[bejoy]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

The angle at which it hit the wall, it appears they were on the right lane and tried to avoid an accident and over-steered into this structure. I mentioned this some posts before as well.

The angle at which the car is resting is not the angle at which it hit the wall. It hit the wall almost perpendicular but the offset caused car to turn laterally towards left, after impact, and at the same time lift the rear and rested in the final position. If you look at the picture, the path that the tyres took can be seen (where the person is lying on grass). This is parallel to the road.

If it had indeed hit the wall at that angle (as seen in pic) the car would have turned 180 degrees (or more) at that speed.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Originally Posted by bejoy

The angle at which the car is resting is not the angle at which it hit the wall. It hit the wall almost perpendicular but the offset caused car to turn laterally towards left, after impact, and at the same time lift the rear and rested in the final position. If you look at the picture, the path that the tyres took can be seen (where the person is lying on grass). This is parallel to the road.

If it had indeed hit the wall at that angle (as seen in pic) the car would have turned 180 degrees (or more) at that speed.

What you see are not tread marks but marks of people moving on grass to help.

The car's front wrapped around the wall, which is possible when impact is at the centre.

[MT_Hyderabad]

Forgot to mention in mt last post and had to create another one.

The car’s front and rear tyre were deprived of any vegetation. Making it more possible that the tyres never touched the vegetation.

[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by MT_Hyderabad

Forgot to mention in mt last post and had to create another one.

The car’s front and rear tyre were deprived of any vegetation. Making it more possible that the tyres never touched the vegetation.

So the position of impact leaves only two possibilities open, Driver misjudgment of an overtaking, or Driver Fatigue resulting in loss of control. The worst possibility is an evasive maneuver but that again requires Driver's judgment on factors like safe distance, safe speed, planned overtaking, etc.

If the concrete structure was not in the place, the car would have run over the kerb into a roadside ditch (you must drive in Bengaluru NICE road to witness Innumerous such instances), crashed into the railings, or fallen off the bridge. Maybe or may not be, the result would have been better or worse. Only seat belts could have saved the passengers. Nothing more, nothing less.

[prajwalmr62]

Originally Posted by Kln

It indeed is bad design, and it is shocking that no one is challenging the lackadaisical attitude of the NHAI babus. But I guess that's we are as a country - if anything goes wrong in your life, it is you who is to blame. Don't question the authorities.

It is just plain incompetency. It is a bad design, and very easy to misjudge as well. But, this is the state of our highways. You can't fix incompetency by just making scapegoats. For all we know, that engineer might have been the brightest of that lot. You need institutions, organizations that actively put effort to improve respective fields. You need people who study and put it in practice. We don't have it, and it is not just in building highways. And these issues are not something we will be solving in couple of years. It will take decades (if we do it).

In all of our roads (irrespective of design), the last lane is always a surprise lane. There can be a truck parked, bikers standing and taking selfies, some local villager waiting to cross the road, etc.

We don't have control over the state of the road we travel, but we definitely have control over our vehicles. Our aim should be to reach our destination safely, and ensure we are taking enough precaution for the same.

[HammerHead]

Well, I have myself gone through a similar incident, rather missed it by inches!!

This happened ~4.5 years back on Pune-Kolhapur patch of the Pune-Bangalore highway and it made me totally avoid the extreme left lane, unless needed, while I drive on the highway.

I don't remember the exact location, but I remember that the 3-lane road merged into a 2-lane up-slope with metal crash barrier.

I was driving around 80-90 km/h, in the left lane which suddenly merged and all I saw was a elderly local man standing right at the start of the barrier shocked and almost frozen as I hit the brakes hard to stop the car and it stopped inches from the elderly man. The lane on the right, the middle lane, was busy.

I thanked my stars AND the Michelin Primacy 3ST's which were just 2 days old when the incident happened. The main reason for 'proactively' getting rid of stock Goodyear GT3's was the fact that they lost grip as they become hard while the tread depth was good.

So looking at Cyrus Mistry incident, I for sure will blame the highway design or lack of it, especially the way lanes are merged but hey, our country is still a developing country so being a bit careful and alert helps

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by HammerHead

So looking at Cyrus Mistry incident, I for sure will blame the highway design or lack of it, especially the way lanes are merged but hey, our country is still a developing country so being a bit careful and alert helps

To top this tragedy of errors, a merge from 3 to 2 lanes at the accident site wasn't necessary at all. The left-most lane should be guided via solid lines, road signs and soft barriers onto the left bridge, and not lead to a dead end with not even a crash barrier to protect you.

Originally Posted by Nalin1

This give a much better idea of that strip-
https://Youtu.be/__iVayp2ANo

Trust the police to make it worse. They've now put a rusting yellow steel barricade with no reflectors or warning in the middle of the left lane. Like the ones they use for blocking agitations.
Do they realize what would happen at night or when its misty? They probably want people to crash into this barricade now. I guess safer than crashing into a cement wall, so we should be thankful.

[ajayc123]

For any incident to happen, circumstances have to come together: road design, driver state of mind, traffic conditions.

I am sure the same driver would have travelled via the same road many times without any issues in the past.

Each party can play their role:
Road authority to assess if anything should change, do it and move on.
Driver to practice defensive driving, passengers to wear belts, choose safer vehicles.
Compassionate driving, keeping in view other drivers on the road, not everybody may be as skilled as you.

From an accident perspective, it was like many other accidents, but got the limelight because it was a high profile case.

This is not the first or the last accident, and all stakeholders should work on the basis of big picture that emerges from statisitics to make things better on an ongoing basis. Kneejerk reactions are avoidable by being proactive.

[Bhargav7]

Originally Posted by HammerHead

I was driving around 80-90 km/h, in the left lane which suddenly merged and all I saw was a elderly local man standing right at the start of the barrier shocked and almost frozen as I hit the brakes hard to stop the car and it stopped inches from the elderly man. The lane on the right, the middle lane, was busy.

Probably, that is the reason we are advised in India not to go at those speeds on the left lane. Many years ago, when I was attending driving school, the instructor told me that if you drive close to the speed limit of the road, it should always be in the middle line. The right lane is for overtaking and the left lane is for slow-moving autos and two-wheelers.

I am not sure if this is the law or general practice in India. But I usually follow this.

[shramik]

Originally Posted by Bhargav7

Probably, that is the reason we are advised in India not to go at those speeds on the left lane. Many years ago, when I was attending driving school, the instructor told me that if you drive close to the speed limit of the road, it should always be in the middle line. The right lane is for overtaking and the left lane is for slow-moving autos and two-wheelers.

I am not sure if this is the law or general practice in India. But I usually follow this.

The problem on our highways is, that slow moving loaded trucks hog the right lane. Often, on a slight uphill gradient, a truck is trying to pass another, with long ques of faster cars building up behind.
Bus drivers seem to think they have a proprietary claim of the right lane.
As I had posted earlier, the Road Transport Ministry must ensure that the right lane is clear for overtaking & simultaneously impose punitive fines on all violators, cars, trucks, buses et al....
Driving on & overtaking from the left is lethal, there is always the danger of vehicles coming absolutely illegally from the opposite side, the mere switching on of their headlights appears to buy them universal immunity !!!
I again repeat that toll operators must ensure safe passage for those paying toll, this is their primary duty !!

[ashokabs]

I was surprised to read that the Project person from NHAI said it is not a design fault. The three lanes to two lanes should have been accomplished at least 500 m or more before the bridge with warning signs to reduce speed as a narrow bridge is approaching. It is poor road engineering for sure. Can't be covered up.

[streetfighter]

Originally Posted by ashokabs

I was surprised to read that the Project person from NHAI said it is not a design fault. The three lanes to two lanes should have been accomplished at least 500 m or more before the bridge with warning signs to reduce speed as a narrow bridge is approaching. It is poor road engineering for sure. Can't be covered up.

Clear case of design fault as well as lack of proper warning and road signs. Authorities can't just wash off their hands and blame on driver and over-speeding. So many accidents have happened in this stretch - https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/100-...s-year-3354615

[Amrik Singh]

Forensics report points all fingers to human error, though road design is also a culprit. Only that Driver's fatigue is ruled out.

https://m.timesofindia.com/india/cyr...w/94312787.cms

[BrokenHW]

The International Road Federation has reported faults on the 70km stretch of NH48, between Maharashtra and Gujarat, where former Tata Group chairperson Cyrus Mistry and a co-passenger had a fatal crash.

https://www.autocarindia.com/industr...nt-site-425878

[MT_Hyderabad]

I keep tracking the case and try searching for Dr. Anahita Pandole's statement to the police about what actually happened.

Today while searching this news came up:

https://www.freepressjournal.in/mumb...-claims-report

This was not expected. Hope it is not true!

And the statement from her seems to take eternity. Is there some kind of conspiracy which is holding police from taking a simple statement from her or the co-passenger? Only God knows.