[Ashkait Kapoor]

My cousin met with an accident on the 25th while on an outing with his family.

He lost control of his bolero around a turn on the jowai-Shillong highway and the SUV toppled and rolled almost 60 feet down the hill.

Fortunately none of the 7 people on board were seriously injured.

[iss1307]

Originally Posted by Ashkait Kapoor

My cousin met with an accident on the 25th while on an outing with his family.

Glad your cousin and the other passengers are safe. Were they wearing their seat belts?
All the pillars seem to be intact.
No airbags, no ABS but still great to see a solidly built car.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Ashkait Kapoor

My cousin met with an accident on the 25th while on an outing with his family.

He lost control of his bolero around a turn on the jowai-Shillong highway and the SUV toppled and rolled almost 60 feet down the hill.

Fortunately none of the 7 people on board were seriously injured.

Glad to know everyone was fine, if possible could you please elaborate on how exactly he "lost control"? Weather conditions seem to be fine and so do the car's tyres so I was just wondering

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Ashkait Kapoor

He lost control of his bolero around a turn on the jowai-Shillong highway and the SUV toppled and rolled almost 60 feet down the hill.

Fortunately none of the 7 people on board were seriously injured.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

if possible could you please elaborate on how exactly he "lost control"? ... ... ...

That oft-used phrase, "Lost control" really means driver error. Sometimes we have to pay dearly for our mistakes, and what a payment this was, rolling sixty feet down. It must have been terrifying, and it is a miracle that all were unhurt.

[ecenandu]

Animals Vs Vehicle.

I had my share with animals while driving/riding.

Incident 1 : Chevrolet Spark Vs Dog.

This incident happened on my way to Chennai from Villipuram. I was in the middle lane doing 80 - 85 Kmph. I saw an old man crossing the road few hundred meters ahead, I slowed down on seeing him. There was a dog following the old chap. Both of them crossed the road well ahead of me, so I started accelerating again. All of a sudden, another dog decided to cross the road. I didn't swerve on seeing the second dog, braked hard but I did hit the dog.

I pulled over to check the damage on the car, there wasn't any visible damage. Don't know what happened to the dog, though. I couldn't trace it when I went back to check.

Incident 2 : Honda City Vs Dog.

This incident happened on my way to Thrissur from Coimbatore. It was quite late actually and the route I took was via Shornur. It was beautifully laid, two lane, winding road. I was behind an Eicher lorry for quite some time, it was doing good speed as well, IIRC 80Kmph ish.

After overtaking the lorry, it was tailgating me too close, I increased the speed to gain some distance. And all of a sudden a dog decided to cross the road from the left. I can replay the incident even today, again I didn't swerve, I held the steering tight for some reason. I braked hard, the ABS kicked in and I released the brake soon as I know there is that lorry behind me.

Luckily for me and the dog, nothing bad happened. I let the lorry guy overtake me after this incident and happily followed him till Trichur.

Incident 3 : CBR 250 Vs Calf

I was going to my brother's home after office hours via Chennai - Tambaram by pass. I was a bit reckless on bike then, I was about to over take a bus in the middle lane. I was doing 85 Kmph and accelerating.

I just glanced at the median, there were cattle grazing there. I was like, guys don't cross the road now. Then as if this calf hear my thought, decided to jump right in front of me. I looked for the gap between the calf on my right and the bus on the left, braked hard, ABS kicked. My right handle hit the calf, on the face I believe. After getting hit it returned back to the median.

I have to swerve here, other wise you know what would have happened..

My little finger got swollen and as I was convinced that I got a fracture, I pulled over to a small lab to take X-ray. I felt quite dizzy, drank some water and left that place without taking X-ray. Went to Miot hospital and what happened there was quite funny, I will save rest of what happened there for another post.

Incident 4 : Honda City Vs Old chap
This happened a long time ago, during my initial driving days. It was my first long drive with family. We were going to Kottayam. There was an old chap waiting near the zebra crossing, he had a huge basket or something on his head.

He was patiently waiting there looking at the opposite traffic, I thought he won't cross the road. All of a sudden he crossed, I have to take an immediate evasive manoeuvre. The left hand side mirror narrowly missed him.

Here I was completely at fault, the old chap was waiting at the zebra crossing. I didn't slow down nor did I honk.

Misc
Sadly in India we have to sometime, learn the lessons the hard way. Now that I am following the defensive driving technique, I often get ridiculed for driving slowly especially when driving along with my friends.

This June, me along with my friends decided to go to Pondicherry from Chennai. It was a late night decision and I decided to take the wheel of the Scorpio. I never went above 90 Kmph throughout, I got ridiculed a lot but I didn't budge.

Return journey my friend took over, he wanted to show me how is it done, he was doing 120 plus most of the way. I tried my best to slow him but he won't budge. He is delusional, nothing much can be done for people like him. He thinks he has taken care for all the worst case scenarios.

I have forwarded this thread to him also, nope, he hasn't changed a bit. I always beat him at go karting, though. .

[smekad]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

All due respect to your 'Guru' Dieseldunk but that sounds quite a bit sadistic buddy

Saddistic, hell no. It is something I learnt the hard way. 8 years back I met with an accident while travelling from bangalore to chennai. And before anyone jumps to conclusion- I was doing <90KMPH. I saved the poor soul but ended up ramming my car onto the centre median- both airbags popped- I was alone in the car and wearing seat belts. And so I live to tell this tale.

Long story short- I would never do that again!

[Dieseldunk]

Originally Posted by Vik0728

All due respect to your 'Guru' Dieseldunk but that sounds quite a bit sadistic buddy





- Always Always Always. behind the wheel of my car, safety is my primal responsibility, whether its mine or the other lives around.

Mate
It is not sadistic but a real practical advice. Imagine if a big truck in front on the highway suddenly swerves or brakes hard then the poor soul behind the truck is surely in for a shocker all for saving a stray dog which will cost either family/lives/a big dent in your pocket.

I am not a animal hater but then a stray dog is not worth too much of a save nor a serious grief on loss to the society or more important than a human life or family.

All said and done though it is our duty to drive safe always when such instances do happen all of us should try to use the minimal loss method to avoid any untoward occurences.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Dieseldunk

Mate
It is not sadistic but a real practical advice. Imagine if a big truck in front on the highway suddenly swerves or brakes hard then the poor soul behind the truck is surely in for a shocker all for saving a stray dog which will cost either family/lives/a big dent in your pocket.

No poor soul, but a bad driver for driving too close!

I am not a animal hater but then a stray dog is not worth too much of a save nor a serious grief on loss to the society or more important than a human life or family.

I agree, and have mentioned that this was, more or less, the training I had in fanatically-animal-loving UK: you do not risk your life and those of others for the sake of a small animal. Having said that, I do not know how I would react in some of the circumstances described: I do not want to kill anything.

One thing I can say: I would not be tailgating, especially on a fast open road, not would I permit a tailgater, doubly-especially on a fast open road. I'd get them past, and out of the way.

All said and done though it is our duty to drive safe always when such instances do happen all of us should try to use the minimal loss method to avoid any untoward occurences.

Defensive driving and modest speed goes a long way, but there is always the possibility of stuff occurring that cannot be avoided even at slow speeds

[Ashkait Kapoor]

Originally Posted by iss1307

Were they wearing their seat belts?

Sadly none of them were wearing seat belts.
Negligence.
OT- The law of wearing seat belts in Meghalaya is not enforced at all. Sigh!

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

if possible could you please elaborate on how exactly he "lost control"? Weather conditions seem to be fine and so do the car's tyres so I was just wondering

The accident happened in the night when they were returning and there was heavy fog.

He was doing about 50-60 kmph which I believe is ok for the 2 lane highway in the ghats but given the heavy fog conditions, driving slower would've been a better option. Definitely driver error.

[ecenandu]

Found this gif shared by my friend via facebook.



This is how you will be ejected out of the car incase of not wearing seatbelt.

[Dr.Naren]

I wish to share my accident experience in Maruti SX4 last year
I lost control ( thanks to oil on road) and crashed into pile of construction stones at speed of around 80 kmph.
Car took all the impact,airbags deployed and seatbelts did save my life( Impact did manage to fracture my spine)

Maruti cars are known for poor built,but sx4 is really an exception.
It took 2 months for repair and bill came up to 4 lakhs. I had to pay 1.3 lakhs from pocket

Attaching pics for reference

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

I lost control ( thanks to oil on road)

Now that's loosing control: when the unexpected and unpredictable takes it away from you

and crashed into pile of construction stones at speed of around 80 kmph.
Car took all the impact,airbags deployed and seatbelts did save my life( Impact did manage to fracture my spine)

Horrified to hear of such a serious injury. 80km/50mph is just not that fast, in absolute terms.

I hope you have recovered, without serious ongoing repercussions?


.

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Now that's loosing control: when the unexpected and unpredictable takes it away from you


Horrified to hear of such a serious injury. 80km/50mph is just not that fast, in absolute terms.

I hope you have recovered, without serious ongoing repercussions?


.

80 kmph is not the issue. I had no time to judge and it happened within a second. I lost control on a corner and hit a huge pile of rocks before I braked. My eyes were burning due to smoke and chemicals of airbag deployment. I had a compression fracture of my lumbar vertebra and was on bed for a month.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by Dr.Naren

I wish to share my accident experience in Maruti SX4 last year
I lost control ( thanks to oil on road) and crashed into pile of construction stones at speed of around 80 kmph.

Maruti cars are known for poor built,but sx4 is really an exception.
It took 2 months for repair and bill came up to 4 lakhs. I had to pay 1.3 lakhs from pocket

The SX4 was definitely Maruti's best local product when it came to build. How has your recovery been though? Hope the fracture has not hampered your activities on a day to day basis.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Now that's loosing control: when the unexpected and unpredictable takes it away from you


Horrified to hear of such a serious injury. 80km/50mph is just not that fast, in absolute terms.

Let me tell you, as impact speeds go, 80km/h is definitely on the higher side mate. Most folks tend to exaggerate their claimed speeds because while in an accident no one actually bothers to stay calm and watch how much speed they shed before impact. To give you an example that will show you why 80km/h is very much on the higher side as far as impact speed goes, why don't you log into the iihs.org website which displays results for all of the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety's notoriously rigorous crash test data. You will notice that they conduct their most stringent small frontal overlap test, at 64km/h and up until recently, even 2013 Audi A4's were failing the test. It was designed to simulate a crash somewhat similar to Dr.Naren's by the looks of it where an impact on the edges of the front of a car, prevents the car from fully making use of its frontal crush zones.

Attaching a video of 2012 Audi A4 undergoing the small frontal overlap test at 64 km/h:

https://youtu.be/Ob7BhzpPvNY

[Dr.Naren]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

The SX4 was definitely Maruti's best local product when it came to build. How has your recovery been though? Hope the fracture has not hampered your activities on a day to day basis.



Let me tell you, as impact speeds go, 80km/h is definitely on the higher side mate. Most folks tend to exaggerate their claimed speeds because while in an accident no one actually bothers to stay calm and watch how much speed they shed before impact. To give you an example, why don't you log into the iihs.org website which displays results for all of the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety's notoriously rigorous crash test data. You will notice that they conduct their most stringent small frontal overlap test, at 64km/h and up until recently, even 2013 Audi A4's were failing the test. It was designed to simulate a crash somewhat similar to Dr.Naren's by the looks of it where an impact on the edges of the front of a car, prevents the car from fully making use of its frontal crush zones.

I had a minor fracture and pain was there for 2 weeks. Airbag sensors and front crumple zone are situated right behind the front headlights. If you observe the 2nd pic, side view of my crashed car, crumple zones can be seen which took all the impact