[Fx14]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

Sometimes my co-passengers get irritated by my pussillanimity. I really do not get the point; it is not that I am going to win a param-veer-chakra sacrificing my life on the road.

Remind them of the scene from the movie "Rush", where Niki Lauda explains to his female co-passenger who was not ready to believe that he was a Formula 1 driver since he was driving the passenger car patiently like an old man.

His comments - "Why should I drive this car fast when I am not being paid for it and there is no incentive to do so?"

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by Fx14

His comments - "Why should I drive this car fast when I am not being paid for it and there is no incentive to do so?"

But then he goes ahead and drives fast when the beautiful lady demands. I do not do that even when my beautiful lady demands . (I will conveniently ignore the fact that I cannot drive like Niki Lauda).

[NG_EV]

Originally Posted by electric_eel

Sometimes my co-passengers get irritated by my pussillanimity. I really do not get the point; it is not that I am going to win a param-veer-chakra sacrificing my life on the road.

I am sorry but I had to go completely off-topic here but even the default dictionary in my phone couldn't find the meaning of the word "pussillanimity". I had to look it up on Google. Here is the meaning for those who were wondering - It is a noun - Lack of courage or determination.

And hats off for the English lesson.

[vinay.sathyan]

Reading this thread everyday is making me anxious when I drive nowadays. I've been driving for close to 18 years now and decently confident with my driving. But now, this thread reports soo many accidents, It's making me very cautious when driving. I keep expecting some two wheeler or a cattle or cyclist from every turning to just come on to the way. I'm getting worried to even hit the brakes hard since a dreaming two wheeler will come and bang the car. Its like the seeing the movie series "Final Destination" and getting worried every time you see a truck in a highway. This thread is even more scary because these are real life instances.

Of course I'm in noway blaming anyone posting here, its been so helpful and so good for awareness. I'm just sharing my thoughts with fellow bhpians.
I hope to not look at this thread for a while

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by vinay.sathyan

Reading this thread everyday is making me anxious when I drive nowadays. ... ... ... It's making me very cautious when driving.

I don't think that accidents have got any worse than they were, but perhaps our coverage of them is less restrained, and I can no longer stand the gory stuff. Just can't watch it, let alone discuss it afterwards.

But caution is the best result. Being aware of all those possible accidents around us, that you mention, is the best way of helping to prevent them. It sounds to me that you are getting a good result from reading this thread

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by vinay.sathyan

Of course I'm in noway blaming anyone posting here, its been so helpful and so good for awareness. I'm just sharing my thoughts with fellow bhpians.

Yep, awareness is the key. A good majority of road users are not aware of basic road usage patterns, like which side to walk, importance of traffic signals, blindspots of larger vehicles etc.

Also remember that Accidents is an even smaller percentage compared to 'Just miss' cases.

Many a times, if those who 'just miss' by a whisker are even made aware of how close they were to being wrecked, it would have made whole lot different in their driving perspective.

Just like we say for road rage, the post accident consequences are simply not worth the excitement achieved with rash/negligent driving.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by RGK

A major crash occurred today on the Dharapuram-Palani highway in Tirupur District, Tamil Nadu. This road is one of the shortest route for Bangalore to Kodaikanal. It was a head-on collision and the car was ripped apart by the impact. It is a two-lane road and, as expected, overtaking without judging the speed of the opposite vehicle seems to be the reason. Five occupants in the car died on the spot .

A very tragic accident. The newslink adds that none of the now dead occupants were wearing a seat belt. They were in the 45- 65 age group. It's a pity that even at that age people (so called matured) do not tend to follow the basic safety guidelines. And the one who was driving Mr Tamil Mani was 50, and preliminary reports say that the car was speeding. Again, it was a 850 Kg metal (including those Maruti quality plastics) versus a seven and half plus ton monster.

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

Was that a WagonR? May the departed souls rest in peace!

Yes indeed, most, most likely a Wagon R.

Five killed after car collides head-on with tanker lorry in TN's Dharapuram

http://dhunt.in/QJ2Hg?s=a&uu=0x4a09defdfbda8a93&ss=pd
Source : "The New Indian Express" via Dailyhunt

[RGK]

Originally Posted by ex-innova-guy

Which car was this?

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

Was that a WagonR?

Yes. It was a WagonR. The straightness of this road, and a smooth surface, makes drivers even more eager to pedal. According to the villagers, the accidents have become common due to the excessive and irrelevant speed.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I can no longer stand the gory stuff. Just can't watch it

Sir, I have photoshopped the drivers face in the first picture

OT: My local home is only 15 km away from this spot and have travelled umpteen times on this road.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by ShortShifter

Attachment 2530738

Maruti engineers right now...

Manager - How did this happen?
Engineer - You only said NCAP does only frontal crash test
Manager - But many times Tbhp wale also shows front banged up, how?
Engineer - Sir that Engg was never hired sir.
Manager - So what do you do here?
Engineer - I am the rear crumple zone engg sir...

[krishnakumar]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Five killed after car collides head-on with tanker lorry in TN's Dharapuram

http://dhunt.in/QJ2Hg?s=a&uu=0x4a09defdfbda8a93&ss=pd
Source : "The New Indian Express" via Dailyhunt

Key excerpt from the article:

Preliminary investigation revealed that the car was speeding and none of the occupants was wearing seat belt.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Attachment 2532568
Maruti engineers right now...
Manager - So what do you do here?
Engineer - I am the rear crumple zone engg sir...

Maruti's rear crumple zones save only the engine bay. Happily we dont have rear engined Marutis. Just can't imagine the hot engine pushing itself through the occupants in such cases.

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Just can't imagine the hot engine pushing itself through the occupants in such cases.

Quite literally a hot knife slicing through butter.

Maruti made an absolute howler with that 'crumple zone' thingy and I think their management might just want to even ignore it happened. It's not dying any time soon as long as salespersons are parroting the same spiel all over the country though.

I once had a Honda salesman in Chennai tell me that all sedans are safer than all hatchbacks, because they have a larger crumple zone in the front and the rear. I had to struggle to keep a straight face.

[Asish_VK]

Originally Posted by fordday

I am going to describe an accident from the year 1985. And I am sure none of you have come across or heard such a thing.


...son came down and saw the tragedy. X died on the spot.

I can't imagine the trauma he the kids, especially the son must have gone through! Poor soul.

I'm finding it difficult to shift the image from my mind now.
This accident is a reminder of how careful one should be near any kind of machine.

[anjan_c2007]

Here's a video shared by YouTuber Prateek Singh showing two Hyundais' encounters with a stray bovine and a Nilgai (an antelope or blue cow as these are called) respectively on different occasions on different highways.

The first, an i20 ducks a stray bovine in the dark, as its being driven at a low speed. The stray has strayed right into the middle of the road.

The second one could have been tragic.The Creta driven at 100 kmph or maybe more a few days ago, on a highway near Pilani, Rajasthan, encounters a wild Nilgai during dark. The animal is hit by this speeding Creta, which in turn also hits a pole. The frontal impact damages its face and engine bay beyond recognition. But the occupants emerge without any injuries. Its airbags get deployed, saving the lives. The passenger cabin is quite intact. Nilgais are too bulky and a full sized animal (as seen in the video) could weigh upto 300 Kg or maybe more. As these are bluish black in colour, visibility at night or during bad weather is low.

We have another instance here where a Creta has saved lives of its passengers.

https://youtu.be/lWqwj3zx0rY?feature=shared

[rohantn]

Originally Posted by fordday

I am going to describe an accident from the year 1985. And I am sure none of you have come across or heard such a thing.

This reminds me of an near miss I had, but nowhere as tragic.

One day, when I was mowing my lawn, the blade of the lawn mower broke and flew from under the lawn mower and got embedded into a tree trunk in the garden.
If it had flown in a different direction and hit my leg, the consequences could have been severe.

The blade had got bent previously when I was mowing, when the blade hit a ground level tree stump. This caused the blade to vibrate when using the lawn mower. I had used a wrench and straightened the bent blade, which caused the vibration to stop. But I'm assuming that I must have introduced some weakness into the metal.

Sharing this experience, if it may prove a useful lesson to someone...