[vivekgk]

There was an accident at Kazhakuttom, Trivandrum NH 47 yesterday. A KSRTC Superfast bus hit a mother and daugher on a scooter and ran them over. Passengers in the bus claim that the bus driver had been over-speeding. The scooter had been on the extreme left, but the driver still hit them and threw them in front of the bus. The bodies were completely unrecognizable as per the newspaper reports. The driver fled the spot immediately.

The Superfast bus services have become synonymous with accidents and death. Simply put, neither our roads, nor our buses, nor the idiots driving them are capable of keeping the schedules that are expected of these services, and end up causing harm. It's a wonder that we're not seeing horrible accidents on every trip, with how these vehicles are driven.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

What you say may have some relevance to good governance, but it has little relevance to good driving. Grumble about the negligence of the authorities at election time, not at driving time. We drive in the conditions we have, not the conditions we want.

This is a thread about accidents, right? And accidents happen both due to driver error, as well as due to road conditions. We have to drive in the conditions that we have because of our own inaction. My point was that blaming the drivers with no evidence against them was unwarranted, considering we don't know what the road conditions were. That still stands.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by binand

A lot of TN roads were covered under NHDP I & II. Plus TR Baalu was the minister at MoRTH for the whole of UPA-1, and he did some good things for the state (4-laning of GST road, the fabulous ECR etc.).

I have no idea about NHDP or its coverage, but I doubt there are such narrow single-lane median-less highways in other states even today. To give you a context, I started driving on this road in 1986 and today 27 years later, the road is exactly the same. I doubt any road in India would have remained unchanged for close to 3 decades. We might be going OT here.

Originally Posted by amitoj

But is that a Mopar 512 sticker on the i20?? Imagine that! Seeing Mopar love in Kerala!

I didn't even know what Mopar was till you mentioned it - googled it now. Possibly some one or their friend/relative working there. Anyway atleast learnt something new.

Originally Posted by vivekgk

There was an accident at Kazhakuttom, Trivandrum NH 47 yesterday. A KSRTC Superfast bus hit a mother and daugher on a scooter and ran them over. Passengers in the bus claim that the bus driver had been over-speeding. The Superfast bus services have become synonymous with accidents and death.

I am sick of reading these daily accidents involving 2-wheeler deaths in Kerala - mostly involving women-riders and buses. Since I do 100kms every week on the Kollam-Kayankulam stretch of the one-lane NH47, I see how these buses bully other road-users. Inspite of being in a car, it is scary. So can imagine how it would be for bikers. They really need to start the widening of this stretch at the earliest, so that there can be atleast 2 lanes (each way) for cars & heavy vehicles + bike lanes and service lanes.

Originally Posted by vivekgk

Simply put, neither our roads, nor our buses, nor the idiots driving them are capable of keeping the schedules that are expected of these services, and end up causing harm.

Are they driving like this to keep the schedule ? Do they really need to keep the schedule ? I mean is there any penalty if they don't. These are Govt. employees and I doubt the unions will allow penalising them for no fault of theirs (road/traffic delay). Heck, in most cases they cannot be penalised even if it is their fault.

[MuzzledMoose]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I am sick of reading these daily accidents involving 2-wheeler deaths in Kerala - mostly involving women-riders and buses. Since I do 100kms every week on the Kollam-Kayankulam stretch of the one-lane NH47, I see how these buses bully other road-users. Inspite of being in a car, it is scary. So can imagine how it would be for bikers. They really need to start the widening of this stretch at the earliest, so that there can be atleast 2 lanes (each way) for cars & heavy vehicles + bike lanes and service lanes.

Are they driving like this to keep the schedule ? Do they really need to keep the schedule ? I mean is there any penalty if they don't. These are Govt. employees and I doubt the unions will allow penalising them for no fault of theirs (road/traffic delay).

The bully mentality is what's creating trouble. The base mindset needs o be tuned in such a way that the bigger the vehicle driven by a driver, the more patient he needs to be and more careful he needs to be. Our country is still a developing nation and in most parts of the highways space is scarce for widening roads and so it may not be a very easy task. Just my thought is that the drivers need to be more sensible and IT HAS TO GO TO THIER MINDS ON DAILY BASIS.

[pedalpoint]

Saw a badly mangled BMW X5 being transported to KUN BMW on GST road (just after the airport bridge). Managed to click some photos. Details of the accident not known. The truck's registration number and STD code belong to Salem, TN.

Airbags deployed, A pillar completely caved in Front and bonnet are intact though. Possible roll over?

[DWind]

Looks like it hit a tree near the A Pillar flying sideways or went under a truck though only laterally causing only damage to driver side A pillar (possible action due to seeing the truck at the last moment and trying to move around it?)

[rjstyles69]

Cross posting from the ECOSport thread.

[carzone]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Cross posting from the ECOSport thread.

Attachment 1084174

I came down here to post the same pic.
Saw the pic on FB but could not find any information.
AutoCar had shared it on FB.

Any idea how this happened and who was testing it?

[Jignesh]

Hello,

A Cool-Cab driver killed in Mumbai at Western Express Highway.

A Tata Sumo travelling on North direction of Western Highway lost control, jumped the divider & crashed head-on with a Cool Cab coming on opposite direction.

The cool cab driver was literally crushed to death despite no fault of his. The accident happened on tuesday (14.05.2013) afternoon around 3:30 pm near Kherwadi singal.

Thanks,

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by carzone

Any idea how this happened and who was testing it?

A Ford EcoSport SUV was involved in an accident, with two auto journalists on board. Fortunately, both occupants survived without any serious injuries. This also provided a perfect opportunity for Ford's Emergency Assist System to demonstrate its capability.

The incident occurred at 10.30 am today, during a routine test drive, when the driver lost control of the EcoSport on a curve and hit a lamppost. The SUV flipped on its side, as you can see in the gallery below. Both the driver and the co-passenger had put on their seatbelts and were not seriously injured. The crash was severe enough to cause the airbags to be deployed.

Soon after the airbags were deployed, the Emergency Assist system dialed the emergency number ‘108', via the driver's smartphone, which was connected to the Ford Sync system through Bluetooth. A GVK ambulance arrived at the spot within 10 minutes, thus proving the effectiveness of the Emergency Assist safety system.

Read more at: http://www.drivespark.com/four-wheel...st-004772.html

[Jignesh]

4 people die in Thane in last 48 hours in separate mischaps -

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/20097461.cms

1. Ashish Patel (28) died after his car turned turtle at Manor he lost control of his Swift Dzire while making a quick U-turn.

2. Nathusingh Thakur, a three-wheeler tempo driver lost control of his vehicle on a slope causing it to overturn. The vehicle's cleaner, Somil Shaikh, was killed in the accident at Sukatamba village.

3. Arvind Gautam, a trailer driver was killed yesterday when his vehicle rammed into a divider causing it to turn turtle.

4. Bhupendra Pratap, an auto driver, lost consciousness while steering his vehicle at Kashimira & died in the resulting accident.

Thanks,

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

I am sick of reading these daily accidents involving 2-wheeler deaths in Kerala - mostly involving women-riders and buses. Since I do 100kms every week on the Kollam-Kayankulam stretch of the one-lane NH47, I see how these buses bully other road-users. Inspite of being in a car, it is scary. So can imagine how it would be for bikers. They really need to start the widening of this stretch at the earliest, so that there can be atleast 2 lanes (each way) for cars & heavy vehicles + bike lanes and service lanes.

I feel the same way. In this case, witnesses said that the woman on the scooter was driving slowly on the extreme left side of the road. I have lost count of the times when a private bus or Superfast has forced me completely off the road so they can avoid braking.

In my experience, most women driving scooters tend to drive extremely slowly and wobble-ey bang on the middle of the road, holding up traffic behind them and refusing to move over unless bullied. Exceptions to this rule do exist, including my sister who is a speed demon on her Flyte.

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Are they driving like this to keep the schedule ? Do they really need to keep the schedule ? I mean is there any penalty if they don't. These are Govt. employees and I doubt the unions will allow penalising them for no fault of theirs (road/traffic delay). Heck, in most cases they cannot be penalised even if it is their fault.

One of my second cousins is a KSRTC driver (Local service, Ordinary, thank God), and he mentioned that drivers are required to start the next service on time, however late they arrive. A driver who arrives on time gets more time to rest and recover. These guys usually chain duty hours so that they can consolidate their 'offs'.

Buses are overloaded and badly maintained which means they take a long time to reach a cruising speed. Braking means that they have to go through the tedious process of getting the vehicle back up to cruising speed again. Drivers take the easy way out and choose to swerve around rather than brake. Combine this with a powerful union that protects its drivers no matter how reckless they have been, and you have a recipe for disaster.

KSRTC drivers have a history of sticking together to hide evidence. In a famous case, a couple on a scooter were run over by a Superfast bus, killing the woman. The accident was not reported and the passengers failed to notice for some reason (might have been a night run). Police finally tracked down the bus by looking at the service schedules (with much difficulty) and found that the bus had been serviced, and the human remains cleaned off from the underside by running the bus repeatedly through slush puddles near the service station. This act proved to them that the driver had known about the incident. Covering up Homicide? Is this a Union or a Mafia?

[binand]

Originally Posted by vivekgk

In my experience, most women driving scooters tend to drive extremely slowly and wobble-ey bang on the middle of the road, holding up traffic behind them and refusing to move over unless bullied.

I thought for a long time how to put this point across - and have decided the direct way is the best. The above is a very sexist statement to make, and I don't believe is corroborated in any mileu.

[supremeBaleno]

Women riders are indeed slower, maybe because they are more cautious. Atleast speaking from how my wife rides her Scooty at never more than 35-40kmph, but at extreme left of the road away from trouble. Those who ride in the middle of the road or on the fast lane risking their safety are most probably not aware of the dangers, rather than being an irritant. And this is not restricted to women - infact on the NH47 stretch that I posted pictures of earlier, it is mostly guys/men who drive close to the median, overtaking heavy vehicles at high speed at huge risk to their lives (and almost 95% without helmet on). In the pic, on extreme left (each side), there is a bike lane of about 4-5feet demarcated with white line which is where bikers should be, but rare to see them there. On the rare occasions that I use my FILs Activa on this road, I stick to that lane, but still feel threatened by the cars/buses zipping by - so can't even think of riding in the car/bus lane.

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by binand

I thought for a long time how to put this point across - and have decided the direct way is the best. The above is a very sexist statement to make, and I don't believe is corroborated in any mileu.

I thought the same thing after re-reading my post and yours. You're right, it was a sexist and offensive comment on my part.

In my defense, the quoted scenario has occurred to me too many times and after a while, you come to dread seeing slow women riders. But, as supremebaleno pointed out, it's not just women riders who risk their safety that way.

[binand]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

In the pic, on extreme left (each side), there is a bike lane of about 4-5feet demarcated with white line which is where bikers should be, but rare to see them there.

Is that officially some sort of "bike lane"?? I always used to think that it is shoulder space, which one is supposed to avoid while driving.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoulder_(road)