[gabrielthomas]

This happened near tambaram on this saturday...

CHENNAI: A 21-year-old engineering student was killed and 14 others were injured after a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) bus going from Chennai to Salem toppled on the Maduravoyal bypass road at Thiruneermalai near Tambaram on Saturday morning.

The driver, Ranganathan, lost control of the bus after he braked suddenly, allegedly to avoid hitting a bike rider who was travelling in a haphazard manner on Outer Ring Road near Tambaram. Preliminary inquiries revealed that the biker cut across the path of the bus to move to the left as it was raining.

Police identified the deceased as S Sathya Darshini of Thuraiyur near Trichy, a third year ECE student of Jayaram College of Engineering in Karattampatti near Trichy. Around 13 passengers apart from the driver and conductor were travelling in the bus that left Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu at 10.15am, police said. The injured, including 11 women and three men, were taken to the Government Hospital in Chromepet and a private hospital in Tambaram where they were declared out of danger.

Around 10.45am, on Maduravoyal bypass road, Ranganathan, overtook a State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) bus and suddenly found a two-wheeler rider in his path. To avoid hitting him, Ranganathan made a violent swerve to the right. A portion of the bus hit the bike, throwing the rider to the ground. Ranganathan, in a bid to avoid running over the bike, again swerved, in the opposite direction. The bus toppled after hitting some steel structures, police said after talking to some passengers. Traffic on the Tambaram-Maduravoyal stretch was disrupted for about an hour after the accident.

Soon, residents of the area rushed to the scene and broke open the windshield to pull out the conductor, Jaishankar, 40, and Ranganathan. "Darshini, who occupied the window seat, was crushed to death on the spot," a police officer said. The biker, 34-year-old Anna Nagar resident Vetri Vendhan who was going to Tambaram, suffered serious injuries to his legs.

Darshini, who had come to attend a workshop at SRM University, stayed at a women's hostel in Koyambedu on Friday. Her elder sister S Gokila, who joined software firm CTS in Chennai only a week ago, said she planned to meet Darshini after the workshop.

After autopsy, the body was taken to Thuraiyur.


Reference: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/46006964.cms

[ajmat]

This is what happens when an idiot drives on the wrong side of the road at a critical junction. Sarjapur-ORR junction

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Attachment 1333681

This is what happens when an idiot drives on the wrong side of the road at a critical junction. Sarjapur-ORR junction

Brilliant !! I passed at 7:15 AM and all was fine.

This is a major disaster point. The water tankers coming from here and there, clubbed with techie cabbies are the perfect recipie for a disaster !!
The catch is go slow at this junction even when the Orange lights are blinking, for one never knows in which of the directions a speeding vehicle would come.
I always wonder, when they built the Sarjapur flyover, why didn't they make a dual carriageway. The single carriageway flyover defeats all purpose of a signal-free ORR.

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Attachment 1333681

This is what happens when an idiot drives on the wrong side of the road at a critical junction. Sarjapur-ORR junction

I too saw it this morning on my way to work, but could not photograph it because traffic was flowing smoothly. Tried looking for damage on the end/edge of the concrete divider, and did not notice any.

You do realise that the stretch of road (where you see the water tanker) is one-way bidirectional depending on the signal phase? Maybe the car came out of the lane on the left side and turned in too sharply ...

[luvDriving]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

And,

C. Stick to the speed limits?

Quite right. That is the most basic thing to do but as they say, common sense is not so common.

Originally Posted by bblost

An almost similar accident.

Road under construction. So the crew building it simply left some iron girders with a red cloth as warning.

In such cases, say some vehicle parked such that some portion protrudes on the carriageway or say construction material dumped with just a flag to warn oncoming traffic, I feel both parties - the victim and the person(s) putting such things are to blame for the accident.

[gurudutt]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Attachment 1333681

This is what happens when an idiot drives on the wrong side of the road at a critical junction. Sarjapur-ORR junction

And looks like someone else had to pay the price for no fault of theirs. Am sure if must be a cabbie.

[Chetan_Rao]

I noticed that Etios being prepped for a tow on my way to work around 11.30AM. That junction sees rampant wrong lane driving, esp. from cabbies trying to join the Silk Board side carriageway from the service road on the left because they're too lazy to come the right way.


Yep, was a yellow board.

[saket77]

I was having a short break with my colleagues when we heard a loud bang and then loud scrapping noise. After a second or two, realized that a passing by Indigo suffered a tire burst and it climbed on the median; all happening in a split second.

Went near to the spot once the crowd dispersed. There was a tear in the tire which may be the source of burst (or may have happened after it hit the curb). The damaged components looked like front right wheel rim, drive shaft, lower arm, engine sump (as oil was leaking slowly). In fact, the drive shaft was totally ripped apart and the rubber boot lay aside. Pardon the poor quality of pictures.

[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by luvDriving

Apparently this gentleman dozed off for a second or two and missed a slight turn and rammed straight into the parked trolleys.

At a speed of 120 kmph, head on collision, the engine was destroyed as was the axle of the trolley. Air bags deployed everywhere inside. The driver was the only one belted up. His wife was sitting next to him. My brother was behind the driver, sister in law in the middle and the kid behind his mother.

The only person to get injured was my sister-in-law with a broken wrist. My brother was also dozing and suffered small bruises on his legs. The other three suffered nothing else other than shock and some minor bruising. My brother attributes this wholly to the Mercedes build and deploying of the air bags.

All of them came out of the car, shaking - the doors opened normally. The car was a total loss. All the formalities followed - police panchnama, graft etc. The friend was at fault totally but fortunately no one was seriously hurt in the car and there was no one in the trolleys that were parked for the night.

My brother, while telling me this detailed account, repeatedly kept stating that had all of them buckled up, nothing would have happened at all.

I am a big advocate of seatbelts and never ever drive or ride in a vehicle without them. I also force others in my vehicle to buckle up. It is surprising that despite such a severe impact none of the unbelted passengers suffered serious injuries. Even though it is indeed very fortunate and I am grateful that the family survived without major injuries, it makes me wonder how the unbelted passengers in the rear were not flown towards the front seats and the windscreen? The front unbelted passenger should also have been thrust towards the front and though the airbag would have cushioned the blow, there would have been a high risk of internal injuries due to sudden deceleration- something the seatbelts are supposed to minimise.

This makes me wonder if the collision took place at a lower speed? Perhaps the car was doing 120 when the driver was awake but the speed tends to fall as one gets drowsy and maybe the car slowed to say 90 and then perhaps to 60-70 by the time the impact took place if the driver stopped pressing the accelerator for a few seconds. Of course I realise that there are so many variables that determine the outcome of an accident but this makes me wonder if seatbelts are really as effective as we are led to believe? I would still strongly advocate that all drivers and passengers should always wear their belts as they increase safety and cause no hardship at all but we could have an academic discussion on this matter. Once again, I want to make it clear that I am a strong advocate of the use of seatbelts and am in no way suggesting that we shouldn't use them.

[jeeva]

Harthal is the new national festival of Kerala.
Every festival calls for celebration, especially if it falls on long weekends.
And that's when idiots like these, reverse-up cars to nearby tree tops.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by jeeva

.......
And that's when idiots like these, reverse-up cars to nearby tree tops.

From the pic, seems like the driver managed to slam into the mile-marker sideways (or has the car folded post-impact?). What was he doing, playing NFS Drift with a real car?

[svsantosh]

Jeeva, thats not a reversing looks like driver spun, slammed the mile marker, and the tree (luckily) stopped the carnage.

[raghu.t.k]

Originally Posted by jeeva

Harthal is the new national festival of Kerala.
Every festival calls for celebration, especially if it falls on long weekends.
And that's when idiots like these, reverse-up cars to nearby tree tops.

He should thank his stars for not hitting the Pole just beyond. I think those are electric cables, and the result could have been totally different

[jeeva]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Jeeva, thats not a reversing looks like driver spun, slammed the mile marker, and the tree (luckily) stopped the carnage.

I know
High speeds, intoxication, low visibility due to fog, winding roads and the boat like handling of the i 20, made up this skillful attempt to climb up that tree.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Of course I realise that there are so many variables that determine the outcome of an accident but this makes me wonder if seatbelts are really as effective as we are led to believe? I would still strongly advocate that all drivers and passengers should always wear their belts as they increase safety and cause no hardship at all but we could have an academic discussion on this matter. Once again, I want to make it clear that I am a strong advocate of the use of seatbelts and am in no way suggesting that we shouldn't use them.

seatbelts save lives - even in non-airbag vehicles.
The fact that everyone in the car survived is due to :
1. lots of airbags all deployed
2. fortune/luck/god-blessings all rolled into a super-accurate bulls eye on whatever low probability conditions were needed to actually occur simultaneously, so that nobody gets seriously hurt