remember driving it in the heart of Calcutta back in 1988, in the narrow roads with the exotic English names, and being able to make the quickest progess that any car could have made there. It was a blast to drive in that environment! And I recall carrying 5 others in reasonable comfort too. Trust the Japanese to teach the world about maximizing space utilization. For that application, it left all other cars in the dust. And if you know those streets, there was no safety compromise involved either.

Agreed!

But they are most ill suited for carrying school children or for speeding on the highway with load.

[mrkanitkar]

When we talk about most unsafe vehicles on road, we need to be specific.
1. unsafe to pedestrians
2. unsafe to occupants
3. unsafe to other vehicles
4. unsafe at what speed 60 kmph, 120 kmph
We also need to divide them in categary, like by cars (segments A, B, C, D, SUV), bike, Trucks, buses
We also need to consider facts vs perceived value. People may think one vehicle is safe but labrotary tests
may have facts showing that vehicle is safe enough.
We may have award as "most unsafe vehicle of year" in each type of vehicles, we can have facts vs perceived ranking.
Ranks can be 1 as safe and 5 as most unsafe one. I need help some one define 1 to 5 rank.
Like
Maruti 800 -
a. unsafe to pedestrains - 1
b. unsafe to occumpants - 4
c. unsafe to other vehicles - 2
d. unsafe at 60 kmph - 1, unsafe at 120 kmph - 5
Note: all values are perceived values by owners.
We can finally have "perceived value" for all vehicles. We will get to know most unsafe vehicle in each segment.
Somewhere we need a list of most unsafe vehicle in each segment. The list will include all vehicles running on Indian roads,
no matter they are locally built, CBU or anything.
Do you agree?

[lin-jo]

In my opinion, the most unsafe 'vehicles' of destruction/damage are the drivers on our roads who have no sense of respect for life of others. Once in their cockpit, they feel anything they do is right - cut across others, speed through inspite of seeing a person in front attempting to backup a little to complete his u-turn, overtaking though three cars behind the slowest one in front, tailgating while overtaking.
With this kind of behaviour, however safe/unsafe the cars may be, it just does not matter !!

[Parm]

some vehicles sold and used in India are far way behind in terms of safety for its occupants as well as for the pedestrians, compared to vehicles sold in developed countries like in europe and north america and else where.

some basic safety features like airbags, ABS, seat-belts, impact absorbing bumper and chassis etc etc are lacking in most of the higher volume vehicles sold in india.

i would not blame the OEMs, cause these safety features when added increase the price of the vehicle which is already higher due to the tax/duty by the govt.

even rich customers or potential car buys dont want these "balloon" wali gaadi cause thats extra!

for example a car like i20 (1.2ltr engine) with full option is way beyond reach of average buyer and the price dont justify the VFM, but it does justify Value for Life!

how many of us forum members have ever used rear seat belts? (dont say your vehicle dont have them!)

i would put the blame partly on the govt and the end user cause govt need to lower the duty/tax and consumer needs to demand these life saving devices!

we indians always look for saving money when buying a vehicle, so these so called extra features costs extra money, thats how we avoid them!

for me any car which lacks airbags, ABS, front & rear seat belts, impact/collision absorbing front and rear ends and rear defogger is an unsafe car on indian roads! (also the idiot drivers!)

[McLaren Rulez]

Ah don't worry Parm. There was a time when ABS was something only on Mercs. Cars will get safer very soon. Make no mistake on that front. Who'd have ever bought a Swift ZXi a decade back? But as for roads and driving habits...

[anjan_c2007]

My car was just following this dreaded tractor loaded with steel rods, till a level crossing in Raipur city when it overtook it. Several accidents have occurred earlier in our country, when these steely things pierced through windscreens of cars and were fatal for the car's occupants.

[amtak]

Originally Posted by Parm

how many of us forum members have ever used rear seat belts? (dont say your vehicle dont have them!)

Every member of our family is belted in my car. all the 5 seats are having seat belts and each occupied is strapped on to them whenever we venture out in our car. No questions asked. Me, and my brother always used to wear it, then mom got into the habit;now wifey dear and sis in law too.

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Ah don't worry Parm. There was a time when ABS was something only on Mercs. Cars will get safer very soon. Make no mistake on that front. Who'd have ever bought a Swift ZXi a decade back? But as for roads and driving habits...

Swift wasn't there a decade back. Jokes apart, yes, most of us now know the importance of life and are taking a serious look at the safety aspects of a car

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

Cars will get safer very soon. Make no mistake on that front. Who'd have ever bought a Swift ZXi a decade back? But as for roads and driving habits...

There is also another angle to this. My language may be not quite right for this different approach, so bear with me if its clumsy.
I think all of us have an inbuilt, personal to ourselves, risk budget or appetite that remains the same regardless of how safe/unsafe the car is. To explain:
If I know I am driving in an unsafe car, I adjust my driving habits to leave that budget untouched, by driving more carefully. In a car I feel safer in, my driving becomes less safe, to make full use of my risk budget.
As in - if I feel safer in an SUV, I will drive it differently from the way I drive a sedan. If I feel less safe in an SUV, I will do the same, but in a different way.
Or, if I know that a car has ABS/airbags, the security of knowing that will, by working subconsciously, adversely affect my driving style to become less safe. Another different but related example, about 4x4. There is a wide spread belief that 4x4 drivers get into more trouble than the 2wd ones, in terms of getting stuck, instead of the opposite, because the 4x4 thinking takes them to places that are more than their/their cars capability, while the 2wd ones will take more care in the first place, knowing they do not have 4wd.
What this would mean, if true, is that no amount of gadgetry is going to impact the road death/injury statistics in India. The culture has to change for that to happen.

[vikrantj]

I agree with Sawyer .
My 2 cents on this is that technology advancement has made roads more dangerous. I mean look at some years back the only two wheelers on the road were Bajaj Cubs and the likes and mopeds like Luna who were incapable of going over 40-50 so automatically made then more safe while riding. And look at todays bikes and scooter I do not recollect name of even one scooter which is below 100cc which makes them faster and therefore more dangerous.
Technologies like ABS etc give confidence to some and over-confidence in others (usually the one's who see a youtube video of a BMW tested with and without ABS) but what is not realized is the limitations of these technologies and the conditions under which they work perfectly.

[amitoj]

One of the most unsafe vehicles on the roads are the Sumo cabs on highways with aftermarket crash guards. These crash guards are dangerous not only for people outside the vehicle but also for those inside it as these crash guards bypass the vehicle's crumple zones and transfer the shock directly to passenger cabin.

[nilanjanray]

Heavy vehicles and small vehicles in Bangalore are dangerous for other drivers.

Traffic sense in Bangalore is bad compared to in Mumbai. Most big/slow vehicles drive on the right/fast lane, two wheelers, autos and even larger vehicles think nothing of taking shortcuts in the opposite direction, and people don't have any sense of overtaking from the right side. After driving for many years in Mumbai, I felt that Bangalore is like a small town that has suddenly become too big for its boots - people still have the small town mentality ('anything goes' while driving). In fact, I feel that this is more of a Karnataka problem - when I drive from Mumbai to Bangalore, I see the truckers maintaining correct lanes, but when I drive on Mysore road, I see all the big vehicles driving on the right lane.

Sorry for the rant, but everytime I drive, the wrong lanes and oblivious grinning faces driving on the wrong direction makes my blood pressure go up. I am often forced to overtake from the left, which increases risk for my car occupants, as well as other people on the road.

Don't agree about the autos in Mumbai - at least they are far more disciplined than their smaller town counterparts. The common problemn with autos is that they turn suddenly without checking to see what is coming behind them. But in Mumbai, autos do maintain lanes.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Traffic sense in Bangalore is bad compared to in Mumbai. Most big/slow vehicles drive on the right/fast lane, two wheelers, autos and even larger vehicles think nothing of taking shortcuts in the opposite direction, and people don't have any sense of overtaking from the right side. After driving for many years in Mumbai, I felt that Bangalore is like a small town that has suddenly become too big for its boots - people still have the small town mentality (anything goes). In fact, I feel that this is more of a Karnataka problem - when I drive from Mumbai to Bangalore, I see the truckers maintaining correct lanes, but when I drive oin Mysore road, I see all the big vehicles driving on the right lane.

Spot on!!
Have driven in Bangy for the past 7 years and in Karnataka since birth.

Have also driven Bangalore - Pune many times by now and I totally agree that those same truckers maintain lanes. This may not be fully visible unless you cross Chitradurga as those mine trucks (the main culprits) deviate towards bellary from here and the actual Highway drivers (Trucks) behave themselves.

On Bangalore-Chennai and Bangalore-Mysore road, the same truckers ensure sticking to the fast lane and overtaking from left is the only choice.
Forget them, even the KSRTC buses stick to the right. But NWSRTC buses beyond Haveri on NH-4 all the way till Mumbai know that the left lane is for them and move over as soon as they finish their overtaking attempt.

In the city too, BMTC buses, even if there is a next stop within a kilometer, they drag themselves to the fast lane and swiftly change to the slow lane while stopping - without any indication.

Then you have Ricks, Tata Ace, Minidoors and TATA 407, fully loaded (read overloaded) crawling at speeds below 40kmph on the fast lane. When you honk for a while and finally overtake them (from left), and look at their faces, they are not at all bothered as if what they are doing is absolutely right