[Pferdestarke]

Originally Posted by GTO

I don't think this video has been shared before? Gosh, the bus <-> Scorpio crash is just horrific

Thanks for sharing the video GTO sir. I believe these footage videos would serve as eye-openers for many road users. And the Scorpio crash is really dreadful. Poor chap had to pay for no mistake of his own. I hope all the occupants made it out alive!

Originally Posted by VW2010

@GTO More than the scorpio i think the Innova incident is something we need to look at. The difference between stock car bumbers and having bull bar. The girl will live and she already stood up. Even at that speed the front bumper and the way she gets thrown into the car makes it a life saver to me.

I second you on this sir! It's the pliable stock bumper that saved her by partially assimilating the force of impact.

BTW, the car in this incident is not an Innova, it's a Mobilio I guess.

[tanwaramit]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Please share more details.

I'm really surprised about this description - would be the rarest of rare accidents in this case then.

This spot is ~100m before an intersection. In my nearly 3 years of living here with regular cycling as well, I have never seen a truck come the wrong way in the fast lane on THIS stretch - there is nothing for them, no dhaba / cut to turn off to , no U turn, nothing.

You do have the stupid auto driver and car / bike guys who come on the wrong side but on the left side - this kind of colossal stupidity is normally seen only around Kanpur on NH2 - never in these parts.

You wouldn't believe the places where these truck drivers drive the opposite lane in Delhi.

I was once waiting on the Delhi airport flyover (which comes down from Gurgaon Expressway on the way from Delhi to Gurgaon) in night around 11pm. What do I see? I see a big Tata truck climbing the flyover from the opposite side on the fastest lane. Not sure where he wanted to go to.

I was 100% sure, there will be an accident, and just before my eyes, a maruti omni (airport cab, yellow black one) was speeding on the fast lane to airport on empty road. He hard braked on seeing the truck oncoming in his lane. His car turned 90 degrees and hit the truck from left side. Fortunately, the truck was slow in speed and omni had managed to reduce its speed to zero.

Very very fortunate, not much damage to car and no damage to people in the car. Immediately there was crowd, people started asking the truck driver to come out to beat him.

I rang up 100 and within 2 minutes the PCR van was there. I had to move out then, as there was traffic bottleneck.

In short, I am not surprised to see a truck driver driving opposite lane with no chance to joining the other lane for several kms, seen one incident (above) in the heart of Delhi myself.

The point highlighted is the one where the Omni struck the Truck (side on). Omni was going to airport as expected on the road. Truck was approaching the expressway from airport via this road (thankfully he didn't kill anyone)

[Added_flavor]

Sharing a few wise words said by a fellow rider in relation to the superbike accidents being discussed.

Three high speed crashes yesterday with a category of bikes that I associate myself with- bikes with a lot of cc, a lot of HP- this side of a helicopter turbine, a lot of Nm or torque- easily the most this side of road rollers.

A Daytona 675R went down with its rider- fatally just north of Mumbai.
Another just as expensive or twice so- Ducati Hypermotard 821- literally broke into two around Lavasa, with news that its rider is alive- and then as if it wasn’t enough a bike twice that cost- a BMW S1000RR HP4, went down in Hyderabad again taking its rider with it- to heaven.

Time and again- too much, too little training, too little time acclimatizing to the throttle- and hanging with the wrong kind of people.

The fragile human ego- is easily challenged and at the drop of a hat ready to compete in a show of faster, further, stronger- at anytime. I think ego sometimes doubles up as a pimp for the God of Death.

In sequence- you have to find the right guys to learn from, observe, and train with- and in this only your karma can guide you. After that its your hand that guides you and your upbringing that tempers you- and the sense of what is right and wrong, inculcated in you that will prevent you from chasing people who are more proficient than you- and your judgement that there will always be someone better than you- eventually. And that its ok.
A commercial airline pilot, trained to handle emergencies and save the lives of the hundred who fly with him- if he could fall prey to the lure of being quick, being ahead- then others with far less training, I dread the coming days on the highways.

I call out to group leaders, riders who are looked up on be younger and newer fraternity to encourage good riding, and to be able to cultivate a sense of capability of different motorcycles, that a SuperLow will not stop on braking in even twice the distance of a Ducati Diavel. Racing on NH17 is not the same as flying low between Kolhapur and Belgaum.

I call out to new riders and wish to tell them that there are no older riders- every day is new- every ride is a challenge- there are just wise riders- try and find them and learn from them.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/kamlesh.des...53566982713886

[pdma]

Came across this video today. Its in local language but the damage as seen is pretty bad. This too is a drunk and drive case, where 3 out 4 students traveling in the car were killed in the fatal accident and the other person is in a very critical state. The airbags did deploy but that was not sufficient to save life in this scenario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9hugJa1T2Y

Cheers,
pdma.

[Rahul Bhalgat]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

You wouldn't believe the places where these truck drivers drive the opposite lane in Delhi.

Appreciate your point. Sometimes, some vehicles drive in the opposite lanes at unexpected and unbelievable places.

I frequently travel between Pune and Ahmednagar; it is a 4-lane road. I have seen tractor, tempo, jeep, six seater and sometimes a truck (dumpers mostly) travelling in the opposite lane. Two wheelers too.

Few times, I had an opportunity to talk to such drivers because there was a short duration jam.They said that they want to save diesel. If they have to avoid driving in the opposite lane, they need to go 500 m or 1 km in the opposite direction and take a U turn.

I tried to explain to them that this hardly costs any extra money. 500 m + 500 m ride costs typically Rs. 1 - 1.25 for a bike and Rs. 12 - 15 for a 1510 truck. Compared to their total expenses, this is nothing.

They were little surprised to notice this and then said that it is a matter of convenience for them! Saving few minutes, being in a hurry etc.

If we (through some social organization) take a campaign to educate the family members as well as the drivers in the towns by the side of highways, many lives can be saved.

[drmohitg]

They have seen their forefathers, fathers, siblings, friends and everyone else on the road do the same. And the herd mentality then kicks in. It's not about the money. Trust me. As you have also rightly pointed out about the actual extra cost of traveling that extra mile. It's only lack of common sense, a complete lack of road sense, no fear of traffic rules violation and above all total disregard for one's own and other driver's lives.

Seeing the way we learn or accept new behavior in India, the only way to prevent this is fines and very steep ones at that. One needs to take away the financial incentive and make it hurt where it hurts the most. Ofcourse it is easier said than done with our limited police force and there not so high moral. But even if they start issuing challans at few places, there might be some sort of improvement across the country.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

....Seeing the way we learn or accept new behavior in India, the only way to prevent this is fines and very steep ones at that. One needs to take away the financial incentive and make it hurt where it hurts the most. Ofcourse it is easier said than done with our limited police force and there not so high moral. ....

I agree with you. Fines should be in lakhs, not thousands. Let us say, caught driving on the wrong side? Pay fine of rupees 5 lakh. Now, if challan amount itself is 5 lakhs, bribe would be at least rupees 1.5 lakh, still a very high price to pay for driving on the wrong side. Let a few cops enjoy this 1.5 Lakh bribe bonanza for a short time but trust me if a guy pays just once this steep 1.5 lakh bribe, he would NEVER EVER again drive on the wrong side in his life time. The rupess 5 lakh challan and 1.5 lakh bribe news would spread so fast that within a week, all the careless drivers will fall in line. These amounts may sound super-ridiculous but they would eventually save lives.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Rahul Bhalgat

Appreciate your point. Sometimes, some vehicles drive in the opposite lanes at unexpected and unbelievable places.

Sometimes maybe it is even confusion, especially if the driver is not local.
The Chennai Kathipara interchange was opened before they installed the signage. This blunder cost at least one life, as a biker met unexpected oncoming traffic. And I don't blame the biker. Some routes are just not intuitive. There is even one sign now, to the effect, "This is not the way to Airport!"

[extreme_torque]

I wonder when our authorities will wake up to the menace called drunk driving and take some serious concrete steps. That Honda City accident in Hyderabad is scary.

[jhaji]

Originally Posted by harry10

That lady got what she deserved. It's high time people need to learn how to cross roads and Highway is not your playground.

I think that not only the Mobilio which eventually hit the lady, but several drivers who went past the lady were all at fault. In stead of slowing down they were all just swerving left and right to by-pass her without having to slow down. This is what I guess confused the lady who was trying to cross the road. Look at the trajectories of these vehicles before she gets hit. If they all had tried to stick to their lane and slow down, she may have avoided the hit. She was not crossing without looking.

[VW2010]

Why should they slow down on a road where you are not supposed to cross. How many times in a highway have we tried to slow down before its too late. Travelling at over 80kmph for a long time will only make it difficult to judge a sudden slow or stopped vehicle and that's very big visually as well. The lady decided to play the game of frog and paid the price. She is simply luckly to walk after her stupidity to almost cause a major accident.


In this case the fault is only on the lady.

[Dieseldunk]

Why should they slow down on a road where you are not....... game of frog and paid the price. She is simply luckly to walk after her stupidity to almost cause a major accident.


In this case the fault is only on the lady.
------------
Agree to a large extent but reserved.

If we were to see the further clips in the video a cow is crossing the road and a sudden braking results in the first car getting rear ended for the same.

Some thoughts for occurrence of the accidents

There is no much difference in how the cow and lady (generally our pedestrian populace) decided to cross the road

Who is to blame not the cow but definitely the moron who owns the cow and let it roam freely(alas none can frame charges on hom and it will be a dimunitive amount)
In this instance either way the car which suddenly braked would have faced serious damage on event of hitting the cow.
Lesson learnt no difference between the human pedestrian brain and the cattle breed.

Pedestrian skywalks on highway will help

A sign board on all vantage points informing public that wrong side driving and crossing the road without adequate caution is sole responsibility of the individual and cannot be penalized.

CCTV at every 1 km and near all intersections, crossovers, entry exit points from or to highway will be able to control accident rates.

[VW2010]

Pedestrian skywalks on highway will help

Unfortunately no one is using it these days. Alternate option is to start elavating these highways or having high fence or even compound on these specific intersection.

Stopping the car in the highway can lead to the scorpio incident. Imagine you did stop for the lady with your kid in the rear seat. A bus rear ending would have simply taken the one most precious thing in your life.

Highways needs to be respected. I remember some foolish driver on his BMW doing definitely over 180kmph in the banglore chennai highway. We were on the side of the road and i can assure you what appeared to be a safe distance to cross the road was actually deadly as the car was travelling way faster than it appeared.

The mathematics dont really add up to the time saving in almost 99% of the instances. 1% cases where you travel over 100kms and you can maintain a better average speed. Even that has so much risks.

These days the over bridge say even in chennai on certain places have come with escalators. Even then there are idiots who want to cross the road without using them. You can only help a little bit to avoid killing them.

Better is to have a speed vs time saved map on all cars. Once you enter the destination it should litrally throw up a message saying the maximum time you can save overspeeding is x minutes. With a sarcastic question of , do you really want to die for this 3 minutes saving?

[PatchyBoy]

Originally Posted by VW2010

The mathematics dont really add up to the time saving in almost 99% of the instances. 1% cases where you travel over 100kms and you can maintain a better average speed. Even that has so much risks.

Reminds me of a story that I heard as a child -

Two friends - one who always drives fast and another who always drives within legal limits - are going on a drive in a car. The sedate driver is driving, when a pedestrian in a village suddenly decides to cross the road. Our man immediately brakes and stops without mishap. Then he looks at his friend and says "No way you could have stopped without killing that man, were you driving". The speedster replies "Had I been driving, we would have crossed this spot before that guy decided to cross the road"

While it sounds funny, it is really sad that many people choose to learn the hard way.

[for_cars1]

Originally Posted by GTO

I don't think this video has been shared before ...

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

it is really sad that many people choose to learn the hard way.

Looking at the video (especially the girls crossing the road) gives an impression of extreme lack of awareness and ignorance and lax attitude as a result.

There would be no person who would intentionally want to harm themselves and others (due to their wrong action).
Most people end up committing mistakes on the road (such as the girls crossing the road in the video, the car stopping dead in the middle of the road) due to plain lack of awareness of road safety and consequences of their actions. (Also a lack of common sense)

Learning the hard way would come at an extreme price (suffering) which no person should go through. There has to be an effort to bring awareness about Road safety and bad consequences of wrong actions.

The government can easily enforce a compulsory subject about Road Safety and traffic sense to all students. (Atleast in high school if not earlier). Only then we will see some positive difference in the road mannerisms atleast down a few years eventually.

Even many educated people are ignorant of road safety simply because there was no effort to properly train people as part of their education in the first place.

There is another interesting thread about the road safety code which India had over 50 years ago.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/vintag...ml#post3814055

Its high time they re-introduce this, make it more elaborate, make it pictorial and easy to understand in the current context, use references on youtube and simply bring awareness in people and educate students with this code book.

Every license holder should be made aware of the rules and ill-consequences and safety aspects. Atleast RTO can start with this while issuing new licenses henceforth and when people come to renew licenses.

With safety awareness, the people who are willing to abide (but didn't know whats the right way earlier) will be tackled due to their self initiative.

There will always be a percentage of people who are not willing to abide (even though they may be aware).
There is no way to minimize such cases except with effective policing and levying high penalties.