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Old 15th April 2008, 23:39   #31
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Yeah ! Ive seen those stupid pavers lying all over the road, hogging up parking space too.. anyway, in mumbai, they are putting pavers at all intersections (even the good clean ones), pavers are made of concrete, and cause cars to skid on them when wet, so they are removing all the intersections of Tar, which has pretty good adhesion to rubber, and putting concrete.
now when a stupid idiotic two-wheeler rider slips on this material, and a car runs over him, It'll be the car's fault cause he was "overspeeding", the cops generally book you for overspeeding no matter what speed you're going and you can't stop cuz the vehicle in front stopped abruptly... (or the biker lost his balance)

about highways: I have driven on many many highways in india, something I have noticed is, Private car owners and taxi guys are unyielding, they wont let you in line while you're overtaking even if you're about to die, Private buses and ST buses are generally out to kill you, they come up on the wrong side of the road and don't budge.. the best guys around are the truckers, they let you in, they slow down for you, they even warn you... probably cuz they've seen a lot...

the expressway is a decent stretch of road from mum-pune, I never use it cuz its damn boring, there are many car owners who just speed like crazy when they touch the expressway, but the first 20 odd kms of the road is not very good, and suddenly speeding up so much can cause tyre bursts, increase your speed gradually, on any road, you'll be safer, you also can't treat the expressway like the autobahn, cuz its not, its actually a cheap quality wannabe...

We must all do our bit, can't blame the government for everything, roads are in a pathetic condition, but why doesnt everyone using the road drive at a speed and in a style befitting the road ?
I seriously hope things improve some day
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Old 16th April 2008, 00:19   #32
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They are doing stupidity by putting those pavers. At least they should have spared the good roads. Now come rains, and people dying and accidents are gonna go up like crazy. Lets wait and watch what happens.

Another point here is that they are not realising the amount of money thats gonna be lost due to these pavers as tyres dont take easily to them. Crores will be lost due to early tyre tread depletion. (Can the experts help here. Dont these pavers increase rolling resistance and up the tread depletion when compared to Tar?)

Another thing will be Noise Pollution which was anyway high is going to go even higher. You can hear your tyres inside your car so you can imagine how much noise many cars will make and add the fact that these are at every intersection.

I dont want to sound like an unpatriotic person who only complains but given a chance id say take a public opinion before doing such intensive work on public roads.

(Best Eg. being the Bandra-Worli sea link: Yes, it will help traffic, but dint the constructors do the math of an 8 lane bridge joining a two lane worli sea face???
And in court, the matter was taken up with the argument of it spoiling the beauty of sea face!!! It's going to be a bottleneck just like the heera panna signal at the end of haji ali.)

Sorry for all the venting of frustation guys. Just had to let it rip.
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Old 16th April 2008, 03:23   #33
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Definitely. If 45 is the posted speed limit and you are above that, you are overspeeding. Even traffic police can catch you.

Quote:
Originally Posted by diabloo View Post
Over-speeding is hugely ambiguous term.

On some highways, the speed limit is 45Kmph. So does doing 50Kmph means over-speeding?
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Old 16th April 2008, 06:51   #34
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Great Report.

GTO, its really a great report and the facts are amazing.
Yes, majority or rather, I believe 50 % of the accidents are caused because of the relative difference in speeds. We on the highway would do 120 in Baleno and there are three wheelers which cant manage 30. So accidents are going to be there.

But the government will not reveal the ground realitits.
Poor roads, poor checking and exams before giving liscnce, and the list, as we know goes on.

When does a person overspeed too much regularly? I believe it is combined with lack of skill ( 10 % ) and wrong attitude ( 90 % ). Sometimes its necessary, but not always. Mostly the overspeeding persons lack the real knowledge and that should be solved at RTO before handling the liscence.

But the problems are set to increase. We Indians have a habit of overloading and Nano will also face this and accidents are sure to increase.

We cannot contorl this, so as mentioned in the report and from our knowledge, what we can do is "behave in disciplined manner" and obey safety rules.
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Old 16th April 2008, 10:04   #35
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The top 5 reasons are all blaming the driver for the accidents.

of course, it's the drivers fault. The government and babu's of India have provided us with infrastructure thats fit for 2050, the roads here are the smoothest and best in the world with safety being the top consideration while designing them. All our roads have proper signs and are wide and smooth. The licensing issuing system is also the most stringent in the world. After all this, if there are accidents, then of course it's the driver's fault.
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Old 16th April 2008, 10:30   #36
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Well Said

""Here the cause can be 'lack of presence of mind', I'd have hit the dog straight instead of swerving to either sides""

Well said, Sir. I would have done exactly the same.
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Old 16th April 2008, 10:38   #37
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I have seen many trucks on the highway being driven by the cleaner who does not hold any valid license while the driver takes a nap.
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Old 16th April 2008, 11:31   #38
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MalluDude View Post
(3) Bus-halts right in the middle of busy roads.
(
that happens everywhere - at least a lot namma bangalore roads. But then again Kerala buses are the worst offenders i have seen on roads - they drive rashly, they don't give way, they honk like crazy, and they race (!) against other buses endangering everyone on road.
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Old 16th April 2008, 12:04   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pjbiju View Post
We can only contribute by abiding by the rules and if possible by educating others. Government has a huge task before them to bring discipline into driving. It should start at the RTOs.
Goverment alone can't do anything alone, unless the public change there attitude.
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Old 16th April 2008, 12:11   #40
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Originally Posted by naikpranav View Post
anyway, in mumbai, they are putting pavers at all intersections
In Navi Mumbai, pavers are put on stretches of the Mumbai-Pune highway near the turbe flyover and again near Belapur and Kharghar! And so shoddy is the job that the contractors probably put paver blocks on a pot-hole ridden road so all cars now bounce, pitch and roll about as they go over these pavers.

But, I'd really like the meet the 'genius' that decided to put paver blocks on a highway.
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Old 16th April 2008, 12:13   #41
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
A whopping 60% of accidents, and 64% of fatalities occur due to overspeeding.
Out of interest, what exactly constitutes overspeeding - driving over the speed limit? Since we have no dependable means of figuring out what the speed limit is, WHO decides whether the accident occurred on account of overspeeding? Do they ask the driver, or if the passengers if the driver was a fatality, or passers-by?

I wonder what the source of this conclusion is - I for one am quite amazed at the very low incidence of drunken driving in those statistics.

Unless the state traffic police has a defined method of recording accidents and their exact causes AND the implementation of such a process is actually monitored, the statistics published by the cops or other agencies have no meaning whatsoever.
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Old 16th April 2008, 12:21   #42
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Originally Posted by maven View Post
On the day of Holi there was a head on collison on the Delhi-Noida expressway between a three wheeler auto and a Zen. yes i know this one is difficult to believe but many people just love driving on the wrong side.

Dont know where would these get classified
It was a swift and an Auto rick.
The Auto was on the wrong side, but in all statements the police were blaming the speed of 100kms of the swift(its a 80kmph limit toll road).
Police said that they will make speed radar enforcement more common on this road to check accidents.
If the swift was doing 80kmph instead of claimed 100kmph, even then the auto wallas would have died. But the police will put this as "Accident due to over speeding"
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Old 16th April 2008, 13:04   #43
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steeroid View Post
Since we have no dependable means of figuring out what the speed limit is, WHO decides whether the accident occurred on account of overspeeding? Do they ask the driver, or if the passengers if the driver was a fatality, or passers-by?
Well apart from the Metros, there are hardly any citys/states that have speed measuring equipment anyway. Leave alone the equipment & expertise required to calculate the probable speed of a vehicle post accident.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steeroid View Post
I wonder what the source of this conclusion is - I for one am quite amazed at the very low incidence of drunken driving in those statistics.
And how many states have breathalysers? And has anyone ever seen them being used on the highways to test the truckers/bus drivers?? Results might be shocking if such a test was done at a heavily trafficked route.

Also, in most accidents the Bus/Truck drivers run away after the crash to escape the mob's wrath. When they finally surrender can it or is it still determined whether they were driving under the influence of alcohol or not??

Quote:
Originally Posted by Steeroid View Post
Unless the state traffic police has a defined method of recording accidents and their exact causes AND the implementation of such a process is actually monitored, the statistics published by the cops or other agencies have no meaning whatsoever.
Exactly.
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Old 16th April 2008, 13:19   #44
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The auto wallahs always escape. They feel like they have been given the extra right to break the rules and fight in their defence. Very annoying, especially in bangalore and chennai.
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Old 16th April 2008, 13:35   #45
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Looking at all the accidents and the blame game, it might be felt, paradoxically, pot holed/badl roads can prevent accidents where breathalizers, speed guns etc fail. Dont call me retrograde - am not advocating bad roads - but the senseless drivers, other stupid road users, a badly designed road, non-dipping of headlights, a broke-down HV in the midst of road without any proper indicators, a stray dog... the reasons are many.
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