[Octane_Power]

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

In response to this incident, our dean took a stringent decision to lay speed humps in the campus every here and there.

Apparently, the barricade in which the Swift rammed reads: Life is (more) precious than time!!

Looking at the damage, it seems he was doing some serious speeds.

-Bhargav

[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by Octane_Power

Apparently, the barricade in which the Swift rammed reads: Life is (more) precious than time!!

Yep, that barricade says " Life is more precious than time and speed " and the sign board which he ran into reads " Slow Down ". Clearly, he didn't care about both

[tbppjpr]

Hema Malini's tweets on the accident:

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by rahulk2510

Just saw this comment from maruti swift official Facebook fan page, mentioning awesomeness of the speed. Some crazy person did 170 kmph on a swift and maruti says "Awesome".

How did he even take that pic ? He was driving at crazy speed and I am assuming that he had his camera / phone in one hand and clicked it or maybe he had a passenger click that for him . Either ways , both are dangerous for him.

[rrsteer]

Regarding the Mercedes - Alto crash, definitely a life has been lost due to ignorance. Why go far, I have a 3 year old daughter and I really had a hard time explaining and convincing my mother who is very fond of seating her grandchild on her lap, the possible hazards of this. But once she understood, she now fully comprehends the risk. Infact, had I not been a member of T-Bhp I myself would have not been so aware of child safety and much less my mother.

It is quite astonishing, but true that apart from T-Bhp I haven't heard about child safety in automobiles from any other source. This is the reality. I assume with all my primary, secondary and tertiary education and even after practicing safer driving habits, I may have not known about child safety in automobiles had I not been a member of T-Bhp.

So how many drivers in India are Bhpians? Yeah maybe the designated agencies and other organizations are not doing their job. But lets take up this cause together. The point is as T-Bhp members, can we start a movement of spreading awareness about child safety in automobiles? How about each member committing to make aware at least one (but ideally many more) new person about child safety every week?

I know I am going to start doing this, this very second onward. Probably, I'll do it for my daughter.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by rahulk2510

Just saw this comment from maruti swift official Facebook fan page, mentioning awesomeness of the speed. Some crazy person did 170 kmph on a swift and maruti says "Awesome".

Couldn't resist replying to this.

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

How did he even take that pic ? He was driving at crazy speed and I am assuming that he had his camera / phone in one hand and clicked it or maybe he had a passenger click that for him . Either ways , both are dangerous for him.

We dont know where this was achieved, could have been at the BIC (minus "I").

Well, innocent unless proven guilty, yeah? Though it would be a 99.9% probability its the latter.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Like most accidents on our roads , all the crashes in this video were easily avoidable. You might say most of these idiots took sudden turns right into the path of incoming vehicles , I will say these crashes could still have been avoided.

Agree. While we could blame one idiot or the other for sudden turns, it helps to slow down at intersections, for your own good. It all depends on what one wants to end up with :
1) Do you want to avert accidents and avoid spending time / money / effort associated with an accident ? If so, drive defensively / anticipatively. OR
2) Do you want to prove that you were right (I was on the main road and have the right of way and the guy coming from the side-road should have slowed down), but end up in an accident leading to loss of money / time / effort and injuries ?

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Some of them even flash at cows assuming the cow will move instead of mooing.

LOL. I wouldn't be surprised if they flashed at cows, because the flashing epidemic is very wide-spread today.

Originally Posted by speedsatya

I always drive assuming everyone around me is an idiot who might crash into me. So it's always defensive driving that I practice.

Exactly the attitude to have.

[harryputtar]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

So how many drivers in India are Bhpians? Yeah maybe the designated agencies and other organizations are not doing their job. But lets take up this cause together. The point is as T-Bhp members, can we start a movement of spreading awareness about child safety in automobiles? How about each member committing to make aware at least one (but ideally many more) new person about child safety every week?

Want to share a quick experience while we are talking about this. Went to drop-off my daughter to school yesterday on my 2-wheeler (prefer to drop off and pick up myself, as none of the school buses have seat belts for the kids, also cannot trust the staff handling the kids with all child-abuse cases hogging the news, sorry for going OT), the school is a short way into a side road from the main road.

On the way out to the main road after the drop-off, I ran into 6 cars all going to drop off their kids, and noticed:

1) Car 1 - a small Maruti hatchback - kid standing in the front passenger area leaning on the dashboard
2) Car 2 - an i20 from the looks of it - kid in the same position as 1
3) Car 3 - fortuner - kid standing between the front seats facing the driver
4) Car 4 - swift Dzire - kid in the front passenger seat - wearing lap belt
5) Car 5 - Vento - kid in the front passenger seat - wearing a complete adult belt, including the strap over his shoulder, clearly uncomfortable and unsafe (that shoulder strap can be the noose in case of an accident)
6) Car 6 - Skoda Fabia - to my pleasant surprise kid properly belted in a car seat on the rear seat behind the driver

So my conclusions, people are definitely getting more aware of child safety as is apparent from 4 5 and 6 above. But still there is a bit of ignorance, like in 5. In absence of a car seat, the safest thing sounds like using lap belts, and always on one of the side rear seats.

For myself, with my bigger car I use 2 separate car seats for my 4 and 1 year old. In the smaller car I am afraid I use lap belts for my 4 year old, and the younger one travels on the wifeys lap. So the rule is to not take the small car any further than very short distances. While writing this, I am starting to get doubts on this decision though, maybe I will need to stop using the small car, or go through the trouble of putting the baby car seat into it every time!

Originally Posted by rrsteer

I know I am going to start doing this, this very second onward. Probably, I'll do it for my daughter.

I am doing this by guiding my friend who is in the process of buying a new car to only go for cars with 6 airbags, and also buy a car seat for his little one which will also work in his existing car.

It is a good start but it does sound like more drastic measures are needed to make our kids safer on the roads! Maybe we should start a petition on change.org and demand legislation to make child seats mandatory in India? Too hopeful?

[Cyrus_the_virus]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

Regarding the Mercedes - Alto crash, definitely a life has been lost due to ignorance.

Originally Posted by harryputtar

It is a good start but it does sound like more drastic measures are needed to make our kids safer on the..

I would just like to remind everyone that the girl sitting in the front seat did not cause the accident. Lets not forget that here. While it's undoubtedly the reason that might have led to loss of her life and the dangers of kids on the front seat cannot be emphasized enough, I cannot believe that Hema is trying to wash her hands of this and blame the alto guy as the cause of the accident.

From the kind of injuries Hema suffered, it kind of becomes evident that she probably went face first into the B pillar which firstly kind of invalidates her whole point about the other person being safety ignorant because it does not appear she herself was belted up. Secondly and more importantly it points to evidence that the Merc was at speeding and suddenly came to an abrupt stop and since Hema was not belted, she continued moving forward face first into the B pillar. If the Merc was under hard breaking, then it's a natural reaction for your hand to raise and hold the front seat to prevent urself from bashing your face up. Nothing of that sort seems to have happened at first glance.

Any which ways, it is unprofessional and Arrogant of her to be the Judge and pass verdicts without the whole truth coming out in a case where she herself is involved. Total arrogance I say.

[sukhoi30]

Originally Posted by rrsteer

It is quite astonishing, but true that apart from T-Bhp I haven't heard about child safety in automobiles from any other source. This is the reality. I assume with all my primary, secondary and tertiary education and even after practicing safer driving habits, I may have not known about child safety in automobiles had I not been a member of T-Bhp.

You are quite right. Many safety aspects of driving can be found in T-BHP forums. In fact, it has helped me to be a more careful and safe driver. My daughter used to insist on sitting in the front seat and lean onto the dashboard. I showed her some clips of accidents and since then whenever she sits in front, she belts up. But, she still has to learn belting up in the back seat.

About tha Alto-Merc case, no media or newspaper seem to have highlighted about the child sitting on the mothers lap and how dangerous it turned out to be. Instead, they lambasted the Merc driver for driving fast. So, what is the message you are giving to the people: drive on the highway at 30kmph because their are idiotic drivers loitering around.

I feel that there should be a proper subject on road safety in all primary, secondary schools which will teach road ethics, traffic rules, rights etc. to the children. Slowly, the children will grow up learning these basics and it will be ingrained into their mind.

[Divya Sharan]

Originally Posted by harryputtar

Went to drop-off my daughter to school yesterday on my 2-wheeler (prefer to drop off and pick up myself, as none of the school buses have seat belts for the kids, also cannot trust the staff handling the kids with all child-abuse cases hogging the news......

Spot on with the observations. That's the literate uneducated junta for you. Rarely do we see good road users.
Lap belts are dangerous for small kids. Child seats/booster seats must be used as and when necessary.

Though I hope your kid had her helmet on and strapped!

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by Cyrus_the_virus

From the kind of injuries Hema suffered, it kind of becomes evident that she probably went face first into the B pillar which firstly kind of invalidates her whole point about the other person being safety ignorant because it does not appear she herself was belted up.

She was travelling in merc S class right ? Does it not come with curtain airbags ?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by GTO

With reference to Hema Malini's accident, it's all the more important for you to buckle up on the back seat of German luxo-barges. Reason? The rear entertainment systems. Instead of the back of a headrest, you smash into a hard, glass display screen.

Hmmm... Could result in eyes full of glass at a walking-speed accident, which is a nasty thought, but it is wrong to think that the seat or headrest in front of a back-seater offers any softness or protection.

Back in the days when I was yet to believe in using rear seat belts, an ex-policeman colleague assured me that it was not much fun picking bits of people out of the framework of car seats.

And the trump card on rear seat belts: Google "Julie knew her killer" and watch the video. You probably have already; it gets frequent plugs here. Which is good :-)

[Cyrus_the_virus]

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

She was travelling in merc S class right ? Does it not come with curtain airbags ?

Not all airbags inflate in all situations. It depends on which sensors are registering the crash. Rear curtains mostly get deployed in side impacts.

Also, that injury from broken glass is not possible as the glass is tempered. either stays as one sheet of totally broken up glass or into really small bits, not the kind that cuts you open.

[drmohitg]

The story had more or less died down in the media. Mrs. Politician should have actually maintained her silence and thank her stars that she is in India where nothing will happen to her other than some media noise being made. With this outburst on twitter, she is only going to be inviting more criticism of her. Blaming the deceased's father is rather distasteful. Ideally she as the owner and passenger, should have instructed her driver to follow the speed limits. And as someone has rightly pointed out above, either the Mercedes seat belts were faulty or she wasn't wearing hers. So blaming the Alto driver for not following the traffic rules is not going to find much takers.