[IamNikhil]

CCTV footage from inside the BEST bus which caused the accident in Kurla, Mumbai has been released. Visuals of shocked and panicked passengers. The driver himself can be seen jumping through a window toward the end.

https://youtu.be/tscarRXp8Fw

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by swoosh

Scary accident on Chennai Bangalore Highway, near sriperumbudur.

Originally Posted by krrisdrive

Looks like a heavily loaded speeding truck unable to stop quickly due to the bus taking U turn in a shorter median.

Originally Posted by xenon0025

The frequency and severity of the accidents these days is so high and in most of the cases it is because the drivers miss to follow the basic traffic discipline.

Right policing needs to happen at national level otherwise I see this going further downhill. Wrong side driving, jumping red signals, hogging lanes etc. has become very normal on our roads.

Originally Posted by UD17

In the limited view of CCTV, its looks like the mistake of bus to me. Just my speculation, The bus suddenly came in the frame and got hit by the truck who could not react within time.

I can't understand why we find fault only with the drivers. Yes, they are not blameless, and yes, they and the passengers are the only ones who will suffer for the rest of their lives. But bad road design is the biggest factor leading to this accident, which isn't discussed at all.

This is the Chennai Bangalore highway, the lane on the right is for the fastest vehicles. This 'chalta hai' attitude of making the same lane do double duty as a turning lane is a recipe for disaster. You cannot have vehicles doing both 80 kmph and 0 kmph occupy the same space.

This should not have passed a design review, or a safety inspection. In a saner place, NHAI would have been held accountable. In the world we live in, we can't fix bad design, so we will make it worse by adding a speed breaker that makes a vehicle doing 80 become a flying machine.

[NomadSK]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

CCTV footage from inside the BEST bus which caused the accident in Kurla,

Looks like 4 cameras (Ch-1, Ch-2, Ch-3, Ch-4) on the bus, where’s Ch-3, why that hasn’t come in the public domain when others have. Was Ch-3 on the driver or front facing, which would have given a better idea of what happened in those last few minutes Good luck for the investigation.

Any clue why red light started blinking during the accident.

[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by NomadSK

Looks like 4 cameras (Ch-1, Ch-2, Ch-3, Ch-4) on the bus, where’s Ch-3, why that hasn’t come in the public domain when others have. Was Ch-3 on the driver or front facing, which would have given a better idea of what happened in those last few minutes Good luck for the investigation.

The police have seized the DVR which should have footage from all cameras in question. Let's see if it unearths anything different than the reports and statements that have surfaced till now.

[NomadSK]

This is the lowest a human being can stoop to. I don’t know where as a society we are heading for.

The video shows a person removing the gold bangles of the woman as she lay motionless on the ground after the accident in Mumbai's Kurla, which left seven dead.

LINK

[IamNikhil]

Another instance of what seems to be the driver pressing the accelerator instead of the brake and ending up crashing. The car is a Mahindra XUV 400.

https://youtu.be/_fTyAq1E3SM

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dust-n-bones

. You cannot have vehicles doing both 80 kmph and 0 kmph occupy the same space.

You can! British "Dual Carriageways" have exactly that. They are similar to British motorways in many ways, except that they have crossing and turning traffic. Possibly the engineering has been improved in the years I have been away, but this is how it always was. Speed limit 70MPH. (112 kph).

[worldhover]

Got to know of this accident of an aquintance. Car was Kia Seltos which toppled as per reports

Too sad the infant had to endure this

https://www.lokmattimes.com/maharash...-injured-a507/

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

You can! British "Dual Carriageways" have exactly that.

I'm not saying that nobody ever had an accident that way. But one is expected to look out for what's in front. I had a very nasty moment once, travelling (a bit too) fast in the right hand lane, when some guy came from my right and stayed in that lane. I braked hard enough.

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

You can! British "Dual Carriageways" have exactly that. They are similar to British motorways in many ways, except that they have crossing and turning traffic. Possibly the engineering has been improved in the years I have been away, but this is how it always was. Speed limit 70MPH. (112 kph).

I have a sneaking suspicion our NHAI has adopted this British code, without reading the fine print. In this case, a system useful for (I assume) low density intersections has been applied to Bangalore Chennai highway in Sriperumbudur of all places.

Where the British would use a 'motorway', we the taxpayers pay some 25-30 crore per km, and get a 'carriageway'.

[binand]

Originally Posted by dust-n-bones

This is the Chennai Bangalore highway, the lane on the right is for the fastest vehicles.

This is a signalled junction on the Chennai-Bangalore road. The lane on the right is to be shared with vehicles turning right or making a U-turn.

[skb1811]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Please rethink this. It is very wrong. It is wrong to the point of being potentially dangerous. If you press the clutch when braking, and you have no "engine braking" and the dynamics of the car are altered such that it may be less stable (I'll have to ask someone else to explain this bit).

Explanation here (if anyon wants a quick read):

What is engine braking? It is the friction of the parts, and the compressed air-fuel mixture (before it goes boom) inside the engine that make it want to stop spinning. What makes it spin? Well, for one, the combustion that happens inside it. What keeps it spinning? The flywheel (and the idle controller/your right foot)


So, when you let off the throttle, while moving at let's say, 25km/h in 1st gear, and you let off the throttle, the car starts slowing down to it's idle rpm. (If it goes lower that idle RPM, it stalls)
The higher your RPM, the more engine braking you will have (to an extent, depending on what gear you are in as lower gears have better engine braking)

So, when you press the clutch, you basically disconnect the engine from the wheels. Which means that it won't be slowing you down, and you have to rely on just your brakes. That will mean: More brake wear and tear.

If you do use engine braking, you have to use less braking force from the regular brakes as the engine is helping you slow down. (Yay, this helps reduce brake pad wear)

Anyway, that's all if you use a regular 3 pedal Manual Gearbox car.

If you use an automatic (and I mean PROPER automatics, that use torque converters, whether CVT or Regular Automatics)
These gearboxes don't have a solid clutch per say, they have what is called a Torque Converter, or a Fluid Flywheel. (Imagine 2 table fans sitting infront of each other, and turn one on, what happens? In a few moments, the other fan blades start spinning due to the force of Air pushing it around).

This is basically what happens inside a Torque Converter (TC for short)
It reduces the torque from the engine a little bit as the fluid absorbs it to start spinning. This goes both ways, which in turn reduces the capacity for engine braking.
Mind you, it still works, it's just less effective.

(There is a thing that's called the Lockup Clutch inside the TC, but that only works during higher speeds to remove the torque loss at higher RPM).

[Miel]

In a very tragic incident that happened last evening, December 12th, at about 4.15pm, four school students were fatally crushed by a cement-laden truck, which skidded and toppled on to the children, following a road accident, in Palakkad. The accident happened on the Palakkad - Kozhikode national highway stretch, between Karimba and Kallicode junctions.

The four deceased children, all girls studying in Class 8 of Government Higher Secondary School, Karimba, were walking home after the exams in school, when the tragedy befell them.

It seems the cement-laden truck collided with another truck, which was going in the opposite direction, before toppling on to the children walking by. It was raining and the roads were wet. Reports say there have been many complaints from local residents regarding unscientific road design at the spot causing frequent accidents.



https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kera...-students.html

This is a spot I’ve passed by on several occasions before. The highway is a dual-carriage way, quite wide and smooth. Though trucks and buses are aplenty, you can make good progress. At the said accident spot, the road does widen into a junction which might tempt drivers to make dangerous overtaking maneuvers at speed.





I wonder what all scientific measures could’ve prevented this? Crash barriers protecting pedestrian walkways, maybe. Also, medians to separate traffic in both directions, and of course, proper camber of the road surfaces. If so, there are lots of spots on our national highways which need these. We can always blame over speeding and irrational driving too. However, as part of a growing economy which aims to take top spot, we need our highways to be more conducive to higher cargo speeds, while also giving highest safety and protection to other citizens and users of the roads. There is no one-stop solution!

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by Miel

In a very tragic incident that happened last evening, December 12th, at about 4.15pm, four school students were fatally crushed by a cement-laden truck,

Extremely sad affair. There were 5 of them and one girl survived. Can't even begin to fathom the trauma of the families :(

[tbppjpr]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

Another instance of what seems to be the driver pressing the accelerator instead of the brake and ending up crashing. The car is a Mahindra XUV 400.

Instant torque with brutal power available even in the cheap EVs always scares me and then come incidents like this.

Imagine what would be the situation with the upcoming EVs like BE6/9 etc in the hands of so many unfocused and rookie drivers growing rapidly who take driving as casually as video games!