[Arwin07]

https://youtu.be/dAkBhn4XDDw

A 37 year old TN government doctor (Surgical Gastroenterologist) died on the spot in Madurai ring road today in an accident. According to the news report, a government bus apparently grazed his car and continued driving without stopping. So the doctor sped, chased the bus, overtook the bus and tried to block it's way by sudden brake but lost balance and his car veered to the opposite lane whether it hit another government bus head on resulting in his death on the spot.

A case of road rage. His car (Amaze, according to photos in other news channels) completely crushed on impact as expected with any 100+kmph front on collision of any car with a bus doing 50-60kmph.

I am afraid what if it was a motorcycle instead of bus in the opposite lane?

Enter highways leaving anger at home. RIP.

[Torque250]

Originally Posted by Arwin07

https://Youtu.be/dAkBhn4XDDw
So the doctor sped, chased the bus, overtook the bus and tried to block it's way by sudden brake but lost balance and his car veered to the opposite lane whether it hit another government bus head on resulting in his death on the spot.

During the overtake, the car was struck by the bus driver on the right rear door which caused the car to veer and lose control. You can clearly see the dent in the right rear door which was not involved in the collision.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Arwin07

Enter highways leaving anger at home. RIP.

Enter any automobile leaving anger at home.

Of late I have been witnessing some crazy raged driving even inside crowded city traffic. Not at all healthy for any of the parties involved.

[Chetan_Rao]

The gray/silver car on the opposite side was very fortunate to have a bus ahead of it.

[Aravind_M92]

My speculation on the Dr. Karthikeyan's accident.
There might have been an issue where the bus might have scrapped the car earlier. This might have made him to chase the bus and try and get the issue sorted. The bus driver rather than stopping would've tried and prevented him from overtaking adding more to his rage. From the video, which shows that the car overtook the bus from the left while the entire right lane was free. I do believe that while Dr. Karthikeyan was trying to overtake from the left lane, the bus might have deliberately veered off to the left lane to try and prevent him from overtaking, thus pushing him to the shoulders where he might have accelerated heavily and try and pull the vehicle infront of the bus. And as I do believe by, accelerating while taking High speed turns don't Always turn out good, caused him to loose control and spin which was prevented by the speeding bus which hit the car and pushed it to the opposite lane.
If things happened in this manner, the bus driver is clearly at guilt for causing a fatal accident.

Few things to be noted-
- It is a common practice on highways for the buses to take up the inner lanes while it's clearly kept for fast vehicles.
- Few bus drivers do take the pleasure in irritating the hell out of drivers on highways. There is always a limit for patience as well. But in case of Dr. Karthikeyan's case, it turned out bad. I do remember talking to few drivers on highway telling me that 'car and Omni buses can drive very fast but we cannot. We do what we can!' This reminded me of those times when we do have to get library card stamped during college days to get no dues and those people had all the fun they can.
Many of us might have encountered this situation wherein two heavy vehicles block the lanes on a highway and neither vehicles allows passage of trailing vehicles. I don't see what kind of sick pleasure do those people get from this.

I do hope people do retain their sanity while driving and face the problem in case of an accident rather than running away from it. Recently there was a case of a Benz driven by a woman who hit a two wheeler and tried escaping the scene causing even more damage.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by sarav100

It’s Ertiga. Driver slept at the wheel in the middle of the day and straight went to hit at oncoming loaded tractor trolley. Ertiga driver did not possess driver’s license and was quite aged approx. >75 years. Tractor broke into 3 halves but luckily tractor driver survived the impact although he did got hurt I believe . Rest all passengers escaped without any visual injuries.

Very sorry for the damages to your car and very glad you are safe to talk about it.

In my opinion, when you saw the ertiga veer off the lane towards right, and when there is already a lorry coming in the opposite lane, you should have braked and moved to the left instead of trying to pass through the left. As Parag said, safe distance is atleast a good 100ft or 30 meters

Anyways, a lesson learnt, to all of us! Thanks for sharing.

PS: The dashcam footage seems to have been zoomed in. Do you have the full wide footage?

[racer_ash]

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

Adding more information to this, the car in question is a Hyundai Verna, which belongs to Zoom cars, self driving car rental company. Apparently, the driver is at high speeds and in inebriated state. The driver rammed into a tree which caused the car to split into 2 pieces. This car also has 14,000 rupees worth challans, most of them for over speeding.

Don't zoomcar vehicles come with a speed governer limiting top speed to 80kmoh. I remember multiple BHPians mentioning the same? Even the speedcam pic says in excess of 120kmph.

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Enter any automobile leaving anger at home.

Of late I have been witnessing some crazy raged driving even inside crowded city traffic. Not at all healthy for any of the parties involved.

What if your passengers are angry and fighting?

I have been in situations where my passengers have a fight when one gives wrong directions or when they have missed some luggage or whatever trivial reasons.

Needless to say that is VERY distracting at least for that period and I drive the car slow until I can calm down along with the commotion. Or I simply park and tell them to get out, fight, and then get in.

[PompousKnight]

Originally Posted by Aravind_M92

My speculation on the Dr. Karthikeyan's accident.
There might have been an issue where the bus might have scrapped the car earlier. This might have made him to chase the bus and try and get the issue sorted. The bus driver rather than stopping would've tried and prevented him from overtaking adding more to his rage. From the video, which shows that the car overtook the bus from the left while the entire right lane was free. I do believe that while Dr. Karthikeyan was trying to overtake from the left lane, the bus might have deliberately veered off to the left lane to try and prevent him from overtaking, thus pushing him to the shoulders where he might have accelerated heavily and try and pull the vehicle infront of the bus. And as I do believe by, accelerating while taking High speed turns don't Always turn out good, caused him to loose control and spin which was prevented by the speeding bus which hit the car and pushed it to the opposite lane.
If things happened in this manner, the bus driver is clearly at guilt for causing a fatal accident.

I strongly believe in this version of events as I have gone through a similar incident in my life before. A government bus once crushed the left mirror of my car(surprisingly I own an amaze as well) while overtaking from the left on an highway. I couldn't move to the right as there was a truck and i was sandwiched.

I honked and tried overtaking the bus, but the driver was speeding & driving in a downright reckless manner- To stop me from overtaking, he was veering the bus dangerously between the lanes and also cutting in front of other vehicles on the highway.

The sight of this huge, loaded government bus swaying violently from left to right at high speeds was enough to discourage me in pursuing it any further. More specifically, the thought of what would happen if the bus topples over/ if it hits me in the process sent shivers down my spine. And to think of the countless innocent lives inside the bus that might be lost if the bus topples over is reason enough to let my senses take over from my inflated & bruised ego.

I'm afraid this might be the case in the above video as I can clearly see the bus veering towards the left before hitting the amaze. When the right lane is clear, why is the bus veering toward the left, that too when the amaze is almost completing the overtake. Only reason I could think of is if any obstacle (barricade/slow moving traffic on right lane) is present in the right lane in front of the bus, but I highly doubt it. If the fact that the bus scrapped the amaze before and Dr. Karthikeyan was chasing to stop the bus is true, then I strongly believe the bus driver veered towards the left to stop the overtake, thereby causing the accident. To my eyes, it seems the bus hit the amaze by going left than the amaze grazing the bus by moving to the right.

This incident is a stark reminder of how dangerous our highways are and to always remind ourselves of what's at stake. We can always fix a damaged car, but an injury to our body and lives? It's a clear choice to make. Only if one can control the ego...only if.

[IshaanIan]

Very sad to see a Doctor lose his life in such a manner. Firstly this is what insurance is for, secondly even if he did not want to claim insurance I am sure he could have afforded the damages being in one of the highest paid fields of work in our country. Finally, is it really that hard to catch a bus? Stopping the bus should be done in an appropriate rather than immediate manner and this is where I feel the Doctor's education, common sense and higher position in society than the bus driver, ought to have prevailed but for some reason did not. RIP.

[turbospooler]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

.....
So that is just one more lesson learnt when driving on 2 lanes - Don't maintain safe distance from the vehicle ahead of you. Maintain at least a 100 meters.

Unfortunately, I do follow this rule, but the other drivers take it as their birthright space when they are rashly overtaking.

Glad that Sarav is safe.

[deetee]

Originally Posted by PompousKnight

I
I honked and tried overtaking the bus, but the driver was speeding & driving in a downright reckless manner- To stop me from overtaking, he was veering the bus dangerously between the lanes and also cutting in front of other vehicles on the highway.

If ever, one has to chase and stop a bust to pick fight with the driver, be patient, trail the bus at a safe distance. Call up 100 or the highway police whatever number you can find, tell them the bus was being driven rashly, has hit a vehicle and running away , give the highway and direction of travel of bus. Let the cops do the stopping and then catch up to settle the score, if one is that serious.

[Chetan_Rao]

Anyone who thinks there's any safe way to play chicken with a large/heavy vehicle and 'win' needs their head examined. Irrespective of the justifications you imagine in your head, don't bother trying it in real life, just don't.

[amol4184]

^^^ Definitely. Brake check right in front of any vehicle is only going to endanger both the parties and not many people realize it. High chances you will get your bumper damaged or worse. What good is it if you brake in front of a ST bus and the bus rams into your car. You will be out thousands, or even lacs if its an expensive car. Not worth it. Just ignore.

[carthick1000]

Originally Posted by sarav100

Never imagined I’d end up posting footage in this thread but we have to accept the world as is.

Looking at the positive side, that's some serious level of Roll angle your car hit and good to see that your steer/throttle inputs are good enough to recover you from a Roll and back on 4 wheels.

It is indeed a difficult maneuver to learn even in closed facilities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMw1FggbCTI