[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

... The only fault of the Thar driver in the above incident is that his car (tyres) wasn't equipped to handle that terrain.

This was drilled into me by my dad as a youngster. The simple question is What causes a skid?

Wet road surface? No.
Ice on the road? No.
Tyres? No.

I don't know how many things I tried or guessed at, but he made sure it was a conversation I never forgot. And here is his right answer...

What causes a skid? The driver.

No, not the snow, no, not the absence of chains, no, not the tyres... The driver.

We drive the car we have, with the equipment we have, in the conditions we have, and we have to drive accordingly. Even if the conditions are actually impossible for that vehicle, it's still the driver that got himself into them.

(The only exception I have ever heard, courtesy of Team-BHP, might be invisible oil spill on the road. Ice, even if it can't be seen, can always be expected according to temperature: some idiot dropping oil over the road cannot.)

Personally, I'd love to be really confident at snow/ice driving. I'm not. Britain is not far enough North. Scandinavian drivers get this stuff in their driving lessons (Teap-BHPians have written about that experience) and have to master it. The only answer is to be super super cautious and avoid over-confidence.

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by MadSnapper

Recently got run off the road by a dude in a black XUV5OO!! Wanted to chase him down but backed off looking at the "Baby On Board" sticker in the back....

Even without the sticker, it might really not be worth chasing down anybody. If you do end up chasing him, you might end up running someone else off the road. You might be that XUV 5OO to some other unsuspecting individual.
At some point, the vicious cycle has to break.
You might as well halt for a water/tea/preferred beverage break, chill out for 5-10 mins, check the car and then get back on the road refreshed. That's what I like doing whenever I come across any annoying driving around me on highways - take a quick break.

And I like what Thad E says. It's the skill of the driver more than the safe build of a car that makes for a safer ride.
I don't know if this has been discussed before here. But I saw a Nexon driving unreasonably fast and cutting in between cars a few months ago on the GST road near Chennai airport. Does owning a car with a 5-star rating give an ego boost to a bad driver? Not that there aren't bad drivers in other cars, but this just got me thinking about it.
I drive Hyundais with no illusions at all about their build quality, so I'm extra careful about maintaining lane and distance, but will having a safer car make me more reckless? I'd like to think not, but I don't know.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Small Bot

Does owning a car with a 5-star rating give an ego boost to a bad driver?

I think sometimes it's ego, other times it's ignorance. There are people that believe that having ABS and the other three-letter-abbreviations that help a car stop and remain stable means that they can push it more, that their stopping distance will be less, etc etc.

My advice is to buy as many of those TLAs as one can get! And then... forget about them. I'd be happiest if I never feel my ABS working, because if it is, I'm already in an emergency.

[Yieldway17]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I think sometimes it's ego, other times it's ignorance. There are people that believe that having ABS and the other three-letter-abbreviations that help a car stop and remain stable means that they can push it more, that their stopping distance will be less, etc etc.

Let's not forget the age old adage in India that more expensive your car is, the faster you need to drive. That's the minimum expectation and brings some perceived superiority ability about their driving skills and their cars. I have heard people say things like - why are you letting that guy on that old Zen overtake you? And I can only imagine how it must be for people driving more expensive and marquee name cars.

Like somehow sitting inside a more expensive car magically removes all the traffic and hazards on the road.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Small Bot

Does owning a car with a 5-star rating give an ego boost to a bad driver? Not that there aren't bad drivers in other cars, but this just got me thinking about it.

I own a 1 star car as well as a 5 star car. My driving remains the same in both. In essence, I still and always will believe that I am a motorcycle rider and any contact will be fatal. That is my attitude towards driving.

If someone thinks driving rash is OK because he has a 5 star car, it is like believing that you can do 10 seconds sprint to a 100 meters just because you bought pro running shoes.

It's always the human rather than the machine/product, be it safety or performance.

[MadSnapper]

"At some point, the vicious cycle has to break.
You might as well halt for a water/tea/preferred beverage break, chill out for 5-10 mins, check the car and then get back on the road refreshed. That's what I like doing whenever I come across any annoying driving around me on highways - take a quick break."

That's exactly what I did - Took a small 2 minute breather by the road side. Hopefully I broke the cycle!!

[sandsun7]

This was caught in my dashcam a couple of months ago.
A BMTC bus nearly runs over a traffic cop who was on duty at Hebbal Flyover!! Should say, the cop was very lucky!

https://youtu.be/7NzGlDczviY

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

This was caught in my dashcam a couple of months ago.

Seems like the bus driver was intent on entering that non-existent space really quickly, before realizing the cop was walking forward and then stopping just in time to give him a friendly bop. It was like an oversized cat bopping its favourite human on the side.
If the bus's speed had been a bit more or if the driver had not braked or if the cop was in front of the bus instead of on the side, it might have been tragic though.
I wonder how these things play out. Bus drivers generally have little culpability in case of an accident involving them, but that's a traffic policeman on the other side. I wonder who gets priority, the traffic police department or the bus driver union.

[Jaguar]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

This was caught in my dashcam a couple of months ago.
A BMTC bus nearly runs over a traffic cop who was on duty at Hebbal Flyover!! Should say, the cop was very lucky!

I always see BMTC drivers flouting rules at Hebbal junction. Once a bus cut me off to take a U-turn right in front of a no U-turn sign. When I confronted the cop present there, he said he is helpless and has been instructed from the top to not question bmtc buses .

Originally Posted by Small Bot

I wonder how these things play out. Bus drivers generally have little culpability in case of an accident involving them, but that's a traffic policeman on the other side. I wonder who gets priority, the traffic police department or the bus driver union.

I feel traffic cops come lower down the hierarchy than bmtc drivers.

[MissionManali]

Happened near Gulmarg yesterday. Received via WhatsApp. Credits unknown. Causalities unknown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adaJGaKV7xc

[CarNerd]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

A BMTC bus nearly runs over a traffic cop who was on duty at Hebbal Flyover!! Should say, the cop was very lucky!

Why was the cop walking in the middle of a busy multi lane road? It is very difficult for the bus drivers to spot them especially in white shirts. They should be wearing bright colored reflective vests for safety all the time. Duty should be done keeping road safety and hazards in mind.

[glovins2004]

As per my experience, it’s not always safe to play Mr Perfect card while driving on our highways, let me narrate an incident, I was on my way to Chennai from Bangalore few months back, most of the section between Krishnagiri and Vellore is 6 lanes. I told my self not to go beyond 100Kmph and no irrational and unnecessary overtaking but relish the drive as always.

It’s a common sight to see heavy trucks occupying middle lane and, in many instances, both the middle and right lane occupied with trucks. In one such situation, I was trying to overtake from right lane and patiently waiting for the truck to give way, I tried honking and flashing couple of times but in vain, I don’t want to keep honking coz it’s not going to make any difference but for sure it’ll fuel my own frustration level.

Well, still I was waiting for the lane to clear, so I can overtake and move on, but in the process of waiting I can see another heavy truck just behind my boot. I was bit nervous at this juncture as I was surrounded by heavy trucks and with few inches of gap to the median. It almost took five minutes for the truck to given just enough gap on the left to dart through. I finally overtook from the middle lane and moved away from the trucks, what a relief, I could finally breathe easy.

While I was in dire strait stuck between trucks, I saw many vehicles zooming from the left most lane.

This might be an option, assess the situation before 100 meters or more, if you see both middle and right lane occupied with slow moving heavy trucks and some more trucks on your IRVM, its better to overtake from the left most lane, but ensure the left lane is clear, no junctions or service road mergers, enough gap between the shoulder and the vehicle on the right, most importantly let your intentions known to the driver on the middle lane and then proceed with overtaking.

It’s easy to say be a Roman in Rome but what if an incident while overtaking from left lane? We are still at fault as per law. I’m contradicting my own statement, even though its going to take couple of minutes, better to be patient and overtake from right lane. However, assess the situation well in advance and don’t get stuck in-between heavy trucks.

Stay safe and drive safe – Cheers Vino

[anjan_c2007]

A Mahindra Thar hits a truck from the rear on the Lucknow Expressway at dawn, gets totalled but the two airbags get activated and the two occupants driving down from Delhi are saved.

https://www.cartoq.com/mahindra-thar...igh-speed/amp/

The Thar is a total loss as it appears. The 2020 Thar was moving at a high speed but the two occupants escaped with minor injuries. It was providence and perhaps the four NCAP stars that this recent launch from Mahindra has earned which helped save the two lives.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

A Mahindra the two lives.

You have to be a special kind of stupid to be able to crash on the Lucknow or Agra expressway.

Kudos to the car for saving these fellows, but looking at the car, I think it's pure chance/luck that they survived.

[avi_swift]

It was a bad Christmas for me as my car got hit by another yesterday. So sadly, now its my turn to post about my experiences in this thread, which I never thought I would have to. We were going to Vegas Mall, Dwarka to watch the Matrix. The mall entrance is next to a roundabout and due to Christmas, the area was jam packed with cars. The arrow indicates the direction I would have taken to go to the parking and the black square shows the area where the accident occurred.



Before we inched under the metro pillar, there was an auto to my right. As I was inching forward, I was trying to take the service road as indicated in the arrow so that I can enter the mall. Now the auto was going right, so he inched a little ahead, while I was planning to go straight to the service road, so I was waiting and inching forward when I got the chance. And suddenly, a BMW X1 decides that the gap is wide enough, so he crept up to my right. I hear some scraping noise and to my horror, I see this car to my right. I honked but the driver could not hear through his windows, so I rolled down mine and banged on his bonnet. This worked and he applied his brakes after this. You can see in the below pictures the part where I banged is free from dust.







Since I could not open my doors, I moved a little ahead once the traffic allowed me to and blocked his way. The guy was not ready to admit his mistake and kept insisting it was my fault which almost drove me mad. Seeing that there was no use arguing with this moron, I walked ahead and got a cop from a kiosk in front of the mall. He looked at both of our cars and told us to drive out of this traffic and call 100 (literally everyone was yelling at me by then since I was adding to the already severe traffic). The cop assured me that now, the guy wont try to escape, so I took an U Turn(i.e. completed the roundabout) and called 100. A police Innova came within 10 minutes. In front of the cops the guy kept repeating that it was not his fault and that I would have to pay for his damages to boot, so the 2 policemen who came told us to drive to sector 17 police station (less than 500m from the place).

At the police station, the officer looked at both the cars, then spoke to each of us separately. I told him if I can file a complaint, to which he said that its possible, but then both of us have to leave the cars at the station for almost 5 days so that they can arrange a technical team who will come and assess the damages to both the cars. I have read in Team BHP about cars getting vandalized at police stations, so I was not ready for this at any cost. I asked them if they can look at the CCTV from the area and he said they can watch CCTV footage only after a formal complaint has been filed, which again meant leaving my car at the station.

The officer advised me to settle it amongst ourselves. By then, I had a good look at the damage to my car. Thankfully, due to less than 5KM/H speed, there was no dent. But sadly the paint was chipped in lots of places. I told him that if the other guy owned up to his mistake and reimburse my insurance NCB, I would be satisfied. This time, he agreed and gave me 1000.



Very little damage to the X1, only the bumper has some paint chipped.



In contrast, my poor car has lost paint on both doors as well as the area around the rear right wheel. I have to get this repaired when I go for the annual servicing in January. The only silver lining is no dent.

Needless to say, Christmas was ruined for us and I have to watch Matrix once it releases on Netflix/Prime.

Few takeaways from my unfortunate incident:

1. If you are a victim in a situation like this, do not waste your energy arguing with morons, instead call for the cops. Note the number or take a picture of the offending car (if possible).
2. Many times we are hesitant to call the cops thinking what may happen. But my experience with Delhi police has been very good. The cops were at the scene within 10 minutes from the call and all of them behaved very professionally with both of us. The other guy was playing victim but after a discussion with the officer at the station, he agreed to his fault.
3. I always assumed that in India, the more expensive cars tend to drive more safely. Not anymore. This X1 was probably less than a month old and I thought it was really weird that someone can drive a brand new BMW like that. Don't cars like these come with front sensors?
4. And lastly, I have decided to get a dashcam. I was dilly dallying whether to get one since I consider myself a safe driver and never test my limit or the car's. But as this incident rudely pointed out, I can get into trouble even after driving safe. I don't think the outcome would have been any different in this case even if there was a dashcam, but if the situation is more serious than this, a dashcam would have been vital.