[sunilch]

Originally Posted by Dead_Pedal

I think it's time manufacturers implement seat belt reminder function for all seats occupied in cars and not just for the front two seats. Of late, a lot of drivers do put on the seat belts thanks to the continuous aural alert. Many countries in South East Asia have seat belt reminder function for all occupant seats and this should be made mandatory on all cars in India irrespective of the vehicle class. People may always have workarounds to try and defeat the system and it's their personal choice. 80/120 speed alerts may be annoying but I somehow feel they are absolutely necessary in India-the land where rules are vastly disregarded and ridiculed. Sad.

Really? What world are we living in?

Not directly questioning your post but here is the fact - reluctance to wear seatbelt is a universal behavior, not something specific to India.

What is special for India is disregard for rules. At times, it is a thing of pride to be able to break a rule and have no consequences for the same. Gives you some bragging rights.

For the sound/reminder/alert that you are referring to, there are JUGAADU items available easily at any counter or online site that will engage your seatbelt without you wearing it. Simply google Seal Belt Buckle Clip and you would be amazed with the offerings.

So this isn't going to solve anything.

What may help is mass awareness of such incidents, with actual pictures of the dead may be. It will take a generation but it may work. Remember the pictures on Tobacco products? That itself is good for some people to give up smoking.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by aniketi

Very sad news. Om Shanti.

Driving slowly & carefully is the key.

Certainly sad news. You should go through the thread to understand what happened, which will clarify the mystery.

Driving slowly is not the key. Driving at a speed appropriate for the road is the key. Slow drivers on highways are as much a hazard as speeding cars on city roads.

Knowing where to drive at what speed and why should be part of driver education, along with all the safety aids and how they work. Knowledge may not make us better drivers or passengers, but will definitely take away the excuse of ignorance.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

That Benz front has absorbed an insane amount of forces and load.

So true. The impact point was below the bonnet line into a totally immovable RCC lateral parapet backed up by a retaining (bridge) wall. Deceleration from whatever speeds the GLC 220D was going at would have been immediate.

Sorry (and sad) to say that the moral of the story is the rear seat pax would have survived (possibly with short-term injuries), had they worn their seatbelts. This was a survivable accident given the tank-like GLC 220D build.

[Dieseltuned]

As a regular user of this road, I had posted about the awful condition of this 'Highway' in a separate thread on the forum.

1. This highway right now is filled with massive craters which come up announced.
2. This highway has almost NIL center median between north and south bound lanes, the high beams from on coming cars absolutely blind the driver. This problem is very profound between Dahanu and Ghodbunder sections. I have stopped driving on this highway post 7 PM.
3. There are almost NIL medical facilities especially in this Dahanu - Ghodbunder section which passess through some pretty isolated sections.
4. The bridge at Ghodbunder has seen so slow progress and has been a major bottle neck with waiting time stretching to almost 1.5 hours.
5. Always take cue from the truckers, if you see them slowing down , you also slow down and don't jump lanes to over take them. Truckers sit at a higher position and have a better view of the road ahead. I have actually seen this truckers go over these craters and not swerve left/right to accomodate the smaller vehicles. In the process, they concur significant damages to their vehicles, but they persist. God bless them.

Moral of the story for the country : The India story continues where precious lives are lost and nobody is held accountable for managing such a poorly designed / maintained highway. All is forgiven / forgotten in the name of an "Accident".

RIP.

[BHPjunkie]

It is really sad to hear such news. God give strength to the families to bear the loss and may the departed souls RIP.

Being Mr. Mistry there is so much on media, but folks this is happening every damn day. Lives were lost despite they being in one of the safest cars on sale in the country, but can we say the same for our road conditions?

No Road barriers, truckers have absolutely zero discipline, no proper road infrastructure, we do not have separate lanes to take U turns / right turns. You are expected to take U turns / right turns from the right lane which is the fastest lane. The current state of the national highways Mumbai-Nashik and Mumbai-Ahmedabad are in a sorry state. Driving at night is another nightmare as most of their tail lights are not operational. It's high time we hold the government responsible for such poor infrastructure. We pay taxes through our nose and have been paying tolls for such pathetic roads since ages. Something needs to be done about this.

We have expats in our Mumbai office who regularly travel by road to Surat. They have instructions from their Head Office not to use rail as Indian railways are not safe. This should be an eye opener for all of them. Roads in India are absolutely rubbish and our expressways are no where close to international standards in terms of safety.

[Crank]

Originally Posted by Rohan265

I see no evidence of belt usage in the front passenger and rear seats.

How do you say that, considering that the front airbags indeed inflated? Rear occupants may not have.

Originally Posted by Rohan265

There is minimal occupant intrusion. Not possible to judge the vehicle's speed without an inspection.

Again we cannot say that minimal occupant intrusion, considering the dash had came in. As per traffic authorities, they were traveling at an average of 133 kph in the last 9 minutes. The peak speed could be 150 kph. However there is a doubt on the timings as usually these accidents are dismissed by authorities as over-speeding and not following rules.

Originally Posted by Rohan265

The car seems to have done its job.

True

Originally Posted by Rohan265

There is a problem with the road here. The bridge wall is exposed to the road without any protective barrier in front. There is no guardrail or any other fence to keep the vehicle on the road either. This is a common scenario throughout our country. Our road infrastructure is not forgiving if the vehicle departs the road.

Very true. But media and authorities will never speak about this.

Originally Posted by throttleflick

Don't you think the seat belts might be removed to rescue the occupants and transfer them to a medical care facility post the accident? How can one ascertain non usage of seat belts in that case?

Spot on. It's a grey area for now.

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

RIP, Cyrus Mistry! Could this accident be because of cruise control at high speed

That's a new perspective, which I am not aware of. Thanks for this.

Originally Posted by ts75

Very unfortunate. RIP.

As far as I remember, there are couple of few places in that stretch where the 3 lane NH splits into 2 laned bridges (2 in number, i.e. 4 lanes). If one doesn't know the topography, the last minute split of the road can be quite confusing and disorienting, particularly at high speeds.

Sad story of our unsafe road infrastructure. It had gone unnoticed for several years and authorities still continue with arrogance of colonial era as if just giving a road for people to use is in itself a great service and cannot expect anything more than that.

Originally Posted by shancz

It was given as a pillow to the lady in the car who was lying down on the side of the road.

Exactly. Media without knowing what could have happened keeps spinning stories as if the backrest was broken in impact or other conspiracy theories.

Originally Posted by shancz

A rounded bridge edge along with preventive crash rails would've greatly reduced the impact force manageable by the GLC's passive safety grid.

Howsoever the cars are tested for safety, real world scenarios are a real surprise for those as well. Back seat passengers should buckle up. Period.

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

This is the accident spot and as seen below, the left lane diverges into 2 bridges.

What a great engineering feat? We can see this in several places across India. The bridges are built with more lanes as it would be difficult to take up bridge woek again when lanes are added to the road. Till this point its fine. But how a driver can know this is only through signage warning them of this change in the road. That get's missed out. Travel is about the vehicle, the road and the driver. The road should guide across its path the vehicle and the driver like the rails of a railway. However road engineering in India neither follows standards nor follows common sense.

Originally Posted by Sebring

Any idea on the speed at which it was travelling? Dash display should be on

As per records it could be certainly more than 130 kmph.

Originally Posted by ts75

The highway is 3 laned. Suddenly, in couple of places, it splits into 2 bridges of 2 lanes each. Have given a representative diagram below.

If one is travelling in lane 1 or lane 2, absolutely no issues. The split of the 3 laned NH into 2 bridges causes no discomfort at all.

But let us taken an example where lane 1 and 2 are occupied by heavy vehicles (this stretch has heavy truck traffic). If one were to overtake using the lane 3, i.e. leftmost lane (marked as * in the diagram), one would be at a much higher speed than the rest of the vehicles.

Thanks for detailing it to this extent. Really a great insight! Thanks.

Originally Posted by shancz

IMO it has but its not visible because it wasn't a full height crash so the "V" structure was lower than the bonnet. Lifting the bonnet would reveal the true extent of damage.

Agreed

Originally Posted by shancz

Considering the car didn't bounce back post impact indicates that it wasn't travelling at a very high speed but seems like

Don't think so. The car took it all. So it looks like slow speed. Certainly it was speeding at least more than 80 kph if not 130kph as per authorities.

Originally Posted by shancz

The entire energy of impact was transferred to the car's passive safety grid.
Truly unfortunate as I have encountered such idiotic and lethal road designs and they catch you by surprise regardless of speed.

Absolutely.

Originally Posted by shancz

A preventive guardrail to deflect the vehicle back on the road with road markings and warnings(I know I am dreaming now) with the bridge edge (V) structure wrapped in rubber shrouds ...
The unbelted ones would've had a bloody nose or a bruised face to learn a lesson for the rest of their lives and educate more people to belt up.

Though I do not agree in full on the impact with road design change, but yes it would have not been lethal.

Originally Posted by StopUnderrides

1) I don’t understand the extensive discussions about road engineering, specifics of the accident etc. It seems to be a full frontal non underride impact and the car has performed its role beautifully. If one doesn’t belt up it’s akin to suicide.
2) The attitude we need is what Thad has mentioned multiple times about his interactions with his Dad. Roads, traffic, weather are all external factors. The bridge wall was just there. It didn’t actively prevent or cause the accident since it’s an immovable object. Ultimately it’s the driver’s responsibility to drive “safely as per conditions”.

Agree with Thad on conditions and with you on seat belts. But drivers are humans. And humans are bound to make mistakes or succumb to emotions. So we cannot push everything to driver's responsibility IMHO.

Originally Posted by aniketi

By looking at the pics, no way persons in the back seat should be dead on the sport, that too in car like Mercedes. Rear portion of the car looks quite intact and car like Merc should definitely save lives of the persons in this case.

Without wearing seat belts the occupants will be tossed around inside the car. Their heads may hit the roof or front seat head rests or what not, depending on the angle of impact. This is lethal.

Originally Posted by antz.bin

3 parties, 3 mistakes:

1. The driver was going at ~2x the speed limit. To be able to travel at avg. speed of 133kmph, you have to drive at 150+ regularly.
2. The rear seat passengers, Mr. Mistry and his friend not wearing seat belts in the rear seat. The front passengers were lucky to survive if the brit road safety video is true.
3. Unsafe road design that eventually contributed to the accident at that particular spot.

The legal penalty for these 3 mistakes is not death. But still 2 people have died.

The fact that there were mistakes #1 & #2 will make sure that the mainstream media will steer clear of mistake #3.

Summarized it very well.
However speed they travelled is still a mystery as there are conflicting reports. But as you said mainstream media will just focus on over-speeding and seat-belt compliance.

Originally Posted by srgntpepper

Agreed. No official statement is going accept faulty design or markings.

Again a sad truth. How do we make them accept as Team-BHP? Do we have any means?

Originally Posted by srgntpepper

I drive this part of the highway once a week. I can tell you that trucks and other slow moving passenger cars often block the right and middle lanes even when the left lanes are free. Many times, two slow moving vehicles will occupy the "fast" lanes trying to gingerly overtake each other.

It is natural (not to be confused with justified) that people get frustrated and try to overtake slower cars from the left.

Very true. It always happens.

We have a good forum here helping each other and educating on cars, their safety, buying decisions and so on. Can we do anything, collectively as Team-BHP to improve our road infrastructure?

[haisaikat]

The world lost a great businessman today, pray for his soul to rest in peace including the other deceased. And prays for the ones injured to recover fast.

While we wait for official full investigation report,
the primary cause of this mishap seems to be the overconfidence on the part of the driver probably due to superiority mindset of driving a safer and high performance vehicle. The driver may not have the maturity to understand how the car can be controlled (or control lost) in high speed maneuver if something unexpected happens.

This is another example of "Speed Kills", seat belts is the secondary problem which certainly could have checked the rear seat fatalities.

Driver needs to keep speed under control to keep enough reaction time for tackling unexpected, errors can still happen as our road designs and traffic may not be always as per expectations but resulting fatalities if any can be lesser.

Modern passenger cars of even entry level these days can do 100+ on smooth highways. If someone is in hurry or on a spree of breaking rules does not mean I have to overspeed and overtake just to calm my ego and show off my cars performance if that drags me into risky territory.

If there was genuine reason for overtaking inspire of being at high speeds unknown to us then it's different but if both cars were (including the one this merc was trying to overtake) doing high speeds then the car behind could have just maintained a safe distance and continued without overtaking or waited for a proper lane advantage and visibility before even attempting.

Also with age our reflexes may reduce but our car performances increase with our prosperity, that is an added risk.

[subuiyer]

Sad indeed to lose accomplished men of their stature to an accident.

I did Mum-Ahm-Mum early Aug in my Harrier. On the Ahm-Mum leg, I was confused when the road approaching a bridge split into two parts. This happened to me at least thrice between Baruch and Virar, each case one leg - mostly the older one on the right - would have really bad surface (moon craters) and the other one likely smoother because I could see locals would move across that faster. I am not a frequent traveller on this stretch. My speeds were 80-90 KMPH, sometimes dropping to 50-60 because the NH8 had already developed a lot of potholes by that time in Monsoon. I also encountered a 'holy cow on the road' moment, but that is for another post. Last I traveled from Charoti toll to Fountain Hotel on 21 Aug and the road condition had worsened at least in this stretch.

Seeing news that their vehicle travelled about 20 KMS in 9 minutes which translates to avg speeds for 125-130 KMPH (~35 meters per second), perhaps faster on some stretch knowing they would had to slow down on pot-holed stretches.

[throttleflick]

Originally Posted by humyum

... but this highway gives you that false sense of speed not being speed, its just so empty with long curves which are perfectly banked, roads which have the 3-4 lanes of width....
In my humble Swift, I sometimes do not realize I am doing silly speeds until I look down and immediately release the A pedal
...
I will make sure rear seat belts are worn in my car from hence forth, I am sure the rear seat passengers would be alive if they had.

I can relate with you on the false sense of speed on this highway. I've been saved by the 80kmph beeps on my Taigun while driving on this highway. But what really knocked some sense in me was in Haryana when I was doing 110km/h on a 90 km/h section and didn't realize it until I was caught on the speeding camera. I'm very thankful for this because I wouldn't have realized I was speeding if not for the camera and the highway police check post awarding a speeding ticket to me. I refrain from listening to songs when I'm driving and at least in my case, I think it would have added another layer of risk since both visually and aurally, I wasn't able to judge the speed of my vehicle. The 80 km/h beeps on newer cars come up every two minutes and my brain is conditioned to that sound, so it just brushes it off as something that's supposed to happen. Since I was used to listening to that beep every 2 minutes, I ended up doing 110 km/hr without realizing it. While going on a highway at speeds above 90km/hr, the amount of times I glance at the MID is very less, and this incident changed it.

Originally Posted by Dieseltuned

As a regular user of this road, I had posted about the awful condition of this 'Highway' in a separate thread on the forum.

1. This highway right now is filled with massive craters which come up announced.
...
5. ...

RIP.

All of your points are true. Especially after Vapi, there's a flyover riddled with potholes and surface wear due to heavy trucks. I narrowly avoided that huge crater on the bridge but a Seltos tailing me was unlucky to get caught in that crater.

I think this and many other incidents, both fatal and non-fatal, have instilled the sense of defensive driving in me. But most of the times, I feel that on our roads, I'm only safe as long as the car drivers around (and including) me are not upto some or the other antics.

[d.j]

tragic and sad news, may their soul rest in peace.

Question to car manufacturers - or those who can answer it, why the seat belt alarms doesn’t goes on as it goes on for front row seat occupants?, if the belts are provisioned why not the alarms be mandated ?.

and certainly, no doubt to the fact that the road design, exit- entries, lane alignments are grossly overlooked in our country, we all have seen somewhere or around, one is at risk even driving middle lane as left overtaking is so so not realized by drivers.

Also if I am not mistaken and understood about it correctly then there was an article recently which says every 18 mins a soul is lost in a road accident - really sad!

Regards/DJ

[s_yajaman]

Any system has 3Es that need to be implemented for it to be effective. Engineering, Education and Enforcement. This is true whether it is a highway or an accounts payable system in a company.

For the most part the first 2Es are usually badly done in the case of roads in India. No lane markings (mostly on city roads - highways have this usually okay), no proper signage, cambers, banking, drainage, etc.

Education is non-existent. You can literally buy your license. I've seen the road test in Borivali and it is driving in first gear for 10m and reversing for 10m. Nothing else. So most people are learning on the job as it were. The administrators of the system are just as uneducated. I doubt any root cause analysis is done for such accidents. The new MV act was passed - how many of us are aware of what it means for us on a day to day basis.

The entire burden of keeping the system functioning falls on enforcement. And so you see the millions of challans being issued in Bombay and Bangalore (just as examples). Highway patrols can only do so much and I very much doubt they even do that.

On the contrary look at the airline system - each of the 3Es is in good shape and hence you can see that air travel is simply the safest way to travel.

And so a sense of self preservation is the only thing that will keep us alive. Which means drive at sane speeds defensively and belt up at all times. The upside to speeding is very limited but the downside is unlimited.

[Ferruccio]

Originally Posted by Tanmay007

Not sure if this particular Merc had ADAS, worst thing about buying expensive brands in India is they skimp on basic features for Indian variants.

It was a 2018 Mercedes GLC. No ADAS.

[Raghu M]

I am just wondering why Mr. Mistry took the road. Important people (not celebrities, at least some industrialists) should be cautious of their safety. The road distance seems to be around 7 hour drive while a chopper could have dropped him off in under 2 hours. They provide employment to thousands, the sudden demise would definitely have an impact. May his soul rest in peace.

[OffRoadFun]

Originally Posted by jsriram

Yes, it seems he led a normal life eschewing the frills of a billionaire. However, no one can beat destiny. Even if he had taken a chopper, it may have crashed (Kobe Bryant and CDS Rawat are recent cases).

Accident is no one's destiny, please!

I am surprised by fatalism shown by a few posts here. No offenses!

With proper highway planning, instructions on road and enforcement of rules regarding speed, sobriety etc. comes the safety on the road. No more, no less.

Operating complex machines at high speed requires a design accordingly and adherence to operating instructions. As someone pointed already, the car most likely was at very high speed (130+) and drove on crossed white lines which indicated end of shoulder. This does not seem like a case of something caused by weather or other natural forces. Not to justify the deaths though.

[R2D2]

RIP Mr Mistry and Mr Pandole. A sad incident that was entirely preventable had the driver not been driving at >130 kmph/80 mph and was at a more moderate speed. I put this down to 5 issues:

a) Driver error, not judging the road properly. Each of these lux cars has a navigation system and it would have displayed the change from 3 to 2 lanes well in advance.

b) 130 kmph on a highway surrounded by trucks and miscellaneous trafffic in the rainy season can never be a good idea. What the heck!! There are too many variables to assess and too less time to take preventive measures in case of any error on the drivers part or by another road user.

c) No seat belt! The distinguished gentlemen in the back seat should have known better. They would've survived had they been belted.

I for one, do not begin driving till everyone is belted and strongly believe the driver of the car should take ownership and insist on all passengers using seat belts without which the driver should not begin the journey.

d) Modern cars especially German lux marques attain silly speeds within seconds. The driver should've been acutely conscious of this machine's capabilities.

e) Last but not the least, the poor road design. But then this is India and there are surprises aplenty on our highways. Expected the unexpected and drive carefully.

Motto: Please belt up. Do NOT let in the clutch or shift to D unless you are sure you and your passengers are wearing seatbelts properly. I for one don't. Tantrums against seatbelts by a passenger? You travel in another vehicle, not mine.

PS - Decades back I actually got the missus to change her anti seat belt attitude pretty quickly. No belt no journey. No mean feat that. Now she's very comfortable wearing it. It's just a matter of getting used to the belt. I could go on about no kids in the front passenger seat, no loose objects near the front airbag (or any airbag for that matter) but then I'd be digressing.