Video: Toyota Fortuner And Mahindra XUV 500 Head-On Collision Leaves Three Dead

Toyota Fortuner loses control after tyre burst and jumps median to collide head-on with an XUV 500, leaving three occupants of the XUV dead.

By Stephen

Updated: Tuesday, August 8, 2017, 18:06 [IST]

India, with the crores of vehicles on its roads, has many accidents every day. The causes might be many, but especially during summer, tyre bursts become a very common cause of accidents especially in some parts of northern India where the road surface heats up too much.

This particular accident at Jandiala, near Amritsar, Punjab too was caused by a Tyre burst. The driver of a Toyota Fortuner lost control over the car after its tyre burst while doing high speeds. What made it worse was that the tyre burst happened when the Fortuner took a sharp right turn immediately after overtaking a minibus.

Fortuner And XUV 500 Head-On Collision Kills Three

This scenario made it difficult for the driver to regain control of the SUV. The Fortuner jumped the median and landed on the opposite side of the road just in front of a Mahindra XUV 500, giving the driver of the XUV no time to react. Hence we do not see the brake lamps of the XUV coming on.

Three people in the XUV 500 were killed in the head-on collision, and five other occupants were injured. The Fortuner had only the driver in it, and he has suffered serious injuries. The results of this incident could have been even worse, as it happened on National Highway 01, which is one of the busiest highways India.

This highway is always crowded, and there were many vehicles which had a close shave in this accident, like the two motorcycles which were next to the XUV 500, and the motorcycles in front of the Fortuner while it was making its overtake manoeuvre as well.

It has been ascertained that the cause of the accident was a tyre burst, but what might have caused the tyre burst is unknown yet.

Sheetal Arora, one of the occupants in the XUV 500 has filed a complaint against the driver of the Fortuner and has accused him of being in an intoxicated state while driving. Local police though have not confirmed it, but have booked a case of culpable homicide against the driver.

Causes for the tyre burst:
The cause behind most tyre bursts is the improper maintenance of the tyre itself. Most vehicles are not running the specified tyre pressure, and this could lead to overheating of the tyre and a burst. Another cause can be the ignorance of tyre damage, bumps on the sidewall or tread of the tyre. Tyre bursts can also occur due to excessive loads on the tyre and/or continuous overspeeding. Finally, driving long distances on hot road surfaces without breaks can cause a tyre burst.

In the case of this accident, the temperature in the area was around 40 degrees Celsius, which of course would heat up the road surface. Adding to this is the fact that the driver of this Fortuner was overspeeding. We do not have details of the tyre condition of the vehicle, or the tyre pressure it was running.

There could also be a possibility that there might have been a sharp object at the spot where the accident happened, and the Fortuner might have driven over it. With all this, it is clear that this accident occurred due to a combination of factors.

Drivespark thinks!
The XUV 500 and the Fortuner are both very capable vehicles, but their capabilities are overshadowed when they are not maintained properly. The Fortuner, for example, handles very well for its size out on the highways, but the tyres let it down here.
Hence proved - Proper maintenance of the vehicle should be the number one priority.