[humyum]

A Trip to Goa was planned since sometime but then Goa seemed too far to go for 2 days stay so that planned was cancelled and mahabaleshwar was decided.

We left from ghatkopar at 6 o clock in the morning with my 2 friends,me and my 800.It was raining cats and dogs then and had rained heavily the previous night too.Ghatkopar was waterlogged and water had already entered the car in some of the waterlogged passes.

The Road to the highway passes through govandi which was flooded too but doable. Got onto the highway and the route of panvel-pen-mahad-poladpur-mahabaleshwar was decided as the scenery there is amazing. Stopped at dutt vada pavs in panvel and had some tasty vada pavs and started on the goa road at 7.

It was still raining heavily and visiblity was about 30% to 40% so had to cruise at 60s and 70s. After driving around 70 km and taking a left turn after PEN the rains became even heavier and there were 3 lorries goin in a line at around 40 kmph.Since following them meant getting the water spalshed continiously on my windscreen and even at max speed of the wiper with the amount of rain coming + the water from the trucks it was impossible to see anything so i had to overtake them.

Was overtaking them at 60s when i saw a truck overtaking another truck at a far away distance.I overtook these lorries and got back in my line.This overtaking lorry guy was still overtaking but he was still away at a safe distance from me.I dropped the accelerator so that i could decrease speed to maintain an even greater safe distance.

This guy kept coming comin comin and i saw that the other lorry guy was already overtaken but this guy was still not moving in his lane.I brake and stop the car and the lorries i had overtaken stop behind me. I flash my headlights and keep blaring my 3 pipe pressure horn which is very very loud.He was still coming with no sign of moving back in his lane.

Put the car in reverse and is instantly met with a 'WHAT' reaction from my friends'.Wait for a last second to see if he moves as my wrong calculation can kill all of us and as expected he does not.I have already turned the steering in the left side by now and i dump the clutch.The left side of the hachdoor scrapes a little against the truck standing behind but we are on the right side of the road now and this truck crashes headon in the truck that behind me.

He must be at around 50 kmph.A loud thud bang bhoosshh whisshh sound is heard.We are scared out of our wits.We would have been sandwiched between 2 trucks and certainly faced death but we are just plain lucky.Looking at the trucks does not look like the drivers would have been killed but u never know.Sorry guys no pics it was raining cats and dogs and did not want to risk my phone and all thsi happened in like say 7 to 8 seconds.We would have been killed if we would have reacted even a second late as everyone knows how safe an 800 is.

Get back in the car and proceed..
Around 40 km before mahad the highway is flooded and villages have been submereged in water.Watch A sumo guy gun it on the flooded highway and water level i guessed would be till half or maybe a little above my tyre.Wait for him to reach the other end so that i can proceed.1st gear gather some momentum with the pedal to the metal and instantly the exhaust note changes as the car enters the water and water starts filling inside the car and is filled till the lower end of the gearlever but we manage to get out.Stop the car and drain all the water out.I must say the 800 is truly an ATV

The roads ahead are not so flooded and easily manage to get through and reach mahabaleshwar at 12. Khaana is done and then get back into the hotel room and its ni ni time now. Do the usual sair sappat with a round of drinks at night. Leave the next day for mumbai at 2 and it is was raining all the while in mahabaleshwar.

Start decending the ghats and after 15 km an Sx4 overtakes me and i m behind him now.A CRV is comin from the opposite side and the CRV guy pressurises the Sx4 guy and this one does the same resulting in both of them going into each other.
Air bags in both the cars have deployed and saved the drivers.The sx4 was driven by the driver and the other car was driven by the owner.Both of them are okay.They go to a side and start talking decently without any gaali galoch meanwhile i take pictures of their crash

Rest of the trip was easy going with no incidents just the rains.All in all an eventful trip + had a lot of fun too.
Here are the pics




This is my car




The heavy weight topless prashant and me.




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[mobike008]

Wow, that was some trip. I would say anything but eneventful with rains and two crashes, I wonder what would be an eventful trip???

Looks like you enjoyed the rains and had a good time in mahabaleshwar. Are freshly made strawberry ice-creams still available there? its been more than 5 years since i visited Mahabaleshwar.

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Nice written travelogue and pics.

man! That lorry incident sounds scary. thank god you could make those quick decisions!

And, is it just me, or does the SX4 really look almost as big as the CRV?

[rohan_fonseca]

The lorry was scary stuff. Good thing you had foresight and kept your wits. Saved your lives.

[rks]

Originally Posted by humyum

Start decending the ghats and after 15 km an Sx4 overtakes me and i m behind him now.A CRV is comin from the opposite side and the CRV guy pressurises the Sx4 guy and this one does the same resulting in both of them going into each other.

From the second pic posted, it is clear that the SX4 guy was overtaking (humyum's maruti 800?) and the CRV swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid the SX4. It was the fault of the SX4, but also pretty stupid of the CRV driver if he deliberately tried to pressurise the SX4 and did not slow down to let him go. These ego trips can be very costly.

In my recent trip to Mahabaleshwar, I completed a quick overtake of a tempo van in front of me while going uphill and proceeded to cut to the left side of the road. A taxi guy (old Fiat) coming from the opposite side apparently got irritated by my overtake and swerved towards my Santro and kept coming. I was at about 60-70 kmph and did a reflex-action swerve to the left to avoid the taxi. I ended up passing him on the extreme left edge of the road, but did not brake or go off the road; had I braked hard, the tempo guy would probably have rear-ended me, and had I gotten off the road, I would have hit some stones and had a tough time controlling my car.

In that split second the thought of calling the taxi driver's bluff and keeping my course without swerving did occur to me; after all, I was on my side of the road and had no obligation to swerve further. But that could have ended up like the SX4-CRV accident. For all I know, the taxi guy could have been drunk. Best to play safe in such situations. I also thought of turning around and giving chase to the taxi, but quickly dismissed the idea from my mind since my family was with me. Not that I could have done much anyway after catching up with him; the taxi drivers would have ganged up and made my life more miserable.

[xinome]

did anyone notice the sx4 alloy has bent inwards and the hood area has just vanished.
and the sx4 has some ground clearence look at that gap and is standing tall with the crv

@rks that drive must have been quite boring for you to remember only that part of the entire trip!

[humyum]

Originally Posted by rks

From the second pic posted, it is clear that the SX4 guy was overtaking (humyum's maruti 800?) and the CRV swerved to the left in an attempt to avoid the SX4. It was the fault of the SX4, but also pretty stupid of the CRV driver if he deliberately tried to pressurise the SX4 and did not slow down to let him go. These ego trips can be very costly.

In my recent trip to Mahabaleshwar, I completed a quick overtake of a tempo van in front of me while going uphill and proceeded to cut to the left side of the road. A taxi guy (old Fiat) coming from the opposite side apparently got irritated by my overtake and swerved towards my Santro and kept coming. I was at about 60-70 kmph and did a reflex-action swerve to the left to avoid the taxi. I ended up passing him on the extreme left edge of the road, but did not brake or go off the road; had I braked hard, the tempo guy would probably have rear-ended me, and had I gotten off the road, I would have hit some stones and had a tough time controlling my car.

In that split second the thought of calling the taxi driver's bluff and keeping my course without swerving did occur to me; after all, I was on my side of the road and had no obligation to swerve further. But that could have ended up like the SX4-CRV accident. For all I know, the taxi guy could have been drunk. Best to play safe in such situations. I also thought of turning around and giving chase to the taxi, but quickly dismissed the idea from my mind since my family was with me. Not that I could have done much anyway after catching up with him; the taxi drivers would have ganged up and made my life more miserable.

na na he was not overtaking anyone.The Sx4 was decending the ghats where as the CRV was climbing and it was a turning and this sx4 guy was driving in the center of the road and this CRV fellow pressurised him to get back to his lane and this guy reverted back and both of them did not slow down or give away which both of them must have thought the other one will.I was not that far behind when this happened and saw it live as the sx4 had just overtaken me.
@mobike008..yeah they are available but unfortunately during the rains no strawberrys are available

[rks]

Originally Posted by humyum

na na he was not overtaking anyone.The Sx4 was decending the ghats where as the CRV was climbing and it was a turning and this sx4 guy was driving in the center of the road and this CRV fellow pressurised him to get back to his lane and this guy reverted back and both of them did not slow down or give away which both of them must have thought the other one will.

From the second pic that you posted, one can a white marking line well to the left of the SX4 and to the right of the CRV. If we expand the picture you can see the white line to the right of the two lorries behind the CRV. Isn't that the road centre-line marking, or by any chance is it a line at the edge of the road? Looks like the centre-line and hence I thought that the SX4 was fully on the wrong side of the road and the CRV's front left wheel was actually off the road in that pic. If that is true, then it does not look like the accident happened at the centre of the road. But the picture could be misleading.

@xinome, it was a pretty uneventful trip. I took the Pune route starting from Mumbai in the evening and went via the Expressway. Overnight halt in Pune and then to Mahabaleshwar via Satara road. This was in May, the roads were excellent, and no rain. Return trip on the same route. The scenery in Mahabaleshwar/Panchgani was good and the cool weather was a big relief compared to Mumbai/Pune. That's about it. The two-way ghat road is pretty easy to do, but can tempt people to overspeed. A Qualis guy coming downhill from the opposite side did a block overtake of about four vehicles, forcing the Tavera in front of me to brake hard. I saw what was coming and slowed down well ahead of time. That is the only other notable incident that I remember.

[zenx]

Wow what a trip!! Very useful that u did not get into a freeze mode when that truck approached - thats the most common reaction I've seen on the road. The CRV driver seems to have been a little too sure of himself, from the description. Driving defensively and asusming and planning for the worst is always a useful bet on the road. Egos are best left sealed in a deep dark box at home.

[sammyboy]

That was smart thinking on your part bro . Glad you are safe.

[moralfibre]

Thats an event filled travelogue humyum. The lorry incident was scary and your proactive approach saved your life! Drive safe.

[pjbiju]

Reminds me of my own first trip to Mahabaleshwar from Pune a few months back. I have seen people overtaking on the ghats crazily with no regard for other vehicles or the dangerous road conditions. At one point on a curve (while descending), I had to come to a complete stop almost at the edge of the road to let an overtaking buss pass! The bus passed by us leaving the gap of a few millimeters. Had I not stopped completely, may be we would have ended up rolling down the hill.

[rks]

Originally Posted by rks

From the second pic that you posted, one can a white marking line well to the left of the SX4 and to the right of the CRV. If we expand the picture you can see the white line to the right of the two lorries behind the CRV. Isn't that the road centre-line marking, or by any chance is it a line at the edge of the road? Looks like the centre-line and hence I thought that the SX4 was fully on the wrong side of the road and the CRV's front left wheel was actually off the road in that pic.

The first picture, which I just now saw from my office LAN, surely confirms my impression. The CRV's left side is off the tar road, the SX4 is on the wrong side and either the impact or the braking seems to have turned the SX4 further towards the CRV. There was plenty of space for the CRV to go off the road on the left, although there do seem to be some stones as seen from the first pic. The CRV driver would have done well to get into that space if necessary to avoid the SX4, and taken his chances with the stones; better still, he should have braked/swerved in time to let the SX4 pass.

[mclaren1885]

Rks, dont you think its quite possible for the CRV to have been a little further to his right and on impact the CRV could have been dragged to his left?

[spadival]

What was the truck doing on the wrong side of the road !! DIdnt u stop to check what went wrong??