[Rohan265]

Originally Posted by StopUnderrides

All papers are telling a coherent story different from yours. It seems to be a clear cut case of rear underride with a truck while overtaking.
Typically this is how it happens:
- Truck moving at 40kph
- Car overtakes at 90kph without honking
- Truck suddenly moves slightly to the right or car driver is not attentive while overtaking
A car’s greenhouse (region above bonnet) can’t take a hit at more than 20kph relative speed thus causing direct contact of occupants’ heads with the truck’s rigid load body.

https://www.mid-day.com/mumbai/mumba...ssway-23241007

I agree with you that this is a rear-underride. However, I believe that the crash summary is different than what you (or most news channels) have stated.
Here is a link with some more crash photos (you can ignore the text in Marathi).
The first thing I noticed was that the car is resting in the left lane i.e. the lane next to the left-side shoulder. This is most likely where the impact took place. Considering that the impact is on the car's left front corner, the truck was traveling/parked on the shoulder when the car hit it. This is quite common on the e-way and that is why drivers are warned to not overtake using the left shoulder. Looking at the car's damage (especially, the tyre) my guess is that the car's driver saw the truck after overtaking another vehicle and tried to avoid the impact before by steering towards the right. The vehicle may have even yawed a bit. I cannot comment on the speed as I don't have the spot measurements.

What perplexed me is that none of the news reports I came across mention anything about the lack of seat belt usage by both the co-passenger and the person sitting behind. Yes, the truck's rear body has intruded the pillars. However, the intrusion is not severe enough to cause injuries to a belted occupant. The Midday article mentions that the fatal victim was in the co-passenger seat. The second photo in the article I have shared shows that the belt is pressing tight against the seat. This indicates that the occupant probably buckled the belt to turn off the alarm and then sat on the belt.
Just like any other high-profile case there will detailed discussion on who to "blame" for the crash. But, nobody will look at the evidence that it was the lack of seat belt usage that killed the occupant and not how the crash took place.

Originally Posted by Fuldagap

I was narrated this incident by a friend who works for NHAI. The narration seems to be clearly wrong after reading the news source posted by you. Thanks!

I thought that NHAI had no jurisdiction over the MPEW since it is not technically an NH.

[StopUnderrides]

Originally Posted by Rohan265

The vehicle may have even yawed a bit. I cannot comment on the speed as I don't have the spot measurements.

It’s possible the truck was parked. From the crush I can only infer that the relative speed was high. Endeavour’s position can be inferred by forensic experts from the debris. My hunch is it’s not an impact against a parked truck . Politicians’ cars are routinely driven at above 90kph and at this speed and given the mass of Endeavour the kinetic energy would be enormous. The truck would have torn apart the entire length of the car. Even the B pillar wouldn’t have resisted an impact against a parked truck at such speeds.

The driver Kadam seems to be telling a false story that the truck hit them from the rear( presumably to cover his mistake)
- The A pillar is broken at the base where it connects to the cowl
- The B pillar has a bend that’s convex to the rear which clearly rubbishes the driver’s comment that the truck hit them from the rear (it’d be bent convex forwards in that case)
- The car’s rear (third row) is intact

[Nalin1]

Originally Posted by Fuldagap

Just heard of a horrific accident of some politician, Vinayak Mete, on Mumbai Pune highway.

A truck came from the opposite direction and hit the politician's Endeavour. He was seated in the backseat and got enough injuries to result in his sad demise. The driver and co driver are alright. As tragic as the accident is, it is unfathomable how the truck came from the wrong direction on the expressway.

Yet another moron behind the wheel crashing and blaming everything under the sun for the mishap

We are all well aware that Indian traffic throws challenges left, right, and centre (literally) all the time. Easy to pick one as the scapegoat.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by N.A.GTC

Eh? The biker is clearly crossing the road at a point where it is illegal to do so. Notice the median and the solid/unbroken white line. Also notice that he seems to be coming against the flow of the traffic.

Yes, the car was speeding. But the biker has no business being on the wrong side of the road and attempting to make a u-turn(?) at that place. Follow the rules, go the extra 100 meters or so, and make a proper, legal u-turn.

Totally agree. Its funny how we just turn blind eye to these illegal things - the biker was clearly at fault and he had no business crossing that road in wrong way.

No denying M2 was very fast for the road and is at fault too, but biker is at major fault.

[anjan_c2007]

An Innova carrying six IIT alumni from Udaipur to Delhi was trampled by a truck that crossed the divider and overturned upon the Innova at Bilaspur near Gurgaon. The accident occurred at 1.30 am while the alumni were returning back to Delhi after a weekend of sight seeing trip to Rajasthan. They were working on Noida and all of them were in their early to mid 20's. Four of them soon succumbed to their injuries.Two of the Innova occupants suffered injuries. The truck was moving from Delhi towards Jaipur.

They must have seen tourist spots during the day and could have commenced their journey to cover the distance during night to facilitate their joining at respective offices today 16/08/22. Night journeys after dark, unless emergent need to be totally avoided on our treacherous highways. These are an elderly person's thoughts but many youngster's prefer night drives. An only caution the Innova driver (had he been very alert) could have taken during daytime would be to change his lane and duck the heavy vehicle (subject to trailing traffic conditions) seeing the truck moving out of control and swerving to the right. As is common, the truck driver has fled from the scene.

Overall, the tragedy is painful as for a frivolous reason young and bright lives were lost.

https://indianexpress.com/article/ci...ghway-8092750/

[speed79]

Originally Posted by Rohan265

I agree with you that this is a rear-underride. However, I believe that the crash summary is different than what you (or most news channels) have stated.

I think the sequence of events that @StopUnderrides has written is correct. And it does not look like a rear-underride accident. It looks like the truck moved right while Endeavour was overtaking from right and was parallel to it or Endeavour moved left and side-swiped the truck while overtaking it.

The first thing I noticed was that the car is resting in the left lane i.e. the lane next to the left-side shoulder. This is most likely where the impact took place.

The car won't stop at the same place where it collided with the truck but would move some distance - left, right or straight depending on several parameters of the crash.

Looking at the car's damage (especially, the tyre) my guess is that the car's driver saw the truck after overtaking another vehicle and tried to avoid the impact before by steering towards the right.

Looking at the direction of front tyre we cannot assess the direction of steering input? The impact of accident could change direction of tyre to any direction.

What perplexed me is that none of the news reports I came across mention anything about the lack of seat belt usage by both the co-passenger and the person sitting behind.

Yes, I agree with your observation about seatbelt. The not-so-much severe extent of damage to the Endeavour and the A, B pillars still being there seems to suggest that there should not have be fatalities if the co-driver and rear passengers had been wearing seat belt.

Doesn't Endeavour have side airbags? And when do side airbags get launched?

[FortunerTRD]

From my fair share of bike riding and car driving on highways learnt and follow few self-rules.
1. Expect anything to jump in front of you during drives. Camel, elephant, bike rider, child, truck anything….So drive or ride defensively.
2. On highways stick at max 100 and that too when you can see the highway for atleast a kilometre.
3. Don’t think only squids on bikes and taxi drivers have bad driving due to being uneducated. Sometimes the educated ones have the greatest of attitude due to the entitled behaviour.
4. Read signs on the highway and respect then. Accident prone sites means slow down and be aware.
5. As I get tired I take more tea/power nap breaks. Neck cushions help a lot here. And if too tired I take a night halt.
6. Don’t be the guy who likes to tell how he manages to cover a distance between two cities in a shockingly low time. There is no prize.
7. If those in the car make fun of your driving then they’re bad company as an irritated driver will put everyone at risk
8. I never race with others or block others. Let the high flyers fly on the highway. Smart drivers are interested in what they do after reaching office or home, not behind the wheel. Drive between two points only to arrive alive with least drama.
9. Don’t drive at night. Humans and most animals are designed by nature to fall off to sleep at night.
10. Every drive is a new drive. No matter how many times you have driven on a particular stretch you can only predict the road condition but the vehicle patterns during the whole trip are different everytime and the risks are new everytime.

[chaitanyakrish]

An under aged boy ( 15 years ) was riding a bike on service lane on a busy highway, fell under the wheels of a bus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XL47FtK2bM

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/stor...702-2022-08-16

I wonder, what is the source of their confidence, even after watching so many such incidents on YouTube/ TV news/ Social Media.

Surveillance had grown a lot now and its very easy to know, how an incident had happened and learn from them. But, what's stopping these guys from learning ?

[binand]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/stor...702-2022-08-16

Linked from your article is this one:

https://www.indiatoday.in/crime/stor...140-2022-08-10

Malarvizhi, a three-year-old child was killed after being hit by a motorcycle driven by Kathirvanan, a 13-year-old boy, near Mangalampet in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore.

I too despair - why aren't lessons not learnt?

[tchsvy]

Originally Posted by binand

I too despair - why aren't lessons not learnt?

Overestimation of own skills!? "I am a better driver/rider than all the deceased drivers/riders."

[Gansan]

^^ In both cases the parents of the boys should be charged with criminal negligence and put behind bars. Then only these incidents will stop.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

An under aged boy ( 15 years ) was riding a bike on service lane on a busy highway, fell under the wheels of a bus.

Did both the motorcycle riders including the one riding the wrong way perish? Is that a one-way or is two-way traffic allowed on that stretch? The opposite motorcycle was too centered on the road instead of being to the side. A case of all holes in the cheese aligning to form a disaster episode.

[ADI7YAK]

Ex-MLC Vinayak Mete killed in Pune-Mumbai Expressway crash.

Few things to mention,
- Car involved, a Ford Endeavour rear ended a truck.
- They started from Beed at 10pm previous night, driver drove the whole time. Time of crash was around 6 in the morning.
- CCTV footage from toll plaza minutes before the crash shows both occupants in the front unbuckled. It is unclear if Mete sat in the front or in the back.
- Driver and security guard survived the crash, though their health condition is unknown.

[Maverick5490]

Originally Posted by ADI7YAK

Ex-MLC Vinayak Mete killed in Pune-Mumbai Expressway crash.


- Driver and security guard survived the crash, though their health condition is unknown.

Both the driver and Security guard are not seen wearing seatbelts as per the CCTV. Must have faced huge impact and trauma injury.

[tbppjpr]

Finally the police seems to have started acknowledging the seriousness of this growing dangerous trend of making reels while driving...






Source: Delhi Police Social Media Page