[Gannu_1]

Incredible save and presence of mind Samu-san!

That guy must be thanking his lucky stars to have been alive. Sheer luck!

Plus, love the fact that the dashcam is always ON in your ride. I turn on mine only for the long commutes. Looks like turning it on during these daily rides might be helpful. I'll do that.

[Thermodynamics]

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.

During my college days, just like every other youth, I used to board/alight a moving bus. It was fun, and also a necessary skill, because those days buses never stop at designated bus-stops. I had mastered it although I admit it is risky. But this guy as you rightly mentioned was facing back and jumping out like a paratrooper from airplane.

On a lighter note a comedy scene from a Tamil movie for not following safety rules

https://youtu.be/jGKN5rFlllE

[mpksuhas]

The very first time I viewed the video, I thought he fell down from the truck and bus took a sharp turn to avoid him.

One has to be stupid to jump out of a moving bus in middle of highway, for jumping backwards from a moving vehicle you need to be in another level.

That said, this video shows how our roads are not short of idiots.

Right lane hogging tanker truck, a lane cutting stunt driver driving a bus and an idiot jumping out of moving bus.

Glad that you didn't get in to trouble for no mistake of yours.

[silversteed]

The video shows why it's important to maintain a safe distance.

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Considering such issues, it is better not to stop. Even if we have dashcam evidence or not. It is not as if there is an accident victim that needs to be moved to hospital or anything that Samurai could have helped with. if anything was pending to be done, the part of the body that the guy fell on needs to be whacked a few times more
Maybe include the bus driver too.

^^^^^
This is Gold! Been there done that. The latest one, I had posted in one of the Route update threads.

[rav11stars]

Originally Posted by Samurai

1) An ingrained habit of maintaining correct distance from the vehicle in front, at any speed. That gave me enough room to take evasive action.
2) The training or muscle memory to brake and swerve left, in case of an obstacle in the front. There was simply no time to see both sides and pick the best option.

As you can see in the video, he landed in front of me at 0:03 second, and I had passed him at 0:04 second. I had no time to think.

Two things that I've observed:
1) For reasons either best known to him or he was verifying the principle of relative speed by getting down a speeding bus in the opposite direction, that kid just acted plain stupid. Thanks to you, he must've, hopefully, learnt a lesson or two.

2) You Sir, acted true to your handle. You acted like a 'Samurai' with those reflexes and saved him

[vsbabu]

BTW, this used to be a scam in crowded areas in Nilgiris. People will wait around and you will be driving at 10-20kmph and just step in front; no major injuries would've happened due to low speed. Immediately some good samaritans also show up and try to extract "treatment" cost from you. Especially if your registration number indicates out of state vehicle.

[drpavan]

Exactly the same has happened to me on the same road in the year 2008. I was a student in manipal from 2006-11. I used to drive a santro. Coming to the event which i encountered, it was a sunday on which me and my friends decided to go to adlabs (now changed) Bharat mall for watching a movie. We started from manipal at 10:00 a.m. The road then was in worst condition. Road widening works were going on. I was travelling in a decent pace. A vishal travels bus has overtaken me pushing me into the corner of the road. The driver made a sudden manuovre during which a person has fallen onto the road. I braked hard, turned the steering somehow managed not to hit the person.

It was a very scary experience for me. My santro didn't have ABS. Yokohama tires with 185/60/ r 13 helped to control the vehicle. Mangalore bus drivers are really scary. Even today I still wonder how an ashok leyland and tata buses run by private travels be that powerful.

[gk1234]

I’m so buying a dash cam now, no matter what. Phew.
And props to you for your clean driving skills. You have reiterated how important it is to maintain a safe distance between vehicles.

[lambuhere1]

Something not so similar faced at Metro Works

https://vimeo.com/293881959

[Mohan Mathew A]

That was a close one. The guy was very close to being a strong contender for this year's Darwin award.

Something similar had happened many years back in Mumbai. It was driving my Swift on the western express highway (Mumbai) north bound section after the Andheri flyover. It was around 2 or 3 in the afternoon and the roads were relatively empty (around 9 or 10 years back). I would have been doing about 80 to 100. There was a Honda City behind me. I was in the middle lane and the road curves slightly to the right. When i came around the corner i see a man and a woman on a scooter falling down and the woman rolling towards my car. I swerved hard to the right and by the grace of God missed her and thankfully there was no other vehicle in that lane. The driver of the Honda City behind me would have seen her only after i swerved. He braked hard and the car stopped inches away from her. The couple was relatively ok except for some cuts and bruises.
I still shudder when i think of it, swerving and hoping for the best was the only option i had

[Anand3553]

I can easily believe @Samurai taking effective evasive action presuming his driving experience and defensive driving. But what I cannot believe is that fact that the guy did not hit his head on the road . That too when he fell on his back.

That is one lucky chap. Kudos @Samurai, you saved a life.

[vsathyap]

Just following the 2 second rule would have prevented this for everyone -

A) The bus driver could have avoided that sudden swerve if he was not directly inhaling the truck's exhaust right in his nostrils. He could have continued in his lane and the poor fellow could have jumped off the bus like he originally intended to.

B) Thankfully, Samurai had the sense to follow the 2s rule and luckily missed the falling guy. Even if the guy hadnt fallen and had continued to get off the bus as per his original plan, Samurai was well in control (thanks to the 2s rule) to have avoided him and not make this a hot thread - it would have been just another day in the driver's seat for everyone

[ramji_or]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Right lane hogging tanker truck, a lane cutting stunt driver driving a bus and an idiot jumping out of moving bus.

That's quite a combination of idiots to test your driving skills. RTO's should include these type of situations in the driving test as well.

@Samurai, Great reflex! Glad you are safe from unnecessary hassles! But you had the chance of freeing the indian roads from one idiot atleast!

[silverado]

Well , that guy was lucky he fell in middle of 2 lanes, that allowed you space to move towards left.

Was it a case of that guy busy on his mobile while standing in bus door? If you pause at 0:07 i can see him holding mobile by his right hand.
I dont think he jumped out of the bus.

[GKR9900]

Shows just how unpredictable our roads can be. Your adherence to driving discipline and presence of mind really came in handy in this situation.

Something similar happened to me about 5-6 years back. My family and I were travelling on a 2 lane highway. The road was ok but there were occasional deep potholes scattered here and there. Me and my family were travelling in our Fiesta Classic. I was behind the wheel. As soon as traffic picked up speed, a guy and a girl on a Kinetic Honda whizzed past us. Both of them didnt have any helmets on.The guy was swerving the scooter violently trying to maneuver it around the potholes. It was making me nervous and I decided to leave a bit of space between us and them. Then it happened. The Kinetic fell in a massive pothole and the girl got tossed from the scooter onto the road, just in front of us. There was not enough time to react. I stomped on the brakes and tried to align the steering so that the girl would be in between the tires. Our Fiesta halted with a screech. An Octavia rear ended us. The girl was no where to be seen. I started thinking about the unthinkable. Did I run her over? Me and my family sat there in shock for a few seconds, until...a hand appeared in front of our car's bonnet, slowly pulling the rest of her body up. To our utter disbelief, the front bumper had just missed her forehead. We slowly shook out of it and got out of the car to check whether the girl was okay. She was alright, albeit shaken. Who wouldnt be? But the funny part was that the guy who rode the scooter didnt even realize that the girl had fallen until shouting bystanders indicated him. Talk about unfaltering attention while riding!

Seriously, a scene in many movies that we have watched in total amazement, but in real life, left us shaken and in disbelief!