[Maverick_4662]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

What's going on in the video? I can understand the part about removing the auxiliary lights and loud air horns, but why are decorative stickers and decals being peeled off? How are these detrimental to road safety?

The Officials are removing the neon LEDs fitted as surrounds on headlights.
Stickers are being removed as the law needs Private buses to be painted white with blue stripes.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Maverick_4662

The Officials are removing the neon LEDs fitted as surrounds on headlights.

Wouldn't these LEDs act as DRLs? They shouldn't be bright enough to dazzle, I’d think.

Stickers are being removed as the law needs Private buses to be painted white with blue stripes.

Hmm... So not really related to road safety, but enforcing the letter of the law.

[Maverick_4662]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Wouldn't these LEDs act as DRLs? They shouldn't be bright enough to dazzle, I’d think.

Hmm... So not really related to road safety, but enforcing the letter of the law.

You should drive on the narrow Kerala roads sometime. These private buses are an absolute nuisance. The LEDs most certainly are not DRLs and dazzle quite bad at night. Also in either case, Mods to the headlight of a vehicle is not allowed under law.

I'm sure the law did have some rationale behind it. Glad to see it being enforced finally. I recall being to Delhi recently where I could see private buses actually following the white with stripes law. None of this action by Kerala MVD is proactive TBH. The Kerala High court is actually taking road safety and road conditions in the state quite seriously and has the government in it's hooks. This action follows the MVD department being assigned a good portion of the blame with the Transport Comissioner being summoned by the HC to provide answers.

[GKR9900]

When you try to beat the traffic, but gets beaten by physics instead!
The auto driver literally went ultra instinct to save himself. Glad that he's ok.

https://youtu.be/kmjMD414_ak

As a side note, the above video is yet another incident where maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle ahead has saved me. Not easy to do in our roads, but it pays to do it.

[spgv]

Originally Posted by prajwalmr62

If you see the video, there's a guy with the flashing red light waving towards the car (probably around 10 meters behind). Ambulance has its lights on (which is on the roof, so should be visible from behind too). Which is more than anything you'll see on an Indian highway.

You can blame it on hundred different things, but this is plain rash and incompetent driving by the culprit, nothing else. I really hope they get their license revoked.

This is something really serious, no one's talking about. The video clearly shows a guy waving in a way to divert the oncoming car, with a illuminated baton(apparently). The cars shows no sign of braking, slowing down.

[Yash390]

Originally Posted by Ragul

And YET - the driver of the oncoming vehicle did not see that the lane was occupied with an ambulance flashing its lights. Road safety engineering and design and accompanying procedures cannot surrender to a spiteful mentality like yours - "you were foolish so you deserve to die".

Yes there were many things which could've been done to make other drivers aware of it as a breakdown site but they didn't. The road had no dedicated shoulder for them to pull over to, no safety triangle a couple of metres behind them, no hazard lights in use etc. It is a well established fact by now that traveling on Indian roads is extremely unexpected. Every person driving a vehicle has access to news and internet, they surely know about the countless number of road accidents taking place in India daily. Why can't they control themselves and drive in a relaxed manner with 100% focus on the roads ? Is it too much to ask for ? While the authorities were stupid to not cordon off the area with warning signs and whatnot, the driver could've been more alert is all I'm saying.

Originally Posted by Ragul

Rash driving also does not happen in a manner like " I see in an ambulance in my path but I will still speed .. haha!". Except for inexperienced teens or lack of defensive driving or drunk drivers most cases are genuine mistakes - momentary lapses of attention that are fatal. Good thing you folks are not government officials in charge of safety.

As per news reports, the driver was trying to plug his phone in to the charger, so at least this much has been established that he was in fact distracted. Rash driving very much happens in the stupidest ways imaginable. I've travelled with drivers with lakhs of kilometres under their belts who make the most reckless of overtakes, lane changes, texting/talking while driving etc. The word 'rash' means the act of doing something without considering the consequences. It is not always about the driver's experience. In this thread itself I've read several accidents taking place on arrow straight smooth empty roads due to overspeeding and being distracted. People can blame road safety engineering all they want, but in this case, I'd like to blame the driver.
That's it from my side.

Originally Posted by NiInJa

Just heard on the radio that the driver of the car who rammed into the accident spot on Bandra Worli Sea link was trying to plug his phone to the charger when he took his eyes off the road for a few moments. This is bad. When are people going to learn :(

In a country with millions of untrained/reckless drivers, bringing change is impossible. I never had any hope, never will. A poor auto driver doing a slalom in rush hour traffic is equally stupid to a guy driving a ₹2cr Range Rover with a phone on his ear. >99.999% of Indians are completely uneducated with respect to civic sense and have no regard for road safety whatsoever. The situation will not get better, I have already accepted it, about time all members do so. Safe Indian roads is just a utopian concept.

[Yash390]

Spotted a truck accident yesterday on NH48 passing through Gurgaon, no details available. NHAI officials have setup a perimeter with cones. The front left wheel of the tyre had come off. The beautiful 6 lane highway was even busier because of this. The JCB in the pictures was transferring the cargo from the damaged truck to another truck.

[Rohit Kuruvilla]

Originally Posted by tharian

They should be checking for over-speeding and speed governors that have been tampered with. Removing loud horns, aux lamps and stickers on the body are secondary. When will they cops and MVD in Kerala understand this and act on it

Meanwhile in Kerala Row over KSRTC order allowing max speed of 110 km/hr to Swift buses

https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news...m-hr-1.7936532

[Lord-Lannister]

Mumbai: In Freak Accident, Speeding Car Crashes into Ambulance, 3 Other Vehicles on Sea Link; Five Dead - CCTV footage in present in this article
https://www.news18.com/news/india/mu...k-6102103.html

After looking through the footage, it appears that there was guy holding the flashing stick trying to alert the driver of the incoming car, who doesn’t appear to be braking or course correcting at all.

At this point, I wholeheartedly believe that ADAS could have saved lives in this instances, or at least have reduced the severity of the incident either by autonomous braking on behalf of an inebriated or indisposed driver.

Advanced Driver Assistance System is surely and rightfully climbing my must have requirements for my next vehicle.

https://www.synopsys.com/automotive/what-is-adas.html

Automatic Emergency Braking
Automatic emergency braking uses sensors to detect whether the driver is in the process of hitting another vehicle or other objects on the road. This application can measure the distance of nearby traffic and alert the driver to any danger. Some emergency braking systems can take preventive safety measures such as tightening seat belts, reducing speed, and engaging adaptive steering to avoid a collision.

Driver Monitoring System
The driver monitoring system is another way of measuring the driver’s attention. The camera sensors can analyze whether the driver’s eyes are on the road or drifting. Driver monitoring systems can alert drivers with noises, vibrations in the steering wheel, or flashing lights. In some cases, the car will take the extreme measure of stopping the vehicle completely.

Why is ADAS important?
According to the August 2016 Traffic Safety Facts Research Note by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), “The Nation lost 35,092 people in crashes on U.S. roadways during 2015.” This 7.2% increase was “the largest percentage increase in nearly 50 years.” An analysis revealed that about 94% of those accidents were caused by human error, and the rest by the environment and mechanical failures.

The opportunity to reduce car accidents is making ADAS even more critical. Automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, surround view, parking assist, driver drowsiness detection, and gaze detection are among the many ADAS applications that assist drivers with safety-critical functionality to reduce car accidents and save lives.

[ranjitht87]

Originally Posted by sravankrishnan

On another note, such drivers are usually fuelled by the promotion of reckless driving in social media and in real life while calling it 'skill', a phenomenon rather common in Kerala and in other parts of India.

An old video of the same driver. Seems he is encouraged to do the stunt in the video.

https://youtu.be/JHdB0OSKn1k

[ais]

Originally Posted by Ragul

Likely that the driver was momentarily distracted

or nodding his head due to lack of sleep and missed noticing the people and vehicles in his path.

Originally Posted by prajwalmr62

Are you okay with that driver driving your car, when you are in it? It is case of over-speeding and lack of attention, both have been proven very deadly on Indian highways over and over again.

Firstly, these are both beautifully written posts.

Ragul, the difference between DRIVING and any other activity is that there is ZERO scope for deviation- attention has to be on the road 101% (ya, 101) while one's vehicle is in motion. Even in high intensity sports like Squash that I am a coach in, we provide for breaks in attention during a rally. Here, its a matter of wining or losing a championship, sometimes a resultant college admission in the US of A as Squash players get a preference and scholarship based on their performance, and parents can literally fight tooth and nail for this. In driving, it living or dying. So no breaks permitted.

My first question, howsoever silly, to my lawyer for the PIL to fix all that ails our roads was 'can we pray that all government official, judges and politicians be made to drive there own cars?'. Of course I was looking for the easiest fix! Answer was obvious, so I'll take the longer road. But yes, if I could be exempted from the law, I would take action against that speeding bus driver from Kerela in the posts above well before he reaches 97kmph.

I'm going through the DMV Driver Handbook (revising, as taken up matter of sorting out the horrendous traffic situation at Andheri Kurla-Andheri Station- Western Express Highway junction with DCP Traffic), which I had studied before driving in California in 2011. The introduction by the then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger concludes-" Whenever you plan on getting behind the wheel, please remember to pay attention, do not send text messages, be a corteous driver, and never drink and drive." Despite being a trained driver (training included a rap from Dad if I made any error in judgement- likely due to an attention lapse of course), I found this handbook eye opening. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/file/c...r-handbook-pdf is the current version.

Elsewhere I read- "The traffic laws won't protect you, your attention will".

I hope this clarifies.

[Ragul]

A more recent update on the Worli Sea-Link crash:

The driver who crashed into stationary vehicles on Bandra Worli Sea Link, leading to five deaths and injuries to eight others, was issued a challan for speeding on the sea link just five days before the accident. A background check of the accused, Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilkiyas, has revealed that he has 28 unpaid traffic challans worth Rs 28,800. A majority of these are for jumping signals. The 40-year-old accused, who was driving an SUV, was produced before the magistrate court in Bhoiwada on Thursday and has been remanded in police custody till Friday.

[CEF_Beasts]

Originally Posted by Ragul

A more recent update on the Worli Sea-Link crash:

The driver who crashed into stationary vehicles on Bandra Worli Sea Link, leading to five deaths and injuries to eight others, was issued a challan for speeding on the sea link just five days before the accident. A background check of the accused, Irfan Abdul Rahim Bilkiyas, has revealed that he has 28 unpaid traffic challans worth Rs 28,800. A majority of these are for jumping signals. The 40-year-old accused, who was driving an SUV, was produced before the magistrate court in Bhoiwada on Thursday and has been remanded in police custody till Friday.

See any similarity with this case?



Both have/had massive number of challans on their cars, yet were freely roaming the streets fearlessly. And the end result is someone else has to pay for their crimes!

Although according to TOI, it was Irfan Bilkiyas' brother's car which he was driving that night and returning home in from his brother's place.

[Rahul Rao]

Originally Posted by sparky@home

The aftermath of yesterday's horrific accident, wherein a tourist bus rear ended a Ksrtc bus resulting in deaths. The bad publicity for the Police and MVD officials has resulted in this vehicle checking on a war footing, god only knows till when this will continue. I only hope it does continue.

What are they checking, and what all are they removing. Kerala decides for itself without bothering about national rules.
The Dazzle rings fitted around headlights are illegal, as are auxiliary lamps with single point fitting. Three point on body mount lamps are legal as long as the focal point is below 999mm, and standard headlight level.
I see them remove wires for both types.
Air horns with upto 3 trumpets are allowed on National Highways sections that do not pass through city, and toggle switch for switching over to plate horn, or spiral horn is compulsory. MH RTO checks toggle switch during bi annual inspection.

Originally Posted by Rohit Kuruvilla

Meanwhile in Kerala Row over KSRTC order allowing max speed of 110 km/hr to Swift buses

The CMVR act states that Vehicles made after 2018 should have electronic restriction on top speed to any point between 76 and 81 kph as per software limitation (Older Scania buses exempted to 85 as lock below that was interfering with transmission software ) , vehicles made after Apr 2020 also need to have provision to upgrade speed restriction to between 97 and 104 kph as and when E way speed limits are increased.
How does KA RTO decide on 110 kph.

Rahul

[NH08]

A brand new car arrives home and meets its two wheeled companions:

Arrival