[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I haven't been on the dreaded NICE road from a long time. But have they had any plans of installing a barricade in between the two sides of the road anytime? I don't know which fool left a huge space between the two sides of the road and call it an expressway...
...The dip in terrain in between the roads will make things worse. If a driver dozes off and ends in this ditch, the next moment his car will be flying Motocross style into the opposite lane.

Although even I feel that a raised median is better, I wouldn't call this kind of median a risk. These kind of medians exist in many other countries too and why doesn't accidents occur there? I feel it is more of our senseless driving that result in accidents more than the median design. Actually there has been research results that state that this median design is better in avoiding cross-median crashes hat the usual raised medians.

...Such incidents where vehicles turn up on the opposite side of the road all of a sudden is something not every driver will anticipate. Neither will the speeds be sane enough to get away from the situation...

In this case at least, The vehicle didn't come from the opposite lane. it was on the correct lane, hit something, and then turned 180 degrees and ended in this position.

Originally Posted by tharian

I guess this was the same one reported in the link;
http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...red-goods.html

Yes, by the location and description reported, it must be the same accident.

[bigben]

This Alto was rear ended by a Tata Vista. The Vista was there yesterday but was gone by the evening. The damage to the Vista wasn't too much and the passenger cabin was intact.
The Alto on the other hand was in bad shape. If there were people in the back seat, there would have been seriously injured. Hope all survived.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by bigben

This Alto was rear ended by a Tata Vista. The Alto on the other hand was in bad shape. If there were people in the back seat, there would have been seriously injured. Hope all survived.

I see a Lovato CNG kit in the boot of the Alto. Good thing there was no fire/leakage. Is Lovato the brand Maruti use for company fitted CNG kits? If so, its a good demonstration of the safety of the company fitment.

EDIT: In the last picture, I wonder what the whitish powder is on the bumper area. Maybe someone saw the LPG/CNG tank and sprayed a fire extinguisher over there for safety?

@audioholic - thanks for clarifying its LPG. I can never differentiate the two!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

I see a Lovato CNG kit in the boot of the Alto. Good thing there was no fire/leakage. Is Lovato the brand Maruti use for company fitted CNG kits? If so, its a good demonstration of the safety of the company fitment.

That is an LPG tank. I dont think this one is a company fitted kit. We should somewhat respect the integrity of the tank. LPG tanks are not seamless like CNG and there are higher chances of rupture in such an event which didnt seem to happen here, else it would have been a serious tragedy. Maybe the driver was lucky.

[honeybee]

What is the white substance on the mangled rear frame of the Alto? Residue from a fire extinguisher?

[jpcoolguy]

Witnessed an incident on last saturday morning, when a friend's "stationary" car was rear-ended by a biker. We, a group of 4 friends, along with our better halves, thought of visiting the Kovalam beach (ECR) in the early morning hours and buy fishes, if possible. A new Figo and a Rapid are our rides for the journey.

We had stopped on the left most lane on the bridge, just after Muttukadu Boating, to get a glimpse of the rising sun and to enjoy the scenery. There were also a number of other cars stopped there for the same purpose. Not even 5 minutes passed, heard a loud bang and the next second saw a biker down behind our cars. The guy who was riding a FZ, hit our Figo on the right side of the rear and fallen down. Luckily, there was no injury to the guy but he was shivering the whole time due to the shock of the accident.

My friend, owner of Figo, told that the biker was also enjoying the scenery on the left side and panic-braked on suddenly seeing the car and banged on it unable to control the bike. The biker too confirmed the same. We gave him some water and he was alright - good that he was wearing helmet and a jacket. He was travelling to Mahabalipuram and his friends were travelling on a car before him and he mentioned they are learning to drive. Asked him to call them and they came back in an old Figo - a Zoom Car.

Damage - Figo's broken rear bumper and FZ's broken front mudguard. The mudguard has managed to drill a hole in the Figo's rear bumper. Got the guy's mobile number, and we drove off to the beach. One of his friend took his bike and he hopped on to their car.

Now, have a question - Figo is just 6 months old and he has already claimed a insurance, only last month, to replace the rear LHS door and the windshield which were damaged earlier in some other instances. Now, is it possible to replace the rear bumper under insurance again now?

Pic of the Figo's rear after the accident -

[sjcherian]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Witnessed an incident on last saturday morning....Pic of the Figo's rear after the accident.

The damage doesnt look very severe. Is the bumper loose ? Doesnt appear so. If it has come loose just the clamps to fix it back may be required. Check if Ford can do it else an small garage will fix it up in less than 500 bucks. The hole in the bumper though unsightly can be left as it is as it is small and doesnt really warrant the replacement of the bumper - especially since your friend seems to be accident prone I would suggest waiting for the next larger dent before claiming again.

[poloman]

It is totally unsafe to stop on a bridge for any reason other than a breakdown. The poor bike guy was not at fault here. I am sure the blinkers were not put on either. It is very difficult to fathom whether the car is stationary or moving in such cases.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Now, have a question - Figo is just 6 months old and he has already claimed a insurance, only last month, to replace the rear LHS door and the windshield which were damaged earlier in some other instances. Now, is it possible to replace the rear bumper under insurance again now?

I believe there is no cap on the number of claims you can make within a year. So yes, he can make another claim.

Please do bear in mind, however, that claims will eat away the NCB amount and also too many claims within a year may lead to a higher premium next year.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

Now, have a question - Figo is just 6 months old and he has already claimed a insurance, only last month, to replace the rear LHS door and the windshield which were damaged earlier in some other instances. Now, is it possible to replace the rear bumper under insurance again now?

You can claim the damages and repair work thru insurance. You can go for replacing the rear bumper thru insurance but you will loose out on No claim bonus (NCB) and be prepared to pay a higher premium amount the next time you pay the insurance premium amount.

BTW looking at the snap, the rear bumper has not been damaged that bad. Instead of going thru insurance try to get it patched up by the ASS.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by jpcoolguy

We had stopped on the left most lane on the bridge, just after Muttukadu Boating, to get a glimpse of the rising sun and to enjoy the scenery. There were also a number of other cars stopped there for the same purpose. Not even 5 minutes passed, heard a loud bang and the next second saw a biker down behind our cars.

My friend, owner of Figo, told that the biker was also enjoying the scenery on the left side and panic-braked on suddenly seeing the car and banged on it unable to control the bike. The biker too confirmed the same.

Originally Posted by poloman

It is totally unsafe to stop on a bridge for any reason other than a breakdown. The poor bike guy was not at fault here. I am sure the blinkers were not put on either. It is very difficult to fathom whether the car is stationary or moving in such cases.

So the biker admits his fault but you don't? What made you so sure about who is right and who is wrong?

It's totally unsafe to drive on the roads as you might meet up with an accident. It's also totally unsafe to travel by air or sea as the plane might crash or the boat might sink. It's totally unsafe to stay at home because the building might collapse. Yet we do all these things and carry on with life.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by honeybee

I believe there is no cap on the number of claims you can make within a year. So yes, he can make another claim.

Generally there is with many policies, if not all. Its generally around 3 claims in a year IIRC. Should be mentioned in the policy document

[jpcoolguy]

Originally Posted by sjcherian

The damage doesnt look very severe. Is the bumper loose ? Doesnt appear so. If it has come loose just the clamps to fix it back may be required. Check if Ford can do it else an small garage will fix it up in less than 500 bucks. The hole in the bumper though unsightly can be left as it is as it is small and doesnt really warrant the replacement of the bumper - especially since your friend seems to be accident prone I would suggest waiting for the next larger dent before claiming again.

Thanks for the inputs - the bumper is not loose but it is slightly misplaced in the right side. Looks like can be fixed easily by the Ford ASS. The dent is not bigger but definitely doesn't look nice. For now, he is not contemplating on changing the bumper.

Originally Posted by poloman

It is totally unsafe to stop on a bridge for any reason other than a breakdown. The poor bike guy was not at fault here. I am sure the blinkers were not put on either. It is very difficult to fathom whether the car is stationary or moving in such cases.

As you rightly said, it's totally unsafe to stop on a bridge or a highway, for that matter (without bylanes) and I admit it's our fault to stop on the bridge. The Rapid, which was very ahead of us, stopped early and we also stopped behind to check why they have stopped. And once we got to know that it is just for sight-seeing, thought of moving out asap and before that the incident has happened.

Originally Posted by honeybee

So the biker admits his fault but you don't? What made you so sure about who is right and who is wrong?

It's totally unsafe to drive on the roads as you might meet up with an accident. It's also totally unsafe to travel by air or sea as the plane might crash or the boat might sink. It's totally unsafe to stay at home because the building might collapse. Yet we do all these things and carry on with life.

I have never mentioned that biker has admitted that it's his fault. I was narrating the series of events, lead to the incident, happened to be seen by my friend and the biker too confirmed the same. I mentioned this point in my OP to highlight the importance of paying full attention to the road ahead and being riding a 2-wheeler the risk is too high even though the fault lies with others.

As I said above, it's our fault to stop on the bridge but before moving out realizing it, the incident has happened and were lucky that there were no injuries of any sort to anyone.

[RavenAvi]

Pics taken at a Maruti-Suzuki service center.

Seems to have taken the impact quite well.

Courtesy sidindica.

[Ponbaarathi]

where:Vandalur signal (SH 121)
when: Sept 28, 4 - 4.30 pm
How: A Jeppiyar S.R.R engineering college bus rear ended three bikes which were slowing down for the signal. It seems that the bus ran over a bike and dragged it around 25 feet before it comes to halt. The bus driver escaped from the spot. One guy died on spot and six others were injured.