[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

a few minutes ago on the NICE road between Bannerghatta road and EC:
An orange swift has hit a Horse...Yes, horse on the expressway(not a wild one)
poor animal's right hind leg was injured and fractured and it was lying by the road.
the swift's bonnet had a small dent.
the keeper of the horse has to be blamed here for getting the animal there.

Unbearable to see animals hurt by filthy human beings.
I hope someone called CUPA?
They will usually help in such instances.

[amit_mechengg]

Originally Posted by Rahulk76

Extremely horrific way to end life
God what the heck was the driver thinking.

He braked way too late. Seems like pukka drunk driving case.

I think he was totally drunk. First of all there is no business for any driver to approach a junction at such speeds.
Very soon he realises there is a trailer ahead and he slams the brakes. Look at the way the car screeched. The biker on left immediately got alerted. Thank god Figo dint hit the biker.

The 80% of the trailer had already crossed. Now way could the truck driver have averted the situation. Its not his mistake at all.

A very ditto accident happened in Pune when local polititians kids were recklessly driving in a Swift and trailer was taking a turn. Again at around 2am.
Swift went through and came out without the roof and half of the bodies.

[amitwiz1]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Unbearable to see animals hurt by filthy human beings.

I sympathize but it's not usually our fault! It's common to see shepards guiding large flocks of sheep through busy main roads, a little away from the city. Creates a nightmarish situation for sure.

[Thad E Ginathom]

British driving lessons include how to deal with animals ---herds of cows, sheep etc, or riders on horses--- and, yes, if you get stuck behind a herd, you are supposed to just go at their speed and never attempt to drive through them, or even beep. Even so, there was a nasty accident, involving a number of horses, on the BBC website recently.

It's hard to discuss hypothetically, but "not usually our fault" is dubious. You mean it's their fault just for being there? Life has to go on.

[amitwiz1]

I was referring to the vehicle hitting the horse. I'm sure the driver would have not hit the animal if it was stationary. It wouldn't be your fault if an animal came into the path you were driving.
As a precaution, I always slow down even If there are animals on other side of the road.

[Thad E Ginathom]

That's a good practice that everyone should adopt. Of course, there is a point beyond which, if something comes in front of a driver, they simply cannot avoid hitting it.

[unk9ja]

Lost a dear friend, Dr. Sumanth Venkatesh in a tragic accident near Hosanagara on his way to Jog on a bike. He and his friend had left Bangalore on Saturday on a 2K km road trip on their 2WH. His bike hit a lorry head on, on a blind curve and his head came under the rear wheels and died on the spot.

[mannubhai]

Originally Posted by unk9ja

Lost a dear friend, Dr. Sumanth Venkatesh in a tragic accident near Hosanagara on his way to Jog on a bike. He and his friend had left Bangalore on Saturday on a 2K km road trip on their 2WH. His bike hit a lorry head on, on a blind curve and his head came under the rear wheels and died on the spot.

Oh Mine . My condolences. What a tragic death. Hope the family stays strong .

[aaggoswami]

I am posting this in reference to the Figo crashing into container.

Currently the firm I am working with does a lot of exports. We export our products to EU, Turkey and US i.e. North America.

For the exports we bring in containers ( with truck of course ) and the truck is in tractor trailer format. Today, as a part of routine, there was a container lined up.

The container was around 40 feet long, with gross weight of around 30,XXX KG. At 5 PM, there was one weird sound from one brake cylinders which was on second last axle of this 16 wheeler. The diaphragm had failed on right side of the middle axle from bunch of last three axles.

( NOTE : There are cylinders near each end of rear axle which are used for braking. I am not sure what they are exactly called, but know, to the best of my knowledge, that they are for braking with pneumatic assistance being provided via pipes )

That was simply disconnected by driver. I was there and observing all this in shock. Further I inquired about truck and was informed:
Front axle = no brakes
Almost all rear tyres = RETREADED ( YES, RE-TREAD WAS DONE ON ALMOST ALL TYRES OF TRAILER )
Weight of trailer = 12,000 kg ( driver told me )
Weight of empty container = 4,500 kg ( driver told me, actual would be 4 tons )
The truck was 3518 or 3516. This was wrong tractor in the first place as the container itself would weight around 30 tons or more. This truck's GVW would exceed 35000 KG.

All the above specs and 4 out of 16 wheels wont brake!

Image this truck doing 70 on highway or on open roads. What would happen in case this truck has to brake ? I am sure the braking would take a lot of time and distance. Moreover, in rains things would be damn dangerous.

Why I am posting this : There are many trucks which might be even in worse condition that the truck I have mentioned above. We should be careful when on road as these trucks cannot be controlled due to lack of maintenance and safety oriented servicing. Irrespective of who is at fault in Figo crash, the car does not even weight as much as the axles and tyres weight combined. Its a different thing that government and transporters should do more, but for our life, we must be very cautious when we come across these tractor trailers.

[acroback]

Went to Trident Whitefield for 1st service on my Duster.
Saw a banged up almost new Duster in the service Area.

On inquiring, came to know that the guy slept on wheel at 11:30PM on Bangalore-Mysore highway.
Luckily the guy was saved by Airbags.

[mjothi]

Seen this accident just an hour before before ITPL today. The ford figo was sitting on the median. No idea on the cause of the accident.




Also seen a Toyota Innova, completely burnt before hoskote in the NH4.

[Zed]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

It seems to me driver of the Figo saw the trailer move across the road, got his foot off the accelerator and on the brakes, but doesn't brake hard as he thought its just a regular truck. He saw the front wheels go across the road, calculates, what he assumes to be the rear wheels of the truck, will pass by the time his car reaches the intersection, leaving the road empty for him to pass. Only at the last moment he realises that its pulling a container. He slams on his brakes lighting up the hazard lights before he crashes into the trailer.

This is my impression as well after viewing this video. There is a general tendency among the motoring public in India to react in the same manner i.e we do not (and are not expected to) slow down considerably or stop when vehicle \ pedestrian \ quadrupeds cross our paths. Instead we ' adjust ' our speeds assuming that the object will clear our path based on its speed & dimensions.

My sympathies to the loved ones of the departed.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by Zed

There is a general tendency among the motoring public in India to react in the same manner i.e we do not (and are not expected to) slow down considerably or stop when vehicle \ pedestrian \ quadrupeds cross our paths. Instead we ' adjust ' our speeds assuming that the object will clear our path based on its speed & dimensions.

I can think of a couple of reason why we do this.

One of those is lack of road space and congestion. Our roads, esp in the cities, are so crowded that there is a real fight for road space. If one is driving too defensively and 'safely' you are trampled upon. Leave a small gap, and there will be somebody gleefully taking it up for you. As a result we have all become expert mathematicians in calculating exactly how much we have to drop our velocity so that we can reach spot 'X' exactly after 0.001 secs after the other moving object would have vacated that spot so that you don't leave the gate open for others.

One other reason is the average speeds in our cities these days. It is so low that we know that even if something goes wrong, we've got things under control. If the other moving objects slows down, we know we can make further adjustments. This becomes such a habit that we start doing it at highway speeds as well without realising that at those speeds, the margin for error is very thin.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Zed

This is my impression as well after viewing this video. There is a general tendency among the motoring public in India to react in the same manner i.e we do not (and are not expected to) slow down considerably or stop when vehicle \ pedestrian \ quadrupeds cross our paths. Instead we ' adjust ' our speeds assuming that the object will clear our path based on its speed & dimensions.

You guys are right! But..

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

I can think of a couple of reason why we do this.

One of those is lack of road space and congestion.

I believe it's the sheer lack of patience. Everyone seems to be in such a tearing hurry, it's like they've got the loosies!

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

One other reason is the average speeds in our cities these days.

The average speeds in populated cities across the globe are just as bad. In fact, I've heard that some of these traffic jams don't clear up for hours. It's sheer grid-lock!

The difference is that everyone is subject to very stringent laws and are slapped with heavy fines if they don't abide by them. Some even have their licences revoked! But people here don't care. I bet many of them don't even have valid driving licences or any document at all. Forget insurance and proper registration papers.

I will also say that population is a contributing factor. There are far too many people and vehicles on our roads at any given time. Barring bandhs and some national holidays of course.

What people don't understand is that defensive driving will not only ensure that they get to their destinations on time, but also in a calm and relaxed state of mind. Some just do it for the sheer thrill and with shockingly belligerent confidence.

[rohanjf]

Goa 365 channel reports:
4 people were going in a Figo from Curchorem to Palolem on NH 17 (or 66). They were running late, as they had to reach Palolem before midnight to celebrate the arrival of new year.

Unfortunately, the driver lost control of the car (apparently, while negotiating an oncoming vehicle) on the curvy stretch near Canacona and ended up hitting a tree sideways. The 3 passengers were thrown out of the car and one died on the spot. 108 was called by their 5 friends following them in another car. 2 of the injured died in hospital. The driver is said to be out of danger.

All deceased were aged between 21 and 30 years. All were Goans. They should have been familiar with roads, and they should have buckled up. Looking at the damage to the car, the front passenger had little chance, but other 2 would have survived.