[GTX+]

Originally Posted by abhishekjoshi84

https://Youtu.be/rprMk6nGOUQ?si=T8ogi1lJ-Dsf8Lfn

Tragic accident on Meerut expressway today. Not sure if the Ertiga driver fell asleep or something else went wrong with him because it seems he did not make any attempt to avoid the collision with stationary truck.

As per the report in today's news paper, the ertiga driver fell asleep.

DME has become a death strip with so many accidents being reported with an alarming frequency.

The primary reasons I feel is the total lack of any police patrolling and action, and total disregard to rules and safety by motorists themselves. What on earth was the truck driver thinking by stopping on the fast overtaking lane??

I use DME almost twice or thrice a week and it not difficult to see that majority of the people have absolutely no sense on driving etiquette and total disregard for rules.

Are we really ready for such super highways, especially ones like DME which are right in the middle of a megapolis?

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by sinharishi

I have just started riding, although it is fun but you are so vulnerable out on the road. My buddy who got me into motorbikes made me buy full gear first!

As you have just started riding, my advice to you is to get a pair of Blind Spot Mirrors affixed to your RVMs. They are available on Amazon for a few hundred rupees..

Once you affix it on your motorcycle RVM. Take it to a parking lot and ask a friend to either walk or ride a Motorcycle or drive a car, and set the proper angle of the blind spot mirror.

If there's a vehicle behind you visible in RVM, the moment it disappears from the RVM, it should start being visible in the blind spot mirror till it comes to your peripheral vision. So you have the complete visibility of the vehicle right behind you till it passes you.

I carry a pair of blind spot mirrors with me during delivery of my vehicle and get it affixed (glued) on the RVM even before the vehicle (2/4 wheeler) gets out of the showroom.

Learn how to use it and trust me, it could save your life some day as it has saved mine. Thank me later.

Below is my new Yamaha Aerox, 3 weeks old with blind spot mirrors. I keep a few pair in my house to gift to friends and relatives who ride/ drive down to my place and I see they might need some education and a pair of those life saving tiny mirrors. Once you use it, you can't do without it.

Ride safe..

And one more thing, be very careful and wary around heavy vehicles such as a business or truck. In city traffic, signal etc avoid being on either left, right or even immediate front of a heavy vehicle. The safe place is to be behind them.

If you have to overtake them then give a short honk, overtake from their right and try to get ahead of another vehicle in front of you so that now there's a buffer vehicle between your bike and the heavy vehicle. This is for city or heavy traffic situations. On highway, steer away and overtake from a safe distance. Always keep an eye on the heavy vehicles front tyre direction/orientation. The way the front tyre is turning gives you the intention of the driver of the heavy vehicle.

Never stop at a blind curve. That's a dangerous place to be. Always stop on a straight road with atleast 50 mtr straight road ahead and behind. That's much safer.

Avoid overtaking from left as much as possible. Inculcate the habit of overtaking from right side. It feels cumbersome, but do practice unless the vehicle is hogging the extreme right lane

Never ever take the empty road ahead for granted and curb the urge to go full monty on throttle. A stray cow, dog, child ,snake, mongoose, sheep cyclist could suddenly materialize in front of you from behind the side shrubs or village road or from now where. And it happens when you least expect it. Be ever alert and mindful.

I believe you have learnt to place your 2 fingers on front brake lever while riding. If you don't ride that way, then practice it. It might come handy during emergency panic braking.

Practice braking on an empty road. Practice & Practice till it becomes a muscle memory.

Learn more about Target fixation and counter steering and again practice and more practice.

And finally ATGATT.

Ride safe

[chaitanyakrish]

A freak accident is reported from Kerala, where a truck hit the overhanging cables and went along with them,pulling a lady biker along with the wires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO01TNGkdR4

https://www.asianetnews.com/kerala-n...lly-sts-sauejk

[lsjey]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

A freak accident is reported from Kerala, where a truck hit the overhanging cables and went along with them,pulling a lady biker along with the wires.

https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=CO01TNGkdR4

This is horrifying and freaky! Hope the lady is alright.

Regards,
lsjey

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by GTX+

As per the report in today's news paper, the ertiga driver fell asleep.

Are we really ready for such super highways, especially ones like DME which are right in the middle of a megapolis?

The Ertiga driver falling asleep leading to the mishap. The mishap can happen on any road, any time with none to sever consequences. I believe the driver is the only one to be blamed here. He should'nt be driving and sleeping at the same. One activity at a time could have kept him alive, but then we don't know the background circumstances and compulsion for him to fall asleep on the steering. May be he had worked all night and this was an gig for some extra money? we don't know yet.

Are we ready for surper highways? Personally speaking, we are not ready for the super highways. The average indian driver / rider who has always been forced to drive/ride in pitiful, pothole filled congested 2 lane roads at speeds slower than 50 Kmph for most of the time suddenly finds himself on a 8 lane smooth superhighway? The roads have changed, but the driving habits, the non chalant ignorance to road safety, the egositic " I am faster than you" and the arrogant "my car/bike is bigger than yours" is so evident and prevalent.

In Goa, there are hoards of superbikes and I am yet to see a single super biker ride within the stipulated speed limits, have some basic consideration to other road users and show some humility. Categorically speaking they all ride over 140 Kph most of the time just snaking through the traffic and appear to be in immense hurry always. I never understood the logic of riding / driving reckless on these super highways, but then perhaps that's their calling and all we can do is stay clear of them.

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by abhishekjoshi84

Tragic accident on Meerut expressway today. Not sure if the Ertiga driver fell asleep or something else went wrong with him because it seems he did not make any attempt to avoid the collision with stationary truck.

Originally Posted by GTX+

As per the report in today's news paper, the ertiga driver fell asleep.

Are we sure that the driver slept off? Thats one of the most common reasoning given by authorities nowadays to close of such accident cases.

To me, it looks like the Ertiga driver realised very late (Or did not realise at all) that the truck was stationary. This can happen very easily on straight highways where the relative motion can cause such illusions.

While driving on highways, even if a vehicle is driving towards us on our lane, opposite to traffic, we will realise the reality only when the vehicle is quite near.

The only one to blame is that truck stopped on the right most lane of a divided highway. How many more lives do these stationary trucks exhume before it's done with!

[autobahnjpr]

I fail to understand why people use normal roads for their dose of adrenaline rush. It would be much better to do it either on a race track or some dedicated isolated place. Riding at such high speeds on normal roads is quite pointless and not only they endanger their lives they endanger others lives too !!

Originally Posted by sinharishi

I have just started riding, although it is fun but you are so vulnerable out on the road. The chap had a insta360 mounted on his helmet that obstructed his view! The more I meet folks on 2-wheelers, the more I see how most of them take it casually!

Ride safe!

[sumitchauhan073]

Minor accidents that i witnessed in last one year.

This happened last year. WagonR driver had the guts to blame and shout at the truck driver.

https://youtu.be/ZTZBkC6bELY?si=R9lx8fz8NICcNf47

This one happened just today.

https://youtu.be/8duKKXhfhjU?si=I23seAcx7Kjn6-C_

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Gansan

I can't imagine how a human body can be severed in half, whatever the impact, unless he was run over by something.

I don't know if I should answer this, but...

It is all too easy. Here's a simple, clean way: stand by a rope or cable that is overstressed. When it snaps, it becomes a whip that will slice a human like butter.

Marine, construction, industrial... it's an accident that happens. I learned this warning when learning basic seamanship.

I'm sure there all too any ways it can happen in gruesome road accidents

[GTX+]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

The Ertiga driver falling asleep leading to the mishap. The mishap can happen on any road, any time with none to sever consequences.

Yes it can happen on any road. My comment about the super highways was not just restricted to this particular incident, but purely on what I see almost on a daily basis. Wrong side driving by small, medium & big vehicles, people jumping medians (right under the foot over bridge) from one end to the other, car, private/state transport buses and the 10-11-12 seater autos randomly stopping in the middle of the road , bikers & three wheelers driving in the middle 2 carriageways where they are banned. Heck, I once saw a man ride his cycle rickshaw with load carrier right in the middle carriageway where cars zoom by at 90-100 kmph.

And to top it all, there is absolutely 0 police presence, forget any enforcement.

Originally Posted by sarathlal

Are we sure that the driver slept off? Thats one of the most common reasoning given by authorities nowadays to close of such accident cases.

To me, it looks like the Ertiga driver realised very late (Or did not realise at all) that the truck was stationary.

I am not sure if you have seen the video. The Ertiga driver is driving in the middle lane and suddenly veers right in the lane where the truck has stopped. There was no other vehicle ahead of Ertiga which may have prompted the driver to go right. So it definitely looks like there is some credence to this theory, atleast in this case.

On a side note, lookin at this video, brought chills to me as I was reminded of my own near miss incident few weeks ago on this very highway (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5724048 (2023 Kia Seltos Facelift Review))

This is exactly what would have happened to me if not for ADAS. In stead of the truck, I might have hit the median as I was in the right most lane.

[GeneralJazz]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

Are we ready for surper highways? Personally speaking, we are not ready for the super highways. The average indian driver / rider who has always been forced to drive/ride in pitiful, pothole filled congested 2 lane roads at speeds slower than 50 Kmph for most of the time suddenly finds himself on a 8 lane smooth superhighway? The roads have changed, but the driving habits, the non chalant ignorance to road safety, the egositic " I am faster than you" and the arrogant "my car/bike is bigger than yours" is so evident and prevalent.

Fully agree with this. There is an excellent example of this near my home-town, i.e. the newly opened Thalassery Mahe Bypass. North KL has had terribly narrow roads for as far as I can remember. The single lane stretch of NH in the northern districts have remained unchanged for 30+ years. The newly opened by pass is a beautiful elevated 6 lane road, and its in absolute chaos now. We drove on it recently just to check it out (I was expecting an experience similar to the highways of TN), and were instantly disappointed by the experience. Slow lorries hogging all the lanes, cars and mini lorries climbing up the entry/exit ramps the wrong way, cars over-speeding and zig-zagging all over the place, even vehicles taking a U-turn in the middle of the road to take a missed exit . People are not used to actual highways and have no idea how to use one.

With the kind of aggressive opposition seen recently to the proposed driving license test changes, I have no hope for any improvements.


A news report highlighting the same.

[UMe]

Originally Posted by GeneralJazz

People are not used to actual highways and have no idea how to use one.

Got got a valid point there and I kinda expected this. But thanks for your in-person experience. This is probably is the first 6 lane road that Malabar Kerala has ever seen and will see for a long time. We have got a lot of unlearning and learning to be done, until then, I would be very very careful on this stretch (especially from KL58s, KL13s)
I am just comparing it to bangalore-mysore highway experience, before and after the expressway. But I think people have now learnt their lessons or did we?

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by abhishekjoshi84

https://Youtu.be/rprMk6nGOUQ?si=T8ogi1lJ-Dsf8Lfn

Tragic accident on Meerut expressway today. Not sure if the Ertiga driver fell asleep or something else went wrong with him because it seems he did not make any attempt to avoid the collision with stationary truck.

I think this is one accident where ADAS L2 with collision warning and collision avoidance could have worked. Am I right ?

[GTX+]

Originally Posted by DCEite

I think this is one accident where ADAS L2 with collision warning and collision avoidance could have worked. Am I right ?

Not sure as we do not know at what speed the Ertiga was moving. The FCW & FCA in Seltos only work if the speed is below 80 kmph.

However, even before the FCA & FCW kicks in, the Lane Keep Assist & Lane Follow Assist would have ensured the car stays in the lane and does not veer out. That would have prevented the collision. I say this from my own similar experience.

[true_sedan]

Originally Posted by abhishekjoshi84

Tragic accident on Meerut expressway today. Not sure if the Ertiga driver fell asleep or something else went wrong with him because it seems he did not make any attempt to avoid the collision with stationary truck.

These newly built expressways are wide, less congested and has great visibility for many kilometres. Our drivers are so used to driving in narrow, congested and low visibility highways that when they see the expressways, their brain goes into relax mode. Eventually, having nothing ahead in front of you to focus on can cause the brain to doze off. This is the primary reason for people falling asleep.