[thumpingheart]

Originally Posted by Ragul

What was the pillion riders fault? It was the rider who deserved punishment not the backseat occupant.

--R

Might not be direct fault, but do you think that pillion riders in such incidents are just sitting there scared, holding on to their life, fearing death and trying their best to tell the driver to slow down? I don't think so.

Both of them usually are at fault. They are on the bike riding like that because they think it is 'COOL'!! Or they will grab attention of whichever gender they prefer. Lot of times the pillion too encourages the rider to drive faster and more rash.

I don't say that this is the case every time. But its true most times. Both of them go out to experience the thrill of the speed / reckless driving. I wouldn't say that its good they died, loss of life is always a tragedy. But the fault is usually shared, if not equally, between both rider and pillion.

[Binzone]

Originally Posted by thumpingheart

Might not be direct fault, but do you think that pillion riders in such incidents are just sitting there scared, holding on to their life, fearing death and trying their best to tell the driver to slow down? I don't think so.
.

A bit OT, but this has happened to me. During my college days, had a classmate who was known to be rash with his bike, though I had not seen him in action.

Once I waiting at bus stop near my hostel for quite some time to go to a railway station to catch a train. I was getting worried that I would miss the train, when suddenly this guy was riding by, saw me and offered me a lift.

I refused initially, but he insisted repeatedly. Since I didn't want to offend him, added to the fact that I might miss the train, I agreed. Plus, the railway station was just about 4kms from the bus stop.

But I regretted my decision the moment he started his bike (a modified noisy Yamaha rx 100). He rode so rash that I was almost in tears as I reached the station, praying to every God I have heard about, and shouting at him to slow down. There were at least three instances in those 4kms, that I was sure we were finished.

After that experience, to this date(its been 13yrs), I have very rarely sat on a pillion.

And unfortunately for my classmate, after an year out of college, I heard that he died in a bike crash involving a tanker, on the first day of his new job.

So, do I feel sympathy for the pillion? Yes, because I want to give him benefit of doubt.

[Gotham_City]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello,

Another accident on Mumbai Pune Expressway - This time a Sumo driver dozed off at 3 am & crashed into a heavy vehicle. This accident leaves 7 people dead, most of them were returning from a friend's wedding.

Thanks,

Drowsiness must be one of the biggest killers on Mumbai Pune Expressway in night. God knows, what are the authorities doing for this?

Shouldn't they be running awareness campaigns in the night? They should also create a few stop over places where drivers can take a quick nap with some safety. The current stop overs are designed to facilitate more of eating out than a quick nap.

A simple step like enclosing a pamphlet (with the pictures of accidents due to half asleep drivers) with the toll ticket may significantly reduce the risky behavior of drowsy drivers.

Guess, responsibility of the authorities ends with collection of toll in India.

[sunishsamuel]

Spotted a brand new Tata 607EX truck smashed up reasonably good near the Agara flyover, Bangalore. It seems brakes failed (Hard to believe)

However, someone else who supposedly witnessed saying it happened because the driver who got delivery of the new vehicle, drank a little too much with friends and was riding rash to show off his new vehicle. Obviously he lost control and hit another big vehicle.

This is hearsay, i am not sure what's the truth !

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by Gotham_City

Drowsiness must be one of the biggest killers on Mumbai Pune Expressway in night. God knows, what are the authorities doing for this?

I to have experienced drowsiness at 3pm in the afternoon after being well rested. Why? Because these 4L highways are boring and monotonous to drive on ...

With commercial drivers, sometimes they barely finish an overnight trip by 9-11am or later, get 3 to 4 hrs of sleep before they are called for the next customer by their travel agency by 9pm.

--R

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by Ragul

... Because these 4L highways are boring and monotonous to drive on ...

Exactly why one needs not to focus entirely on the road while driving! Small (and timely) distractions, when driving gets mundane, are pretty important. Chat with your co-passenger(s), hum/sing a song, stop & click a pic, all these help in keeping me more alert IMHO.

[500ContyCruiser]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Exactly why one needs not to focus entirely on the road while driving! Small (and timely) distractions, when driving gets mundane, are pretty important. Chat with your co-passenger(s), hum/sing a song, stop & click a pic, all these help in keeping me more alert IMHO.

No matter how much one tries to distract, at time still mind shuts off for split of a second and if someone is doing high speed at that time, will be difficult to control the vehicle.

I also have experienced this at times. Hence I always make sure to start early in the morning and try to reach destination by afternoon. But however due to family pressure, will have to start the journey late.

[aaggoswami]

A few images from my side. The car is Etios and the images are clicked by my friend who clicked these images on his way back home. The car is a real mess and I am not have any updates how it happened. Looks like some HCV T-boned it.

[zwift1819]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello,

Another accident on Mumbai Pune Expressway - This time a Sumo driver dozed off at 3 am & crashed into a heavy vehicle. This accident leaves 7 people dead, most of them were returning from a friend's wedding.

There were 3 passengers in the car who took lift on the way & two of them have paid with their life.

The driver was already drowsy while driving & the passengers requested him to take a halt, but he refused. Luckily, he has survived in this accident.

Attachment 1058422

Thanks,

Dear Bhpians
On reading the last 2 lines of this post the passengers did insist him to take a halt and get refreshed but the driver continued the drive. They(Passengers) should have stopped the car and told the driver to get down from the drivers seat and someone should have taken over. If this was done this accident could have been averted. Its a lesson to all of us - Never go with a drowsy driver be it city or highway drives. This does not imply only to drivers but to all of us. Never drive when your drowsy or sleepy. Lets all be safe and avoid such trips with these drivers.
Due to the drivers negligence 7 families have paid a price. May their soul RIP.

[drmohitg]

I think with the new expressways and well tarred highways in general coming up in the country, feeling drowsy and bored with the monotonous driving is going to be a problem. Even I have felt the same on gujarat highways and even had an occasion where I was driving alone and suddenly realised that I feel asleep for that fraction of a second and I was doing around 100-120 kmph at that time. It scared me like hell and I washed my face and there on drove with the windows open and at speeds of 80-90 kmph.

So I feel it is time for them to introduce those strips at the sides of the road where your tires make noise if you happen to go over it. Have seen them in USA. I don't know whats they are called exactly but they should be pretty helpful in preventing some of such mishaps. Think they are called rumble strips.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I think they are called rumble strips too, in UK, and they are quite good. The root of the problem is arrogance and overconfidence.

They(Passengers) should have stopped the car...

probably the best way to cause an accident!


~

[vineethvazhayil]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I think with the new expressways and well tarred highways in general coming up in the country, feeling drowsy and bored with the monotonous driving is going to be a problem. Even I have felt the same on gujarat highways and even had an occasion where I was driving alone and suddenly realised that I feel asleep for that fraction of a second and I was doing around 100-120 kmph at that time. It scared me like hell and I washed my face and there on drove with the windows open and at speeds of 80-90 kmph.

So I feel it is time for them to introduce those strips at the sides of the road where your tires make noise if you happen to go over it. Have seen them in USA. I don't know whats they are called exactly but they should be pretty helpful in preventing some of such mishaps. Think they are called rumble strips.

Yup, I support this idea of building that rough edge on the sides of the road surface. I would have thought that when the expressways and 4 Lane highways were being built, this was always in consideration. Maybe they just saved some money by not adding this to the road surface. It helps me keep alert while on the long monotonous freeway drives here. It is a life saver when you are sleepy or are just losing concentration.

[tj123]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

A few images from my side. The car is Etios and the images are clicked by my friend who clicked these images on his way back home. The car is a real mess and I am not have any updates how it happened. Looks like some HCV T-boned it.

My God Etios is crushed like a cola can, hard to recognize its

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

A few images from my side. The car is Etios and the images are clicked by my friend who clicked these images on his way back home. The car is a real mess and I am not have any updates how it happened. Looks like some HCV T-boned it.

It is like in the movie, the car is trying to transform itself to some other weird shape on the slightest hit! Looks like the whole car is 'crumple zone'

[pganapathy]

Man, there is absolutely no way to figure out that is an etios until someone tells you about it. It looks unlikely that anyone survived that but I hope they were lucky.

Looks like the black car inthe photo was involved in the accident and must have been doing a pretty good speed to do that to the etios.