[Thad E Ginathom]

Oh, so it is sad that we cast aspersions on his driving when it was not true, although the assumptions were understandable.

Still, leaders have lost another of their own, and I wish they would act.

[alstonlobo]

Kundapur: 15 Students Injured as School Bus Overturns


Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (VM)

Kundapur, Aug 2: A mini school bus carrying students toppled on to a field near Beejoor in Byndoor here on Wednesday August 1.







Reports state that the bus was on its way to drop the students after school. The bus driver lost control of the wheel while giving way to another vehicle.
Around 15 students who were in the bus escaped with minor injuries.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

That's a pretty broad paint brush you are using

The Fortuner is a great highway vehicle and the visibility along with the mid range grunt makes overtaking or cruising (on the right roads) on 3 digit speeds a breeze. But driving that SUV at 150kmph in semi wet conditions and with traffic around is madness. That engine + ordinary brakes and body on frame/handling = can be a recipe for disaster for those who don't know how to handle such a combination.

Wonder how many Fortuner owners (outside our forum, obviously) really know what their vehicle can and can't do? And get cocooned by the false sense of security due to the vehicle's size and presence?

I am forced to paint with the broad brush as majority of the canvas is of the same colour . As I said before, no offence to Fortuner owners here. Of course I don't mean everybody drives like that. But a majority of them out there are bullys. So much so that I get nervous whenever I have to overtake a Fortuner on the highway. You never know how he might take it. Maybe they go easy on the bullying tactics with other fellow Fortuner owners

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

No offence to Fortuner owners. But in my experience I find that out of all SUV owners, people driving Fortuners have some of the worst road manners and drive in a manner which puts others on the road at great risk.

+1

IMO Most of the SUV owners don't have the road manners. No offence to anyone but I experience this daily on DG Expressay. All Scorpios/Safari/etc drivers race in the manner that they own the road and shows no mercy to other poor people driving small hatches/sedans on the same road.

Some SUV owners really don't have any road sense/common sense!

[(Alok)]

Originally Posted by bluevolt

+1

IMO Most of the SUV owners don't have the road manners. No offence to anyone but I experience this daily on DG Expressay. All Scorpios/Safari/etc drivers race in the manner that they own the road and shows no mercy to other poor people driving small hatches/sedans on the same road.

Some SUV owners really don't have any road sense/common sense!

Also because of this reason SUV topple more that hatches sedans.

[selfdrive]

^^I think they should have banned 'dashing cars' games in those amusement parks.

Jokes apart, this kind of etiquette or lack of it is prevalent everywhere. For example, people rushing inside elevators before people get out. I mean its an elevator, not a train that will leave at a specific point. I do agree that some people are out to show their might on the roads with their bigger vehicles.

[kartikoak]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

As I have said several times, if an inconsiderate idiot barges into your braking space do fall back as you can't prove a point banging the idiot's rear.
One may be tempted to honk and outwit the so called intruder but the gumption to keep cool, differentiates a good driver from the bad.

I have learnt it the hard way that allowing these idiots to sneak in will always result in I reaching my destination late.
I try to keep the gap based on the vehicle beside me!

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by bkishore_77

The fortuner accident is not a case of over speeding as speculated. As per the report in Hindu, The Hindu : Cities / Mangalore : Leaders mourn Jagannatha Shetty

"After dropping his driver home, Mr. Shetty’s car was taking a turn towards Shambur Road when a truck, which was carrying liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, rammed into the car. Mr. Shetty died on the spot."

Thanks for clarifying this. I was wondering how a conclusion was reached that the deceased was doing 100+ kmph. Infact that killer truck might have been doing triple digit speeds (to crush a Fortuner to this state). Sad indeed!

We talk in length about SUVs being rash, ban of sun films etc. I think more than 50% of the accidents will reduce if there are speed regulation rules for heavy vehicles.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by bkishore_77

The fortuner accident is not a case of over speeding as speculated. As per the report in Hindu, The Hindu : Cities / Mangalore : Leaders mourn Jagannatha Shetty

"After dropping his driver home, Mr. Shetty’s car was taking a turn towards Shambur Road when a truck, which was carrying liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, rammed into the car. Mr. Shetty died on the spot."

Originally Posted by vb-san

Thanks for clarifying this. I was wondering how a conclusion was reached that the deceased was doing 100+ kmph. Infact that killer truck might have been doing triple digit speeds (to crush a Fortuner to this state). Sad indeed!

The pictures actually don't confirm this theory. If you look at the pictures it looks like the Fortuner has rammed into the truck at a very high speed rather than the other way round. The truck is first of all a laden truck. It would require exceptional skills from the driver to reach tripple digit speeds in the wet weather. If the truck had rammed into the Fortuner it would have just blasted it out of its path and the Fortuner would bear a nasty hit on one face. It looks like the Fortuner's momentum has taken it under the truck, dislodging its front axle. Just look at the trucks right front side, it has almost turned 90 degrees due to the impact . I am no expert reconstructor but this story just does not add up.

[StarrySky]

Depends on how the turn was being taken by the Fortuner. The RHS of the Fortuner has hit the RHS of the truck. If the Fortuner was stopped waiting to make the turn, or if it was already in the process of making the turn, I would've expected more damage on the LHS of the Fortuner. Maybe the Fortuner was trying to make a hasty turn and misjudged the speed of the truck. If this happened on a 2-lane highway, was the Fortuner's indicators ON when he made the turn?

Of course, it is possible that the Fortuner was stopped in his lane and the truck rammed him while possibly trying to overtake some other vehicle. But, it doesn't appear to be the most likely scenario based on the pics.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

As I said before, no offence to Fortuner owners here...

Originally Posted by bluevolt

No offence to anyone ...

[Just two representative quotes.]

Never mind not offending. If people get offended then they are probably the ones that need to examine their driving habits. They are the ones who may end up in this thread, but a moment's thought might prevent that. The genuinely decent SUV drivers will nod, understand, and be sad at what the others do to their vehicle's reputation.

[rajeev k]

Originally Posted by kartikoak

I have learnt it the hard way that allowing these idiots to sneak in will always result in I reaching my destination late.
I try to keep the gap based on the vehicle beside me!

The gap can be lesser and could be proportional to speed. But idiots would barge into the gap left even at highway speeds and in those circumstances dropping back is the sure and safe way. Another important aspect is to start early to be on time every time.

[Tejas Ingle]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The pictures actually don't confirm this theory.

I agree with you. I will put down my observations based on the pics. Correct me if anyone feels I am wrong.

1. The Fortuner is thrown atleast 10-15 feet away from the site of impact.
2. It is pointing in the direction almost opposite to its direction of travel. [supposition based on position of car w.r.t. road]
3. The Fortuner was wedged below the truck.
4. The truck has moved ahead after the impact, which means the truck was doing good speed at the time of impact. This I can say looking at the position of the broken axle, mud on tyres, and marks of tyres in mud.
5. It is unlikely that the truck was doing 'high' speeds since the cylinders are full and not empty [they are apparently sealed]. Obviously it would also be difficult to stop a loaded truck suddenly.

Now for the Fortuner to get wedged below the truck, there must be high speed involved;either of the truck, or the Fortuner, or both.
If the Fort was stationery when the truck went over it, it would had hardly moved from its place. OR the truck would had hit the Fort at one point and pushed it away, and not went over it. It looks like it was the momentum of the Fort that first wedged it below the truck and then caused it to skid off the road.
Hence I would come to a conclusion that the Fort might be speeding or it may be a hasty turning attempt.

The Swift on page 782 is the best example to support this theory. Trucks in both the accidents are similar but Swift is much easier for the truck to climb on. But since the speed was much lesser, the Swift was hit and pushed away by the truck.
What do you guys think?

[tanwaramit]

Originally Posted by mannubhai

lowered my window to tell her that she better keep the left lane. Then realised, she had her ear phones, and probably was on phone or music, oblivious to what was happening around her.

Please don't do that, I once escaped being the reason of an accident in a similar instance.

In 2004, was driving on Koramangala inner ring road on the fast lane, an uncle (aged person) with an old lady was on the middle of fast lane driving around 30-40 kmh. I honked a few times, realised they may not give way, managed to squeeze into fast moving 2nd lane, came upto them, lowered window, asked them to drive their scooter in slow lane to leave right most lane for fast moving cars.

What followed next is I cant forget ever, uncle looked at me and lost concentration on his driving, he went right, the footboard of his scooter went scraping the stone of the median, he along with lady was about to fell from the scooter, some how he managed to balance himself. I saw all of that in my rear view mirror, saw them safe and then proceeded on. However, have cursed myself a lot, what if anything would have happened to them.

Rule, donot talk to OR tell anything to two wheeler riders, not everyone may have a good concentration. Once you get a space to move on, just move on.

[vb-san]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

The pictures actually don't confirm this theory. If you look at the pictures it looks like the Fortuner has rammed into the truck at a very high speed rather than the other way round. The truck is first of all a laden truck. It would require exceptional skills from the driver to reach tripple digit speeds in the wet weather. If the truck had rammed into the Fortuner it would have just blasted it out of its path and the Fortuner would bear a nasty hit on one face. It looks like the Fortuner's momentum has taken it under the truck, dislodging its front axle. Just look at the trucks right front side, it has almost turned 90 degrees due to the impact. I am no expert reconstructor but this story just does not add up.

Yeah, there can be multiple theories around this. And the real reason may not see the light anyway. Fully laden trucks (or buses) doing 100+ speeds is quite common in many parts of India. I have see a lot of those specimens in Kerala, and neighbouring areas. Actually, its not skill but pure arrogance and ignorance from those guys.

On a side note, when I look at these accidents involving a politician’s SUV, trucks etc. sometimes I get a doubt whether it was a really an accident, or an accident made to happen.