[balan]

Hi
Saw this crazy accident at night 1030 near my guest house in Mudumalai

There was a small embankment around 5 feet away from the road after shoulder portion. A ford Ikon had taken a sudden left swerve, climbed the embankment around 4 to 5 feet high, smashed into a huge old tree and come to stop

I was the second person passing along and the first person who saw it was a auto driver who flagged me down, Called the 108 service ambulance and they were there in 20 mins. (The 108 operator assured me that my contact details wont be given out except to the ambulance driver to get directions)

The front driver thigh broken and big gash on the forehead
The left co passenger with minimal injury in forehead (After coming out he just sat on the ground dazed)
Rear right passenger dizzy with a swollen lip and drunk
Rear left passenger out flat lying on the rear seat which had come off (not sure of which Injury or drunk)

The rear right passenger was the first one to come out as I pulled open the door of the ford ikon. It required a effort as the doors had jammed.
Pulled open the front door and the thigh broken guy slid out of the car but would not sit inspite of our requests as his leg was paining like hell.

Finally the rear right guy came to some sense ( he was in a drunken shock) and gave his parents number in bangalore who in turn gave the elder brother's number in chennai. By that time quite a few vehicles had stopped and all were trying to help out by giving water and stuff.
Mean while the rear right guy was taking turns talking on my phone to his brother and shouting at the front co passenger in malayalam. From what I could understand, he was shouting why did you pull the steering to left?
That guy wouldnt let go off my mobile and started crying to his brother that he is scared and wouldnt get into thee ambulance. 2 ambulances came one from fire service and another from 108. The fire guys took the driver in a stretcher (yelling in pain)

Usually I am not affected by accidents but being so close to it sort of sobered me and hence have been trying to maintain decent speeds and not very high speeds on the highway.

[aaggoswami]

1) Do you mean that the front co passenger was drunk and he pulled the steering wheel ? If yes, then I really wonder how much worse could have happened if the car went into a parked HCV or with head on collision with a truck if the steering wheel was turned right.

2) Was the driver drunk too ?

3) I think that cars must have sensors which when detect passengers being drunk, etc., then the car wont start. Even if any one person is drunk the car cannot start. At least this is applicable for private passenger cars. Then they will be forced to use cabs.

4) Any passenger in a car who is heavily drunk can create chaos in car. This breaks the concentration of driver. So when any person is heavily drunk and you have to travel, travel by cab and spend more money rather than ending up with more serious consequences.

[arin_12]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

3) I think that cars must have sensors which when detect passengers being drunk, etc., then the car wont start. Even if any one person is drunk the car cannot start. At least this is applicable for private passenger cars. Then they will be forced to use cabs.

I dont think so that Car company will introduce such Safety in the car. Else they will land up with Zero sales in no. No one will buy

Any how its a Crazy reason to meet up the accident.

[Ketan]

Hi Bala, is that the jungle hut you are talking about? Is that the way from Bandipur to Gudalur or towards Masinagudi! Good this did not happen while they were driving ghats towards Ooty.

[JayD]

Man! I still cannot imagine how that ikon reached way up there!!

[Nitin]

Tough luck! Atleast all of them came out live. Also,if for any reason the car had gone a bit into the woods,no one would have seen the car from the road.Being a black color car and pitch dark outside,not a soul could have guessed that a car went off the road.

[akas_chauhan]

Whose mistake it is, but those guys learnt lesson in a hard way. It's ggod to know you helped them in the time of need.

[rkbharat]

bad that they learned it hard way. but that was destined to happen one day, for these drunkards. I am happy that they did not hurt any innocent during this

BTW Balan, guess you have a guest house at really nice location

[muralisk]

All this boils down to responsibility. One has to be highly responsible when we drive on roads.

In this case, they all had escaped with injuries and they are fully responsible for this. However, am glad that they did not harm any other due to their irresponsible behavior.

[beejay]

Its unfortunate this has happened, a sheer act of stupidity by the passenger, had he done it.
I have seen quite a number of accidents on this road too especially since the roads are laid new and are fun to drive. The 108 service is definitely a godsend and considering the location, its nice to know they reached in 20 minutes.
Curious, where do they park in Gudalur?

[laluks]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

3) I think that cars must have sensors which when detect passengers being drunk, etc., then the car wont start. Even if any one person is drunk the car cannot start. At least this is applicable for private passenger cars. Then they will be forced to use cabs.

.

Originally Posted by arin_12

I dont think so that Car company will introduce such Safety in the car. Else they will land up with Zero sales in no. No one will buy

.

Nissan has it. They are the first to introduce this.
Some bits are like this - perspiration from the hand on the steering / gear lever is used to detect alcohol content and if detected the car goes to limp mode.
Second - continuous iris scanning is done to see the unusual eye lids movements that can be inferred to drunken state.
Further - some even have the keys check the perspiration and would not let you open the car.

Some more were there - I forgot. If I get the details in full i'll put it up here soon.

In a nutshell such things exist

[prince_pervez]

It is quite possible that the passenger did not judge the driver's actions and tried to make a correction. As we all know night driving can be deceptive. He must have thought something from the opposite side is coming right at the car. I know an instance and I have written about it here, about a girl who got scared and pulled the handbrake at 120 kmph. That car was an Ikon too. Pure coincidence.

[shajufx]

Reminds me of a situation that happend in 2007 while I was driving to Kerala. I had my family and my cousine's friend (student of Narayana Hrudayala) who came with us to change hands at the steering wheel. We were at a less crowded junction somewhere before Salem, I had to pass through the right side of the road due to a heavy truck parked at the junction (wrong parking). A cyclist came to the road from nowhere, immediately my co-passenger extended both his hands to my steering wheel with the intention of swerving it to the left. I knew what he was trying to do, somehow I raised my left hand and stopped him from touching the wheel and drove ahead passing the cylist without any issue. All happened within 3 or 4 seconds.

Later I was scolding him for doing that. He thought I didnt see the cyclist. I am sure the car would have swerved to the left very badly either losing complete control or causing an accident without any reason.

The co passenger reaction usually happen when he is not very confident of the driver. It can also happen when he thinks the driver has not noticed something on the road. If he doesnt know driving, you may not have any disturbance. If he knows driving and is totally drunk, GOD SAVE THE CAR !

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by shajufx

The co passenger reaction usually happen when he is not very confident of the driver. It can also happen when he thinks the driver has not noticed something on the road. If he doesnt know driving, you may not have any disturbance. If he knows driving and is totally drunk, GOD SAVE THE CAR !

Couldn't have it put it better!
A relative of mine says: Two drivers should never sit in front.
I found out the hard way when we were driving at night.
I was in the passengers seat gripping the handle near the roof and kicking non existing brakes at the front.
Needless to say I had a sleepless night.

[kannan666]

Very lucky that the mishap did not cause any life casualities, to themselves as well as others ! Going a little OT here, I too am a very bad co-passenger when I sit upfront, almost punch new holes through the floorboards !