[rohanjf]

In the last 2 weeks, I did Bangalore - Mangalore - Goa - Mangalore - Bangalore. While returning from Goa, I almost crashed head on into an Omni that was overtaking a bus on a blind curve.

Today was scary. I was driving on NH 48 (or 75) from Mangalore to Bangalore. The section from Mangalore city till the ghat section has a centre line. The blind curves are marked with solid lines. So it is easy to drive safely.

Sadly, the ghat section is newly patched. Then it is an uphill climb. Then there are trucks and oil tankers moving at less than 10 kmph. It is not practical to follow them, and there are very few safe zones for overtaking and they are far from each other.

Most of the tanker drivers are helpful. You follow them and honk once. They tell you with your hands whether it is safe to overtake or not. Thus I overtook two NL registered tankers. Assuming the same cooperation, I honked at the next one. No response. After following him for a minute or so, and not getting any response, I looked ahead. A decently straight road with sufficient time to get back on track before the blind curve. So I started overtaking.

For some reason, the tanker drifted to the right. I was half way through, and I decided to slow down. That was a bad idea. A KSRTC bus was coming down the hill and fast. The tanker was very slow, so I did not have time to pull up behind it. The bus braked hard but started skidding. I had the presence of mind, and the luck of having a small muddy area on the right of the road. The moment the bus started braking, I swerved off the road. Since I had already slowed down earlier, I could stop the car before it could go down the valley. I could have crashed into the bus or gone down the valley. I'm lucky to be alive and fine.

The bus driver abused me and drove off. I was breathing hard. My wife was crying. Then I noticed the registration of the tanker. TN 47. From my experiences, most TN truckers are not concerned about other motorists :-(

Many things went wrong for me. I was spoilt by the well-marked road for previous 100 km. That stretch had sharper curves. Then the other tanker drivers were doing more than they should, by helping me overtake them. Then KSRTC buses, especially the junk red ones like the one I almost crashed into, drive like maniacs.

Ironically, I sought help from another KSRTC bus. A KSRTC multi-axle Volvo overtook me later. I followed it for the rest of the ghat section, using him as a guide.

[carzone]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

In the last 2 weeks, I did Bangalore - Mangalore - Goa - Mangalore - Bangalore. While returning from Goa, I almost crashed head on into an Omni that was overtaking a bus on a blind curve.

that was a really close call. Though I am not familiar with that part of the country, during a trip there, the taxi driver did tell us about the helpful nature of the truck drivers.

One thing that comes in my mind is, that why did the truck start drifting towards right if it saw a bus coming from the opposite side? Am I missing something here?

I can understand it is difficult to continue drriving after sucn an incident has shaken you up. You tend to loose confidence. Its better that you were fine enough to continue.

Drive safe buddy!

[Binzone]

My friend had a minor hit but something you could call a "just missed" experience yesterday while on his fluidic Verna at muvattupuzha, with his family.
He was overtaking a swift, at about 90kmph. He saw an APE type goods carrier on the oncoming lane, but was confident he would complete his move safely, and proceeded.
Next thing he hears, a loud bang, and sound of breaking glass. His right orvm had hit some protruding part of the goods carrier, and the impact caused the orvm to smash the right side window. A piece of glass flew right across him and his father, who was on the passenger seat, all the way to the left side front window and damaged that too.

Extremely lucky that the glass shard did not hit him or his father.

The goods vehicle did not bother to stop, and my friend wondered if that driver had even felt the impact.

The service station assessed total damages around 7-8k.

[MX6]

Nearly had to bring down the curtains on MX6 and his family. A truck driver perhaps missed the curve or was possibly drunk and moved in to my lane head-on, pushing me off the road with a last minute swerve.
Heard a huge noise and managed to stop the car just inches away from the edge of the road that was 5 - 6 ft above the adjoining barren fields.
Took me 2 hours in the middle of the night in extremely cold conditions to ensure that I didn't bust anything else other than my front left alloy.
The damage of the alloy in below pic could perhaps explain the impact it had with the freshly tarred surface when I swerved off the road to avoid being hit by the truck. The impact was on the inner lip as the tyre slid away. Thankfully, I didn't flip off the road on to the field below which could have been curtains for all of us.

[Warwithwheels]

Originally Posted by MX6

Nearly had to bring down the curtains on MX6 and his family....

OMG! I have never seen a alloy being damaged in this fashion. Glad that you came out unscathed.

Please visit a garage, put your car on the ramp and check your vehicle for any under body damages. Also check for weird suspension dynamics on a straight line.

What about the tires? Are they ok?

[Swifdeep]

This was during April 2012.
Was driving from Jamkhandi (Bagalkot District) to Bangalore on this night. I was climbing a road that was curving to the right, since it was a downhill drive after the peak, could not see any vehicle, but could see the glare from an headlight in the opposite direction. The vehicle from the other side happened to be a KSRTC bus and reached the peak about 5 secs earlier than what I did. Don't know what the driver was doing, instead of keeping the bus in his lane, it was heading straight at me, the only thing I could do was to swerve to my left at about 30-40kmph, thankfully there was open space on the left of the road and came to a bouncing halt with no physical damage. Took a good 15 mins to recover from the scare, the scare was good enough was for me to drive to Bangalore thereafter with about 3 - 4 stops.

[infotech58]

I remember two instances:

First happened in around 2004 somewhere in Punjab, I was riding pillion on a two wheeler with my friend driving on a busy city road. Suddenly a car cuts in front of my friend and my friend was unable to stop in time and ended up hitting that car and at the same time a jeep rear ended us making me fall on the road and under the jeep. All of this happened at a very slow speed (probably 20-30 kmph) and I escaped with no injuries.


Second incident happend in around 2009 in North Carolina, I was driving on an Interstate and was at around 80 mph in the slow lane. Suddenly I see a speeding sedan crash the ramp railings and land up on the highway in parpendicular direction to the oncoming traffic barely 100 meters away from me; I instinctly turned my steering to left and then to right to avoid hitting that car and in the process of doing so I did not even check whether there were any other cars on left to me and also ended up bringing my SUV on two wheels with two wheels in air for a split second.

[apachelongbow]

Looks like from this thread, a majority of close shaves happen at night, especially because of heavy vehicles and their sleepy/drunk drivers. Better to be safe and drive during the day then?

[StarrySky]

Had a near-miss experience on the road yesterday. I was on my way home and there was a bus in front of my car. The road was quite narrow, and with lot of turns, so I knew there was no use trying to overtake the bus (unless he let me through). I was therefore following the bus a few metres behind and the speed was low (<50kmph).

Then the bus seemed to disturb a low-lying branch of a tree and as soon as the bus passed the tree, a branch fell off the tree, right in front on my car and right across the road!! There was no way to drive around it, so I had to brake hard and came to a stop literally inches from the branch. I was lucky it didn't fall on top of my car. Luckily, there was no vehicle behind me either.

I notice a few branches of the tree by the side of the road. I guess someone was cutting down the branches of the tree earlier in the day and this one branch got caught among some others. It was disturbed when the bus passed and fell down.

[gomzi]

All road users pedestrians included need to be careful and alert at all times.

A weird situation happened yesterday on my drive home from work on the Eastern Express Highway around 5.30pm.

On the straight stretch in front of Godrej at Vikhroli, the Alto in front of me suddenly started weaving in the lane left and right and braked hard to a full stop.
This was in the fast lane (i.e. right most lane next to divider) with cars going at ~40-50km/h and moderate traffic (by Mumbai standards).

When the Alto started swerving without warning, I spotted something under the car and thought the front bumper or engine guard must have come off which startled the driver.
When I checked with him, it was a discarded helmet which had rolled under the car. The helmet was on the divider and somehow fell right in front of the Alto which startled the driver.
I had kept a proper distance so could stop with just few inches to spare, but the car behind me hadn't so bumped lightly into the back of my car, no serious damage to my car or to the Alto or any humans - the car behind me lost a headlight though.

Weirdly, a redux occurred 20, mins later. This time I was again in the fast lane, but there was a clear road ahead of me for a long distance (just before the EEH/GB road junction flyover). General tendency of everyone taking the flyover is to "gun it", so there was an XUV coming up fast behind me and I was keeping an eye out for a biker in the 2nd lane with a pillion rider when suddenly the biker swerved to his left and a helmet (which was on the bikes handlebar was rolling and bouncing towards my car at a good clip). I put on the hazard lights and braked hard, managing to avoid the helmet and due to hazard lights the guy behind could also brake in time though he had to swerve to next lane to avoid hitting me.

This is just plain crazy, bikers the helmet is to protect your head, not a display item!

[Vishbull_6157]

Originally Posted by gomzi

Eastern Express Highway around 5.30pm

On the straight stretch in front of Godrej at Vikhroli

You are very lucky my friend. Flying helmets is bizarre.

I have been working in Godrej compound for over 5 years now and have seen more than a couple of fatal accidents on that stretch. The two signals on that stretch, I call them "death signal" . I am never sure and never feel safe stopping on those signals. Not knowing if the car behind has noticed the signal on that tempting flat out stretch and whether the driver will be able to stop on time. I have seen some very ugly pile ups on that signal. I really feel they should do away with that signal.

[Adi22]

"Never follow behind an already overtaking vehicle. :-)"

Went behind an Airavata bus which was overtaking a lorry on Mysore-Bangalore highway. They both got into a mini race mode. My view completely blinded by the bus in fornt. Suddenly, the bus driver completes his move (after 300-400 mtrs or racing with the lorry) and moves in front of the lorry. Next thing i see is an APE auto parked in my lane with the moving lorry to the right.
It was probably by millimeters & god given instinct (plus the DDIS engine) that allowed me nudge through that gap b/w the lorry & auto. The poor innova tailing me had a real heart attack. Luckily his vehicle braked just in time.

[silversteed]

Heights of stupidity:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlBHKTNv62Q

Location: after Vaikundom, about 20km before Salem

The dumb guy crossing the road was looking at the traffic on the other lane, while he is walking across as though he's on a park.

Before someone posts one of those holier-than-thou comments, I must add this: the legal speed limit on the stretch is 100kmph and the biker and I were just a shade above 60kmph.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by Adi22

"Never follow behind an already overtaking vehicle. :-)"

Went behind an Airavata bus which was overtaking a lorry on Mysore-Bangalore highway. They both got into a mini race mode. My view completely blinded by the bus in fornt. Suddenly, the bus driver completes his move (after 300-400 mtrs or racing with the lorry) and moves in front of the lorry. Next thing i see is an APE auto parked in my lane with the moving lorry to the right.
It was probably by millimeters & god given instinct (plus the DDIS engine) that allowed me nudge through that gap b/w the lorry & auto. The poor innova tailing me had a real heart attack. Luckily his vehicle braked just in time.

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Most of the tanker drivers are helpful. You follow them and honk once. They tell you with your hands whether it is safe to overtake or not. Thus I overtook two NL registered tankers. Assuming the same cooperation, I honked at the next one. No response. After following him for a minute or so, and not getting any response, I looked ahead. A decently straight road with sufficient time to get back on track before the blind curve. So I started overtaking.

.

That was indeed a very close call ! With experience ,as a rule , no matter how long it might take , I never overtake unless I can see clearly ahead . I have seen truckers /bus divers signal you to pass sometimes only to realise that there is oncoming traffic that you cannot avoid crashing into .

BTW which road was this ? I am assuming it was charmadi

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

BTW which road was this ? I am assuming it was charmadi

It was Shiradi. India's best maintained national highway. It was around this time last year.