[Durango Dude]

Very sad incident indeed. Some 15 years back police "encountered" a noted rowdy in my locality. Mind you this is one of the best residential localities in south Chennai. This happened in broad daylight and on a busy stretch near a hospital. There were cops swarming all over the place and keeping the public out of harms way. One stupid cyclist was warned that a "shooting" was going on and to stop, that guy thought there was a movie shooting happening and ventured into the scene and got caught in the cross fire and died on the spot. Some how, this incident brought memories of that shoot out. People like to check out what's going on if they are restricted from entering a certain place no amount of marshaling can control that.

[Axe77]

People are just plain idiots with zero respect for any instructions or rules. One woman and child have lost their lives because of this man's foolishness. Very sad indeed.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Samba

Really do not know who will be blamed now- Gaurav Gill or the marshal/organizer's. I do not find any fault of Gaurav Gill. The marshal's should have been stricter.

I do not expect the villagers to understand the risks involved in motor-sports, so the organizers have to take care of it.

According to reports Marshals stopped the biker, but he fought with them and snuck through when they were not looking.
Not much they could have done I guess.

Very Tragic though. I hope its not followed by blanket ban on rallying. Rallying is already considered a "Rich man's play" in India, and is always subject to lots of controls and obstructions. This may actually be a a strong blow to the sport.

[AMG Power]

It's getting worse. Gaurav Gill booked for culpable homicide:

https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-n...xjzK6zPZN.html

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by SRN

Very unfortunate :( But the photos in the thread shows a Polo as well. Whats the story there? Anyone any idea?

Cars are setoff with 2 minutes interval. After the initial accident, Gill and Musa were themselves injured to warn the other car, this led to the second accident. This was on a blind curve.

Usually in case of any incident on stage, the driving crew will have to warn the other competitors using warning triangle or using the stop sign in the road book.

Gaurav Gill booked for culpable homicide:

https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-n...xjzK6zPZN.html

Standard procedure by the police. Don't think this will have much impact on Gill as much of the burden will be on the organiser than on driver.

It is a different matter if the incident had happened on a road stage, where all traffic rules of the land needs to be followed including speed limits.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

It's getting worse. Gaurav Gill booked for culpable homicide:

https://m.hindustantimes.com/india-n...xjzK6zPZN.html

If the police were informed by the organizers about the requirement of closing the roads for traffic and if this was accepted and approved, the police would be responsible for the incident as well. If the biker had disobeyed the police, then the biker would be at fault.

[Thilak29]

Very sad, especially knowing a kid lost life and surviving driver has to bear the trauma for no mistake on his part.

We could only imagine the reasons that led this trio entering the active race track - ignorance, medical emergency, lack of alternate routes so on.

The complete onus lies on organisers and local admin including the police, lapse is evident.

WRC has a clear guideline on safety while using public roads, unsure if Indian organisers follow such stringent protocol.

[navpreet318]

I'm really surprised to see some of the replies here. It is clearly not the fault of the Driver.

And frankly if the Organizers have done the following it should give them a clean chit too:
1. Gotten permission from local authorities for road closure.
2. Informed local villages about the road closure and rally.
3. Adequate Temporary Warning signs and barriers at all connecting roads.

What more can they do? They cannot erect Steel Structures or concrete walls to keep people out. It's a Rally not a closed course race.
They cannot have manpower guard every inch of the road!
Its a rally and it happens every year. People should have common sense to not to venture out onto a closed rally road where an active rally is taking place.

And frankly if they do and harm comes to them, the Driver or the Organizers shouldn't be blamed.

I'm sad too for the death of 3 people. But to be very clear it isn't the fault of others. Their own doing. We then say this is India and so on and so forth. About time we tighten up our own selves and learn to live in a better way with more common sense.

[AMG Power]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Usually in case of any incident on stage, the driving crew will have to warn the other competitors

That's pretty lame brained - if there is an "incident" isn't there a huge probability that the drivers would be injured so how can they be expected to get out and warn other drivers when they are themselves incapacitated?

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by AMG Power

That's pretty lame brained - if there is an "incident" isn't there a huge probability that the drivers would be injured so how can they be expected to get out and warn other drivers when they are themselves incapacitated?

That's the regulations, this also holds good if the car has a mechanical issue. But in case of accidents, very difficult to enforce.
This is not a closed circuit we are talking about which can be monitored minutely, these are long distance stages where even mobile networks will not be present.
Unfortunately in this case, the initial accident did trigger the second one.

Marshals are warned as soon as GPS indicates issues, this helps them to stop or warn other cars.

[asingh1977]

Sad to hear this RIP. Kind of like the people who come in wrong lane — expecting the public to mind them. A little bit of self convenience = great inconvenience for others.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

According to reports Marshals stopped the biker, but he fought with them and snuck through when they were not looking.

Not the greatest loss to the human gene pool.

[swiftLife]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

If one were to use strong barriers that you are proposing, that would pose a threat for the rally drivers as it may prove injurious/fatal if they run-off the track. I think that while legal permissions are secured, one also needs to account for moral obligations by going to the locals and informing them properly about the event that is going to take place.

I was not suggesting to use strong barriers but usage of something plastic barriers linked together.

My second point was, that just communicating to villagers whereby asking them not to enter is not sufficient IMO. Sections of people who don't even care about stopping at railway crossings, wouldn't pay much heed to such instructions.

Originally Posted by speedmiester

The barricades are nothing but tapes. The stages vary anywhere between 6-25Kms, you can't expect to install barricades for the entire stages. That is impossible.

I fully agree that barricading such a vast area is not feasible. But areas which intersect inner roads should be barricaded.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I'm sure it is possible to block adjoining roads. Not only with traffic barriers, but even with vehicles. A local biker might find a way on some known-to-him path, but he came by a road on which there were marshals.

Access to the track should not have been open to argument: it should have been physically denied and prevented. Safety of the participants, from this kind of risk at least, should be guaranteed.

I do sympathise with members of public who's way is restrained: it annoys me a lot. Back in London, it seemed to be part of the anti-car political environment to do it as much as possible! But, what the biker did is stupid beyond belief.

[KMT]

No amount of barriers can stop this indiscipline.
How often have we seen vehicles driven from the opposite direction on the wrong side of the highway?

Another pity of an incident like this is that there could be a regulatory backlash against rallying on public roads.