[clevermax]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Time and time again this thread (and the bad drivers thread) gets to see where people post videos to point out faults in others while missing out the ones at their end.

In my post, neither did I blame the bikers as such, nor did I explicitly mention the shortfall at my end. My intention was just to share the video.

I have one learning from this: Don't get fixated on only one problem while driving. There may be more (and possibly bigger) problems that you may have to deal with. I was a little fixated on the bike guy's unusual lane jump which slightly delayed me from noticing the roadblock ahead.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Kudos to you for flashing first at the bikers, before honking. Honking was unavoidable in this situation, but I guess the unnecessary i-am-pissed-off honking is where you faulted, honking even after the divider is clearly visible. But that happens with all of us, and an area of improving.

Yes, I prolonged my honking because at that moment, I was pissed off. If the biker had put on indicators, I wouldn't have honked, or I would have limited my honking to one short blip.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Chances are high that you would have braked so hard that your family would have woken up, if not for the bikers (even with their wrong non-blinkers lane shift).

ABS had kicked in, and because of the unusual braking sound and the G-forces, they all woke up.

BTW, This was one instance where I was happy with the notorious braking behavior of Hyundais! The stopping distance was kind of impressive for a Hyundai. The car was running on relatively fresh pairs of discs and pads (done about 1000 km only).

If you watch the braking part you can see that I was doing cadence braking - something I had practiced while driving non-ABS cars during all those initial driving years. There was no need for cadence braking but muscle memory took over.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by clevermax

In my post, neither did I blame the bikers as such, nor did I explicitly mention the shortfall at my end. My intention was just to share the video.

Neither did I explicitly say you were the one who posted this video to point faults at others (etc. etc.) - I had replied to @Turbanator's post, if you go back and check.

But (for both posts - yours and mine) it doesn't require to mention by word to understand the unspoken sentiment and connect the dots. Let's take what we feel is relevant from that accordingly and move on.

[dijkstra]

I was planning to overtake the orange private bus for a while but hesitated because the road has a slight curve and I didn't have a clear view ahead. After some deliberation, when I started the overtake, midway through it a white WBSTC bus from the opposite side appeared in my fov. At the moment, it didn't feel like backing out was an option and I instinctively pulled through. Thankfully, was already in the right gear and got out with some margin to spare.

Looking at the video, it doesn't seem as scary as it did in real life - maybe because of wide-angle distortions? This road is notorious for such accidents and I should have been more careful. Looking at the video, it appears that the curvature of the road and the Force traveller ahead of me likely blocked it from my line of sight. FYI, the road is NH116B connecting Kanthi to Nandakumar.

https://youtu.be/jHx3t2ZzDWE

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

it appears that the curvature of the road and the Force traveller ahead of me likely blocked it from my line of sight.

Generally, I would say to never follow another vehicle on an overtake unless you can see around, above, or through it. On must have one's own clear line of site.

[hema4saran]

Originally Posted by dijkstra

This road is notorious for such accidents and I should have been more careful. Looking at the video, it appears that the curvature of the road and the Force traveller ahead of me likely blocked it from my line of sight. FYI, the road is NH116B connecting Kanthi to Nandakumar.

https://Youtu.be/jHx3t2ZzDWE

Your view was completely blocked by that van which overtook in front of you. One vehicle at a time while overtaking is the basic rule for me in Indian conditions. In your case, curvy road and blind spot created by van made it dangerous for you. Drive safe.

[rkv_2401]

I've had a couple of near-misses before, I think I'll talk about the truly bizarre one now.

This was back in 2018 or so, and I was riding my scooter near the Kotturpuram bridge. I took this route everyday, and people acquainted with the area would know there's a long, open stretch of road from Cancer Institute/Anna University till the Anna library. I'm used to people speeding over there. Sometimes a few jokers on two wheelers continue to maintain a high speed even after the Anna library signal. That signal is a 4-way intersection, next to a bus stop, so traffic either comes to a halt or slows down to 25-30km/hr.

After this signal is another busy 4-way intersection, another bus stop (IIRC) and a little further ahead there's a THIRD 4-way intersection where traffic usually comes to a standstill. I was riding through the third intersection onto the Kottur bridge at 45, when a car suddenly turns on it's indicators to turn right. I slow down a bit, look in my mirror (no traffic for miles), and pass the car. I'm back into my lane and cruising along on the bridge when I hear incessant honking, the screech of brakes and figured oh well - some idiot has hit the car. I look in my mirrors, and I don't see the source of the sound despite seeing the car - and a moment later, I see this Honda Activa scraping along on the ground, and catching up with me for a brief moment. I speed up and pull well to the right to avoid it, then pull over to the left once the cacophony has stopped to go check on the rider.

What do you know, the guy is alright despite not wearing a helmet, and he's trying to blame me for the incident?!

He calms down after my first question "Are you alright?", and then says he was honking continuously but I jinked left anyway. I could neither hear the horn nor did I see anything in my mirror (my scooter's mirrors are big and I set them up to cover my elbow and the next 2 lanes because I am that scared of other road users when on my scooty), and the truth is I'd never gone over to the left lane - but I wasn't going to argue with a person in shock about the cause of the accident. The car that I'd passed was over 5 seconds behind, and even the intersection itself wasn't visible at that distance. It looks like this guy had been doing 90+ on the open road, crossed the first intersection, the signal, 2 bus stops, and the second intersection maintaining this suicidal speed and eventually fallen some 2-3 seconds after I'd overtaken the car and gotten back into my lane! This, coupled with the bizzare nature of his fallen steed overtaking me while scraping along on the ground, the guy being completely alright except for a few scratches while falling off a scooter at 70+ w/ no helmet, tops the list of my near-miss experiences. I offer him some water and ask if he needs to go to the hospital, he says he was alright and we part ways - I'm convinced it was just shock to blame me (car guy did turn somewhat abruptly, and then sped off), but I'm glad he was okay and hopefully hasn't been recklessly speeding again since.

[darkfantasy]

My close call happened more than 3 years ago. But I have been thinking about this every now and then even after the initial shock has worn off. This was the final nail in the coffin after which I just stopped taking my scooter on the main roads. I am posting it here so that I can get the opinions of other BHPians and the steps they take to mitigate circumstances like this. To people who know this road, it happened at the Medavakkam koot road junction on the Tambaram- Velachery road(Chennai). Please refer to the attached crudely drawn image.

Because of the continuing medavakkam flyover work - half of the road(my original lane) was closed for traffic and the remaining lane had bidirectional traffic. I had to cross the junction to continue on towards medavakkam(green arrows) whose crossing was further complicated because of the lane closures and construction material blocking the road. Just as I was entering, an ambulance decided to cross the road from the koot road on the wrong ride straight into my path(yellow lines). This was a blind turn for me because the supporting structures for the bridge were obstructing my view. I heard the ambulance sirens - but I did not expect it to be coming straight at me. There were barricades too(red lines) to avoid vehicles joining from the koot road which would avoid this exact situation, and yet the ambulance driver had decided to ignore it. The U-turn for the ambulance to join back to the main road was barely 50 meters away. So, after entering the junction I saw the ambulance speeding towards me and intuitively decided braking will result in him mowing me down. Please note I was barely doing 15 kmph. So at the neck of the moment, I decided to accelerate out and crash into the vehicles on the opposite side who were waiting to cross the road. (shown as the green star). Anyway, there was only mild contact with a two-wheeler at the opposite side and I escaped unscathed but with my heart in my mouth.

My mistake was not stopping after hearing the siren - this happened because I was daily commuting on this road and knew vehicles from the opposite side won't come directly into my path and because of the obstructions, I can see the ambulance only after entering the junction.

Just wanted to know your opinion on this and what I should do to avoid putting myself into situations like this. Thanks for reading.

[Thanos-VV]

National Highway in Kerala somewhere between Cherthala and Aroor. I was not expecting such an overtaking from Dzire (since he was patient enough to let others pass) and that too putting the indicator at the last second. Maybe because I was keeping a generous safe distance from Corolla. Anyways caught me by surprise!

https://youtu.be/L2_6xWmJX_c

[sierrabravo98]

Originally Posted by Thanos-VV

National Highway in Kerala somewhere between Cherthala and Aroor. I was not expecting such an overtaking from Dzire (since he was patient enough to let others pass) and that too putting the indicator at the last second. Maybe because I was keeping a generous safe distance from Corolla. Anyways caught me by surprise!

https://Youtu.be/L2_6xWmJX_c

Leaving aside the merits of the Dzire driver's actions, I would say this though - Be courteous to expect courtesy. You ought to have allowed the Dzire to merge into your lane considering that he/she already let so many vehicles pass. Most drivers would get frustrated waiting behind a slow moving vehicle (does not justify the unsafe merge though) and act foolishly. This is where, as fellow road users, we can can act gracefully and give space. It does not cost us a lot of time too.

I recognize the fact that the above advise cannot be followed every situation but it does help to keep it in mind.

[arun_josie]

A close call with a truck on a traffic diversion:

This happened on the Coimbatore - Salem stretch where there was a traffic diversion for 2-3 Kms. Due to this diversion, the traffic towards Salem was on the wrong side. Initially, I was behind a truck and there were traffic cones on the middle to split the traffic. However, after some distance, there were no traffic cones and by this time I overtook the slow-moving truck which was in front of me. So, now I was literally alone driving on the wrong side. As I said, there were no traffic cones to indicate a traffic diversion. This felt scary with the opposite traffic coming at a good pace, entering my lane to do overtakes.

Just before the end of diversion, I saw a truck coming towards me on my lane. I assumed that he wasn’t aware of the traffic diversion and was trying to intimidate me for being on the wrong side. I didn't honk nor flash the lights. I was waiting for him to brake in front of me. However, when he came close enough for me to notice him fiddling with his mobile, I freaked out and was about to honk hard. He realized what was happening just at that moment and swerved to his left to avoid me.

It was a close call. I realized its better to be in a group of vehicles in similar situations. Even today initially I was with other vehicles but I didn’t expect the traffic cones to disappear. Otherwise, I would’ve stuck with the truck I overtook earlier. Lesson learnt.

I also noticed that there were vehicles on the left half of the highway. Most probably, that traffic was from other connecting roads. It made me wonder if I missed the end of the traffic diversion. But, after the close call with the truck, the traffic cones appeared and there was a sign board indicating the end of the diversion.

Here is the clipping, watch from 0:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIG2hTMgysQ&t=1s

[tharian]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

A close call with a truck on a traffic diversion:

]

Good you have a bright coloured car too, he would have noticed that from the corner of his eyes. He probably didn’t realise his side was 2 lane after the cones.

Namakkal to Trichy via Musiri road is a single lane road where this happens every time I travel on the stretch. The buses do an overtake in high speed from the opposite direction after which I am trying to keep the car from hitting a road side tree or falling into a ditch by avoiding the bus.

[megazoid]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

[b]
But, after the close call with the truck, the traffic cones appeared and there was a sign board indicating the end of the diversion also noticed that there were vehicles on the left half of the highway. Most probably, that traffic was from other connecting roads. It made me wonder if I missed t.

Many times the start of the diversion is indicated from the diversion takers point of view but the merging back point to the correct side is not indicated to the vehicles coming from the correct side. I have had many heart in the mouth moments facing traffic that has been diverted to my side of the road. They have seen diversion signs to enter my lane but i have not been warned to expect traffic between those two points. There is no way one can have a clue about this other than by spotting a vehicle coming your way as the "diversion ends" sign is kept for the diversion taker and not the other side. Night time doubles the confusion factor as one cant figure out which side the headlights are coming from, your lane or the other side of the divider.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by tharian

Good you have a bright coloured car too, he would have noticed that from the corner of his eyes. He probably didn’t realise his side was 2 lane after the cones.

Yes, maybe the color helped :-)

Namakkal to Trichy via Musiri road is a single lane road where this happens every time I travel on the stretch. The buses do an overtake in high speed from the opposite direction after which I am trying to keep the car from hitting a road side tree or falling into a ditch by avoiding the bus.

When single lane has so much of risk when people are expecting the opposite traffic, these diversions on 4L roads without proper indication is even scarier.

Originally Posted by megazoid

Many times the start of the diversion is indicated from the diversion takers point of view but the merging back point to the correct side is not indicated to the vehicles coming from the correct side. I have had many heart in the mouth moments facing traffic that has been diverted to my side of the road. They have seen diversion signs to enter my lane but i have not been warned to expect traffic between those two points. There is no way one can have a clue about this other than by spotting a vehicle coming your way as the "diversion ends" sign is kept for the diversion taker and not the other side. Night time doubles the confusion factor as one cant figure out which side the headlights are coming from, your lane or the other side of the divider.

That’s true, the opposite traffic didn't have proper indication. They should have kept the traffic cones all along this diversion. As you said, such diversion at night times will be too risky.

[old_cayuse]

My near miss dates back to the mid-'70s.

I was a resident of Vasant Vihar from the time I arrived in New Delhi in mid-1975 (I turned 19 that July) from Madras, known as Chennai these days. My dad, a TN govt official of Tamil Nadu had been deputed to New Delhi.
I'd made good friends among other residents of my age group in Vasant Vihar.
We used to hang out together most of the time. Having the time of our lives.
In 1977 my father was provided with GoI accommodation and my family moved to Bharti Nagar next to Khan Market.
While we were there my late father bought me a Yezdi bike. It cost around ₹6400/- at that time. Since I was well aware of the link between two-wheelers and head injuries I bought an ISI (BS) standard Studds helmet (I'd read about the test procedures used by ISI to certify the helmets) which I wore without fail every time I got on the bike.

Some time in '78 can't remember the date or month maybe because I survived by sheer <fill in>. I was invited to attend a party at Vasant Vihar as one of our friends was leaving for the US soon afterwards. That evening while leaving for the party I noticed that my headlight bulb had failed. As I was chary of riding the bike without a headlight I attempted to get hold of a replacement from an automotive spare parts shop in the nearby Khan Market. But unluckily for me, he'd run out of stock. Since I didn't want to miss the party I decided since the Yezdi had a pilot bulb (that was working) that was part of the headlight reflector, I decided that would suffice to indicate my presence on the night roads. In the meanwhile, my father (a disciplinarian) had instructed me that I was to be back home by 10 pm that night. Unfortunately, in those days I had a habit of not obeying.

Off I went to the party. Enjoyed myself till the end of the party well past the midnight hour without a thought about my dad's instructions. I decided to return home worried as to what my dad would say and or do on my return at that unearthly hour. This despite the entreaties of my friends that it would be better if I return in the morning after spending the night at one of their places.

I left at around 1 am and reached the dead straight stretch of Ram Tularam Rao Road near Vasant Vihar. This road at the time was brightly lit with newly introduced sodium vapour lamps. This road was a dual carriageway with two traffic intersections on it. As I was really really late going home and with almost zero traffic on the road, I opened the throttle up. I must've been doing well over 80 kph when I reached the second intersection. All this while my mind was full of what my dad was gonna do to me.
As I was coming up on the intersection I noticed a car coming in the opposite direction of the carriageway. Due to the state of my mind, I didn't consider that the car could be turning into the intersection. As I was a couple of car lengths from the intersection I see the car turn into the intersection without stopping and immediately was directly in front of me. At that instant, all that crossed my mind was that I was done for and my brain switching off. It is to this day a complete blank from that moment till I became aware of getting up from the other side of the car, having missed hitting the edge of the pavement with my helmet (I landed head first with the top of the helmet impacting the road). I was worried about what had happened to my bike.
My bike was lying on its side with both fork tubes bent backwards and cracked at the top third of the tubes. I had hit the car's front left side wheel dead centre and I had flown over the bonnet and landed on the other side inches away from the edge of the pavement. The only injuries I had was some lacerations on both my thighs and a canine broken in half due to I guess the impact of my helmeted head hitting the road and my open lower jaw crashing into the maxilla.

I got away by the I have no idea of the what or the why of it.

Two things I learned from that incident.
One is that when you ride a 2 wheeler at any speed 100% of your attention should be devoted to riding the bike as well as complete awareness of the environment you are riding the bike in.
Two when your brain realises it's going to be a traumatic end it shuts off completely.
I am going to be 66 in a month and half's time.

[StopUnderrides]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

A close call with a truck on a traffic diversion:

However, when he came close enough for me to notice him fiddling with his mobile, I freaked out and was about to honk hard. earlier. Lesson learnt.

Why didn’t you flash the headlight or honk earlier? In India when one needs to honk, one needs to honk!

Don’t be dead right as Thad always says …just as dead as if he were wrong