[hangover]

I was my bike going from Mangalore to Sakleshpur. On Shiradi ghat there is one particular U turn which is uphill as well as oddly banked.

There was a trucker full of huge 4 feet dia logs making the turn. I was behind him.
The truck was straining tremendously and moving very slow. At the apex the truck started tipping over like in slow motion towards the road. I stopped and watched fascinated.

The logs started falling off the truck at the halfway tipping over and then the truck itself collapsed to its side.

It wasn't a near miss of course but still scary as I was just behind it.

Since I was on my bike I was able to ride around it. I suspect traffic was blocked a few hours at that spot.

And no, the driver and cleaner were not harmed at all. They were probably dreading the call they'd to make to their owner soon.

[vin11]

Nice to find this thread. I was about to create one after my just-missed experience last week.

Cruising on the bypass road (going towards Badarpur border) at 9 pm last Sunday, at a constant 80 kmph, approached a curve with (thankfully) both my hands on the steering. The low beam (cutoff) of my car's headlight neared another car in front. A parked Santro, it was. In the middle of the road, that idiot was changing the punctured wheel, that too on an almost blind curve as there were large bushes on the divider and we both were on the right most lane.

I jammed my foot on the brake pedal and the wheels locked. I could experience the tyres skidding (locking) but couldn't hear any screech. I eased off the brake pedal and avoided a collision by swerving the car to the next lane. Otherwise I would have rear ended the car (as locked wheels wouldn't have allowed a lane change) and sandwiched the Santro driver in between.

As if that wasn't enough, another drunk Dzire driver wooshed past me from the right, while I was trying to correct the composure again. I stopped after some distance for some time to relax, and stop myself from shivering!

Thankfully he (Dzire driver) was caught at the next signal but the Santro owner must learn a thing or two about putting the blinkers/warning triangle to good use.

[ramzsys]

Mild drizzle, road is all wet.
Approaching the top of the upslope.
There's 2 barricades kept. Now why this in the top of a slope which is a blind spot for both me and the Swift Dzire?
I was fast, Dzire at the other end was faster too. He had his headlights on, i hadn't.
I had to brake. Caught by surprise: mild fishtailing of the fiesta! MRF ZV2k is not a good tyre.

Quick steering inputs saved me from any crash or hitting the barricades. Not sure what would have happened if it is the Ecosport.

Now why on earth would they keep barricades at a blind spot on a 2 lane NH which has a speed limit of 80 kmph. This is neither near a village or a T junction or anything.

[sidharth_j]

Well this is from 2 weeks ago on my way back to Bangalore from Coimbatore...Just shows how you can never be too careful.

I had just had a nice fill of Polar Bear icecream (check out the place just near the salem bypass on the salem-coimbatore highway). Since this parlour was on the opposite side of the road (in the direction to coimbatore), i had to go down the highway for around half a km before taking a u-turn back to the direction to blore.

At the U, i put my turn indicators, looked left for oncoming traffic and slowly started taking the u, when suddenly there is a blur of three figures passing in front of my car
I slammed the brakes, avoided the 'blur' by maybe a meter or so, moved my car to the left shoulder after the turn and looked back....it was a bunch of village boys out on a joyride on their bike. three chaps on the bike and they thought they could cut across to the other side coming via the wrong way!

Well, it was a good reminder that in our land, you can never be too careful, lest you get a nasty surprise....AND that the collective driving intelligence of these villagers is next to zero...

[Raghav_K]

Had a near miss experience this Sunday. I was coming back to Chennai, after attending a reception in Pondy, and after crossing tindivanam, the road was empty, and i sped up.

I was doing 110 on my Verna, and there was a curve in the road ahead. These roads are two lane either side and have a big median/seperator in the middle with plants etc.

Thankfully i had slowed down to 80, and while taking the turn in fast lane, i saw a guy and a girl with their bike perpendicular to the road in the lane. Seems they were crossing the road, at 11pm in the night, in a curve with zero lighting.

I had some time to react, did a soft brake to reduce speed, a slight swerve and switched lanes, felt the abs kick in during the maneuver. Thankfully the next lane was empty, the car following me was smart enough to copy my maneuvers, and i think a terrible accident was avoided.

I thanked my Stars and moved on!

[ankan.m.blr]

Originally Posted by Raghav_K

Had a near miss experience this Sunday. I was coming back to Chennai, after attending a reception in Pondy, and after crossing tindivanam, the road was empty, and i sped up.

I was doing 110 on my Verna, and there was a curve in the road ahead. These roads are two lane either side and have a big median/seperator in the middle with plants etc.

Thankfully i had slowed down to 80, and while taking the turn in fast lane, i saw a guy and a girl with their bike perpendicular to the road in the lane. Seems they were crossing the road, at 11pm in the night, in a curve with zero lighting.

I had some time to react, did a soft brake to reduce speed, a slight swerve and switched lanes, felt the abs kick in during the maneuver. Thankfully the next lane was empty, the car following me was smart enough to copy my maneuvers, and i think a terrible accident was avoided.

I thanked my Stars and moved on!

Good job Its not your stars but your ability to take the correct decision (by slowing down at the curve) at the correct time which saved the day.

[hybridpetrol]

A few days back, while driving on the highway, there were a few narrow misses. I was cruising at a leisurely speed of about 70 kmph. The road is a single carriageway with 2 lanes. My lane was free ahead, and in the opposite lane there were two buses coming one behind the other. This is at night, and there was not much distance between me and the first bus.
All of a sudden, the second bus decided to overtake the first bus, and entered my lane. I got alarmed and blinked my headlights and honked to show my presence. However, the bus, blinked twice, probably indicating, he is not going to slow down. I quickly steered towards my left. But the bus was probably doing 120 kmph speed, and come faster than I expected. I further steered towards my left and hit the gravel on the left side.
In a split second, the bus vanished after passing me, and I steadied my car to enter back into the road. My heart skipped a beat. My family was sleeping in the car, and they woke up and asked what happened. I smiled and said, "Nothing!"
After all, such things repeatedly happen in highways these days.
We should be "a brave soul" (!) to just drive on our usual routes.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by silversteed

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.

That was close.

Had a similar experience, some 4 years back on an empty NH46 towards Vellore around 1230-100am. Spotted this guy in the middle, switched to left lane with a second to react.

[createrkid]

Not sure if an "almost accident" qualifies for this thread. This happened a month ago when we were driving down from Ooty in the ecosport. Please skip to the 45 second mark if you want to save some time. Apologies for the video quality and audio has been muted for obvious reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vleh...ature=youtu.be

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by createrkid

This happened a month ago when we were driving down from Ooty in the ecosport.

The trick is to honk and let the ascending vehicle know you're there, as well as be alert to try to listen to elevated engine notes and honking. Long vehicles such as buses and trucks take the outer lane while negotiating hairpins such as the one where you had a face-off with the TNSTC bus. And these buses and trucks need the momentum, thanks to their abysmal PTWR compared to cars, to climb gradients safely. So, we, the drivers of smaller vehicles have to be on alert all the time, and allow plenty of room for them. Things get easier in the dark, as the lights of vehicles on succeeding curves can help us be more prepared.

I'm not being preachy, but speaking from experience. I did have a couple of heart-in-the-mouth moments while climbing down the same ghat road that you were in, during my first or second instance of ghat driving. Thanks to my parents and a good family-friend-plus-driver, who would correct me, I haven't made such mistakes again.

If you see someone wanting to overtake you on ghat roads, let them pass and not get into a road-rage - even though it's a humble Mofa or a jugaad, or a 'Busa or a Mustang. Either they're a lot more experienced than us in this or they have a death-wish - either way, we don't gain anything by playing catch-up. But a momentary lapse of concentration can land us in a deep abyss

[createrkid]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The trick is to honk ..

Thanks for the suggestion, I was honking away all the time during turns. I had to mute the video for unwanted family outbursts :P

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by silversteed

The trick is to honk

Correct ! Most of these HCVs honk much before the turn to warn others coming from the other side. I am yet to come across a truck / bus driver who doesn't honk on turns like this on a ghat road

Originally Posted by createrkid

Thanks for the suggestion, I was honking away all the time during turns. I had to mute the video for unwanted family outbursts :P

So whenever on a ghat road , I would recommend keeping the windows rolled down , AC off and music off. This ensures you can hear other vehicles honking or coming up from the other side. AC off when driving uphill also ensures that you have that extra power while overtaking that slow moving truck(s)

[aspire]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

So whenever on a ghat road , I would recommend keeping the windows rolled down , AC off and music off. This ensures you can hear other vehicles honking or coming up from the other side. AC off when driving uphill also ensures that you have that extra power while overtaking that slow moving truck(s)

I don't think it is very practical though, keeping the windows open, considering the fumes, clutch plate burning smells, we encounter if the stretch has decent to high traffic.

AC off is definitely yes !

Have to keep window panes rolled up, some places like BR hills and all or for that matter nandi hills is fine, to keep the window panes dropped.

Driving to Ooty the famous 39 hair pin bend seems as if we are in a fuel bunk!

Regards
Shailesh

[null]

This had happened to me a few years ago, when the NH48 / Bangalore - Hassan road expansion work was in progress. There were many diversions with only two lanes for bi-directional traffic at most places since the work was in progress at multiple points in parallel.

My friend & I were returning back to Bangalore, having left Chikmagalur at 5:30am, with an aim of reaching home by 9:30am & making it to work by 10:30am (which was pretty much possible then). Post breakfast after CR Patna, around 7:30am, there was this straight stretch of road, but a KSRTC bus was not letting us overtake and kept nagging for KMs together by blocking deliberately whenever I tried it. I attempted to overtake him multiple times when the coast was clear, but he kept on with his nagging approach and just wouldn't let us pass.

Finally, at a point, he indicates us to go ahead and I rev up to overtake. Obviously, with his indication, my car speed picks up to like 80+ (or may be 90kmph) and as I come in parallel with the bus, I see another bus coming in from the opposite direction at pretty good speed. The road ahead, apparently, had a dip in-between and this incoming bus was not visible to me when I decided to overtake.

Neither of the bus guys are in a mood to slow down & let me cross. For a moment, thought I should back out & slow down and get back into my lane behind the bus, but was sure that will not help because of the speeding incoming bus. I went blank on what to do next. Then, within a fraction of a second, I decided to pull over to the extreme right side area and let the bus, coming right on into me, pass through and managed to bring our car to a stop. Also, for a moment, I felt the steering is not responding to my turning (or I so felt - since I managed to do it the next moment). For that moment, I thought, it was the end for us considering the bus speeding in directly. Even now, I thank god for saving us at that moment by having sufficient banking space on the right side of the road. I feel, the bus in front of me, which I was trying to overtake, deliberately let me overtake at that point, by indicating me, whenever I think about this incident.

From that day onward, I never depend on another vehicle's indication alone to overtake. Think more than once before overtaking. Many a time, I let go of the opportunity if I am not 200% convinced.

I am not sure whether it is age or my wisdom catching up (which comes with age I guess), nowadays, I never speed up beyond 80kmph on roads which I am not familiar with & is not conducive for fast driving (like our state highways, roads with traffic in both directions etc) and let go of anyone behind, who wants to race ahead, all the time without competing with them like before

Off-topic: This above incident made me realize the significance of a moment. At one moment I was overtaking, next moment I was helpless & about to die and the very next moment I survived. Can dissect the time slices as if each one lasted for minutes in my imagination even now :P

[dass]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

I would recommend keeping the windows rolled down , AC off and music off. This ensures you can hear other vehicles honking or coming up from the other side. AC off when driving uphill also ensures that you have that extra power while overtaking that slow moving truck(s)

+1 to this. though most of the times on GHATS I do keep the windows rolled down and music either VERY low or switched off. Also, it is only in these places during the journey that you probably get a lot of fresh air as well. So, I like to enjoy the breeze as well.