[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Terrible piece of news. Was the car tailgating the truck ahead of it that the truck following the car could not brake in time??

In general it would be better to maintain sufficient gap if any heavy vehicle is in front of you.

First of all seven occupants are beyond the permissible capacity of this vehicle. This is something that is very dangerous but is ignored in India. In addition to the lack of seatbelts and overloading, this creates a distracted atmosphere where drivers either speed to showoff or can't concentrate on the road. Trips related to marriages, pilgrimages and similar events are particularly dangerous and should be avoided in such conditions; it is better to take a train or other transport or skip the event.

Secondly, one has to keep a distance from the vehicle in front at all cost. One should also avoid getting sandwitched between larger vehicles even if it means pulling off for a second to let them go. At the end of the day, it was a tragic accident and sometimes things happen despite one's best efforts to the contrarty but the authorities can at least address overloading of vehicles as a takeaway from such accidents.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

First of all seven occupants are beyond the permissible capacity of this vehicle. This is something that is very dangerous but is ignored in India. In addition to the lack of seatbelts and overloading, this creates a distracted atmosphere where drivers either speed to showoff or can't concentrate on the road. Trips related to marriages, pilgrimages and similar events are particularly dangerous and should be avoided in such conditions; it is better to take a train or other transport or skip the event.

Secondly, one has to keep a distance from the vehicle in front at all cost. One should also avoid getting sandwitched between larger vehicles even if it means pulling off for a second to let them go. At the end of the day, it was a tragic accident and sometimes things happen despite one's best efforts to the contrarty but the authorities can at least address overloading of vehicles as a takeaway from such accidents.

+1

More the overloading, greater will be the stopping distance in case of panic/emergency braking as the brakes will not be that effective.
Prima facie, I suspect the main cause of this accident could have been inappropriate braking due to overloading.

[binand]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Prima facie, I suspect the main cause of this accident could have been inappropriate braking due to overloading.

...and the truck that hit the M-800 from behind had no role to play?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by binand

...and the truck that hit the M-800 from behind had no role to play?

It had. May be the truck following the car was doing decent speed. The brakes of a truck are powerful for sure and may be the truck was loaded to it's capacity.
There is something called STOPPING DISTANCE as a result of which most of the accidents take place. The mass of the vehicle and the speed at which the vehicle is going determines how effective you stopping distance will be.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Tailgating is always wrong. It is often dangerous and always anoying. People may have different definitions for themselves of what tailgating actually is, and may think that they are not doing it if they have left a small gap.

Indeed there is something called stopping distances, and it should be remebered that they are minimum stopping distances, and that a major part of them is reaction and thinking time.


If the person behind is tailgating, double or triple the distance ahead, because we now need thinking/stopping distance for two.


Whilst it is not our fault if the guy behind runs into us, it makes sense, and lessens the chance of tragedy, to minimise the chance of that happening.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by binand

...and the truck that hit the M-800 from behind had no role to play?

And what about the guy who made the first truck to brake hard by doing that idiotic overtaking maneuver. By any chance, did this happen in a ghat section?

Briefly, a truck on a downslope saw an overtaking maneuvre happening in the opposite direction and had to brake suddenly.

[supremeBaleno]

Saw on the news that a Goa BJP MLA's Innova hit a bike, killing the rider and seriously injuring the pillion-rider. Apparently, the Innova was being driven on the wrong side of the road.

Read here that in Goa, car-drivers are let off lightly in case of accidents. Given that this car is a hi-profile one, would not be surprised if this is brushed under the carpet. I believe cops are already working in that direction.

[WasavaTyres]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I believe cops are already working in that direction.

Was this bit about cops working in that direction on the news ?
Apparently the politician wasn't traveling in the car when this unfortunate incident happened.

[supremeBaleno]

^^^Yes, based on the news about which section the case was registered under.
As per the news, he was in the car - he said he was going to the airport to catch a 8:30 flight and this happened at ~7.
So there is a possibility of overspeeding / rash-driving to catch the flight. Apart from the fact that the car was being driven on the wrong side.

[sumzup]

IMHO, the most common of all today is the LIFE of the Indian common man. On our roads today, it would not be wrong to say that all of us have lost the regard to our fellow human beings and when we elect a representative, I guess it goes without saying what to expect from them. RIP common man

[aaggoswami]

http://deshgujarat.com/2013/11/07/si...sway-accident/

An accident on Vadodara-Ahmedabad Expressway. The car had more than 8 occupants as 3 are injured and 6 have perished in the crash.
Anybody who has travelled on NE1 would know that cars are driven way over the specified speed limit and chances of cars have more passengers than the legal passenger carrying capacity.

The images are there in a leading Gujarati daily, would try to post it later.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

http://deshgujarat.com/2013/11/07/si...sway-accident/

An accident on Vadodara-Ahmedabad Expressway. The car had more than 8 occupants as 3 are injured and 6 have perished in the crash.

As per the article in the link (dated November 7, 2013), they were in two WagonRs, parked on the side of thr road changing a punctured tyre when a truck hit them.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by binand

...and the truck that hit the M-800 from behind had no role to play?

If the car in question had kept a safe distance from the vehicle in front and was not overloaded, it would not have hit the truck in the front. I that case the hit from the back might have been less severe as the car would have moved forward with the momentum.

[ukamath]

Another incident of a speeding driver mowing down two people yesterday on Hosur Rd, Bangalore being reported in Bangalore papers today.

Driver apparently was sleepy in his drive from Chennai to Bangalore

RIP people who passed away.

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/banga...w/47312197.cms

[ramzsys]

Originally Posted by ukamath

Another incident of a speeding driver mowing down two people yesterday on Hosur Rd,

http://www.bangaloremirror.com/banga...w/47312197.cms

'early hours of saturday'
'busy Hosur Road near Bommasandra'

That explains it all. Does anyone drive @< 80 kmph in this stretch before coming to a screeching halt at the first signal of the city?

And none respects that signal in the early and late hours. There's no visibility at night too.