[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Anand123

This Scorpio had a fall down through a height of about 40 ft, rolled for about 4 times and guess what, Owner (driver) suffered only some minor scratches.

This guy must be lucky for not falling inside the well.

Since Kerala is over populated, its too difficult for the authorities to find sufficient land for road widening projects. Also, both sides of the roads are fully occupied by shops and houses so that its always difficult to drive except for nights.

Regarding drunken driving, AFAIK, Kerala is not that bad because of frequent checking by police though Kerala outshines all other states in alcohol consumption.

[sunishsamuel]

Rash driving skills seems to be part of the essential driver qualification requirements in India ! And the situation in kerala adds up to the misery. Rash driving, bad roads, drunken driving (some are so proud of it) and attitude is one of the reason i decided not to go back to TVM even though i had an excellent opportunity.

I was born and brought up in TVM till college days, with most of my family there and I still find it difficult to manage the drivers in Kerala, including the very close relatives of mine !

Few of my friends seems to be really proud of the fact that they do Trivandrum - Ernakulam in less than 3 and half hours during morning times !!!! Some even uploaded videos of their dare devil acts, driving at 140kmph from Aleppy to tvm.

And people from kerala would know how dangerous that would be !

[.sushilkumar]

Saw a accident right outside my house Y;day Mid Night, which involves a chevy Cruze .
Clearly a case of drunk driving as cruze has turned 180 degree;s before hitting the electric pole in front of my house. Glad , there was a pole else it would have hit another cars , parked neatly in line. remember this is inside society road , in which i live. tried helping guy but he just vanished into his house which was 10 meters away . IMO he must have hit 120 on ODO before realizing that there is a wall in front and he cannot take right turn at that speed.

[mannubhai]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

I think KL outshines all other states put together, atleast on this thread. By god!

4100 people were killed in road accidents in Kerala last year. Also read that there were 3000 odd people who died in accidents in the whole of Britain.

Thats how dangerous kerala roads are.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

4100 people were killed in road accidents in Kerala last year. Also read that there were 3000 odd people who died in accidents in the whole of Britain.

Thats how dangerous kerala roads are.

Actually that figure of 4000 Vs 3000 is not so bad considering ..

1) The population density of Kerala is about four times that of Britain
2) Scant respect for safety in our country compared to Europeans.
3) Less no. of two wheeled vehicles in Britain compared to Kerala

[one-77]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

Actually that figure of 4000 Vs 3000 is not so bad considering ..

1) The population density of Kerala is about four times that of Britain
2) Scant respect for safety in our country compared to Europeans.
3) Less no. of two wheeled vehicles in Britain compared to Kerala

+1
And I'd add the following:
4. Over 80% of those killed or seriously injured are two-wheeler riders or pedestrians
5. The vehicle density on our roads is probably higher than that in Britain
6. The roads are poorly made and maintained
8. Drinking and driving is a norm here
7. Britain doesn't have bus, tipper, or auto drivers or bikers of the sort you'd find in Kerala. They are responsible for most accidents.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

4100 people were killed in road accidents in Kerala last year. Also read that there were 3000 odd people who died in accidents in the whole of Britain.

Thats how dangerous kerala roads are.

I read in the newspaper that this figure and the drunk driving menace has prompted the state govt to change the laws so that anyone who's caught driving under influence will have his license cancelled immediately. I wonder if this will be implemented.

I know someone who was driving under influence a few years back when he hit a bike carrying 3 adults who were also drunk. Result: One or two of the bikers dead. The guy was at it again last year or so, crashed into a wall IIRC, thankfully no one dead or injured. He still drives

[architect]

I have never been to Kerala, but I can generalise the cause of accidents in India (in all states) as follows:

1. Non-existent systems for driver education. It is so bad that even pointing out anybody's mistake becomes a huge ego issue.

2. Huge differential speeds between various vehicles. A cyclist / pushcart moves at 5 km/hr and also plans his maneouvres as if everybody is moving at that speed. An SUV / sedan / hatchback driver does the same from the point of view of his speed of 80 km/hr. In between, there are other types of vehicles, all behaving as if everybody is moving at their speeds. If you analyse the causes of accidents, this is a major one.

3. Zero respect for rules (even logical ones). See 1. above.

4. Authorities design roads in rather stupid ways. E.g. all over the world, it is one of the basic tenets of median design that there should be NO PLANTATION for atleast 15 metres before a cut in the median so that you can see vehicles on the median side on the other side. Now just recollect how many times you missed that guy taking a u-turn because of the bushes. Rampant killer speed breakers are one such thing.

Still, our roads are not so bad. One can easily do decent speeds (by Indian Standards) only if the traffic was better.

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by architect

I have never been to Kerala, but I can generalise the cause of accidents in India (in all states) as follows:

3. Zero respect for rules (even logical ones). See 1. above.

Can't really agree with point # 3 [At least for Kerala]! Not because I am a Keralite, but I have seen people sticking on to their lanes & MOST importantly, using low beams in the night. After driving a lot thru Bangalore & TN highways, it was a revelation to me!

But have to agree that the consumption of alcohol while driving is climbing new heights! Almost every other day there is an accident caused by drivers [huge percentage of this is private bus drivers] under the influence.

Another major reason is the road conditions - there are NO proper 4 lanes in most of the places, and roads are good which leads to high speed driving and dangerous overtaking! The private buses are a M-A-D bunch who gives a damn to rest of the people on road!

[akshay380]

26 killed in Uttar Pradesh road accident

26 killed in Uttar Pradesh road accident - Hindustan Times

[Altocumulus]

An accident in Saltlake, Calcutta a few months back I had in my cell phone. Absolutely brand new car not more than a week old. It was either the VW Jetta or Passat, I forgot. The occupants were unhurt, thanks to the airbags.

[svsantosh]

nice to hear airbags working this time of the year too many failure stories of late!!

but also sad to see such a nice car go to scrap!!

[Fordmanchau]

Witnessed a accident today , in which I played a side role.
There was a puppy wandering on the road, it came running towards my car, I braked in time. Luckily no one was behind me that time. I was still to check if the puppy is alright, then I saw it running towards right onto the centre of the road, where the Panjagutta flyover exits ramp meets road no 2.
One or two biker coming down from the flyover swerved and braked to avoid hitting it. Then suddenly BANG!!!
I couldn't make out what happened but as I slowly started, I saw in the IRVM that a Innova had hit the biker who stopped.
Could see some people stopping and helping the biker. I carried on.
Hope the guy is alright. The poor puppy was completely lost on the road.
This happened at Nagarjuna circle towards road no 2, Banjara hills, this morning while coming to office.

[paliontile]

Anyone saw the latest accident that happened on the Hyderabad ORR near the APPA junction exit? It involved a petrol tanker and an i10 i guess (not sure, was a red one). The petrol tanker fell sideways on the road and i remember seeing some spillage on the road. The i10 was flung at least 100-200mts away from it on the divider in a topsy-turvy position. It looked to me a very serious accident, the road was blocked/disrupted for at least a half km stretch, looks like it just happened at around 10 30 today morning. Didn't look prudent to stop and click pics of the same, shall include any newspaper clippings if i find in tomorrow's papers.

All this re-iterates the same point again n again - The Hyd ORR is just a disaster waiting to happen, someday there will be a chain-accident similar to FD-2, even then the authorities won't wake up if there is no high profile ppl involved in the accident. It's getting more n more scary to drive on it. Logically, the probability of an accident increases proportionally to the number of times i use it. I can vouch for at least 3-4 accidents in the last week on just this 25 km stretch from gachibowli to airport, dnt know how many more are happening in the rest of the sections.

Just a km ahead of it (while coming from airport) u can see another fully loaded truck sleeping on the road on it's side.

[bisasa]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

An accident in Saltlake, Calcutta a few months back I had in my cell phone. Absolutely brand new car not more than a week old. It was either the VW Jetta or Passat, I forgot. The occupants were unhurt, thanks to the airbags.

The high impact seems to have been well taken by the body of the car protecting the occupants. Wonder what happened to the other vehicle if it was one?