[hgps]

Spotted this badly damaged LPG Tractor-tanker today





Some other photos taken a couple of months ago,

[centaur]

A classic example of an illogical law in place. The guy drives on the wrong side, get hit by a vehicle coming on the correct side, yet the driver of the vehicle coming from the correct side is arrested for negligent driving. The content in bold in the below article is the icing on the cake. Annoying!!!

Biker on road's wrong side run over by dumper

Pune: A 45-year-old motorcyclist riding on the wrong side of the Sinhagad Road on Friday morning was knocked down to death by a dumper, reflecting the danger lurking in violation of traffic rules.

The accident occurred near Dhayari Phata. The Sinhagad Road police said the dumper hit the deceased, Madhukar Todkar, a resident of Yashganga in Dhayari Phata, around 9.30am. The dumper driver, Naushad Khan (19), was arrested for negligent driving.

A source said the dumper hit Todkar when he was on his way home from some work.
A resident of the area said, "The Sinhagad Road remains busy throughout the day. The deceased should not have taken the wrong side of the road. He made a mistake, but the arrested dumper driver should also have been careful and noticed the biker on the wrong side of the road."

Police said Todkar was the police Patil of Khamgaon village near Khadakwasla. He was also running a dairy business on Sinhagad Road.
Police patils take care of security in villages bereft of police stations nearby. Todkar was one among them at Khamgaon.

Todkar met with the accident a day after he was released from a private hospital on Thursday. He was admitted there for some treatment.

Source

[Thad E Ginathom]

He made a mistake, but the arrested dumper driver should also have been careful and noticed the biker on the wrong side of the road.

Actually, there is some truth in that.

I quote one of my Dad's great lessons on driving...

Dad: When does a pedestrian have right of way?
Me: On a pedestrian crossing.
Dad: Yes. And?
Me: When crossing a side road or entrance?
Dad: Yes. And?

This goes on for a few minutes while I exhaust my memorised sections of British Highway Code until Dad delivers the final answer...

Dad: ALWAYS: You are never allowed to run them over.

I also think of the rules for prevention of collision at sea. After a complex set of situations in which one vessel is supposed to keep clear of the other, comes a catch all that, in any situation, it is the responsibility of both captains to avoid collision.

I don't mean to imply that there are not many situations, that we see on the roads daily, where the behaviour of one driver is actually suicidal and it is wrong to blame the other.

[binand]

Originally Posted by centaur

A classic example of an illogical law in place. The guy drives on the wrong side, get hit by a vehicle coming on the correct side, yet the driver of the vehicle coming from the correct side is arrested for negligent driving.

It is some local resident speaking, but I do agree with the message. If one ends up causing the death of another human, one needs to go through the due process to determine culpability.

[mayankk]

In a perfect world, how does a 19 year old get enough experience to be qualified to drive a heavy vehicle on public roads?
Although, sympathies to him, though, for being in the bigger vehicle, hence Guilty until proven innocent, and beaten until battered and broken.

Here's more wrong-side shenanigans, this time from the keepers:

Jun 13 2016 : The Times of India (Delhi)
PCR van hits car from wrong side, 2 injured
Noida:
TNN


A 25-year-old man and his father were injured when a PCR van hit their car at Sector 10, Noida, on Sunday morning. According to Anees Ansari, he and his father Haneef were commuting to Noida from Delhi when a speeding PCR van suddenly came from the opposite side and rammed his car. He added that the driver and the constable in the PCR didn't offer to help them and denied any responsibility.
The two, then, called the police control room and informed them about the accident. A police team rushed to the spot and got the victims admitted to Prakash Hospital. The 50-year-old Haneef Ansari received eight stitches on his head.

Gaurav Grover, ASP, Noida, said the victims have not given any written complaint in this regard. “We will investigate the matter and take appropriate action once we receive the complaint,“ he said.

http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/A...13062016006063

[centaur]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Actually, there is some truth in that.

There is a difference between a pedestrian and a moron on a motorcycle that too on the wrong side of the road. Pedestrians do not have a wrong or a right side of the road and always have the right of way but not so in this case because we are not really talking about a pedestrian. Adding to that, apparently this guy was a Police Patil who take care of security in villages bereft of police stations nearby. So this should be the basic sense he should be having, not to forget the wrong image he would be creating in front of the people who know he is Police Patil, someone who should be following rules in the first place.

Originally Posted by binand

It is some local resident speaking, but I do agree with the message. If one ends up causing the death of another human, one needs to go through the due process to determine culpability.

I dont think I would completely agree to this looking at this case in isolation especially since the exact circumstances of the accident are not known but I feel its pretty much like blaming the knife for cutting the watermelon when it's actually the watermelon that fell on the knife.

[binand]

Originally Posted by centaur

I feel its pretty much like blaming the knife for cutting the watermelon when it's actually the watermelon that fell on the knife.

The thing is, watermelons don't have the guarantee provided under article 21 of the constitution. The day watermelons organize themselves into a republic, who knows? Knives could be charged under manslaughter even if it was the melon that fell on them.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by centaur

There is a difference between a pedestrian and a moron on a motorcycle that too on the wrong side of the road. Pedestrians do not have a wrong or a right side of the road and always have the right of way but not so in this case because we are not really talking about a pedestrian. Adding to that, apparently this guy was a Police Patil who take care of security in villages bereft of police stations nearby. So this should be the basic sense he should be having, not to forget the wrong image he would be creating in front of the people who know he is Police Patil, someone who should be following rules in the first place.

There is a difference, but my point is that, in the end, a driver has to avoid hitting people or things that come in front of him, regardless of right or wrong. Anyway, shocked to know it was a cop. No, not shocked...

[centaur]

Originally Posted by binand

the guarantee provided under article 21 of the constitution.

Precisely what I was terming to be illogical. The person on the wrong side of the road shouldnt have been there in the first place and the accident wouldnt have happened or even if it did happen (assuming the biker was travelling in the right direction) then arresting the dumper driver was justified. This incident is similar to this one here. No fault of the truck driver there too but got arrested. Ironical!!!

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by Rahul_

This tendency of people cracks me up the most. I really feel we strongly need this law very soon wherein the DLs should be cancelled on spot for wrong sided driving as well as insurance for their vehicles should be made multifold. I something strong about this is being included in the new road safety law that is being drafted.

This is an unpardonable, intentional crime and leads to loss of time and in extreme cases loss of life of innocent, law-abiding citizens !

In a metro-city like Bangalore, this trend is just picking up crazily. What was once something done by uneducated and uncouth masses is now being picked up by the well-educated, youths !

Noble thoughts, but do you think villagers care about a valid driving license? Do they have a license, PUC, RC book and insurance in the first place? May be a educated working professional cares about a valid driving license, no one else seem to care. Licenses are made, bought, forged, duplicated at a whim in almost all small towns, so that poor piece of paper or plastic has no intrinsic value. Only punishment which will work IMO is to whip the offender in public, maybe in the local town square. A few years of this barbaric Saudi punishment should get most of the morons towing the line.

[binand]

Originally Posted by centaur

Precisely what I was terming to be illogical. The person on the wrong side of the road shouldnt have been there in the first place

I'm not sure I understood you correctly here. Are you saying that the protection offered by article 21 is not applicable to the biker in this case because he was on the wrong side of the road?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by binand

I'm not sure I understood you correctly here. Are you saying that the protection offered by article 21 is not applicable to the biker in this case because he was on the wrong side of the road?

Well, what does the Constitution say about one person exercising his Article 21 rights impinging another's?

The biker has rights that apply irrespective of him intentionally breaking traffic laws, fair enough. So how about the trucker who actually didn't break any and is entitled to the same protection under the same Article of the Indian Constitution?

What gives?

Also, the verbiage clearly provides a caveat 'except according to procedure established by law'. Given the biker was in contravention of road traffic laws by intentionally riding on the wrong side of the defined road boundaries, Article 21 rights being applicable is debatable.

Article 21 seems to define such cases to fall under Article 226 or general law. Not a law expert but that's what I infer from a cursory reading of the verbiage.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by binand

Are you saying that the protection offered by article 21 is not applicable to the biker in this case because he was on the wrong side of the road?

I am saying article 21 is equally applicable to the truck driver too and not just the biker. Correct me if I am wrong, but as per law, the case is always against the bigger capacity/larger vehicle in case of an accident, atleast till proven otherwise. Isnt that senseless/baseless? Shouldnt the case be against the erring driver irrespective of the size/capacity of the vehicle.

[maddy42]

I was watching one chap stunt on his motorcycle on marine drive and ends up with the crash. As a motorcyclist there were so many things wrong with what was happening:

Stunting in heavy traffic
Inability to follow a lane and swerving between lanes
Speeding vehicles passing the motorcyclist at various times
Being egged on by folks with a camera. Stupidity intensified
Finally zero gear worn by the rider!

Resulted in the chaps death but why exactly do some folk think they hav permission to be stupid on streets? Bad parenting?

Also couple of months back this incident occurred in Mysore. Group of boys go out for dinner and drinks celebrating one boy who bought a used baleno. After the party they started driving on this straight stretch of road with a turn at the end, lost control and rammed a pole on the left side of the car. A boy lay bleeding in the car but none of the friends even called a cop or ambulance and stood there! Finally after two hours the beat police found the car and took the boy to the hospital where he was declared dead.

Will post the clippings of both incidents shortly.

Maddy

[Tanveer_2558]

Originally Posted by maddy42

I was watching one chap stunt on his motorcycle on marine drive and ends up with the crash. As a motorcyclist there were so many things wrong with what was happening:

Stunting at marine drive has become really common and hence from the past 3 days its almost impossible to go town side with the amount of police check post kept at every 500 meters resulting in a traffic jam after 12 in the night!

And still some of these bikers have the guts to provoke them even still

All this has happened after lot of police patrol has started keeping an eye on the bandra reclamation stretch which was the previous favourite route for performing dangerous stunts.