[Captdey]

Two Days back on March 7th , A family of 3 comprised of A gentleman,
his wife and his son died on the spot in their Santro while negotiating
a suddenly appeard herds of cows on NH 2 near Singur . Though
not much details were available ,as per newpapers reports while
manuevering on high speed to avoid cows, he lost control and
went down under a stationary truck . the car has to be cut
in pieces before resucers could take out the dead bodies.

So mates be careful, these creatures are not so innocent as it
looks, reduced down to controlable speed as soon as you spot
them on the horizon, their movement is highly unpredictable and
they demand right of passage.

Chao

Mods note: Please provide newspaper link.

[Captdey]

[COLOR=#0000ff]News Cliiping -

Three of family killed in accident



TIMES NEWS NETWORK



Kolkata/Hooghly: Three members of a family were killed after their car rammed into a truck on Durgapur Expressway near Singur’s Ratanpur in Hooghly on Saturday afternoon. They were identified as Shyamal Bose (53), his wife Mahua (43) and their son Souvik (17) — residents of Dhakuria in South Kolkata.
The accident took place around 2.45 pm, when the family was on its way back home from Tarakeswar temple. Shyamal, a KMC officer, was driving the car. Souvik was on the front seat, beside his father, and Mahua was sitting behind. Shyamal suddenly lost control over the wheel and rammed the car into a cement-laden truck standing on one side of the highway.
Locals rushed to the spot immediately, but the doors of the badly mangled car were jammed. Finally, with the help of the police, they managed to cut the doors open. However, by then, no one was alive.
Locals later said a cow could have suddenly come in front of the car, leading Shyamal to lose control over the wheel. Serampore SDPO Kalyan Mukherjee reached the accident spot soon after. Initial examination has revealed that serious head injuries led to the deaths.
After police informed other family members of the Boses, Shyamal’s younger brother Chanchal rushed to the accident spot.
“For the last few weeks they were planning to visit Tarakeswar and finally got the chance after Souvik’s exam was over. They had left early in the morning and had told me that they would return well before evening,” said another of Shyamal’s brothers, Buddhadev. Souvik, a student of South Point school, had taken the Madhyamik exams this year.



Neighbours outside the Boses’ Dhakuria residence on Satu
[/COLOR]

[elfhelm]

Hi Capt.,

It really unfortunate to hear about people loosing their lives due to such a reason.

Infact during a drive from Bangalore to Mumbai last weekend down the NH4 (Golden Quadrilateral), even i'd faced a few harrowing moments because of vehicles suddenly appearing on the highway going the wrong way and random stray dogs.

Once I almost went off the road trying to avoid a car which was in turn trying very hard to avoid hitting a dog.

I dont know whether anyone is to blame for such incidents or the Highway Authorities themselves. Human lives in India are taken for granted.

[phamilyman]

Any info whether they had seatbelts on?

Animals are pretty unpredictable at times.

[maddy42]

Well dont ever trust your instincts when the cow is crossing the road. They can turn back any moment. Only way to be safe is slow down when u spot them

[shuvc]

That stretch generally has very good visibility. I've felt that the odd oncoming truck/tractor/cycles etc on the wrong side are a bigger threat there than the occasional cow/goat in that area.

Whatever it was must have come up suddenly. Sad.

[yogi1771]

My Father always says if you see a cow crossing a road slow down and pass it from behind cause usually they won't stop

was doing decent speeds on NH near salem, when i spotted a little goat crossing the road. after calculating the speeds of my car and the goat, i continued without lifting off the throttle or braking. the goat had almost gotten out of my path when the goat got spooked, then turned and ran back the way it came. I creamed it at a 100kmph. no time to brake or swerve
.
Didnt stop, or slow, just floored it and left. no damage was done to the car.
felt sick to my stomach.

moral of the story- dont be a smart a** like me and try to factor in an animals trajectory and speed into your calculations.
slow down!stop!
I've learnt my lesson.

[Mayavi]

I had similar incident with a small puppy here in US. Was doing 50 on a 45 mph road at 7 PM and suddenly this small puppy runs across the road. I was in center lane and had to swerved to left lane to avoid it and was successful. But animals, unlike humans, do not think logically when scared. If the dog continued to run straight and cross the road, it would have been safe. Instead, it stopped dead in tracks after I missed it, turned around and ran back from center lane to left lane to get back under my car again! I immediately realized that its gonna come under the wheels and swerved back to the center lane and completely came to a halt on the road stopping traffic behind me. There was no sign of dog and I was glad that I managed to miss it. Sighed relief and accelerated and after some distance looked in the rear view mirror to see a happy little pup squatting on the road. An instant later I realized it may not really be happy as it was yelping. Another instant later I realized that I was only seeing front half of the pup...

[DriverR]

Was travelling with my parents during one of dad's official tour. We were in two vehicles, Bolero and esteem. I was in the Bolero behind the Esteem, where my parents were, so I had a clear view of what happened. We were going at a fairly quick pace. While overtaking a bus, when out of nowhere a smallish goat bolted onto the road. The esteem had no time to swerve, and ran over the goat. The goat passed under the car and exited from the other end. It happened so fast that there was no time to even think. Do not know what happend to the goat, as we did not want to stop with villagers nearby, but it was intact physically with no visible blood, and was trying to move.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by Mayavi

But animals, unlike humans, do not think logically when scared.

Thats a good one.

Steer clear from all forms of every form to remain in form.

[humyum]

Had happened long long years back when i had a bull guard in my 800.We were at 100 kmph with dad at the wheel.A dog suddenly got onto the road.
No point making instant steering corrections as that could maybe would lead to a skid so dad just went straight into the dog.There was a big thud and the dog had hit the bull guard,and had taken a flight and passed over the car.
If my dad had freaked out it would have been disaster maybe.In such situations its always better to maintain our cool and cause animaly/carly damage then humanly damage.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by rippergeo

... I creamed it at a 100kmph. no time to brake or swerve .... no damage was done to the car.

Just curious...was this in the Swift or the Verna ?

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Just curious...was this in the Swift or the Verna ?

Yeah! I was surprised too. It was the Swift.
was worried about perforating the radiator(that has happened to me before)
thankfully nothing happened.

I think I hit it with the front left corner of the bumper, then it went under the left front wheel. the poor thing was'nt very big, must have weighed 4-5 kilos.

I should have written, no new damage. there is already an unsightly dent at that spot from one of my ill advised off roading trips with the swift.

[thangu]

I met with an accident involving a bovine creature 3 years back. I was returning home on a bike on the Old Mahabalipuran road at night around 10 at night when it happened. My helmet saved me from serious injuries, but I still do have some scars from that incident.

Animals + Roads = dangerous for humans.