[rahul_intlad]

Sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident .Thank god everyones safe.

[hydrashok]

Novice, its a pity you had to go through all this for no fault of yours. I'm really sorry to hear about the car and I can't imagine how bad your parents must have felt the whole day. And I can't imagine having to shell out 30K to fix my car for no mistake of mine. You must be feeling really bad at the unfairness of it all.

The only bright side to it is that thankfully the biker didn't suffer any major injury. And the cops or the mob didn't harm you and your family, or give you the run-around.

Unless the roads and the general of education (and so the attitude) of people improve, all we can do is drive safely and keep our eyes peeled for trouble. (And keep our cars insured.)

[novice]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

I can't imagine how bad your parents must have felt the whole day. And I can't imagine having to shell out 30K to fix my car for no mistake of mine. You must be feeling really bad at the unfairness of it all.

Thank you all for the concern you showed.

Yeah, this incident cost me almost 40K considering the amount I paid to that guy and the insurance implications during next renewal. I stand to lose the no claim bonus and face some additional loading. It hurts a lot but can't help.

But for me the biggest fallout of this accident is something different. I often do long distance travels and prefer to drive down, I love long drives. My family members always against this, they plead with me not to travel by car whenever I plan a long trip. I can no longer ignore their pleas.

[quadra]

Sorry to hear about this incident novice but to good to know that you & your family members are safe.

..& i was thinking of doing bangalore - chennai soon on my bike

[Ram]

Dear novice:

It's very unfortunate that you had to go through this episode. By God's grace both you and the motorcyclist came out safe.

@speedzak's advice about "good margin for any sort of errors", is spot-on!

Due to our human failings, attention-drift, etc., on the road, we need a minimum reaction time of 3 seconds.

The DMV California driver's guide says, “Most rear end accidents are caused by tailgating.
To avoid tailgating, use the “three-second rule.” When the vehicle ahead of you passes a certain point such as a sign, count “one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three.”

This takes about three seconds. If you pass the same point before you finish counting, you are following too closely.”

At 110 km/h, the car is covering over 100 ft per second. The three second buffer ensures that if the guy in front performs an insensitive manoeuvre in front of us, we have 3 seconds and 300 ft. to stop the car.

We should educate ourselves and our near and dear team-BHPians, friends and juniors to maintain that three-second distance.
This is from 5 months ago.

I know it sounds like overkill, but only to people who have never suffered a serious accident.

Ram

[madhav]

why can't we change this stupid rule "big vehicle always at fault"? There needs to a revamp of our traffic rules and regulations. If it was the bikers mistake then he should be charged. It is really unfair and these rules make no sense today.

[Jr Godzilla]

""The stretch between Krishnagiri and Vellore is infested with stupid two-wheeler riders. I drive down to Chennai often, at least 3 to 4 times a month. Yes I drive fast but extremely careful. I had close calls involving bikers almost every singe trip and this time I was just unlucky. My advice to all users of Chennai – Bangalore GQ highway,""

But when you know the stretch it amazes me to know you were doing 110kmph wherein reflexes of normal humans will surely not be as quick as things / obstacles coming all of sudden. The mistake can be by either party but its always better not to end up in such unfortunate incidents, i can imagine the sound of dragging metal under the car for 20 meters and your parents fright. take care buddy and its always best to be in control of such UTO (unidentified travelling objects)

[satish_appasani]

novice, it's very sad about your accident. These new generation roads are not any safer and i believe they are more dangerous. You are luckier that not another *** just slipped through the gap in the median and driving in the opposite direction towards you (not unusual on GQ).

Make it a point to blow the horn whenever you are overtaking another vehicle eventhough you are in a different lane. Two wheelers are very unpredictable and it is quite rare you see a two wheeler with RVM. Blowing horn sounds mad on highways but indians are light years behind what is called "driving by book".

[Rocky_Balboa]

Everyone said it, and i do as well, i accept that most two-wheel riders are insane. You could easily spot ppl driving in the opposite lane, and that too on the fast lane...

But i wudnt say only motorcyclists are insane, yesterday on my ride from chennai to blore on my karizma i happened to notice 3 drivers - 1 on a sonata, 1 on a cielo and 1 on a mahindra driving like crazy and overtaking people from left, even when theres traffic blocked in one lane. And ofcourse sane car drivers like the uncle i saw in a zen doing 100+ speeds but still giving way for a karizma, like the gents on the cielo realising my karizma can have enough space and giving way. If You were one of them accept my sincere thanks.

As of yesterday, i noticed that motorcyclists are crazy in city and towns and cars insane in highways. Never know what would happen if motorcycles become powerful enough to reach speeds in excess of 130+.

[benbsb29]

@novice : Sad to hear about ur accident, and the damage to ur car. It was really God's grace that nothing major happened to the 2 wheeler rider, else the scenario cud have been VERY different. Also, the effect that could have had on ur conscience would be totalling.

Between, was the moron sensible enough to have been wearing a helmet?
Atleast the next time he decides to ride thinking it was his own private road, he would think twice, maybe much more.

[Wheeliej]

Sorry to hear about the mishap and happy to hear that there were no passenger injuries except for the idiot motorbike driver.

[oldmobile]

Sorry to read about your experience and that too when traveling with parents.

I have traveled on this route about 8 times in the past few months in my Innova. I have started no earlier that 6 am and no later than 5 pm, mostly on weekends. Most of the time there is no one on the road. I am quite surprised.

Here are some of the observations, which may be useful to drivers who haven't traveled on this highway:
1) Every few kilometers, there is a village and people are crossing the roads
2) There are very few straight stretches of road. Lots of curves.
3) Whenever you are driving thru a village, watch out for autos, motorcycles and trucks coming in the wrong direction. The trucks will even flash their headlights. Many time I have seen trucks in the wrong direction within a kilometer of a toll booth.
4) On one occasion, a few cows were let loose on the highway and luckily there was enough time to slow down
5) Expect oncoming traffic when you are near or on a bridge.
6) The lanes are quite narrow. If a truck sees a cyclist or twowheeler the truck swerves immediately to the right even though the twowheeler is in his own mini-lane. I think that overtaking trucks is the most dangerous part in the journey especially if you are driving a van or suv. You have to honk and also look at the driver's hand.
7) Use high-beams at night and use speeds at least 20kmh less than your day time speeds. There are many trucks with no lights or reflectors and you don't see them until you are very close. You will see some trucks with bright triangular lights (or reflectors). I wish all trucks had them.
8) If you are on the right lane behind a truck and you cannot see anything but the truck, and if you see the truck swerve to the left, you also swerve and stay behind the truck. There is typically a good reason that the truck swerved --- most likey traffic coming in the wrong lane. This happened to me once.
9) A small stretch of the highway near Poonamalee doesn't have road lane markings yet. Makes driving this section at night a little difficult.

[vichu_zen]

Really sad to hear about the accident, Novice. Nomatter what leads to an accident the one who gets blamed is the person behind tho bigger set of wheels. Glad to hear that u and ur arents are o.k. especially mom coz' she may be the one who really gets scared. after all we will be the most depressed if something happens to parents. rite???
vichu

[MaserQ]

Damn sorry to hear about the unfortunate incident. Hope you, your folks and the car are recovering well.

why can't we change this stupid rule "big vehicle always at fault"? There needs to a revamp of our traffic rules and regulations. If it was the bikers mistake then he should be charged. It is really unfair and these rules make no sense today.

It is a funny situation. The country is slowly getting the sort of roads it deserves, but we havent fixed everything else around it. Cattle, jaywalkers, bullock carts, cyclists and even stupid motorists make our roads a serial killer.

And yes, the archaic traffic laws simply have to go. Imagine a fatal situation where a senseless motorist/pedestrian jumps into your path, you pay for his mistake by either:

1. Paying a hefty sum as settlement.
2. Pay the cops an even bigger sum to cover up. (for no fault of yours)
3. End up with a court case that drags on for years.

When o when are these 18th century laws going to be scrapped and will common sense ever prevail...?!