[Ice]

Originally Posted by clevermax

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.

All these are wrong behaviours and cause accidents. So does speeding. As Narayan has quoted above, even a 10kmph change distorts judgement for the driver, as well as other road users who have to judge your speed to make their decisions. Why did the driver have to brake so suddenly in the video? It’s possibly because his judgement while driving at 160 was further distorted by a trailer going 10-30 kmph slower than he initially processed by observing the other vehicle on the left. I’m not saying you, or he, are bad drivers. Just that everyone is human and speed compounds errors more than any single other factor.

Originally Posted by clevermax

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.

The fact that he did not judge that tractor early enough, and the speed with which he approached the Ecosport, are easy giveaways to the fact that he was excessively over-speeding. Please stop playing the victim card for him. All other users here are also fellow road-users who have a right to peaceful passage without worrying about someone threatening their journey, by over-speeding or any of the other undesirable behaviours you’ve mentioned in your post.

[StopUnderrides]

Originally Posted by clevermax

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.

Leave aside being inconsiderate. You are in violation of the law. See the Madras HC judgment which quashed the MORTH notification for increase in speed in Tamil Nadu. This judgment has not been turned down by the Supreme court. The legal speed limit on all roads in Tamil Nadu is 100kph.

"Therefore, notification dated 06.04.2018 is quashed. Speed limit is directed to be reduced as per the earlier notification dated 05.08.2014"

The Hon. High Court has observed (as several defensive drivers on this forum would agree):

"Though there is a better engine technology and improved road infrastructure, however, there is no improvement in compliance of the road rules by the motorists"

https://www.livelaw.in/pdf_upload/ma...ran-400621.pdf

Gadkari is using economic progress as the reason. Not sure how increasing max speed to 120kph will drive economic progress. Economic progress is driven by increase in median speed of cargo-not by increasing the max speed which only a couple of high end cars can attain safely. Increasing the max speed by 20% will do nothing to change the median speed which is still 60kph due to unscientific things like choking points, poorly constructed flyovers, 3 trucks going side by side at 50kph etc. It will only increase the # fatalities.

[sarkankur]

This happened around 30th April 2022.

My wife and I were planning to shift from Chennai to Bangalore and had visited Bangalore in search of a house to rent.

We were returning to Chennai on that day and man, it rained cats and dogs throughout! I was expecting a thunderstorm on the road as it had hailed in Bangalore (yes, we had a hailstorm in Bangalore that evening).

The situation kept getting worse until we reached Krishnagiri. There were severe rains and strong winds. So strong that the billboards on NH48 were getting ripped and flying around the road. We took it slow and covered that stretch at around 60. After reaching Krishnagiri things got calm and we though, okay now we can cruise at 80 and hopefully reach Chennai by night.

Things got crazy near Vellore again. It started pouring and it was already getting dark. We were in the rightmost lane and I was telling my wife that we would take a break near the next petrol bunk when suddenly all the cars at front in front of me had to slam on the brakes. This happened not just in the lane I was travelling.

I quickly did the same. All of us were at 80, so obviously we could feel the car slowing down and coming to a stop.

It was at this point I heard someone honking from behind. It was a Mahindra Tourister, buzzing at us at around the same speed that we were at. I could feel that the driver was trying his hard to bring the bus to a halt. I think all of us on that road could hear its tyres squeal as it was rushing down at us while decelerating.

For a moment I thought it would come and hit us from behind. It gave me some confidence knowing that we both have our seatbelts on and the Altroz has good safety ratings.

When the bus finally came to a halt it was hardly a few inches away from the car. I think all the drivers and their passengers gave a sigh of relief and after a few seconds all of us started on our journey back home.

It was then that we realized that an Innova Crysta had suddenly decided to halt near a restaurant. It was in the right most lane and thus when it suddenly moved to the left everyone had to hit the brakes.

As you might be aware, everyone had something to say to the driver of the car. I also added my two cents to the conversation. What disappointed us was the behaviour of the Innova's driver and passengers. It had a party symbol at the front and they were least bothered about what they did. There was no remorse, no fear, just nothing. People like them give a bad name to cars like the Innova, Fortuner and Scorpio.

Anyways we moved on and finally reached home unscathed by 10 pm.

Here are some recordings about the weather. These are from the phone.

I did not have a dashcam at that time, so I do not have the recording of the actual incident.

This was near the Krishnagiri Toll Plaza

http://youtu.be/Y5kaZGHut_A

This was after entering Krishnagiri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-gfzYyS9N8

This was near Ambur when the weather had calmed down

http://youtu.be/MEu9IeUjO5I

[epiccross]

Crazy driver + Innova + political party flag? That's just the worst nightmare right there.

By the way if it's raining, please travel at half the speed of what you'd usually do - like if you do 90-100, do around 50 or 60 max. That extra 20-30 can make a huge difference and will help the reaction times. Also I feel the confidence of "star ratings" very misplaced when it comes to heavy vehicle involved collisions, it's entirely dependent on the crash and your best bet is always driving as defensively as possible.

Glad to know that you and wifey along with the others came out unscathed, could have caused a huge pile up!

[sarkankur]

I totally agree with that.

The Star rating is just for an assurance, in the end it all boils down how one drives, the speeds + weights of the vehicles involved and how alert the drivers are.

We mostly do 60 in bad weather and cruise at 80. It gives me best mileage from the car as well.

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by sarkankur

Altroz has good safety ratings.

GNCAP do not test for rear ends and there's no guarantee on how a car would behave, as it depends on the momentum of the vehicle behind.

I have seen most rear ends happening in Indian highways on the right most lane.

If the traffic is slowing down on highways due to any reason and if you are last in the queue, better to move to left lane as you have an exit route ( Crash Avoidance Space ) on the road shoulder.

In the right lane, you would be having vehicles on your left and median on right and vehicles in front, with no route to escape.

https://twitter.com/skc2000rpm/statu...924273153?s=20

[sarkankur]

Originally Posted by chaitanyakrish

GNCAP do not test for rear ends and there's no guarantee on how a car would behave, as it depends on the momentum of the vehicle behind.

I have seen most rear ends happening in Indian highways on the right most lane.

If the traffic is slowing down on highways due to any reason and if you are last in the queue, better to move to left lane as you have an exit route ( Crash Avoidance Space ) on the road shoulder.

In the right lane, you would be having vehicles on your left and median on right and vehicles in front, with no route to escape.

https://twitter.com/skc2000rpm/statu...924273153?s=20

Thats true, they only used to do side and frontal impact tests those days.

Like i said earlier , it is just an assurance nothing else. Prevention is always better than cure and the only thing that can avoid a crash is a good road sense.

The moving to left lane part is indeed a life saving point.

I was stuck in the left lane with vehicles to my left and the lane divider on my right. Like a deer caught in the headlights.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by StopUnderrides

Leave aside being inconsiderate. You are in violation of the law.

No. I can't leave aside the point of being inconsiderate. Let's talk about that, and not about breaking the law because it is nearly impossible to score a perfect 10 on driving by the book on our roads and we all know that. One can probably do that if he/she is prepared to spend 6-7 hours covering 200 kilometers.

Try driving the 'National Highway' 66 from Trivandrum to Cochin, 200 km, without breaking a single law. Observe all the speed limits, other signages, and markings/yellow lines on the road - I will be surprised if you can make it within some 6.5 - 7 hours during the daytime.

In my drive, I wasn't being inconsiderate. I did not cut across the lanes that caused inconvenience to anyone, let alone block their way. I didn't honk angrily at someone to move them out of the right lane. I was going at a very comfortable speed for me and the occupants in the car.

To 'not break the law', we need a proper design and implementation of the law first. Signboards indicate that the speed limit is 50kph, on some sections of wide open 4-lane highways. It is humanly impossible for an experienced, confident, and considerate driver to restrict himself/herself to that speed on those roads. Even the autos go at 60-65kph. Some wide-open stretches even have a speed limit displayed as 40kph, which is outright stupid.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Although he changed lanes, it didn't cause any inconvenience to anyone, so I wouldn't say he "cut across" lanes.

I can't understand why he is weaving between lanes for no reason, on a highway which is empty ahead (so yes not cutting across anyone).
After overtaking the EcoSport, he goes to the fast lane, then weaves to the slow lane for no valid reason (no cars ahead of him). So far so good.

But if there were a guy closing in on him from behind in a quick car, driving like him, that would not merely be an inconvenience, but a possible mishap.

Originally Posted by clevermax

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

While the speed is above limits, it isn't really that much and we all have been there, but he does not seem to have the skill to handle those speeds in a fluid manner.
IMHO he needs to remap his skills to match the car's remap.

Originally Posted by clevermax

In my drive, I wasn't being inconsiderate. I did not cut across the lanes that caused inconvenience to anyone, let alone block their way. I didn't honk angrily at someone to move them out of the right lane. I was going at a very comfortable speed for me and the occupants in the car.

Your driving was good. No doubt about that.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

I happened to witness a near miss accident which could have turned fatal for the lady rider. Had not been for the truck driver to apply breaks at the right time and the lady rider regaining control of her two wheeler in time, things could have taken an ugly turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RAghWC4a5E

[MyLife_MyCar]

I had a near miss experience on Friday night, though it involved two 2-wheelers.

I was headed to pick up my wife from her office as it was pretty late in night, about 10.30 pm. As I approached a traffic light, I was the only one there as all other traffic had already crossed it and signal was about to turn red. I stopped on the right most lane, almost next to the divider, as I had to take a right turn.

However, the bike behind me had no intentions of stopping and he was coming at speed, ready to jump the red light. Fortunately, I was looking in my bike's side mirror and realised that he is going to collide with me. I just leaned a little toward right and he leaned a little toward left and crossed me from the left with his right side mirror scraping my left elbow.

So, nothing major happened but it left me thinking about the consequences that some people, who follow the rules, have to face when others around them are inclined to break the rules.
I could also have jumped the signal as it was late night with little traffic at the cross junction and nothing of this would have happened. However, I decided to stop but the biker behind me assumed that I will keep moving and he did not slow down.

Got me wondering, should I follow the rules or just go with the herd mentality. To be honest, following the rules won’t have been worthy if I were injured or if my bike suffered some damage.

Looking for opinion from others team members - what would you do if faced with similar situation? I am sure many of us have went through such incidents lot of times.

[DetectiveMiles]

One lady crossing the street, narrowly escapes coming under the bus as Driver was able to brake in time

https://www.facebook.com/10005738696...41290929519154

[AutoNoob]

Originally Posted by DetectiveMiles

One lady crossing the street, narrowly escapes coming under the bus as Driver was able to brake in time

Both the lady and the bus driver are at fault here.

Lady crossed without looking and kept moving on after near-miss as if nothing happened (probably realized it was her mistake and no point in arguing with the driver).

The bus was being driven too fast for the road and location. If not this time, the some other time it may end up in accident.

[GeeTee TSI]

A near miss captured on my dashcam, with me behind the wheel and bruising my ego and self worth.

Along the numerous diversions around the Hassan highway, this was one where I did a cheeky attempt to overtake a KSRTC from the left as it lumbered over the speed breakers.

Many things wrong here right from that approach to getting squeezed between the KSRTC and narrowing path (did the bus try to veer to the left?). As I tried to rush past the KSRTC, the slow moving truck in front triggered a panic (if I am honest) cut into the right (in the KSRTC's path) in order to clear the truck

Then the revelation by the almighty, as I tried to overtake the truck along its 'right' side; of what to expect on our roads


Pardon the grainy GIF coming from my reluctance to upload on YouTube

Suffice to say, I will think twice before overtaking vehicles along the left if I do not have a clear line of sight

[DetectiveMiles]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

Many things wrong here right from that approach to getting squeezed between the KSRTC and narrowing path (did the bus try to veer to the left?).

Well, that's quite the overtake.
Normally these diversions have speed bumps, also not enough space for two vehicles in some streches. Always better not to overtake in diverted roads, unless we have clear pass.
About KSRTC, I too have noticed KSRTC buses come very close to next lane or few inches to next lane in straight roads too on Haasana Bengaluru highway few times. we need to be attentive.