Car brakes to save cow, resulting in 3-vehicle accident! [VIDEO]

Indian highways are one of the most dangerous in the world. While there are new fast expressways and highways that are becoming operational in India, road manners and road safety are something that remains one of the major concerns. A recent accident that got caught on CCTV camera shows how dangerous the roads can become due to external factors.

The video is from Surat, Gujarat and shows a stray cattle running across the highway causing a massive accident. The video shows a stray cow crossing the road by running across it. A big truck going in front blocks the view of the vehicle overtaking the truck from the left-hand side and when the driver of the vehicle spots the cow, it brakes suddenly in order to avoid hitting the vehicle. Another vehicle, a Mahindra Marazzo MPV applies the brakes too and avoids hitting the vehicle in front. However, a bus coming from behind could not stop in time and rammed into the Marazzo from the rear. The MPV then hit the sedan from the rear causing a three-vehicle accident.

Who is at fault here?

Well, the sedan driver was using a left lane to overtake on the road, which is an absolutely dangerous thing to do since it blocks the view of the road ahead. However, since no one follows the lane discipline in India, it is quite difficult to follow these rules on the highways. In most cases, slow-moving vehicles including trucks do lane hogging and stay in the fast lane even after completing the overtake. This is why most of the motorists use the left-hand side of the vehicle in front to overtake.

The heavy vehicles in India have a lower speed limit than light motor vehicles due to the fact that they take a lot of distance to stop. Since the heavy vehicles carry a lot of momentum, they cannot stop in a small distance. This is also the reason why motorists are advised to ensure a safe distance between two vehicles. However, even this is something that every motorist avoids following in India.

The pretty evident culprit here is the stray cow that just ran across the highway in panic. It should be noted that hitting the stray cattle might have caused bigger damage to the sedan in front because of the high impact with a heavy animal like a cow. The stray animals are quite unpredictable on the roads and can go in any direction.

Stray cattle are a major problem in many highways in India and there’s nothing much that has been done to remove them from the roads. Earlier, officials in Uttar Pradesh had put high reflective tapes on the horns of the stray cattle to make them more visible at night. However, no step has been taken to remove these hazards from the road as of now. As per the report, no injuries have been reported in the accident and everyone is safe.

It is always safe to drive defensively on the Indian roads and be assured of the road ahead before overtaking. One should always be sure and know about the road ahead when overtaking. Many recorded incidents in the past have shown that blindly overtaking can cause massive accidents, especially in the Indian roads that are very unpredictable.