[SLK]

Originally Posted by Hayek

This is not a expressway, it is an ordinary 2 lane city street. Cyclists don’t have to ride only on the shoulder, they have every right to occupy a lane.

Do you know where I can find a legal position which says cyclist can occupy a lane on a city road?

If what you are saying is true, I think this will be helpful for everyone, because I always thought non-motor propelled vehicles are not part of traffic/ vehicles as per MVA. Of course they can use the road infrastructure, so can a pedestrian but then they are only allowed to either cross the roads (using crosswalks) or use footpaths or cycle lanes only.

Agreed, cars still have to be responsible and save others, but as I said before, there were a lot of things wrong about that scene.

[careind]

Let me start with saying that I am not condoning the behaviour of the Honda city and that The Honda city was in the wrong clearly and should have
Not been doing those speeds
Should have braked rather than swerve

But again, There is always going to be a problem whenever 2 wheeler traffic mixes with 4 and 6 wheeler traffic. It is an accepted fact that overspending is a very existent problem in India. Given that, I can’t even imagine how the cyclist rides in the middle of the road without any sense of self preservation.
What if it was an over speeding bus or an overloaded truck instead of the city ? Apart from the existence or non existence of laws, The one who has the potential to suffer maximum damage needs to be more careful as he is the one who would suffer in the first place.
And drivers of 4 and 6 wheelers should realise that if driven wrongly, it is actually a weapon of destruction and should drive responsibly.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Sorry, but folks who think the cyclist was at fault here should not have a license to drive. This is not a expressway, it is an ordinary 2 lane city street. Cyclists don’t have to ride only on the shoulder, they have every right to occupy a lane.

Originally Posted by nagr22

To all those who are blaming the cyclist for getting hit from behind, please re-imagine this scenario by replacing the cyclist with a TVS 50 or a Yulu miracle or one of those hero electric scooters which cant go above 30kph.

Originally Posted by RohaNN_kWh

I agree there are no rules for cyclists to follow the leftmost side of the lane & they have all the liberty in the world to use every square inch of the road.
BUT BUT, he is a cyclist riding in INDIA and he totally can't be changing lanes (forget lanes, he should not be swerving while on the leftmost side of the road) without looking over his shoulder, cyclists are taken for granted we all are well aware of that (treated like pests on our roads, personal experience).

Would anyone dare ride a cycle in the middle of the road on any road in India?

Originally Posted by SLK

Do you know where I can find a legal position which says cyclist can occupy a lane on a city road?

We can all debate until kingdom come about apportioning the % blame for the accident. At the end of the day, the cyclists/2wheelers/pedestrians have the most to risk, compared to people in 4-wheelers. Harping on rules or proving who has the right to what space on the road etc all looks fine in social media or TBHP, but has zilch value when it comes to real world situations. Just like defensive driving, two-wheelers and cyclists have to practise 'defensive riding', simply because they are at the highest risk, no matter who commits the error.

Two wheeler guys, "Safeguard yourselves". Expecting someone else to follow the rules or car drivers to be non-insane & prudent , inorder to ensure your safety , is naiive.

[Arnav612]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

That cyclist was an idiot by riding in the middle of the road with all vehicles (including the speeding Honda) whizzing right next to him. It's not even like he just by-chance went towards right; from the start of the video (when the truck passed him) he's been wandering in the middle of the road. What was he thinking?

While the police file a case on the car driver, there needs to be a case filed against the cyclist too on grounds of sheer stupidity!

p.s. Perspective of an active cyclist here. You have to take consideration of the road situation, can't act as if you are riding in a park.

Honestly it didn't look like the cyclist was riding in a park. There were other cars too, driving moderately. I'm an active cyclist too and have had quite a damaging incident with a sand patch and pothole. The cyclist was cycling at a speed of his capacity and did you even see how sharply the Honda City tried to overtake to maintain his speed on that kind of a road? No one, not even a biker or a scooter would be able to anticipate that. Usually if we need to be in the lane and a car behind us needs to overtake, they honk or dip, we acknowledge and turn onto the side ASAP. The City driver was playing life games, and he could've even hit another car at that speed. There's lesser stupidity involved wherein the cyclist is concerned IMO, he's at a clear tarmac as well as speed disadvantage but still needs to be on the road.

Either way, our opinions may vary with experience but the fact still stands that there's no harmony or co existence on the road for us. Dedicated cycle lanes have become Auto Stands unofficially. There's close to no implementation measures

[FORTified]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

The cyclist is NOT at fault here, even though he could have been careful. There is no rule of the road that demands cyclists drive to the extreme left, as far as I know. But the City driver was driving rashly, overtaking the 3-wheeler from the left, thereby losing control.

Oh..yes. There is a rule and that is called common sense.
If you are moving slow, it is in your interest to get out of the way of fast moving traffic. Isn't it? To add to that, you should also be aware that roads are filled with idiots who fly low.

[sierrabravo98]

If you are on relatively smaller mode of transportation (in terms of size) on our roads, it is YOUR responsibility to make yourself as small and hard to reach target as possible. Your probability of making it home safe and sound is directly proportional to your success in doing the same.

OR

You will be reminded of this incident every day for the rest your life (i.e, if you survive) from the pain emanating from the injuries suffered in the accident.

As for the penalties suffered by the offending driver. Even the unluckiest driver (after being charged and arrested) would have been offered station bail on the spot by the IO (Investigating Officer) if the driver was not driving under influence of banned substances. After that, the burden to convict would fall on some uninterested (in most cases) public prosecutor who would need to prove that the the driver was indeed driving the car (which can be very difficult if the accused has managed the police investigation). You would not wish the trials and tribulations of the Indian Justice System on the worst of your enemies.

The cyclist in the video would probably have avoided all of the above if he had been 2ft to the left. Is he wrong legally? Probably NOT. Would he want to ride legally with this hindsight: I don't think so.

[SLK]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

There is no rule of the road that demands cyclists drive to the extreme left, as far as I know.

Cycle is not part of Vehicular traffic, is that not rule enough?

I'm sure all of us know, some people consider sitting on/ blocking of roads also part of fundamental rights. Only by that standard, the cyclist had the right to be on the road.

Originally Posted by RohaNN_kWh

I agree there are no rules for cyclists to follow the leftmost side of the lane & they have all the liberty in the world to use every square inch of the road.

No, they don't have that liberty, at least as far as I know. (I would want to know more so that at least I can always be on right side of law).

The debate about rules is extremely important, because legally that decides the punishment. If the cyclist was also 'legally' at fault, Honda guy gets a hit and run, + left overtaking + speeding (if he was). He hit something that wasn't supposed to be on the road, he can be only charged with breaking those traffic rules + once he hit and ran, it also became hit and run.

Its quite funny that people here have pronounced punishment for the Honda driver, without looking at the law. Thank god, there is law! no matter how badly implemented, its not in the hands of prejudiced angry mobs (at least not legally).

[anjan_c2007]

We have seen many accidents here but this is a very, very awful one. The Toyota Innova Crysta driver from Hyderabad, who as it appears was in a hurry to move out somewhere kills his own four year old child who appeared in a playful mood in front of the car, was not seen from the driver's seat and stood there for a very little while. But the child had walked/run quite a distance from the front gate towards the Innova and a vigilant driver would have surely noticed the little one approaching from the left side towards the vehicle. But this 'father' didn't notice his little child at all, it is apparent. When the car parked in front of their home with the driver on his seat, already seated, started to move, the driver surely in a hurry knocked the little one dead. The video in the link shows the gory incident. Unpardonable!

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...ource=inshorts

[anumod]

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

Hit and run case in Madhapur, Hyderabad

An over speeding honda city driver hits a cyclist and escapes from the accident spot. From the video, it looks like the cyclist suffered severe spinal injury.

Sympathizing for the cyclist. Very sad accident. Am I the one feeling that, the cyclist also should have pedaled through the extreme left rather than going through the middle.

[M A D over CARS]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

We have seen many accidents here but this is a very, very awful one. The Toyota Innova Crysta driver from Hyderabad, who as it appears was in a hurry to move out somewhere kills his own four year old child who appeared in a playful mood in front of the car, was not seen from the driver's seat and stood there for a very little while. But the child had walked/run quite a distance from the front gate towards the Innova and a vigilant driver would have surely noticed the little one approaching from the left side towards the vehicle. But this 'father' didn't notice his little child at all, it is apparent. When the car parked in front of their home with the driver on his seat, already seated, started to move, the driver surely in a hurry knocked the little one dead. The video in the link shows the gory incident. Unpardonable!

https://www.thenewsminute.com/articl...ource=inshorts

Shows how the slightest of mistakes can turn your life around. He should be sentenced and put into prison but no punishment can be greater than the guilt he must be feeling now. May his soul Rest In Peace

[whitewing]

Originally Posted by SLK

Cycle is not part of Vehicular traffic, is that not rule enough?

...Only by that standard, the cyclist had the right to be on the road.

You raise an interesting question. Would be useful to know the views from lawyers in the forum.


The MV act of 1988 seems to indicate that a vehicle driver should not inconvenience/endanger a "road user". The term "road user" seems to be a broad one, covering everything from the cow sleeping on the road to a jay walker to a cyclist.

Posting the relevant parts from the act https://www.indiacode.nic.in/ViewFil...ation+2017.pdf

2. Definitions
..
“road user” includes a person driving or travelling on the road in a vehicle or otherwise and a pedestrian

“right of way” means the right of a vehicle or any other road user to proceed in a lawful manner in preference to another vehicle or any other road user approaching under such circumstances of direction, speed and proximity as to give rise to danger or collision unless one grants precedence to one over the other;

“traffic” includes vehicles of every description and other carriages and conveyances, pedestrians, processions, ridden or herded animals, and all other forms of road traffic using any road or highway for the purpose of travel;

Duties of drivers and riders.-
(1) Every driver shall at all times drive the vehicle with due care and caution.
...
(4) The driver and the riders shall take special care and precautions to ensure the safety of the most vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, children, the elderly and the differently abled persons.

Having said that, it probably is in the interest of one's life to avoid scenarios where one needs to test if the diver is "ensuring the safety" of other road users

[Engine_Roars]

If I were the cyclist, I would not drive in middle of the road even if the law said I own the road.

How would the law help if someone had to read that law over my dead body trying to prove that it was not my fault rather i would use some common sense and be on the left side as much as possible and try and stay alive.

[airbus]

Vehicles jumping divider, falling from flyover/bridge are becoming regular these days. Not sure if we can design bridges to hold a heavy vehicle like truck in case it collides with the railing.

Assam: Truck falls into Brahmaputra, driver and helper missing.

GUWAHATI: A truck fell into the Brahmaputra after hitting the railing of the Kolia Bhomora bridge in central Assam’s Sonitpur district early on Monday. The driver and the handyman of the truck could not be traced till the end of the rescue operation in the evening.

Sonitpur SP Dhananjay P Ghanawat said, “It is still not possible to tell how many people were in the vehicle at the time of the accident. The rescue teams have carried out operations throughout the day but could not rescue the persons as the tuck has been located upside down at around 10 m depth under the water and the underwater visibility is very low due to muddy water”.

[Vasanth]

The cyclist is at fault. Period.
I’m not saying this because I am team BHPian or a car guy. I ride cycle too. With cycling gear, helmet, jersey, front and rear lights, doing 30 km or more at a stretch.
I ride on the crowded national highways of Kerala. And I ride on the left most side of the lane. I have experienced myself when I drive my car how annoying 2 wheelers riding on middle of the road can be. The only time I am not on the extreme left is when I am downhill and doing 60kmph or more.

[shravansp24]

Originally Posted by Vasanth

The cyclist is at fault.

Originally Posted by Vasanth

how annoying 2 wheelers riding on middle of the road can be.

I agree that the car driver was rash driving and he has no rights to put down a fellow commuter but the above quote by Vasanth sums it up! 2 wheelers, 3 wheelers and small mini-trucks doing 20-30kmphs in the main lane with 60-80kmph instead of the slow speed lane are simply too annoying especially when there's another vehicle in the slow speed lane completely blocking the traffic. Worst part is headlight flash, horn anything and they won't bulge an inch...