[adisan]

Originally Posted by ike

I was cruising down NH16 in Odisha on my way to Puri when a group of buffaloes decided to come on to the road out of nowhere.

Good that you and family are safe.

A couple of queries:
1. Was there a person herding the buffaloes when they wandered into your path?
2. If you don't mind sharing, how much did you pay the villagers?

[ike]

Originally Posted by adisan

Good that you and family are safe.

A couple of queries:
1. Was there a person herding the buffaloes when they wandered into your path?
2. If you don;t mind sharing, how much did you pay the villagers?

1. Yes. He called people on his phone and a lot of people turned up within a short span of time. A young boy not more than 19 - 20 yrs old, very rude and abusive.
   
2. They asked for 75k, finally paid 25.

[Neversaygbye]

Originally Posted by ike

I was cruising down NH16 in Odisha on my way to Puri when a group of buffaloes decided to come on to the road out of nowhere (see the dashcam video).

I saw the video and the crash was horrific and I am glad that you and your family were unhurt. It could have been much worse - considering there was an entire herd out there you could have hit more than one buffalo, to begin with.

However, I don't think there is much you could have done in this case, that you didn't do already. Driving at 90 on an NH during the day is well within the speed limit for NHs although it is 80 (and in some stretches 70 and even 50) in most of NH-16 in Orissa. Plus many NHs have bushes of the type that can be seen here - many such bushes are there by design to ensure that oncoming high beam headlights don't blind a driver at night. While you probably could have reduced speed after seeing the cows on the road, maybe the cruise control had induced a certain amount of dissociation and you were more focused on the upcoming overtake.

Just chalk it up to bad luck and move on. I have had my share of hits on the highway - a dog, a goat and a buffalo come readily to mind but in all three cases I was lucky and got away lightly (all except the dog were glancing blows and at a low speed). Driving on the left or right lane didn't matter - the dog ran in front from the left, and the buffalo crossed the road from the divider on the right (similar to your case). The goat literally jumped on my car from the left while I was passing it (it hit the left passenger door!)

So if it is destined to happen, it will. A lower speed helps but does not guarantee that nothing will happen. Don't let this incident put you off road trips - these incidents don't happen every day and there's a low likelihood of it happening again.

Originally Posted by nerd1200

.

In a particular incident, similar to OP's, cattle was pushed onto the road deliberately. Luckily I was able to almost avoid it in time, but my ORVM was smashed nevertheless. It seems this is almost a practice to extort money from unsuspecting foreigners.

I had a similar experience on the Bankura-Purulia Highway in Bengal when a boy deliberately pushed a goat onto the path of my car. I was going at 70. The road was empty and I saw what he was trying to do and braked and swerved and avoided the goat. A few kms later saw another man waiting by the side of the road with another goat and right then knew that this was a racket. This time I slowed down well in advance and he understood I knew (our eyes met) and immediately lost interest in pushing the goat in front of my car. So there is a new thing to worry about now on our highways.

Originally Posted by silverado

Now the only thing which can possible save us from such incidents is to follow a fast moving truck closely. This way there is least possibility of animal straying in your path and truck drivers have much better visibility so they would be aware of cattle on such roads much before us.

If you are yourself driving a truck, then this might work - and even then its not recommended because following closely means that you are not keeping safe distance. If you are not driving a truck, what you are doing is creating a huge blind zone for yourself. A truck can run over potholes, speedbreakers and other obstructions that can destroy the suspension of your car. Not to mention that it can swerve suddenly to avoid an obstruction (including another vehicle) in front leaving you exposed to bang into that very obstruction since the response time available to you will be very low if you are following the truck closely

The better practice is to drive at a safe speed and identify another car in front driving at a similar speed and follow it at a distance. If it is a local car, then nothing like it as they will even know where the potholes and speedbreakers and other obstructions are on the route. On my recent trip to Vizag there was a local Brezza going at 90-100 in the AP stretch and I followed it at a safe distance all the way to Vizag. He must have been really bugged, but thanks to him I could go at a higher speed, and got advance intimation of obstructions ahead (thanks to his brake lights). I ensured that I had sufficient stopping distance and also kept an eye on other traffic and the roadside while following him. I have seen people do that with my car as the lead car as well. But doing this with a truck in place of a car is not a great idea at all.

[AirbusCapt]

Very sorry to see your accident. Good to see the car hold up so well. One small suggestion from my end, just before your crash I spotted a couple of cows ambling along in the fast lane. Always take it as an indication that some moron farmer would be grazing his flock on the median or nearby. Slow down, honk liberally and stick to the middle lane.

[venbas]

Thankfully everyone in the family are safe. Entire stretches of national highway in that area is notorious for cattle menace. The arrival of those uninvited guestt 5-10s before the accident is a big red flag to slow down and move to centre or left portion of the road

[ike]

Update:

Maruti has taken cognizance of this thread and the Regional management is in touch with me. The Quality manager from Popular Nexa in Porur inspected the vehicle and they have collected the car today evening. They will provide a loaner car as well.

[BoneCollector]

Originally Posted by ike

Update:

Maruti has taken cognizance of this thread and the Regional management is in touch with me. The Quality manager from Popular Nexa in Porur inspected the vehicle and they have collected the car today evening. They will provide a loaner car as well.

Wow.

One of the reasons why many people still prefer a Maruti. To get things done, a correct escalation through proper channels is required and sometimes, TeamBHP does that.

[ike]

Final Update

The Nexa team in Chennai (Popular Nexa) took the vehicle in on the 1st of March to rectify the issues. The car was delivered today with all the work satisfactorily completed.

• They have repainted the fender & the hood where the earlier team in Bhubaneshwar had done a shoddy job. All the paint spots are now gone, the finish is as expected.
• The overspray in the roof has been cleared using a cutting compound and polished. It now feels smooth to touch & the shade is even. This seems to have been caused because nobody bothered to put a piece of paper to cover the roof when the sides were being painted.
• I have been given a new Jack, the Styrofoam case that holds it within the spare wheel has been ordered and will be delivered in a few days.
• New horn has been installed.

I wish to thank the team in Popular Nexa, the GM Mr. Johny, Quality manager Navin & Anoop from the body shop. That aside, my faith in Maruti is reinforced, all the officials involved right from Shubashish & Sunny Walia from the Odisha region to Marimuthu & Akhilesh of the TN & PY region were all very patient with me and were striving for a solution.

People make mistakes, but what really matters is how well they turn around and rectify it. In this case the way Maruti responded has been exceptional. It's very good to know that Maruti runs a tight ship and has good control over their dealers.

But for this forum, the outcome would have been very different. More power to us, thanks to all the members who helped with their contacts at Maruti.

There is a lot of room for improvement in QC procedures and attitude at Narayani motors in Bhubaneshwar, I wholeheartedly hope that they learn from their experiences.

[ramjiramu]

Originally Posted by AirbusCapt

just before your crash I spotted a couple of cows ambling along in the fast lane.

So true, highway's sometimes gives us hints like this beforehand. It was really unfortunate incident and good to see everyone was safe.

But, its best to slow down and watchful in cases where we spot things like, broken median for 2 wheelers or tractors, thick bushes on median, farm related debris on roads, jaywalkers, animals on median etc.

[samee_arian]

It must have been a harrowing experience. Good heavens there was just damage to your car and none of you or your family members sustained any injuries. While the mob behavior is definitely something that is acceptable, we have to appreciate that for villagers their livestock is their wealth and may be only source of livelihood. Been following elections in UP and most of the people have raised concerns about livestock let loose by the owners once they have outlived their utility due to cow slaughter laws and I can only imagine how back the situation will be for motorist, especially for the ones passing through the states on long tours.

I hope your plan finally materialized and you were able to visit Puri and take blessings of Lord Jagannath.

Wishing you many more miles and looking forward to reading about more of these travels.

[doctor_roy]

I would say, "Been there done that"
I think the whole of Odisha is too full of buffaloes strolling along casually on the highways, so it is never advisable to cross 80kmph in the highways there.

As for my incident, I was returning from puri to bhubaneswar in a zoomcar, and it was evening with very less sunlight, and the car headlights were useless. I was going at around 60kmph (thank god for that! )
Out comes a buffalo out of nowhere, I hit the brakes and swerved instantly, but it still hit the animal. The animal did not die i guess, it was trying to stand up as last seen by me.
I slowed down a little, but as I saw villagers swarming in from all sides, I hit the pedal to the metal and did not stop till I reached Bhubaneswar. And I'm thankful I did that, after what happened to you.

As to the car damage, it was just a small dent which thanks to Maruti s amazing build quality, was corrected with a little handiwork. I must add the impact was not full frontal but in the fenders due to my swerving, and also at much less speed.

After that incident whenever I drive in Odisha, I'm very mindful of surroundings, and never cross 80.

All the best and get back in the seat soon

[ksakotai]

Sorry that you had to endure this pain. I feel your situation as a few years ago my wife too hit a buffalo on an empty road with our Qualis in Hyd. It died on the spot. I am unclear why it happened, but be that as it may, I did not probe much. I got a panic call after which I rushed to the spot and saw about 20 people surrounding the car. Luckily the owner was a nice guy and realized he too was to blame for letting his buffalo roam around in the middle of the road. Before I reached I called the police so that mob did not get unruly - they were already there when I arrived.

At the police station we bargained about compensation and settled for 50k. The police too asked for 25k for "managing" the situation but settled for 5k.

All in all situation could have gotten bad, but money talked loudly. Qualis had major damage to the front and had complete overhaul.

As I told my wife later on the best is "Defensive Driving" in India.

[McLaren Rulez]

Originally Posted by samee_arian

we have to appreciate that for villagers their livestock is their wealth and may be only source of livelihood.

Perhaps then they could take better care of their livestock by not taking them into the middle of a highway and then pretending to be surprised when a vehicle hits them!

They're not idiots, they're just banking on the fact that this will happen and the hapless motorist has to pay up.

[RaviKBobba]

Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez

They're not idiots, they're just banking on the fact that this will happen and the hapless motorist has to pay up.

True that. They are trying to loot gullible motorists They do not have any Ethics or regards for life of those animals.

[Debasish M]

Came here looking for a response to leaky radiator cures for a Scross to see a lot of gaslighting all around!
As someone who has done more than 3 lakh kms across all sorts of roads in India, heres my tuppence added to the melee. Odishas roads are amongst the very best in the country. Karnataka may be better and parts of Gujarat. Cattle on roads is rare in Odisha but can happen. Defensive driving is the order of the day across India and even more, when speed cameras have sprouted like bunny rabbits on a reproductive spree!

The patch of road referred to is rather less populated with maybe a dhaba or 2 and occasional exits towards villages and is concrete. Used to be ever so smooth earlier, but even now promise a 30 km patch of near melancholy (almost) cruising! Proper solid dividers, 2 lanes on either side and excellent race track like feel.

But to have a cattle appear and slamdunk into your car, implies that you likely had lost concentration...as is quite likely. Odisha is one of the more peaceful states, but people will extract money if they see the opportunity! The buffalo costs about 30-50k per head, so you got off OK I would say.

Beyond that I see most of the things that happened are par for the course. Hope life is back to normal now