[AntPaul]

I was in a parked car barely 30 meters away when this accident happened. It happened at around 3:30pm in noon. I heard the sound and saw the aftermath. While the car did not seem to be damaged too much(the undercarriage must have taken quite a beating), it threw a few large concrete blocks by a couple of feets.

The Swift seemed to be tailgating a white sedan who could have approached the toll booth staying in between 2 lanes and switched to one lane at the last moment. The Swift might not have had enough time to react. Otherwise there is no reason to climb that divider in broad day light. There was no hard braking sound.

I was waiting in the footpath for about an hour. The toll booth is extremely confusing and almost half of the cars were entering wrong lanes then having to drive back the wrong way to enter the correct lane. It was also surprising to see the number of vehicles lacking fastag.

[topse]

This accident happened today near Kannur town in Kerala. I was passing by the road, observed three damaged vehicles parked beside and one was almost inside a house. I stopped by that area and below is the story.
There was continuous heavy rain since the last few days and road had little traffic while the accident happened.
According to the local bystanders the fortuner was coming at a very high speed, it lost control on the slippery road and directly hit two vehicles parked beside the road before breaking into a boundary wall of a nearby house. The damages it caused can be seen.







Roof and rear side of the maruti 800 was completely destroyed while the tata indigo took the major frontal impact, also the rear bumper of indigo was damaged due to collision with an electric pole and the electric pole collapsed. Lastly, the toyota fortuner took the major front and rear impact as it directly hit those two vehicles and then the boundary wall of the house.

http://youtu.be/Q4O46G5jv5o

[WhiteSierra]

Sorry for going I don't think this is an accident, it looks more like a mechanical failure. What might be the issue here? Is it a broken chassis or a broken cab or broken suspension component (like front leaf springs, torsion bar, etc)?

[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

Sorry for going I don't think this is an accident, it looks more like a mechanical failure. What might be the issue here? Is it a broken chassis or a broken cab or broken suspension component (like front leaf springs, torsion bar, etc)?

Ladder frame chassis has given way. Cause can be a number of things.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by topse

This accident happened today near Kannur town in Kerala. I was passing by the road, observed three damaged vehicles parked beside and one was almost inside a house

This report has CCTV visuals of the accident. Unfortunately, the accident also claimed the life of a person who was sitting in front of one of the shops at the accident site.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by topse

According to the local bystanders the fortuner was coming at a very high speed...

A blacklisted Fortuner in fact. I didn't quite get the reason mentioned.

[sparky@home]

I saw this video on you tube showing a shooting set of a recently released crime thriller Malayalam movie ‘Forensic’. This was a climax set of the movie and a VW Polo hits an excavator that was parked on a highway for maintenance work at high speed and flips couple of times before landing upside down on the road. This video shows exactly how it was done and it is pretty amazing to say the least, the stunt man who so ever it was, definitely has to be appreciated. They must have fitted a roll cage for the driver, for sure.

https://youtu.be/UxxJyGQ9yW8

Mods: If this is old news or unnecessary. Please delete.

[blackwasp]

Thanks to Yasser Nadaf for sending these images in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP page!

Would like to share a positive story about vehicle safety which is mostly never taken seriously apart from just how many airbags a car has, instead of how good is the structure's rigidity.

On the way to Belgaum. The car toppled & fell into the water drain pit. There was a lot of water that ran into the cabin standing upside down as it was pouring.

All 4 passengers walked out by opening the doors safely & scratch-less. You can see them standing in one of the photograph.

The accident occurred due to heavy Rainfall at 21:00. The driver could not see the divider & ran into it, the wall was not painted & didn't have any reflective paint on it as seen in the photo. This is a big concern on Indian road.

You can notice how well this car is built as the structure of the 'A' pillar was not bent nor the roof. The build quality of Skoda is fabulous. The deformation of the doors is also seen clearly where the shape of the frame is as it is, that's why they could come out from the doors.

The car is now at the Skoda workshop taken by the free of charge RSA service that came with the vehicle.

The owner is happy that he is alive because it was a Skoda. Rest the photos are self-explanatory.

[CARDEEP]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Thanks to Yasser Nadaf for sending these images in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts]

I remember seeing a program on TV on automobiles's structure & role in safety. There was a MB S-Class that was driven at 200+ kmph on the autobahns. It loses control on a curve & rolls over, bit the driver (sole occupant) walked out unharmed. In later part of program, it was explained that the car had rigid C-Pillar which avoided cave in of the roof & thus no harm to driver.

I'm not sure how many vehicles are tested for this, but definitely the Europeans, particularly the Germans score good on this. This also explains how the Skoda's driver & family are safe.

I believe few Tata accidents/ rollovers had similar results. This is a good sign re Indian manufacturers.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Isn't it basic for a car to have built-in roll protection? Isn't that why soft-tops have roll bars?

over fifteen years ago, a friend, shortly after passing his UK driving test (he's Indian) took a trip off a UK motorway and rolled four times down the embankment. He was driving a Nissan Micra --- and he was fine. Although the emergency services were surprised to find him unhurt.

[airbus]

Originally Posted by topse

According to the local bystanders the fortuner was coming at a very high speed, it lost control on the slippery road and directly hit two vehicles parked beside the road before breaking into a boundary wall of a nearby house.

Originally Posted by StarrySky

This report has CCTV visuals of the accident. Unfortunately, the accident also claimed the life of a person who was sitting in front of one of the shops at the accident site.

Reckless driving by the Fortuner driver. When would we learn to adjust speed based on surface condition

It appears that Fortuner would have toppled had the Indigo not present at that spot.

[topse]

Originally Posted by StarrySky

Unfortunately, the accident also claimed the life of a person who was sitting in front of one of the shops at the accident site.

Really very saddening to know that it resulted in a death.
I was driving through that road from the opposite direction of the fortuner just a few minutes later when the accident happened, we could have become the victim if we were a few minutes ahead.

Originally Posted by balenoed_

A blacklisted Fortuner in fact. I didn't quite get the reason mentioned.

That fortuner is on bank finance as well, become backlisted just within 3 years, may be he is a repetitive traffic rule breaker.

Originally Posted by airbus

Reckless driving by the Fortuner driver.
It appears that Fortuner would have toppled had the Indigo not present at that spot.

Indeed. Fortuner is loaded with almost all modern safety features. In Kannur most of the roads are not suitable for driving above 50 kmph including that strech, on which I drive frequently. It was a rainy day and since last few days there was raining pretty heavily including sudden thunderstorms.

We three were going towards Aralam wildlife sanctuary as an weekend destination on my ford.
We saw many people gathered and three mangled cars. So we stopped by to enquire. No person was there in any of the damaged vehicle, might be they were taken out or moved to hospital already.
According to the bystanders and from the footage it can be understood he was driving not less than 100kmph. Only a drunkard or a mad person can drive on that road (which is a market area as well ) at such speed.
I feel saddened about the fact that an innocent life was lost due to the recklessness of the fortuner driver.

[venbas]

Truly pathetic driving by the fortuner on such a dripping wet road that guarantees aquaplaning. An innocent life has been taken out by this serial rule breaker of driver. Dreaming of the day when such blatant violators are slapped with wilful manslaughter charges and get jail and a heft penalty to make them go broke for generations.

[Keeleri_Achu]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

Thanks to Yasser Nadaf for sending these images in.

This could be a very crude thought/analysis. Experts do correct me if you think I'm wrong.

Aren't rollovers in a way 'safer' compared to head on or overlapping collisions? I've heard Jeremy Clarkson say something which goes something like "Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that's what gets you." Now I don't remember the context, but evidently it's simple physics. In any crash, if you're able to decrease the momentum of your vehicle, the chances of survival and reduced injury increases substantially. In almost all rollovers, even when the actual crash looks violent, you could see occupants walking out of the door. As the energy is dissipated somewhat gradually.

A few months ago, there was a video of a Baleno doing a couple of rolls, in this very thread. Both the occupants walked out without much harm. Even before that, there were pictures of a mangled Ignis from Punjab. The post mentioned that the occupants were unhurt. I would say buckled up passengers (all of them) helped, more than the build quality of the vehicle. Sure, it helps being in a tank like Skoda, but even if one of the passengers remain unbuckled, he/she could either be thrown out, or worse, hit other passengers who buckled up.

Posts like these remind me that the effort I've to put to make my co-passengers, especially the ones at the back buckle up, is always worth it.

[vvivek85]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr8RuGGSo1w

Trying to board tractor while on motion. What on earth was he thinking??