[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by tharian

What most people do not realize is that the driving dynamics changes when the car is loaded compared to when it has 1-2 occupancy.

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

What most people don't understand is the concept of 'driving dynamics' itself. The majority out there believe everything from a bicycle to container trucks can be operated the same way and will behave exactly the same in all situations.

You can see this when it rains. People don't even know that wet roads need different driving.

[vnidta]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

You can see this when it rains. People don't even know that wet roads need different driving.

The Cab Driver who was assigned on our route had this problem. In fact, he used to go one step further by increasing the speed whenever it rained. His feeling was that the destination could be reached faster when it rains since other road users drive slowly. I still haven't been able to understand his logic or I'm missing something here.

Either way, I have stopped taking the office cab and am carpooling with a colleague. Phew! That's a relief!

[luvDriving]

Originally Posted by vnidta

In fact, he used to go one step further by increasing the speed whenever it rained.

Maybe he felt that he could sliiiide all the way to the office

On a more serious note, driving on wet roads and overall driving is taken as a mundane daily activity to be performed mechanically. Just yesterday at an important signal in Pune (Marketyard for those who know of it), I was witness to a missed accident.

I was in the second row at the red signal. On my right was a dumper truck and as usual, the first row was occupied by the bikes and rickshaws. I say this because even if the first row is all cars, eventually bikers and rickshaws come from all directions and form another row in front of the original first row.

Once the signal turned green, the dumper driver moved ahead and dashed against a biker standing on his left, just ahead of the left wheel. Fortunately there was a huge cry from other people and the trucker applied brakes almost immediately on contact.

The biker fell down but he was safe (no helmet ). He first went to the driver's door and gave 2 slaps to the apologizing driver and then came back to pick up his bike and went away.

Now while it is indeed the dumper driver's fault for moving ahead from standstill without a look around, I wonder whether the biker would have been visible from his perspective since he was right in front of the left tyre. All in all, a bad accident averted.

[Chetan_Rao]

While one would technically blame the truckie for not minding his vehicle's blind spots, the biker also needs to NOT assume that he's visible no matter where he stops. Driving in the vicinity of large vehicles demands extra care to stay safe.

[mayankk]

So here's another rant against bikers.
This guy popped out from behind an auto, and hit my rear-view mirror, post which he careened into the car, and went skidding off. And this is in a local village in Delhi, albeit a main road. He had a lady on board, and being a local, on the smaller vehicle, I was at fault.
A lot of his people started congregating, and I called up the police, who luckily came by in 5 minutes. At the police station, the blackmailing started. One cop brought the fellas accident report, which said abrasions only.
And the guy turned up 2 hours later with a full cast. Even the cops were surprised.
At that point I decided to let this play out. He opened his mouth, and said he needs 50k, as that is his salary.
Couldn't speak a word in english, unshaven, and roaming around at 3 PM in the afternoon on a working day in a tracksuit, and works in retail, ie, front line.

The cops said, you guys reach a settlement, or we file a case.
I said Ill give you 8k, because I was a little worried. After all, its a police matter, and am working with the governement, hence.
He stuck to 50k, I offered 10. Then he threatened me, says 50k now, and then later we will take 50 more.
I now had had enough. I told him take 10k, or do whatever the heck you want. Had to arrange for a call from some connects, since this was now turning into harassment rather than compensation. Also called up a lawyer friend from when I was working at a law firm.
The SI came out, I offered him my car keys, and told the boys, of whom there were about 8-9, that they should give their bike keys, and all papers to the cops. The cops can seize the vehicles since you guys want to file a case even after I have asked them to go to XYZ govt hospital, where I have already arranged for full treatment AND a room. The cops by then were more mobilized, and also had had enough of these guys as well.
These guys immediately faltered. Apparently, no papers with the guys. The boy with the "fracture" could suddenly hop around and get on a bike.
This morning, I got a call again, that they want to go a private hospital, I should give more money. I told him to bugger off.

It was a harrowing experience for the first 2 hours, where I was fully empathetic towards the guy, and the lady who had a cut on her forehead.
The next 3 hours were where I could not regard these fellows as anything more than leeches.

Its a shame to have such lop sided rules, where even the cops agree that its always the fault of the bigger vehicle, even when you have sub-humans like these with licenses roaming around.

This is why people drive away after accidents, I understand now.
I could very easily have driven off, but since i stopped to help in an accident that was entirely the other guys fault, since he came in MY lane, I ended up poorer by 10k as khairaat, and 7 k for a tyre.
Why shouldn't I be selfish?

[hserus]

If it comes to it - especially as you work for the government - tell the guy to go away and ask the cops to sieze both sets of vehicles.

They'd typically disappear given they just wanted to extort money in the first place.

Finally did you end up paying him that 10K? Or even 10 paise?

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by hserus

If it comes to it - especially as you work for the government - tell the guy to go away and ask the cops to sieze both sets of vehicles.

They'd typically disappear given they just wanted to extort money in the first place.

Finally did you end up paying him that 10K? Or even 10 paise?

Thats what I did, and thats what they did, finally. The cops told me later that they didnt have any papers.
I gave them the 10k, yes.
But the whole tamasha was achingly frustrating.

Originally Posted by driverace

Incidences like these, make me wary of driving, altogether!

If you had already decided to handover the vehicle & go ahead with legal process, why did you still pay up 10K?

I am sorry you had to face that situation.

Do you (and others) think, that having a dash cam - perhaps a front & rear view BOTH, could at least help us with a proper proof of "what happened"?

Ace.

Who in India wants to get involved in a court case, unless it can be avoided. We've seen an incident here where one bhpian had an accident, unfortunately fatal for the other guy. 10k is no skin off my back, but I hope that its not taken as means of making money every other day by such idiots.
I think a dash cam would have definitely helped, if not at the police station, then definitely in a courtroom.
I think I ought to get one for both cars pronto.

[driverace]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Thats what I did, and thats what they did, finally. The cops told me later that they didnt have any papers.
I gave them the 10k, yes.
But the whole tamasha was achingly frustrating.

Incidences like these, make me wary of driving, altogether!

If you had already decided to handover the vehicle & go ahead with legal process, why did you still pay up 10K?

I am sorry you had to face that situation.

Do you (and others) think, that having a dash cam - perhaps a front & rear view BOTH, could at least help us with a proper proof of "what happened"?
I have been telling everyone I know, that it is already high-time, everyone get a dash-cam!
I have front-facing dash-cam installed, but now I think, a rear-view dash-cam is also required!

Ace.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by driverace

....Do you (and others) think, that having a dash cam - perhaps a front & rear view BOTH, could at least help us with a proper proof of "what happened"?
......

'Yes' would be the common-sense answer, but in India, one could easily get mugged/manhandled and have the dashcam snatched/destroyed depending on who you get into and incident/accident with.

[driverace]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

'Yes' would be the common-sense answer, but in India, one could easily get mugged/manhandled and have the dashcam snatched/destroyed depending on who you get into and incident/accident with.

Chetan_Rao, I totally agree, sadly enough.
What do you suggest as a "solution" to this, then?

That is why, even though I have a dash-cam installed, my first reaction to this was "I am wary of driving, altogether, more so after reading instances like one faced by mayankk (or stuntfreak- posted few months ago), and many others.."

At the same time, I do not want to accept this under "cost of living/driving with morons around".

Ace.

(Excuse the off-topic post but the post has my genuine concern.)

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by driverace

Chetan_Rao, I totally agree, sadly enough.
What do you suggest as a "solution" to this, then?

That is why, even though I have a dash-cam installed, my first reaction to this was "I am wary of driving, altogether, more so after reading instances like one faced by mayankk (or stuntfreak- posted few months ago), and many others.."

At the same time, I do not want to accept this under "cost of living/driving with morons around".

Ace.

(I am sorry for posting off-topic, but the post has my genuine concern.)

There is no solution to this. It's something we have to unfortunately accept as an expense for doing better.
Based on my experience, if ever something like this happens, call up the cops immediately, and also get to a police station, but that's entirely up to your disposition. As I have seen, empathy is wasted when someone is hell-bent on harassing. I dont condone running away, but now I understand why.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Who in India wants to get involved in a court case, unless it can be avoided. We've seen an incident here where one bhpian had an accident, unfortunately fatal for the other guy. 10k is no skin off my back, but I hope that its not taken as means of making money every other day by such idiots. I think a dash cam would have definitely helped, if not at the police station, then definitely in a courtroom.
I think I ought to get one for both cars pronto.

If you actually bang into the guy and cause severe injuries, you might end up with a court case if you don't compound it between yourself and arrange for treatment. But that's only fair.

Anyone who gets a couple of minor bruises and is out to cheat you by wearing a body cast will hardly want to get his and his friends's vehicles seized and wind up in a court, possibly get arrested for bringing a false case. They are trying to make a quick buck, not hire a lawyer and fight charges of section 191 for perjury, 415 (not 420 which is a different / specific category of fraud) for cheating etc. Lodge a FIR and see what'd happen.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by driverace

Chetan_Rao, I totally agree, sadly enough.
What do you suggest as a "solution" to this, then?
....

It's pretty obvious there's no fool-proof solution to this, but the best workable solution in this lawless land is to have a cam system that's as inconspicuous as possible, and never (EVER) mention it in an argument at the site of the incident.

Use the footage later for (in)formal legal proceedings (police/courts) to argue your point, but going "I have footage to prove you wrong" on the spot to get an upper hand in an argument will worsen the situation more often than not, and you may actually end up with no footage left to show when/where it can actually help your case if the other side is aggressive/brazen/violent/well-connected.

Long story short: Record everything possible, and/but keep it for when/where it will really matter.

My $0.02.

[Leoshashi]

I have two accidents to report.

Accident 1:- My friend and BHPian sumitsinha0280's classmates were heading towards Puri when this happened. Their Ciaz's front tire burst at some good speed and the vehicle hit the divider, flipped to the other side, hit the railing, broke the milestone and landed in a ditch.

Car- Ciaz ZDI+
Causalities- None







Accident 2:- Received this pics on Whatsapp. No other details available.







Regards,
Shashi

[anjan_c2007]

Maharashtra's Transport Minister Diwakar Raote was injured when a taxi (Swift DZire) hit his Toyota Innova yesterday at around 12.00 pm in Lower Parel, Mumbai.

http://www.mid-day.com/articles/road...ident/16839186

He had announced tough steps against traffic violators and the campaign for the same started on January 6.