[paragsachania]

Cabbie attempts a "clean sweep":

While the obsession to stick to the median while driving on a dual carriageway is a national hobby, this fella suddenly realizes that he has missed an exit onto service lane and decides to just sweep from the fast lane straight to the exit.

Happened yesterday when I was driving back to Bangalore.

https://youtu.be/g5TostkKA0A

PS: There is a delay with the speeds shown in the timestamp and seems like a bug with the dashcam.

[thirdmainroad]

There was a patch of road where they were carrying out road work. They had scraped out the tarmac and were re-laying it, so lots of gravel. But wasn’t bumpy. There was a thresher tractor, a tractor with a huge thresher attached to it in front, and I tried overtaking it from the left, as it was moving slowly and the road was wide. A dang cow ran across and I braked hard, but had absolutely no grip. Easily 60/70% less. Car just kept going, and I was awfully lucky to be able manoeuvre to miss the cow and the thresher. Playing NFS hot pursuit for days while growing up paid off. I was also awfully stupid to try to overtake on such conditions, but the tractor was moving so slowly and the patch work was going on for long time. I shouldn’t have accelerated as hard as I did anyway. Very valuable lesson learnt.

But I must say I am really proud of my driving skills, for in less than half a second, I could process that the brakes had no brake power, could process sight from my right rear view mirror to make sure a hard right bank would not have me collide into the thresher and also make sure I missed the dang cow on my left. Not to mention not being distracted by an instantly hysterical wife in the passenger seat.

Kudos also to the Taigun, even though the wheels were rolling with no grip, the steering kept me precisely where I wanted the car to be!

I wonder if it was the traction control that lead to severe loss of braking power on the gravel?

If the answer is yes, why should we have traction control on?

[AJ56]

It wasn’t traction control/ESP that caused the lack of braking, it was most likely ABS kicking in to prevent your wheels from locking up under hard braking, and it did it’s job perfectly given the low traction surface.

Had ABS not been there, you would have locked up your wheels leading to a loss of steering ability and would have hit the cow. ESP is for for stability control, it can prevent a fish tail/drift where your wheel direction and steering angle are not in agreement.

Sidenote: as a prudent driver, always practice and know where the braking threshold is, easy enough if you pay attention to the pedal feel. Different cars and different surfaces will change this value (on a high traction, dry surface you can brake much harder without losing grip for eg.) but you’ll feel the pedal get hard just before you lose grip and lock your wheels.

[thirdmainroad]

Originally Posted by AJ56

It wasn’t traction control/ESP that caused the lack of braking, it was most likely ABS kicking in to prevent your wheels from locking up under hard braking, and it did it’s job perfectly given the low traction surface.

Had ABS not been there, you would have locked up your wheels leading to a loss of steering ability and would have hit the cow. ESP is for for stability control, it can prevent a fish tail/drift where your wheel direction and steering angle are not in agreement..

Thanks for the that, makes sense. This is not my first car with ABS, but first with traction. The ABS definitely did kick in. I feel - I maybe wrong, but even with ABS kicking in on my previous WRV or i20 in similar circumstances, I might not have lost as much braking power as I did on the Taigun. Like you said, maybe the values and actions are different on different vehicles. Or perhaps the Taiguns ABS did extremely well and the others may not have been this good in the same circumstance.

Did I have precision control as I did, when I had to swerve hard right and hard left because of the EPS then? Though the wheels were “rolling” with ABS, the cars steering did extremely extremely well and there was no drift though I expected some and was ready for it. I may have not been braking when I swerved, can’t remember. Instincts kicked in and I did what I did to avoid and accident and remain in control. Note I was accelerating hard to overtake, and braked hard when the cow jumped in. Must have been over 80kmph when this happened.

[clevermax]

This is not from my dashcam. In this video, we can see that the driver misjudged the 'gap' which closed in on him sooner than expected.

The reason the car driver may have underestimated the speed at which the two vehicles caught up with each other is likely due to the fact that one of the vehicles was a slow-moving tractor that resembled a tanker lorry from behind. As a result, the gap between the two vehicles would have closed faster than he expected.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dei8342Fqg

[adisan]

I was also awfully stupid to try to overtake on such conditions, but the tractor was moving so slowly and the patch work was going on for long time. I shouldn’t have accelerated as hard as I did anyway. Very valuable lesson learnt.

Impatience is the one major factor that pushes people to make mistakes.

[furyrider]

Originally Posted by clevermax

This is not from my dashcam. In this video, we can see that the driver misjudged the 'gap' which closed in on him sooner than expected.

This was painful to watch. That guy is driving at 150+ speeds cutting across lanes as if he owns the road. While I hate his driving style, I am impressed by the brakes on whatever car he is driving. I mean, his speed was around 140 when he realizes that he has no gap for that overtaking manoeuvre and aborts. His speed came down to the 60s in a couple of seconds without any drama. Keeping the discussion on G-forces aside, modern cars have come a long way in terms of active and passive electronic safety aids.

[Nalin1]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

There was a patch of road where they were carrying out road work. They had scraped out the tarmac and were re-laying it, so lots of gravel. But wasn’t bumpy.

Kudos also to the Taigun, even though the wheels were rolling with no grip, the steering kept me precisely where I wanted the car to be!

I wonder if it was the traction control that lead to severe loss of braking power on the gravel?

If the answer is yes, why should we have traction control on?

Forget the science and technology of what kicked in when or how much, the fact that you stayed on course and did not veer right or left means you have great control. CONTROL is what prevents accidents. Safety features only aid. Without all safety features and no control is a disaster.

Yeah a slow moving tractor can make anyone try and overtake it, but do not forget the road conditions in the process. Happens at times, when fully focused on the irritating slow moving vehicle in all eagerness we tend to jump ahead at the slightest gap. But if the road conditions are dodgy, abort and turn into Buddha .

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by furyrider

This was painful to watch. That guy is driving at 150+ speeds cutting across lanes as if he owns the road. While I hate his driving style, I am impressed by the brakes on whatever car he is driving. I mean, his speed was around 140 when he realizes that he has no gap for that overtaking manoeuvre and aborts. His speed came down to the 60s in a couple of seconds without any drama. Keeping the discussion on G-forces aside, modern cars have come a long way in terms of active and passive electronic safety aids.

In my opinion, he was minding his own business and was enjoying the drive. Although he changed lanes, it didn't cause any inconvenience to anyone, so I wouldn't say he "cut across" lanes. As for his speed, it may have been higher than what's typically considered safe for this type of road, but I understand the occasional desire for some excitement and pushing the limits. Speed is primeval.

The car is a souped-up Punto Evo MJD, running a Wolf ECU remap.

[manjubp]

Originally Posted by clevermax

In my opinion, he was minding his own business and was enjoying the drive. Although he changed lanes, it didn't cause any inconvenience to anyone, so I wouldn't say he "cut across" lanes. As for his speed, it may have been higher than what's typically considered safe for this type of road, but I understand the occasional desire for some excitement and pushing the limits. Speed is primeval.

The car is a souped-up Punto Evo MJD, running a Wolf ECU remap.

The fact is that the driver is twice the speed limit and between 7 and 9 secs in video, he was too close to the blue ecosport which in my perspective itself is a high risk ( I'm not saint either). Secondly I am surprised without 100% clarity on gap he tried this manoeuvre, which is something to worry about even compare to the ~2x the speed limit. In this case, safety was trusted on the car's breaking under extreme condition. Rather a safe driving or judgement could have been far better.

[SS80]

Recently I had almost rear ended a Sonet on New Mysore highway, where the Sonet was driven by a learner and he just stalled the car 6-7ft from the zig-zag barricades. I tried my best to slow down, but the brake pedal felt like wood and my car was still doing 60+ on the speedometer, had to do a moose test type of manoeuvre and missed his rear left tail light in a few inches.

My wife and kid both were shaken, of course, me too. This episode has questioned me about taking 10yr old car on highways where safer cars sometimes are driven by absolute L boards. I did change my brake pads the very next day. Usually I keep ample distance between me and other cars, but this was new learning that if you travel in older smaller cars it's safer to keep twice the distance than you normally would. As newer cars can stop on a dime, unlike mine, hence higher the distance between me and the opposite guy, the better it is for all.

Had I rear-ended that day into Sonet, most probably I would not be typing this today and maybe I would have survived with some serious injuries and lived the rest of my life with mobility issues.

This event has now pushed me somewhat away from cars and I am preferring my bike over a car for everything except far-off places or if it's raining.

[StopUnderrides]

Originally Posted by thirdmainroad

They had scraped out the tarmac and were re-laying it, so lots of gravel. But wasn’t bumpy.

But I must say I am really proud of my driving skills, for in less than half a second, I could process that the brakes had no brake power, could process sight from my right rear view mirror to make sure a hard right bank would not have me collide into the thresher and also make sure I missed the dang cow on my left. Not to mention not being distracted by an instantly hysterical wife in the passenger seat.

I wonder if it was the traction control that lead to severe

- Why would you drive at over 80kph over gravel and overtake someone?
- Don’t want to play spoilsport. However there’s no way you could have processed all that info and taken a decision and acted (especially including the ORVM glance) within 0.5 seconds. FYI - robust studies indicate that the perception- reaction time itself is over 0.6 seconds for simple braking in a straight line.

This was painful to watch. That guy is driving at 150+ speeds cutting across lanes as if he owns the road. While I hate his driving style, I am impressed by the brakes on whatever car he is driving. I mean, his speed was around 140 when he realizes that he has no gap for that overtaking manoeuvre and aborts. His speed came down to the 60s in a couple of seconds without any drama. Keeping the discussion on G-forces aside, modern cars have come a long way in terms of active and passive electronic safety aids.

As a thumb rule a car can shed about 30kph per second if the brakes work well

[Ice]

Originally Posted by clevermax

In my opinion, he was minding his own business and was enjoying the drive. Although he changed lanes, it didn't cause any inconvenience to anyone, so I wouldn't say he "cut across" lanes. As for his speed, it may have been higher than what's typically considered safe for this type of road, but I understand the occasional desire for some excitement and pushing the limits. Speed is primeval.

The car is a souped-up Punto Evo MJD, running a Wolf ECU remap.

Beg your pardon, but if he was on a public highway, he was not "minding his own business". No one can mind their own business on public roads. They need to be sensitive to others around them, and use the highway in a manner that maximises everyone's safety by minimising risk.

The quest for "primeval" speed is all well and good on a closed circuit; this guy was doing nearly 160, which is pretty damn fast for a regular two-lane highway. And, he did not seem to take his foot off the gas when he saw vehicles ahead, ergo, definitely not minding his business as he should have.

I'm sure he loves his remapped Punto, but his driving was irresponsible and selfish. It's driving like this that makes other road users like me pray we don't meet someone like this moron every time we drive out.

[narayans80]

1

Originally Posted by clevermax

This is not from my dashcam. In this video, we can see that the driver misjudged the 'gap' which closed in on him sooner than expected.

On 4-lane highways, the faster you are. The more frequent you'll face this gap closing scenarios. I see a difference between driving at 100 and driving at 90. At 140-150, the driver is just playing on probability.

And this is at mid-day, and there is no shadow to judge who is ahead or not. Same case will happen at nights, where you have no visual cue to judge the gap.

Its better to back-off, judge and accelerate than arriving to the spot in excess of 120 when the other traffic is driving at 70-80.

There's more leeway on a 6 or 8-lane highway, on a 4-lane highway there is simply nowhere to go.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Ice

Beg your pardon, but if he was on a public highway, he was not "minding his own business". No one can mind their own business on public roads. They need to be sensitive to others around them

The driver did not inconvenience others, unlike those who drive like a snail on a single-lane carriageway, those who cut into lanes at traffic lights and block your way, or those who keep going at a junction even after the signal has turned red. When I said he was "minding his business," I didn't mean he was being inconsiderate.

He kept his GPS speed display on. I'm sure the opinions of those who achieved the ultimate driving perfection would have been different if it was off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Zb-QzDnzI

This is my own dashcam footage of driving through that road. The whole 250 kilometers of the drive. I kept 115-120kph or at times 130kph cruise control with some blips of speed. Going by the opinions above, I was causing gross inconvenience to everyone else on the road and was being totally inconsiderate. I don't think so.