[prajwalmr62]

Originally Posted by Ragul

These comments are like a top traffic cop once commented about a fatality over a badly and unscientifically designed speed breaker - "so many vehicles pass this speed hump but only this fellow crashed - so its his fault!"

No, that's not what I was saying. Our highway Infra has thousands of things to improve and there's no denying of that fact. I also understand that we need to fool-proof some designs and many other things to improve safety.

What we also need is a realistic approach to a problem. In a country where ambulance itself is a rarity, do you think it would be feasible right now to have one more tailing vehicle behind the ambulance?

This WAS the best case scenario of our current highway infra. There was a quick response team with an ambulance and a towing vehicle within minutes. There were groups of people most likely in high-visibility jackets, someone was clearly waving a red light, and ambulance light was on. This is not something that you'll usually see on our highways.

If this person can crash in the "best case" scenario, what about other not-so-good scenarios? Are you okay with that driver driving your car, when you are in it? It is case of over-speeding and lack of attention, both have been proven very deadly on Indian highways over and over again.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by prajwalmr62

What we also need is a realistic approach to a problem. In a country where ambulance itself is a rarity, do you think it would be feasible right now to have one more tailing vehicle behind the ambulance?

Once you cross a Toll naka - in that stretch you will see NHAI jeep patrols with LEDs studded all over. They do come to assist in case of break-down failure. This specific stretch over the bridge can also have the same with correct/improved safety procedures in place.

[tunedv8]

Originally Posted by TSIboy

Tragic bus accident in Palakkad early this morning. 9 people including students were killed when a tourist bus rear-ended a KSRTC bus. Survivors say the tourist bus was overspeeding & GPS records show the same as well. A snapshot of the GPS from the news report shows 97kmph!

I drive frequently on the Bengaluru airport road and sometimes see some busses driving 80+. I thought busses are limited to a max of 70 kph. Isn't there a law to mandatorily install speed governers on all busses? What's the speed limit?

[vivekgk]

Originally Posted by tunedv8

I drive frequently on the Bengaluru airport road and sometimes see some busses driving 80+. I thought busses are limited to a max of 70 kph. Isn't there a law to mandatorily install speed governers on all busses? What's the speed limit?

The Transport commissioner of the state has told the press that the electronic speed limiter in this tourist bus, which should have been set to 80kph from factory, has been overridden manually to 100kph. The bus reportedly covered a 6 km stretch from the last toll plaza to the accident spot in under 5 minutes (average speed 72kph), and two overspeed alerts were reported by the GPS to the bus owner.

A representative of the tour operators association appeared in a news channel debate, and argued that the speed governers provided by the govt approved companies were defective and all of them "broke down" and had to be replaced for every retest. And since the speed governers broke down, their drivers had no option but to drive at 100 kph till the next retest, I suppose!

The arrogance of these people is shocking. One of them were openly laughing when they were interviewing a 17 year old survivor who was visibly distraught and undergoing severe emotional trauma about the loss of his classmates. They have only one thing in mind and that is business. I have dealt with several tourist bus operators who are decent folks, but these guys were scum.

[GeeTee TSI]

Originally Posted by TSIboy

Tragic bus accident in Palakkad early this morning. 9 people including students were killed when a tourist bus rear-ended a KSRTC bus. Survivors say the tourist bus was overspeeding & GPS records show the same as well. A snapshot of the GPS from the news report shows 97kmph!

On a divided highway which avoids a head-on collision possibility, how could there have been such a fatal impact between two vehicles travelling in the same direction, that too heavy vehicles!

Did the KSRTC come to halt or just move into the lane since any KSRTC is no slouch on the road

[binand]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

On a divided highway which avoids a head-on collision possibility, how could there have been such a fatal impact between two vehicles travelling in the same direction, that too heavy vehicles!

The accepted story (that TV/papers have pieced together from various accounts) is that the tourist bus overtook a car from the left and tried to squeeze in front of it from the left to overtake the KSRTC bus from the right. Something went wrong and the tourist bus hit the right side of the KSRTC bus; sort of plunged into it.

[deathwalkr]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

On a divided highway which avoids a head-on collision possibility, how could there have been such a fatal impact between two vehicles travelling in the same direction, that too heavy vehicles!

Did the KSRTC come to halt or just move into the lane since any KSRTC is no slouch on the road

What was mentioned in today's regional daily was that the KSRTC bus slowed down a bit (maybe to avoid speed cams just ahead) and the car that was behind the KSRTC swerved to the right and went off but the speeding tourist bus tried the same maneuver and well you know the rest :(

Now education minister has requested schools to avoid journeys after 9PM and before 6AM while going for trips. Sigh.

This news along with the Thailand incident really gets you down

[som9729]

Originally Posted by akkosetto

Unfortunately any local mechanic (or even the driver itself) can override that. Maybe new buses have more robust mechanism from factory itself.

In Telangana & Andhra, even now & as far as I can remember, all the Super luxury RTC buses are restricted to 80km.
Even on a fully empty highway, you'll never see a Super luxury bus above 80km. Point is these are old buses. I mean really old. 15-20 yr old.

Only the Volvos can go faster.

Perhaps this has more to do with enforcement of speed governors & attitude of the respective RTC

[NiInJa]

Just heard on the radio that the driver of the car who rammed into the accident spot on Bandra Worli Sea link was trying to plug his phone to the charger when he took his eyes off the road for a few moments.

This is bad. When are people going to learn :(

[PGA]

There is something about this thread that makes me very uncomfortable. Not only that, it has also induced some phobia of driving on roads in me. One comes across so many atrocious accidents resulting in awful amount of loss. Each one of us driving on the road is a law unto himself, there is utter lack of concern for other road users.

When are we ever going to change and make driving safe and pleasurable in our country.

And to top it all is our illustrious law enforcement and justice delivery mechanism. I don't think any accident has ever been investigated professionally or anyone held accountable for causing it. Normally the very people who are supposed to uphold the law display as to how to break and get away with it. In our country an accident is considered fait accompli, part of destiny, no Sirs it is a human hand and not God's.

Chandigarh is perhaps the most well enforced city in the country and to an extent it is much much less stressful to drive in that city. But I have seen sane drivers turn into beasts the moment they cross the limits of the city, if that's our character, this thread will continue to roll and record the morbid happenings on our roads for many years to come.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by PGA

... ... ... this thread will continue to roll and record the morbid happenings on our roads for many years to come.

Nearly 2.5k pages and no end in sight!

Probably, though, most of the world's non-fatal accidents are not investigated as such, but are simply negotiations between insurance companies.

[achats]

The drivers on Kerala roads are just the worst that I have encountered. Their only aim is to overtake - does not matter if the road is narrow and choked with traffic or there is a blind turn ahead or there are vehicles coming at full clip from the opposite side. Overtake at all costs and they will try to run you out of the road to do that. The worst offenders are the private buses or the "line buses" with their scary air horns who don't mind shedding blood to gain a couple of extra passengers at the next stop. The authorities wake up after an accident, makes an enforcement show for a couple of days and go back to slumber and the roads are a war zone again.

[sparky@home]

The aftermath of yesterday's horrific accident, wherein a tourist bus rear ended a Ksrtc bus resulting in deaths. The bad publicity for the Police and MVD officials has resulted in this vehicle checking on a war footing, god only knows till when this will continue. I only hope it does continue.

https://youtu.be/H2hz7j1wlmI

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by BrokenHW

5 people died in the accident that took place between four cars and an ambulance on Mumbai's Bandra Worli Sea Link in the early morning hours...

So many things wrong, that led to the crash.

• No hard shoulder / breakdown lane as a part of a high speed corridor
• Low level bright lights on lampposts to dazzle drivers, without adequate illumination of road surface
• Stopped vehicles not using hazard blinkers, especially the last vehicle - it does not even look like the parking lights were on
• Flashing lightbar on ambulance mounted improperly, shielding any chance of noticing it from the rear
• No deployment of reflective warning triangle 50m behind last vehicle - there's supposed to be one in every car by law
• People loitering behind and to the right of the last car, exposing themselves to fast moving traffic

Given the circumstances, this was a tragedy waiting to happen.

Originally Posted by ais

Time to change things. I'm working on a comprehensive PIL. Already spoken to a major road construction person, who highlighted the fact that overloaded truck are the main reason behind shoddy highway surfaces. I'll be meeting this person to discuss other factors and road specifications, signages, driver training etc, and the owner of a major transportation company for the maths behind overloading.

There are several other angles that I'm working on. I'll update and ask for participation soon for preparing a PIL.

Would certainly like to know more about this PIL you are planning.

Originally Posted by sparky@home

...Police and MVD officials...vehicle checking on a war footing, god only knows till when this will continue. I only hope it does continue.
https://Youtu.be/H2hz7j1wlmI

What's going on in the video? I can understand the part about removing the auxiliary lights and loud air horns, but why are decorative stickers and decals being peeled off? How are these detrimental to road safety?

[tharian]

Originally Posted by sparky@home

The aftermath of yesterday's horrific accident, wherein a tourist bus rear ended a Ksrtc bus resulting in deaths. The bad publicity for the Police and MVD officials has resulted in this vehicle checking on a war footing, god only knows till when this will continue. I only hope it does continue.

They should be checking for over-speeding and speed governors that have been tampered with. Removing loud horns, aux lamps and stickers on the body are secondary. When will they cops and MVD in Kerala understand this and act on it