[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Since yesterday we were all thinking that the poor fellow was innocently standing near the door and fell out when the bus veered off. Today when I saw the video, I realized that the youth was actually jumping out of the bus by his own will. Since the bus veered at the same time, he went off-balance and landed on his back. If the bus hadn't veered off, he would have still given me a lesser shock, by jumping in front of me. What an idiot!

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Normally anyone trying to alight from a running vehicle does that by running in the same direction of the bus after touching down.

This idiot has taken it to the next level if we was indeed trying to get off.

I agree with selfdrive, this looks like the worst way to get off the bus. I would expect him to be facing the other way instead. On the instance he appears, he seems to be facing you.

2 clear takeaways - 1. ALWAYS maintain distance 2. ALWAYS have your dashcam running.

Cars jumping dividers, falling off flyovers, flying over to roofs of houses, people falling from the bus, people running across expressways - I really wonder at times, what is it that is not possible and probable on our streets.

[quickfox11]

Wow! That's like some fast chase movie sequence!

And I can take down 7 imp lessons from these 7 seconds (actually most of them from @Samurai)

1. Your safety should be your first priority - Everyone in the car was belted. Extremely rare to find backseat passengers using seat belts

2. Know your surroundings - Kudos for maintaining a safe distance from traffic

3. Eyes always on the roads - It's very easy to get distracted for few seconds while fiddling with your phones, talking to people etc. Here, a single second proved to be the decisive factor between life and probably serious injury to that boy or people in the car

4. Never over speed - Had the vehicle been at high speed, sudden maneuvering might have put the car in danger, and probably could have hit the boy

5. Extra eyes never hurt - Importance of a dash-cam, time to get one ASAP

6. The roads are filled with Idiots - Well..you know..I mean who would imagine a human being popping out on road flat on his back from a fast moving bus in front of you

7. You may run out of points for your posts - But you still want to keep it because you want to maintain the poetic flow of your post

[gkveda]

Kudos to your reflexes and driving skills

My heart came to my mouth when I saw this. What the hell the person had to do, standing on the foot board when the bus is on the highway going at such a high speed?

Unfortunate for you to take such a risky turn and still come out successfully.

[R2D2]

Fabulous save Samurai. I am glad the person escaped largely unhurt albeit in a state of shock.

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe a large part of the reflexes you deployed is probably due to your martial arts training.

This only proves one thing to me a dashcam is 100% needed and I need to get one ASAP.

[SmartCat]

My list of things to watch out for while driving on a highway -

- Watch out for saree-clad pillion falling off a two wheeler
- Look left and right before crossing a manned railway crossing
- Look ahead while crossing a bridge to see if it is still intact and not collapsed
- Watch out for "footboarders" slipping and falling off a bus
- Watch out for large stones or bricks falling out of an open truck

Time to update the list!

- Watch out for passengers literally flying out of Udupi Express bus

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe a large part of the reflexes you deployed is probably due to your martial arts training.

Then it is time martial arts is made part of driver training.

No, I think it is just decent driving experience, while following defensive driving practices. I think any defensive driver with enough driving experience could have managed this.

[arunphilip]

Great save, Samurai. I'm not sure if that person knows he owes his life to you. Karma knows, so that's one for you.

Next time, please refrain from ordering an idiot, with the "express shipping and doorstep drop-off" option selected.

There have been times if I wondered if I should move my dashcam to the rear, as I'm more worried about being rear-ended than blundering into a driving error, but this incident has just proven to me that one up-front is as important.

Incidents like these, and yet my non-TBHP friends/family wonder why I take 3.x hours to drive from B'lore to Mysore.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Time to update the list!

Add one more please!

A fellow bhpian friend reported some years ago an incident he faced. He was on the fast lane about to overtake a state transport bus when someone inside threw out a coconut from a window. The coconut fortunately decided to bounce out of the intended path of our bhpian's car.

However considering the unpredictable bounce of coconuts, this could have turned nasty soon.

Of course we also have people throwing fruit peels, plastic covers and even paan projectiles out of vehicle windows. Then you have the usual passengers crossing from ahead of stopped vehicles (though this is more universal)

So please add a checkpoint to watch out for things thrown out of windows.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

A fellow bhpian friend reported some years ago an incident he faced. He was on the fast lane about to overtake a state transport bus when someone inside threw out a coconut from a window. The coconut fortunately decided to bounce out of the intended path of our bhpian's car.

My first cousin was not so lucky. Somebody threw a tender coconut shell from the bus window and it landed on my cousin's front windshield. He lost control of the car in that shock and the car ended up falling into a roadside ditch. He had to get it towed back to Bangalore and there was a big repair bill.

Once a coconut fell in front of my Grand Vitara from the tree. I narrowly missed it. People whose coconuts trees are leaning into the road must ensure that dry coconuts are regularly removed. However, such civic sense is rarely followed.

[Porcupine]

Wow that was close, the guy and you are both lucky, had you not had the presence of mind, or the reflexes, it would be a different story altogether. I had a similar experience recently when a couple of youths tried to speed over a notoriously large speed breaker, with the pillion literally flying of and landing on his behind right in front of my car. Luckily I was at a slight distance and at a very slow speed due to the upcoming speed breaker.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by smartcat

My list of things to watch out for while driving on a highway

Few things I follow when on highways:

1. Watchout for wrong side drivers/riders on fast lane, slow lane when overtaking.
2. When overtaking, keep tab of where the vehicle you are overtaking's right front wheel is relative to lane markings.
3. Watchout for Lewis Hamiltons and Valentino Rossi's and give way to them.
4. Ambulances do 70 or 90 kph, either let them through or pass them cleanly depending on the situation.

[Guna]

Scary. Since you mentioned that he appeared to jump out on his own will and even he got up and ran, could he be a thief trying to escape?
Reminds me of an incident when I was driving to the office for the first time (after finishing the 10 hour driving school training!). A guy on the bike who was coming from the opposite side (other side of the divider) hit the divider and fell right in front of my car. Purely out of reflex I swerved to the left and avoided running over. Luckily there was no one coming on my left lane.

[Nalin1]

That was a close shave Samurai! Kudos for handling it well and avoiding mishaps.

Reminds me of an incident last year when driving back to Bangalore from Chennai. My cousin (aviorp, his teambhp ID) was driving and I was in the front passenger seat. A fully loaded bus was driving at a decent speed in front of us in the middle lane and we were following it from a safe distance. A biker was on the left lane (a local resident without a helmet) and a Fiesta in front of him. Everything looked absolutely normal on a beautiful highway on a bright sunny afternoon!.

As usual I had my eyes glued to the road while having a casual conversation with him (on cars what else!). Suddenly some passengers sitting on the left side of the bus put out their hands with a signal for the vehicles behind to slow down. We immediately slowed down but the Fiesta I think did not notice those hand signals as he was not right behind the bus, but beside the bus.
Reason? A cow was darting across the road at full speed bang in front of the bus . Now it reached the left lane where the Fiesta and the bike were on. The sedan slammed the brakes in time, but the biker could not stop. He banged the sedan and fell to his right with half his body in our front left tyre's path. Aviorp reacted brilliantly and swerved to the right just enough to avoid him (luckily no one was adjacent to our car). Our hearts missed more than a beat and when I checked behind, the Fiesta did not even stop even though he had a broken rear bumper and the biker was down flat. I am sure he survived albeit with some broken bones.

Lesson? Be even more careful and expect even more extraordinary things on our roads to happen. Just never say I am careful enough!

[paragsachania]

That was super close!!

The way bus swerved perhaps was the first hint to anyone tailing to be ready to act, swiftly and you did that. As you said, it is the driving experience and nothing else. And driving experience also tells you how you mostly are oblivious to all the talks going inside your car while you are paying full attention to what is happening ahead. This is one thing a good driver always does - No matter how important the topic of discussion is, you would mostly hear it in bits and pieces only because your focus is on something else which is more important.

I recollect one such incident, while bypassing Tumkur around 2AM towards Bangalore when I saw a fully loaded truck swerve so quickly to shift to another lane, only to see a human being lying on the lane (probably dead!). That was the most quickest and scariest maneuver I had ever seen by a monstrous truck that for a moment it felt like it would topple. If that truck had passed over that body, the driver would have been as easy 'Victim' that fateful night for running over.

[Lobogris]

Great reflexes and good defensive driving habits.

This highlights the very dangerous practice of buses being driven with doors open or even worse, people hanging from the doors. I don't know why the basic safety rule of not allowing anyone to board or disembark except at designated bus stops is not enforced? Driving a bus should be treated as a proper profession with the driver valuing his license. This license should be taken away for endangering passenger safety by driving rashly, having a door open while moving or for stopping in the middle of the road.