[freakrz]

It all started in bangalore...when me and my cousins planned to go on a long road trip...my trip started off from bangalore to chennai and to pondy and then all the way to vizag in my three month old swift...the drive from bangalore to chennai was great...very less traffic..and it was a beautiful drive..was nt speeding much since it was a new car...After reaching chennai we rested a day and the next day at 7 in the morning we left to pondy...gone around the place and by 3 pm we started off to chennai..

The chennai - pondy dirve is awsome...while on the way back at mammalapuram jn..there is this slight curvy road,i could see the entire road..there stood a bus on the right side of the road pickin up people....and another bus came next to it and stopped.the drivers were conversing..i can see that there is enough space for my swift to clear off and on the far left side of the there is a TNRDC Board with the name of the place and a huge tree and a lady sitting next to it selling some fuits...now i was at 90 kmph...and suddenly another bus appears next to the two buses...now i dont have anywhere to go...the compleat road is blocked..there is a ford fiesta tail gating me....i was in the 5th...came down to 4th and did brake hard..the car drifted to the right going right to the bus that was stopped and then i turned the wheel in opp dir of the drift and tried to control now it drifted to the left and the bus is lik coupl of meters away..there s some sand on the road..which made the car lose control..but i got down a few gears to 2nd (engine braking) which slowed down a bit..but still it hit the TNRDC Board(The Green boards with the name of the place) and stopped..i got down and was checking my car..meanwhile the bus's are gone..and lot of crowd gatherd.

the lady next to the tree started acting off...she started wailing and crying loudly...i was surprised cause the car stopped like 5 meters away from the tree and it hit the pole clearly i know that it did nt touch her..there is a lot of crowd gathered and coupl of guys jump up shouting and all..i barely know tamil ...but could understand ..i was trying to explain them ..but they would nt believe..and then a highway patrol came and i explain them the situation..now they cleared the crowd and they sent that lady in a car...the cops were like we need to file a complaint...ok..now there are some guys who sent the lady to the hospiltal and they have given a complaint tht it hit her and she fell far....we were 5 of us in the car..me and my cousins..one is a 12 year old,he is my uncls sone who stays in chennai....he started crying and now i had to call my uncle in chennai ,who stays in in adyar....the cops called for a tow and i had to go to the police station....then my uncl came and takd to them..the cop says its my fault even if the entire road is blocked by the bus's ...he would nt agree that its the bus's fault..he says i should watch out...i argued saying i was in the right lane and he would nt agree..finally my uncle made some calls and the cops came down..and asked some money...i had to pay thm 1300/- and then the other problem is the lady..they took her to the hospital..now we went to the hospital and takd to the doc...he told tht the local guys who brought her here asked him to ask for some amount..she was nt hurt..the doc told us that nothing is wrong with her but they have done some tests and asked us to pay the bills..i was so furious..coz i did nt do anything and they r just blaming for money sake..so finally i ended up paying 2000/- there and the guys who bought her to the hospital demanded some money,saying that one of them is a close relative of her.. and made a whole mess...the cops did nt do anytnh ...they almost started a fight...so we had to pay them 1500/- then the TNRDC road devlopemnt guys turn up at the police station and they demand 5000/- for the board...thats another thing....finally we ended up clearing everything and it costed me 1300 + 2000 + 1500 +2100(tow)+5000 = 11,900...all this took two days to clear up

i removed all the equipment in the car..(Subwoofer,Amplifiers and the head) and then we tow'd the car to khivraj motors ..who is the maruti dealer in chennai...he gave us the quote of 40,000 of which al most all the insurance covers ..but the front left tyre and bumper are damaged which only 50% covers of the bumper..so i had to payy off another 5000/ there...finally they took 2 1/2 weeks to do up the car...now its back in good shape..but it was all a bad experience ....i learnt a lot about dealing with the cops and local people...and also tht a lot of things happen unexpected so we gotta be prepared.....

The best thing was nothing happend to anyone of us..not even a single scratch....the cops told that all the accidents that took place there ,no one got out alive and we r so lucky...i some times think some of the tech stuff that i learnt and tried like engine braking and drift control...which i happen to help me to get control of car in situations like these...

here are some of the pictures...

[MrBoombastic]

Wish you could've called me, we could've at least tried solving this in a very different way. Thing is I do ECR almost everyday and those highway patrol/ toll gate guys on the Chennai side somehwat know me and talk to me when I stop for a smoke there. I can understand just how you feel, especially towards that wretched fruit"loop" lady and those damn bus freaks. Some of those bus drivers on ECR are downright evil and murderous retards... Beware!

[ajmat]

If only you had ABS!!!!

[freakrz]

Originally Posted by ajmat

If only you had ABS!!!!

yea thats true...thats the first thing i thought...i should have gone for the ABS
when we bought it....is it possible to have ABS fittment now from the dealer..how much would it cost approx....?

[amit]

It hurts to see a beautiful car in a state like that for no fault of it or the drivers. I don't know when India will improve in road infrastrucutre, driving habits and pedestrians faking injury at the drop of a hat. Looks like the PM's speech didnt have any effect! Don't you wish you had a gun at times like these?

[speedsatya]

thats really sad ...good that you all were safe ....but i dont think having ABS would have made any bigg differnce as you had braked at 90kph ...only thing is that probably your car wouldnt have skidded ...instead of teh pole you would have hit one of the buses..

Drive safe