[Viju]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

http://www.mid-day.com/articles/bike...thane/17310174
23 year old son

The report you quoted says 20 year old, I think by mistake you made him 23 year old, where as several news reports say 17 year old. Does look like a 17 year old, and since his mother is a corporator, the kid will automatically 'become older' now (not that it makes any difference to him). His Facebook page is filled with him stunting without any gear at all.

Really sad when we think how many lives are lost in this uncontrolled madness. How hard can it be for parents to teach their kids the importance of safety gear and may be sent them to some track days or something to cool their blood down! We need to groom our children well from a tender age. Only then will there be any hope for our country's future!

[TD_GHY]

Not the kids, but the parents are to blame for such mishappennings that occur now and then. One must not give everything a child asks for, even small things like cellphones, tablets etc. Children must feel the pain of necessity and means to attain them. If they get everything they ask for, they grow inconsiderate and reckless. Why a bike first of all, when legal age for a bike with gear is 18 years? Just because you can afford to give your child one, should you give one? And just because you have the money and power to manage the police, should you not teach your child rules and road manners? I belong to a not-so-rich society where no boy or girl has ever got a bike before they completed 12th (approx 18 years) and maybe that is one reason they are all alive unlike a few rich brats who shot to fame amongst their peers because of their bikes in their school days itself.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by pgsagar

turn 180 degrees when there is no traffic approaching, hoist the bonnet up.

Yes, I know on some roads, you may never have enough time to pull it off but on sparsely driven roads of my state, you can. The best thing actually would be to completely leave the highway and take to some side road.

Unfortunately atleast in the Mumbai-Pune Eway, there is no such time .
Adding to it, lane discipline is minimum where you could actually see any vehicle overtake from extreme left lane at high speed and believe me, getting a slot to completely turn the car 180 degrees is very very rare. Like you mentioned, its the best thing to do in sparsely driven roads but even in that case, if an out of control vehicle bangs into the stationary car, there are chances that the case might go against that driver/owner

[Chetan_Rao]

In a reasonably sane legal system, the biker would take the blame for the accident and the trucker could possibly claim compensation.

India being India, he's booked for negligent driving and could face worse charges if the idiot's parents choose to persecute him.

[pgsagar]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

http://www.mid-day.com/articles/bike...thane/17310174
23 year old son, called as 'daredevil biker' by media, multiple complaints of rash driving, corporator/builder father who chose to ignore idiot son's antics, son riding rashly without any gear, gets himself killed and his pillion almost killed under the wheels of a container truck. Result? Police arrest container truck driver under the pretext of 'rash driving'. Blind leading the blind

Well said. I see this all the time here in my state. Local vernacular daily headlines pronounce judgement, "speeding truck mowes down biker/pedestrian". For all you know, the biker/pedestrian might have come bang in the middle of the road out of nowhere. What can a hapless truck driver do?

[aerohit]

Traffic Police in Bhutan have penalised a taxi driver, 38, for a bizarre traffic violation. He had allegedly carried Indian tourists on his taxi’s roof rack on the way to Taktshang.

The Police issued a Transport Infringement Notice to the driver on the spot with two charges. He has been charged with carrying insecure load and flouting general duty of a driver. Police say the driver could be levied a penalty of more than Nu 4,000 (INR 4000) and have his license being punched. This is first such incident to be reported in the country.

http://www.bbs.bt/news/?p=59795

[deathwalkr]

hope the passengers were also penalized.

[aaggoswami]

Today while returning from office, I had a crash wherein I rear ended a Bolero serving as CMS Van.
All of sudden, there is a channel or something dug across a road, due to which there is a cavity. This Bolero's rear tail lights were not working, and that is something I very well remember. So, as the Bolero approaches the cavity on road, he brakes but it takes judgement of nearing distance that I realize the need to brake. I do it, pretty hard. The is an undulation under my left wheel and also sand. As soon as I brake, the car skids towards left, left wheel locks and I rear end the Bolero. Damage to Bolero : His LHS Tail light which was already held up by sellotape, broke up.

Damage to my Swift : massive given that this was in very dense traffic conditions and I wasn't doing 30 kmph. I shift to 3rd by the time I cross 25. Was still in second gear. Traffic is so random and dense, that looking at speedo in such situation means that some obstacle would be in front of you, be it a biker cutting across or a pedestrian walking with kid who decides to cross the road.
All this happened new Gorwa Lake, Gorwa, Vadodara.

Car's A/C and music system were still working when the crash happened.
After the crash, called my colleague at office as my office would barely be a km. from the place where this crash happened. Within 5 mins, my colleagues turn up, and we come to know that there is no fluid leak, but just to ensure that we dont mess up, engine is not started. Kept the car on side of road, and at 10:20 PM at night, the car dropped at Kiran Motors workshop, Chhani, Vadodara via a tow Pick-up truck.

Lessons : ABS is a must along with a solid structure. Buy a used car with ABS than a new one without it. Twice I made the same mistake of making a purchase without ABS.

Estimate : 50-60K I think. Insurance should cover all of it as I have bumper to bumper Zero Deprecation insurance. Lets see what they have to say tomorrow.

After averaging more than 850 kms. per month, the car had its hit. Next month end, this car completes one year. Honestly, the speed was very less to warrant such damage. Built quality is not tough, may be chassis would be better, but as crash test results have suggested the overall build is not good. This much damage is not expected. I was expected broken light, and bent hood. But the front member where hood is latched has moved in by a good margin.

I needed this machine on coming saturday as one of my best friend is getting engaged. Now, we will hunt for a cab. I think the damage can be repaired in three working days, but given insurance formalities, it would take more than 10 days. After this experience of mine, I am sure that Punto or Polo or even Bolt/Zest would fared better. European cars like Polo, Punto depreciate much faster and getting them used does make for a smart bet IMO. Wonder what would be my damage at even 60 kmph.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Today while returning from office, I had a crash wherein I rear ended a Bolero serving as CMS Van.

Sorry to know about your crash! The first one always hurts.


Since you have Zero Dep Maruti insurance, from my experience, there won't be any delay for insurance approvals. They start working immediately after receiving the documents. If all the necessary spares are available, I guess it won't take them more than 4 days to return you the car.

A word of caution- Whichever part comes out, make sure that same part goes in!! For example, small things like clips and other trims are often ignored by workshops. Do not let that happen. Every small spare is there for a purpose, and it is this eye for detail which differentiates between a factory build and an "opened" car. The workshop people often give you BS that "Saar, so and so spare isn't available", etc. Do not fall for this.

Also, kindly make sure to receive the car in broad daylight, so that any small paint defect is visible. Hoping that your Swift attains its early glory soon. Do keep us updated.

Regards,
Shashi

[Viju]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Lessons : ABS is a must along with a solid structure. Buy a used car with ABS than a new one without it. Twice I made the same mistake of making a purchase without ABS.

Thank you for writing that down. It takes a very honest person to admit their mistake.

As someone who has been working on ABS development for past 7 - 8 years, I find it surprising that some members on our board even nowadays go on about how a 'skilled driver' does not need ABS, and how he can do emergency braking better and using hand brake and pulsed braking, and a lot more non-sense!!

Sorry to see your damaged car. Hope you get your car back in pristine shape very soon!

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Lessons : ABS is a must along with a solid structure. Buy a used car with ABS than a new one without it. Twice I made the same mistake of making a purchase without ABS.
.

Sorry to hear about your accident but no one was hurt.

The big lesson here is "Keep your Distance". While you could blame some of the fault on the lack of brake lights of the vehicle in front. If you had been following him, you would have figured this out and given an extra margin of distance

[redcruiser]

Well as far as keeping safe distance is concerned I always make sure that atleast I can see the front car's tyres and some inches of road behind it. This is applicable in a normal moving city traffic.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

The is an undulation under my left wheel and also sand. As soon as I brake, the car skids towards left, left wheel locks and I rear end the Bolero. Damage to Bolero : His LHS Tail light which was already held up by sellotape, broke up.

Glad you came out safe!

If I understand this right, you hit him at an angle. Your car's front right side to Bolero's rear left. The car skidded on sand.

How would have ABS helped in this case? Doesn't ABS increase the braking distance on sand/snow? With ABS, wouldn't your car's front have hit Bolero's rear straight? Not at an angle?

ABS does save lives, but I think the better takeaway from this accident is to always keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front. Especially true if it is a little rash or unkempt - higher chances of abrupt acceleration/lane changes/braking.

[aaggoswami]

Just back from Kiran Motors Body shop.
Filled up the required documentation as asked and I hope things get sorted out without any issue.
They wanted me to fill up a satisfaction note right now stating that I am satisfied and i have paid difference amount. There was a blank in difference amount which was to be filled in manually.
I did not sign that. Service Adviser told me that if I sign it and give it later, it would take two more days than 15 days to repaid the car. I agreed.

Original License, Registration Card and Insurance documents had to be submitted which again I did. But I find this pretty weird. Why original license ? Still, submitted it and will collect it tomorrow.

Radiator and condenser look OK, but may have to shell out some amount for A/C refrigerant fill and 1000 Rs. for washing ( seems like a premium wash ). Expecting quality of work to be good.

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

Sorry to know about your crash! The first one always hurts.
Since you have Zero Dep Maruti insurance, from my experience, there won't be any delay for insurance approvals. They start working immediately after receiving the documents. If all the necessary spares are available, I guess it won't take them more than 4 days to return you the car.
A word of caution- Whichever part comes out, make sure that same part goes in!! For example, small things like clips and other trims are often ignored by workshops. Do not let that happen. Every small spare is there for a purpose, and it is this eye for detail which differentiates between a factory build and an "opened" car. The workshop people often give you BS that "Saar, so and so spare isn't available", etc. Do not fall for this.

Also, kindly make sure to receive the car in broad daylight, so that any small paint defect is visible. Hoping that your Swift attains its early glory soon. Do keep us updated.

Thanks for your valuable inputs. Will have a detailed look at how they are working on my car. And Yes, delivery on day time only. They have stated 15 days, which I know is on much higher side.

Originally Posted by Viju

Thank you for writing that down. It takes a very honest person to admit their mistake.

True, no more turning away from reality. ABS a must. Govt. should make it mandatory IMO. If this is what it can do in city, on highways ABS can certainly be a life saver.

Originally Posted by ajmat

Sorry to hear about your accident but no one was hurt.

The big lesson here is "Keep your Distance". While you could blame some of the fault on the lack of brake lights of the vehicle in front. If you had been following him, you would have figured this out and given an extra margin of distance

Originally Posted by redcruiser

Well as far as keeping safe distance is concerned I always make sure that atleast I can see the front car's tyres and some inches of road behind it. This is applicable in a normal moving city traffic.

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Glad you came out safe!

If I understand this right, you hit him at an angle. Your car's front right side to Bolero's rear left. The car skidded on sand.

How would have ABS helped in this case? Doesn't ABS increase the braking distance on sand/snow? With ABS, wouldn't your car's front have hit Bolero's rear straight? Not at an angle?

ABS does save lives, but I think the better takeaway from this accident is to always keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front. Especially true if it is a little rash or unkempt - higher chances of abrupt acceleration/lane changes/braking.

Absolutely, no body was injured and it was only vehicle damage.
It was around 15 feet gap but the undulation on left along with in that undulation that made the car skid.
In this case, the wheel on sand would not have locked and RHS wheels had grip, so ABS can reduce the speed more effectively and atleast I would have control over direction. If all 4 wheels are on sand or slippery surface, am aware that braking distance would increase, but there is greater control as wheel haven't lost all grip.

[tanwaramit]

Uber driver hits head on with a car in Mumbai

https://thelogicalindian.com/my-stor...-decent-speed/

There are lots of issues when it comes to public transport, that is why we use app-based services. They are more comfortable and assure us of our safety. This incident happened with Amit Mehta. What we can least expect from an app-based private service is that the driver follows the basic safety guidelines.

“Yesterday we booked an ‪#‎Uber‬ from office in Sakinaka Andheri to a meeting at Jacob Circle Mahalaxmi. We left at 2pm. On the way, we noticed that the driver was chewing a lot of gutka, and later noticed that he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. I asked him to put it on – he refused with the excuse that it interfered with this driving and hurt his chest.

By around 3.30 we had reached Lower Parel and were on the last flyover before Palladium when he decided to overtake the car in front of him and as a result got on to the on-coming traffic lane, and, that is when disaster struck.

We rammed head on with a Maruti zen (private car) with both cars going at decent speed. It took me a few seconds to recover from the crash and as I picked my head up all I could see was the car we had rammed into – it was packed (later learned there were 7 inside, three in front, four passengers behind, and a CNG gas cylinder in the trunk.) with a lady and a small girl child in the front passenger seat. I saw that the bonnet and engine had pretty much caved in. I looked to my right to see Christine’s head down near my lap and she lay there motionless.

All the doors had locked in, our driver was jumping around trying to get out and he finally jumped out of the window. I managed to open the door and looked over to the other side to pick Christine up – as I dragged her up from her shoulder a slice of her scalp hung out.

The rest of it is a pretty unfortunate and long story. Christine is now, thankfully, safe and recovering in hospital. All the scans are clear and apart from the outer physical injury there is no internal bleeding or injury. The driver of the other car has his back fractured, the kid has her arm fractured, two other members are in hospital with one in ICU – I do not know the criticality but I am told they are out of danger.

Our driver is arrested and is in jail. We have completed all the formalities with the Police who were quite supportive.

About 45 minutes after the accident (4.15pm) I sent an email to Uber

“We have just had a major accident in your car. My friend is in an emergency in hospital. Please call me on my number immediately”

I received a response at 6.01pm

“Hi Amit,
Thanks for writing in.
I understand that you would like to speak on the phone about this concern. Though we don’t currently provide phone service (this is something we hope to have soon) I’ll be happy to work with you via e-mail to fully resolve your issue as quickly as possible.
Let me know how I can help further.
Thanks,
Sarika”

Alright, I thought. Later once home, I sent them a longer email explaining what exactly happened and that thankfully the accident took place in front of the Police who took photographs and impounded both cars. I asked for some details and support with the case.

I haven’t received a response as yet.

Christine’s parents and I felt that the story should be shared on Social Media because of various reasons.

One, every passenger should know that #Uber does not have any emergency helpline and that they will not call you even if you have met life-threatening accident.

Two, their email support on ‘critical’ and ’emergency’ situations is quite hopeless. They do not have a quick-response cell which can assist a passenger at such a time.

Three, in a situation like this, there is no #Uber office that you can go to in order to lodge a complain.

Four, the app does not have an ’emergency’ tab or an ‘accident’ tab which if pressed immediately sends you location to the cops, and any other saved number that you may have preset in your account settings.

And, it doesn’t end there. The damages are beyond physical & injury related.

We will investigate what can be done in such a case if after so much evidence #Uber refuses to respond or acknowledge what has happened.

The fault was entirely with our driver, Gangaram Santosh Ugale aged 22.

Not me, found online, shared here.

2 of the pictures from Amit Mehta's facebook post here.