[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Completely agree. Remember, it is always the fault of the rear-ender, even if the driver in front does something unpredictable or stupid.

The Duster driver is not really the rear-ender here, as their car is pushed by the truck. The truck, with a literal overview, should have been aware and prepared.

One lesson here is never to just follow through with an overtake.

I fully agree that the truck is the ultimate culprit. But my doubt is, did the OP car trigger that mistake out of him ?
Stopping with the lane marker in between the legs is simply inviting trouble, I feel. Because, even if the vehicles behind see you, there is high chance that their response is out-of-sync with each other.

The trucker would have been expecting these two cars (OP's car and the duster) to proceed further on the right lane and stop near the barricade where their neighbours would be other cars and hence enjoy more lateral clearance. OP wanted to go left to right, and stopped mid-maneuver, confused the duster into panic brake, and confused the trucker because he had poor defensive driver skills or perhaps he was overloaded and couldn't stop in time or perhaps has was dozing off.

The truck is at fault, no doubt ; but I feel the OP has contributed to trigger that mistake from the truck driver. No one else feels so ?

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

Stopping with the lane marker in between the legs is simply inviting trouble, I feel. Because, even if the vehicles behind see you, there is high chance that their response is out-of-sync with each other.

The trucker would have been expecting these two cars (OP's car and the duster) to proceed further on the right lane and stop near the barricade..


The truck is at fault, no doubt ; but I feel the OP has contributed to trigger that mistake from the truck driver. No one else feels so ?

Thanks, this is exactly what I tried to convey.

This is an Indian Highway, where tailgating is omnipresent.

I can find fault in the tailgaters and maybe win a court case, but to be safe and avoid any untoward accident I have to take actions which prevent these tailgaters from hitting me.

There is no sign for overtaking, except for just an indicator, which is also hardly used. It is all visual cue based. If you have initiated an overtake when others are tailgating you, you are expected to complete it. If you leave it midway for no reason (there was space to complete the overtake), you are inviting trouble.
Sometimes, you can get away with it, sometimes not.

I do not agree that truck driver is at fault. Multiple cars merged into its lane and two of them stopped in front of it. He was not tailgating anyone. It appears that he was late in applying brakes, but we do not know how much load it was carrying. A fully loaded truck cannot brake like a car; even if it can, it is dangerous as the weight of the load can collapse the cabin.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Remember, it is always the fault of the rear-ender, even if the driver in front does something unpredictable or stupid.

Yes sir, completely agree. But it is upto us to decide whether we reach home safely or leave our families to deal with the rear-ender.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

I do not agree that truck driver is at fault. Multiple cars merged into its lane and two of them stopped in front of it. He was not tailgating anyone. It appears that he was late in applying brakes, but we do not know how much load it was carrying. A fully loaded truck cannot brake like a car; even if it can, it is dangerous as the weight of the load can collapse the cabin.

He must have slowed down as soon as the duster cut in front of him. But he expected the OP and the duster to move far ahead on the right lane, and didn't bother with 'foot off gas'. The moment he saw the OP brake, he braked, but it was far too late.
He behaved like a reactive driver, instead of a defensive driver (truckers are expected to be extremely defensive drivers - their load places restriction on braking distance and also on the ability to swerve) - they see people cutting in front of them all the time on the highways.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

He must have slowed down as soon as the duster cut in front of him

With skyrocketing Diesel prices, do not expect truck drivers to brake and drive defensively.
We have seen them coasting and eliminating 50 odd vehicles just recently. They make easy money by saving fuel.

[Thad E Ginathom]

The whole situation is a mess! Notice that the vehicles to the left have closed up, not leaving space for a potentially overtaking vehicle to fall back. In my mind this is a dreadful and irresponsible thing to do. Perhaps no law says so!

So yes, there is lots of wrongness, everywhere we look.

A lot of our communication on the roads is via body (car and personal!) language. But another person does not always do what we read, think or expect them today. That happens, and I don't think "didn't expect" is ever an excuse.

[BravoMike]

Hope everything is fine and you're back to enjoying the roads!

If you look at this accident, the 'technical' culprit may be the truck guy. But I believe both OP and the Duster exhibited poor situational awareness and defensive driving skills, overtaking from left is always a risky manoeuvre. OP and the Duster driver should have factored in adequate gap considering they were overtaking a truck and Mr.Newton has explicitly forbade heavy masses from coming to a stop immediately!

There is a learning for everyone here, maybe factor in 2-3x space when overtaking a heavy vehicle from the wrong side.

[sole_rider]

So this happened yesterday.

https://youtu.be/apV2L5vr7JE

I was going to Shenoy's theatre at MG road with my sister. I was on the right side track of the road when this happened.
I should have been more vigilant and stopped instead of moving ahead.
As soon as this happened, i pulled over to the side, took photographs and asked the auto driver to come to Palarivattom police station.
Damage to the car: Scratches and a minor dent on the left fender, broken mirror cover. It requires around Rs.3500 worth repair to fix everything (I had informed the BSM at Sai service). Auto driver gave me Rs.2500 and settled this at the Palarivattom police station.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

...
9. The time between sighting the scooter and impact was approximately 3 seconds.
..
Who do you think was at fault here?

Faults:
The scooter, for crossing without looking.
The car driver, for overspeeding.

The question which all need to ask themselves while driving is:
"Will I be able to stop in time if somebody (cattle, dog, pedestrian, cyclist, vehicle) suddenly comes in my path ?
and then accordingly drive at the appropriate controllable speed on a given road, especially at junctions, crossings and populated areas.

In this particular incident, at the speed the car was doing, it is clearly impossible to notice, react(brake) and bring the vehicle to halt within the 3 seconds time. The car should have been a lot more slower.

Another aspect that is often overlooked is loud talking from vehicle occupants that can distract the driver and bring down the needed attention levels. It is important for the person driving to realize this hazard and refrain from engaging in unnecessary distractions/conversations and continue to focus on the road.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Who do you think was at fault here?

This seems to be more of a case where not being prudent enough was the biggest cause to the accident. Between the two, scooter definitely is at fault for not looking beyond the bus across both sides of the road before crossing.

As for the car owner, even in developed countries on the highways, cops generally allow upto 10% for over speeding; both from a realistic aspect as well as the potential of speedometer error causing the overspeeding. 78kmph in a 70kmph limit, especially on a highway that used to have 80kmph is not a fault in my eyes. Even if he had been driving at 70, that accident would have happened.

[anandbangalore]

Seeing a lot of these fender-benders and some of the more serious accidents, a dashcam seems to be my need of the hour. Two questions on it.

1. Is there a thread on advice for dashcam setups? Specially the electronics, if the cam needs to pull power from the engine/battery.

2. Should I ever need and I hope I do not, anyone know if dashcam videos are used by the law to establish the truth? E.g insurance settlements, court of law?

[binand]

Originally Posted by anandbangalore

1. Is there a thread on advice for dashcam setups? Specially the electronics, if the cam needs to pull power from the engine/battery.

2. Should I ever need and I hope I do not, anyone know if dashcam videos are used by the law to establish the truth?

There is an ~300 page Dashcam thread plus dozens of smaller ones. You can search for them.

Dashcam videos are digital evidence, and the rules that govern them apply.

[Max5414]

So, on January 8, 2023, this incident occurred to me. I was on my way to meet my parents on Sunday morning and had stopped by a sweet shop to get some sweets. My wife was in the car when I parked it on the side and went to the store. I saw my car's side mirror flying by at first, thinking it was just a hit on the side mirror, but to my horror, the Tata Ace driver had completely scraped my left side, damaging both my front and back doors. My wife was in the car, and thankfully, my Altroz remained stable, with only minor vibrations felt in the cabin, so she was safe.*

https://youtu.be/kocOrsrsm1A

[Avikbrio]

Originally Posted by RaviKBobba

This was my experience a week ago on Hyderabad-Vijayawada Highway. My vehicle was rearended near RTA Checkpost. Luckily no injuries as I insisted on my family to wear seatbelts.

Front View of Dash Cam
http://Youtu.be/KXlxErAnpyk

Rear View of Dash Cam
http://Youtu.be/W9qPvxeUXhw

Clear signs of bad driving. You are coming on the left lane and then you are about to go to the right lane, but you don't and instead stick to the middle of two lanes, thus blocking traffic of both the lanes. Either you go fully into the right lane, go ahead and then indicate left and try to merge back into the left lane. Or you stay on the left lane and let the traffic on the right lane go ahead and once the checkpost is crossed, you make the overtakes you want in peace. Simply staying put in the middle just so you can take the opportunity to jump into the lane which is faster is bad driving. You can notice the Duster also confused at what you want to do. The truck driver on the other hand wasn't paying attention. If the Duster wasn't there, you would been squashed between the two trucks.

[r24x7]

Originally Posted by harshaguduru

Onlookers immediately tried to blame me for hitting the scooter.

Looks very similar to a viral video I saw few months ago where a helmet cam saved the rider from false allegations.
Watch from 00:35

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xt1J-g8yOcw

[RRM]

Originally Posted by harshaguduru

Having a dash cam has become a necessity. One not-so-gentleman even said he saw me hit the scooter with his own eyes:

The dashcam definitely helped you.

The moment you stopped and tried to help it became your fault. Usually vehicles will try to run away to avoid a tussle. The gentleman is amongst those who will be there just for fun and make statements on the fly but will not extend any help. Ask couple of more questions, he may look for an exit route

Did the 2w rider ackl that it was not your fault?