[TorqueyTechie]

Bear with me for a long narrative. Today on my way to office I met with an accident. I usually goto office in my bike but today had to take my car as my bike was not starting. Started from my place at around 9 AM and I take the forum->St johns->Krupanidhi college -> Jakkasandra -> Agara-> ORR-> Sarjapur route to my office (People from Bangalore can relate to it). Today when I reached Jakkasandra saw huge traffic and deviated towards HSR to take ORR from there. But again was stuck in the jam. So took a right at HSR bus depot and proceeded towards HSR 27th main to go towards Haralur road.

Traffic had piled up at this stretch as well but luckily the intersection was free. So I moved to the middle of the road and was craning my neck to see the traffic coming from my left so that I can complete my right turn and join the traffic. Seeing that it was free I just tried to accelerate and complete the turn when I hear big screech noise and a bang! I had hit a scooter which was trying to move in my opposite direction by overtaking my car.
Attaching a crude representation of the accident.


I moved my car to the side of the road and he too moved his vehicle aside.
Damages :
1. My bumper was broken
2. Fog light too was broken along with the holder.
3. Deep paint scratches on the bumper.

Luckily nothing had happened to the head light. His vehicle had only scratches and little paint damage. Nothing had happened to him. He was only worried that it was his boss's vehicle and he might get scolding and he asked me to pay for that damage alone as otherwise his boss might cut from his pay. Seeing that he was very worried about what his boss might say , I took him to a shop nearby and got him a tea and a cigarette (he wanted it). After five mins I asked him to call his boss and I spoke with him telling him about this incident and told him that I will pay some money for getting the side panel changed if needed. Also gave him my number and told him if incase it exceeds to call me and not to cut from this person's salary.

Asked the guy not to worry and to ride safe. Attaching the pics of the damage.




Drove back slowly to office from there. I will check at couple of places for a quote to get this thing fixed. I am thinking damage to the pocket might be around 10k. Lets see. Thinking back now, I am not sure who is responsible for the accident. I think partly I am to blame myself as I should have again looked properly. If I had stuck to my regular route, probably I would have burnt more fuel, reached a bit late but in the end would have reached office without this drama. As they say, a known devil is better than an unknown angel. Learning's for myself in future.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Traffic had piled up at this stretch as well but luckily the intersection was free. So I moved to the middle of the road and was craning my neck to see the traffic coming from my left so that I can complete my right turn and join the traffic. Seeing that it was free I just tried to accelerate and complete the turn when I hear big screech noise and a bang! I had hit a scooter which was trying to move in my opposite direction by overtaking my car.

Sorry to see the damage to your car.

From your illustration, I presume that your car is the one that has been represented by the Orange rectangle and that you were joining the main road from the side road by turning right. What are the red rectangles which are marked with a red arrow heading left? If this was the scooter, then
1. The scooter was on the wrong half of the road
2. The impact would have been on the right corner of your car, whereas I see the damage on the left corner.

What am I missing here? Based on your clarification, one can probably say who may have been right or wrong.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by swissknife

Sorry to see the damage to your car.

From your illustration, I presume that your car is the one that has been represented by the Orange rectangle and that you were joining the main road from the side road by turning right. What are the red rectangles which are marked with a red arrow heading left? If this was the scooter, then
1. The scooter was on the wrong half of the road
2. The impact would have been on the right corner of your car, whereas I see the damage on the left corner.

What am I missing here? Based on your clarification, one can probably say who may have been right or wrong.

Yes you are right. My car is the orange rectangle and the red ones are the 2 wheelers.

The scooter was at slightly higher speed. So when I started my turn he further moved to his right to move past my car and then come back to his left. That's when my car hit his scooter. And that's the reason you see damage on the left side of the bumper. All this happened in a split second and though my speed was < 10kmph the damage is higher because of the speed he was riding at.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Yes you are right. My car is the orange rectangle and the red ones are the 2 wheelers.

The scooter was at slightly higher speed. So when I started my turn he further moved to his right to move past my car and then come back to his left. That's when my car hit his scooter. And that's the reason you see damage on the left side of the bumper. All this happened in a split second and though my speed was < 10kmph the damage is higher because of the speed he was riding at.

Thanks for clarifying. Based on what you have said, one can surely say that the scooter was grossly at fault;
a) for riding on the wrong side of the road
b) for going around you without waiting for a vehicle to complete a turn that it has already begun.

Rather than you funding the rider/owner of the scooter, it is the scooter rider/owner who would need to make good the damage to your car!

I presume you did not have a dash cam in your car. It is precisely in such instances where a dash cam helps determine the cause of a mishap.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by swissknife

Thanks for clarifying. Based on what you have said, one can surely say that the scooter was grossly at fault;
a) for riding on the wrong side of the road
b) for going around you without waiting for a vehicle to complete a turn that it has already begun.

Rather than you funding the rider/owner of the scooter, it is the scooter rider/owner who would need to make good the damage to your car!

I presume you did not have a dash cam in your car. It is precisely in such instances where a dash cam helps determine the cause of a mishap.

Thanks for your reassuring words. Yep I have already bought a dashcam but it is in US and I would be getting it by end of this month! As I said in my earlier post, I took pity on that guy since he was worried about his money being cut. And in hindsight, I should have been more careful knowing about how the vehicles would be driven when there is lot of traffic.

[DriverR]

Originally Posted by batman

Absolutely; More over, the lady first looks to her right (thru/over the railings), then to her left and fails to check to her right again before riding her 2 wheeler across the road.

Better clip of the same video:

The lady should have looked right once again, at the coming traffic side before moving.

Using the stopwatch timer on my watch, I just did a speed calculation based on the time taken from when the car first appears in view to the point of impact. It took ~2.3 seconds. So assuming the distance from the impact site to point when the car comes into view is 70 meters, then the speed of the car is 110 km/h.

(If I assume the distance from impact to point of visibility if more than 70m, then the speed of the car goes up (ie: if 80m then 120 km/h; 90m is 135 km/h)

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Young people riding fast in city has become a rage these days. While returning from Lonavala to Pune on 15th, at the PCMC stretch, I came across a group of KTM riders. They were probably returning from independence drive. Those who are not aware, the middle stretch is a fast lane, has 2 lanes and bypasses all signals. These guys were all wearing proper gear, but the driving was ridiculous. They way they were cutting through the traffic at high speed was insane, at times passing between two cars, while being just inches away from each.
Even if there is a slight steering input by any of these cars they are cutting through so close, a mere touch will send their bikes out of control and we know how badly it will end up. My car was doing some 70 and they were zipping through, so they must be doing at least 100.

This is the highway scene. I have seen young blood drive in similar fashion within city traffic, irrespective of the brand of bikes they drive. Activas, splendors, anything they can get their hands on. There have been moments where, in my office commute which is barely 2.5 kms, I have seen such insane people coming at great speeds from the right on a right turn, and I had to apply breaks in anticipation of stupidity, and they barely manage to squeeze through my car and the beginning of the divider on the right.

Law Enforcement Agencies should create a portal, where common people & motorists should be allowed to upload videos/photos (as Proof) of such irresponsible driving.

Thereafter, based on the videos uploaded, appropriate punishment (like revocation of License, Fine etc) should be handed out to these idiots.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by batman

Absolutely; More over, the lady first looks to her right (thru/over the railings), then to her left and fails to check to her right again before riding her 2 wheeler across the road.

As they say, for accidents to happen, more than one thing needs to go wrong. What I can figure from this video (chronologically) are
1. The girl apparently wishes to go across the road where it is not expected to be done so by vehicles. She probably rode over the pavement to get to the spot where she stops before she looks around
2. She looks to the right first. However, as you can see, there is a barricade, with vertical bars, which is about 4-5 feet in height. When viewed from the spot where she is and in the direction that she is looking, it is quite possible that she may not have seen the car that hit her, even at a distance
3. After looking to the left, the scooter moves a little to the rear. She was probably on a bump on the pavement. She accelerates a little more to overcome that bump.
4. Once she is over that bump, her focus is right ahead of her. She could have well turned to ascertain if there was anything on the road that she missed seeing, which she didn't.
5. It is at this time that the car appears on the video
6. When she is somewhere close to half way to the median of the road is when she sees the car coming right at her.
7. She could have turned left to avoid the car, but she decided to go straight ahead.
8. This is the time that the car starts to brake, much later than he could have, probably one second. But then, even that may not have given him time to brake in time to avoid impact.
9. In the scare of the moment, she also applies the brakes on her scooter.
10. Definitely the car was traveling at considerably higher speed than normal. One can get the perspective of the speed from the speed that the other vehicles are traveling on that stretch.

IMHO, this was a totally avoidable mishap with faults on both parties.

[tharian]

The sad part about the lady two wheeler getting hit by the Dzire is that people around highways I am quite sure, know the speeds vehicles travel at.
But, they still haven't learnt to judge the speed by looking at a vehicle.

In this case, she will know its risky crossing the highway until she knows it is clear. If a pole had blocked her view, all she could have done was go a step further or just rubber neck to check the road. These are the same people who will cut across to the other side after checking one side is free, without bothering that there is an opposite direction of road as well.

Having said this, I have noticed in my last few highway drives on toll roads, at intersections, two wheelers and pedestrians wait quite a bit till they know the road is completely clear. I have noticed them waiting after I have crossed because there is a vehicle atleast 100 meters behind me. That is a good sign and hope it catches up with all the roads.

[aadya]

I saw this near HAL helicopter division towards marathahalli on the independence day morning. This swift has scratches all over the left side with no major dent(?tried to overtake a larger and slower vehicle), right front wheel and fender having a major hit(probably hit the divider) and cracked windshield(probably not wearing seat belt). No skid marks in the nearby road.
It rained dogs and cats that day morning, few wall collapses in the same stretch. No news in the newspapers either.

[aadya]

This happened in front of me yesterday evening, on the road 100m before Marathahalli bridge from KR Puram. For sure the Truckwallah would have got loadful of abuses. But from his seat it would be impossible to see the car and he was just moving at walking speed. Indica was also moving slowly but did not account for the truck while drifting to the right in order to change lanes. Right rear fender and bumper came off.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by tharian

The sad part ... at intersections, two wheelers and pedestrians wait quite a bit till they know the road is completely clear. I have noticed them waiting after I have crossed because there is a vehicle atleast 100 meters behind me. That is a good sign and hope it catches up with all the roads.

Every such stretch of highway that permits higher speeds would demand its share of offerings as blood, until it becomes relatively safer. This is the price to pay for stupidity and arrogance.

Riding/driving against the flow of traffic on the shoulder, riding/driving on the fast lane against the flow of traffic, running across the road, jumping over the median, bushmen (those who hide in the bushes grown on the median and dart across carelessly) - all these categories of people end up in some accident or the other, often very fatal, until the rest of the populace learn to apply sense, the hard way.

Originally Posted by aadya

This happened in front of me yesterday evening, on the road 100m before Marathahalli bridge from KR Puram. For sure the Truckwallah would have got loadful of abuses. But from his seat it would be impossible to see the car and he was just moving at walking speed. Indica was also moving slowly but did not account for the truck while drifting to the right in order to change lanes. Right rear fender and bumper came off.

The truck has a side proximity view mirror fitted above the LHS window. If it were used correctly, the truck driver could've spotted the car, before it was too late. AFAIK, this mirror is mandatory for tippers

[hemanth.anand]

Saw this on NICE raod on Monday(21st August) just after Kanakapura Road junction. Not sure how it happened but looks like the tyre burst (you can see skid marks)in the first picture and the vehicle veered into the central median and toppled. Total Loss for sure

[wangdu]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

Tyre marks starting at the point of impact doesn't necessarily mean that the driver didn't do anything. It just means that his wheels didn't lock up up until the point of impact. He could have been braking more progressively and trying to shift down the gears until he hit the woman at which point he may have just stabbed the brake pedal fully and caused those tyre marks.

I tend to agree with airbus. I highly doubt the car driver could be doing any sort of progressive braking in such situation esp. when the time to impact was fast reducing (from not more than 2/3 secs) nor would he be adept at it. Instead the driver might not have seen the lady entering the highway due to her being behind the barricades or due to driver's attention not being completely on the road. Then when the driver did get his attention back on the road he went full stomping on the brakes and thus the tyre marks. Had the car driver tried progressive braking (speed would have reduced from 100+ to 60s in 2-3 secs) the lady wouldn't have gone flying. It doesn't make sense to me expecting such rational thinking & technical attempt at progressive braking from a cab/other drivers in such short span.

IMO the lady should have checked/re-checked given that she is going to cross a highway. Wish the lady a speedy recovery. Cheers!

[djpeesh]

Originally Posted by airbus

Not sure if the car driver was paying attention to the road properly. Why did the driver not apply the brake earlier? Tyre marks started right at the point of impact.

The tyre marks are where the driver swerved. The car probably didn't have ABS, and once he jammed the brakes and tried to swerve away, the tyre marks were created.