[Surprise]

Last month, I took NH45 for one of my trip to southern part of TN. I was in the speeds ranging around 100-120 kmph depending on the traffic conditions.

I could see in my rear view mirror a gold color hatchback quickly bridging the gap, while I was doing somewhere around 120 kmph. He easily went past me & definitely should be doing speeds slightly in excess of 140 kmph. I always wonder, how people manage those speeds confidently, esp after reading on inadequate sizes of stock tyres here in this forum. Quickly that car went out of my sight.

As I moved forward enjoying the good surface, all of sudden an Indica got into the highway climbing a slope from side road. He slowly, very slowly, got into the center line on the road. I really do not had a clue on whether he wanted to move to the divider side or will take the left side of the road.

Meanwhile, I slowed down a bit wondering which way he will move with my upgraded HORN working continuously. Looked like he will take the LHS of the road, hence steered the car towards the divider side.

To my shock, he decided to move to the divider side & there is no way I could stop my car without hitting him. Probably upon hearing my horn, he could have realized playing around the highway & take decided to move to one side. Unfortunately he decides to move towards the divider.

I braked heavily & steered my car closer to the road divider as much as possible with horn at full blast. Realizing the situation, the Indica driver atlast stopped moving towards right & I managed to insert my car just inbetween the road divider & Indica. Though not clear, it looked like the Indica driver is talking on his cellphone.

Before I took a easy breath, a heavy bang on my rear. I moved safely to the side of the road & found that gold color i10 has hit my car from rear . Luckily there is no damage to any humans.

I read a lot about engine braking & did that couple of times, but not in REAL emergency situations. When every inch of stoppage really mattered, engine braking never occurred to me.

Since I slowed down to great extent, even if I had hit that car, the damage would be restricted only to cars, worst case minimum damages to humans. Luckily I was not in very high speeds.

[nfsfreak]

That sure one hell-of-an-incident. Glad to know that all are safe!!!
Hope the damage to the ride is minimum.

With most of the highways becoming 4 laned, its time that govt. should take some serious steps to educate lane discipline to people !!!
The Highways accidents count is getting increased every day, most of them fatal.

[honeybee]

First you said the gold i10 had overtaken you and then you say it hit you from the rear? How was that, again?

Engine braking will only be useful when you have enough time and distance to lose speed. In an emergency, jam the brakes.

Mind you, I have had to lose speed very fast and I have usually applied the brakes and simultaneously downshifted, sometimes from 5th to 3rd, to use both engine braking and normal braking. But again, I won't exactly call those situations an emergency. I usually drive with one hand on the gear lever and so I have got into a habit of downshifting quickly along with braking. But if I had to stop my vehicle immediately, I would jam the brakes.

Now, jamming the brakes isn't the safest thing to do if you are doing > 100kmph and without ABS. Which is why you should be obeying the speed limit.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by honeybee

First you said the gold i10 had overtaken you and then you say it hit you from the rear? How was that, again?.

Bugs me too.

When the Indica started steering to the right, why didn't you steer to left (& safety)?

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by honeybee

First you said the gold i10 had overtaken you and then you say it hit you from the rear? How was that, again?

Iam sure I have not overtaken it. Then the only possibility is i10 taking a break somewhere during which I went ahead of it.

I always prefer to take minimal breaks & maintain a constant speed so that one can cover a lot of ground quickly. Frequent stops consumes lots of time & to make it up, one has to rush through.

Originally Posted by Sheel

Bugs me too.

When the Indica started steering to the right, why didn't you steer to left (& safety)?

Remember with every moment, I was closing in on the gap. I do not have confidence to give such sudden variation/correction to the steering. On top of it, being a highway, we do not know which vehicle would pass on the left side to avoid this mess at high speed. Good that I have not even attempted it as getting in to their lanes might be even more disaster.

Also please share your experiences, if any.

[dhanushs]

Well, I've had to brake hard many a time. Reasons differ from cows, cars, bikers etc.. and the practice I follow is try max to not let the tyre run out of traction. This helps you steer till the last moment.

The trick is to not slam the pedals, but apply enough force so that the tyre doesnt skid, but vehicle decelerates fast enough. If the tyre starts skidding, then for a split second, release the pressure, steer to required direction, and brake again.

Well, this takes a lot of practice, presence of mind and 'knowing' exactly how your car will respond. ie, I may not be able to do this in a car I drive for the 1st time.

In your situation, ie, if I ever see an unsure driver on the highway, I try to keep max distance from him. ie, I would really slow down and let him choose his best lane, and then pass.

and yes.. Its good that you decided not to change to a blind lane.

[Arkin evoisrevo]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Bugs me too.

When the Indica started steering to the right, why didn't you steer to left (& safety)?

Well, assuming surprise was steering from the centre lane steadily into the right lane, turning left wouldn't be a viable option for him, as that could cause the car to skid spin and make a 360* turn or something of that sort

[Sheel]

When the Indica started to climb on the road, you should have slowed down as much as you could.

There are two things you must take note while driving. I benefited a lot by riding & reading about riding.
Those two things are peripheral vision and target-fixation.

YouTube - Target Fixation

YouTube - Lesson in Target Fixation

YouTube - Peripheral Vision!

YouTube - Peripheral Vision

You may scour the net for information regarding this.

I always, drive/ride at the center of the road so that I can move to a safer zone which may either fall on the right or left. Prior to heading, I glance at my RVM's and may crane my neck a bit. Hard to do so in a panic situation? Yes, but if you start practicing your braking and make it your muscle memory, you won't have much problem.

Logging in as many miles as you can helps.

I am no good in explaining things the way I wish to, but tried all I could, hope it helped

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Though not clear, it looked like the Indica driver is talking on his cellphone.

It is irritating how people are careless on the road, leave alone on the highway.

I have been at the receiving end of an emergency braking. This happened when I was a kid. We had gone for a road trip in our 800. During those days, 45 km/hr was my dad's comfortable speed so we were cruising at that on a SH. I was in the rear seat and at one occassion, I happened to turn towards the hatch to collect something and in the process was balancing my knees on the seat. Just then, this stupid girl (must be around 10 years) came in the middle of the road very suddenly (apparently, her chappal has slipped off). Dad braked with all he had and in the process I flipped and landed my nose straight on the hand brake.

So, the girl gave us an experience of how emergency braking worked and I got myself a DNS (Deviated Nasal Septum).

[haria]

Some queries regarding emergency braking..


What exactly is engine braking ? Am I correct in understanding that engine braking is dropping to a lower gear and allow the engine to break the momentum ?

How effective is this in emergency situations ? What about damages to the engine ?

Also, should one use handbrake for emergency stopping ? anything to keep in mind with respect to this ?

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by haria

What exactly is engine braking ? Am I correct in understanding that engine braking is dropping to a lower gear and allow the engine to break the momentum ?

I am still trying to learn the ropes in a Car, but in a Motorcycle, come any situation, I blip and go down the 'box braking HARD simultaneously.

I too have queried blokes regarding this, but yet to get a reply.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techn...ml#post2167940 (How to change gears)

How effective is this in emergency situations ? What about damages to the engine ?

It is effective & reduces your stopping distance in a Motorcycle, I am sure in a Car too it would benefit braking a bit.

Also, should one use handbrake for emergency stopping ? anything to keep in mind with respect to this ?

No idea.

I once drove a M-800 with almost close to no braking and it was the hand-brakes which did the job (the distances are lengthy, but you have to take margin). Don't try hand-braking on a turn or you may coupled with opposite-lock.

[GearOn]

Even i had a case of emergency braking few days back. Pune-Mumbai Expressway had just finished and was doing around 80km/hr in first lane as its four lane highway. Suddenly through the bushes a biker who was climbing the divider, accelerated a little more and came straight in my path. Applied the brakes and at same time switched lane to avoid hitting him. Later i got back in my lane. Luckily as speed was not high so could safely avoid him.

Just a question for experts. I had switched lanes while avoiding him without checking my RVM. Luckily there was no one in that lane. So what would be right procedure in such a case, stay in same lane and slam brakes or switch the lane and hope the car behind you notices.

[nfsfreak]

If the distance of impact is minimum and you instantly know that you cant stop the car without hitting, just switch the lane with indicator and leave the rest to Almighty. Nothing else you can do!!!

I also have watched lot of morons, trying to climb a divider in their bikes, waiting to get into roads and that too in turns!!! Really scary.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by haria

What exactly is engine braking ? Am I correct in understanding that engine braking is dropping to a lower gear and allow the engine to break the momentum ?

Correct.

Originally Posted by haria

How effective is this in emergency situations ?

Engine braking considerably increases the stopping power, when coupled with normal braking. In any situation.

Originally Posted by haria

What about damages to the engine ?

No damage to the engine. Its just like you are revving high!. Engine braking can sometimes be fun.

Originally Posted by haria

Also, should one use handbrake for emergency stopping ? anything to keep in mind with respect to this ?

I wouldn't recommend using handbrakes.

[StarrySky]

This happened about 2 weeks back. My BIL was in his car, he had a bike in front and an auto behind. The bike braked suddenly to avoid a pothole, my BIL braked hard and stopped without hitting the bike. The auto guy was probably distracted for a second, didn't brake (or braked too late) and BANG!! Luckily, no one was hurt. Total damages - 36K.