MY FIRST CAR ACCIDENT

MY FIRST CAR ACCIDENT


Way  back in 1989 when I was going from Faridabad to Delhi in my first ever Ambassador car we had an accident.  By the Grace of Almighty we all three ,myself my wife and my 5 years old son, were safe and scratch free.


I clearly remember that Sunday,an accident day .While cleaning  the car in the morning I observed that rear left tyre was flat. The head of the cruel nail which had  happily pierced the tyre ,was visible clearly.I had planned to go to Delhi ....It was obvious that to drive the car,the  replacement of flat tyre with the spare wheel was essential.


Flat tyre was an opportunity for me to demonstrate my skill of how I myself can take care of small problems related to car. Till then I had never changed the wheel....but sometime will be the first time so I decided to do the job .

I confidently opened the dickey and picked the Jack and spanner.At that time my weight was hardly 52 kg so it was quite tough to unscrew the nuts but by almost jumping on the spanner I succeeded in unscrewing those tough nuts.I had observed mechanics jumping on the spanner.I patted myself for my skill of observing  the things around me ! .....Fortunately car was on the flat surface so there was not any difficulty in the placement of the Jack  for lifting the body of the car in the  upward direction.Having done that  I repalced the wheel .I took about  67 minutes  for the job .I of course did not  not measure the time taken for each activity but break up of the 67 minutes time was approximately like this.....

7  minutes in observing the flat tyre.

6 minutes for cursing road conditions

     and the company who allotted the

     old car to me.

17 minutes for un-screwing the 4  rigid nuts.

5  minutes tea break.

4    minutes for lifting the body of car upward with the help of accurately placed Jack.

16   minutes for taking out flat tyre +

    inserting the spare wheel on those 4 studs

 2   minutes for screwing the nuts on the protruding studs.

4  minutes for reading the news paper

     headlines  seeing RK Laxman Cartoon and worrying about the country. 

3   minutes for removing the Jack

                     and

3 minutes for wind up and cleaning hands.

True that ...the time taken by me was very high  but readers must understand that I was alone and had no previous experience.  I was  feeling bad for taking more time but with the prevailing constraints I did the job reasonably well and  I consoled myself.


Now can you guess how much time is required for Japanies team to replace the wheel ?

The same job was done by three  Japanies in our company in 67 seconds when they had come here to participate in Himalayan Rally in the year 2001 ......

They were working in a team and had hydraulic Jack, Battery operated spanners,measuring equipments and  strong physique..dogged positive attitude !...Above all these Japanies live to work while we Indians work to live !

It will be interesting to know the the break up of time taken for various activities. for  replacing flat tyre on a LCV  Canter vehicle by  Japanies team. The data is real as the same was measured by 3 other Japanies with stop watches. Here is the break up of 67 seconds

10 seconds warm up exercise

  6.  seconds for getting the tools from vehicle .

14  seconds for unscrewing the nuts and

      positioning the Jack .

13 seconds for taking out wheel and putting the new wheel on the protruding studs

4   seconds for spraying anti rust

     liquid on studs

14 seconds for tightening the nuts, removing the  Jack and measuring tightening torque of  nuts and tyre pressure.

6  seconds wind up and clapping for success.


Readers may be wondering what about an accident ? Sorry for deviating from the titled topic.


Anyway... after replacing the wheel  we proceeded to Delhi as per our plan.

When I was driving, I sensed slight wobbling in the car.I asked my wife did she notice any such wobbling ? She said no. To satisfy myself I checked the air pressure after filling the petrol as flat tyre was also to be repaired...The tyre pressure was perfect.


 We continued our journey....As soon as the speed was above 30 kmph I sensed the wobbleing again .This means either it was a psychological feeling  as my wife commented or I could not rich to the root cause of the problem.I was wondering what could have gone wrong in my car  this time.....and As I was thinking hard there was sudden sound and the car got tilted on the left and was grounded.  As I applied the sudden  brake  in shock , I saw one sole wheel was moving ahead  and it merrily travelled for more than 200 meters .


 Yes.....it was the same wheel which I had replaced .

In those days there was not much  traffic and because it was Sunday the vehicle density was thin ,as a result nobody rammed my car from the rear and the major damage was avoided.....In the failure analysis  I remembered that I hardly took any time for tightening the nuts and started reading the news paper....   The root cause for the accident  was the news paper !


Since then I never read news paper while replacing the wheel !!

-------Rajendra Phansalkar

27 th Aug 1993

'..................................................................

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Enough and Plenty

  ENOUGH  AND   PLENTY Let us first understand ' dictionary  meanings of enough' and plenty seperately.  The word “enough ” can be used as a determiner, pronoun, or adverb, and its meaning depends a little on context. General  explanation... As much or as many as is needed; to the necessary degree. Examples in use: Determiner: “We have enough food for everyone.” (sufficient quantity) Adverb: “She is old enough to make her own decisions.” (sufficient degree) Pronoun: “I’ve had enough of this noise.” (a sufficient amount) So in simple terms, “enough” means sufficient, adequate, or as much as required — not too little, not too much. About Plenty dictionary explains following Plenty means a large or sufficient amount of something — more than what is just enough, often suggesting abundance. Usage: Noun: “There’s plenty of time to finish the work.” (a large amount) Adverb:  He is  plenty smart to handle this job.” (very, more than enough) Pronoun: ...
Read more

Decision Making

Decision Making A decision can be defined as the best course of action—or inaction—perceived by an individual or a group of people at a given time in a particular situation. Interestingly, sometimes the most appropriate decision is not to act at all. Choosing inaction consciously is, in itself, a form of decision-making. Since time, circumstances, and people’s needs constantly change, no decision is ever permanently right or wrong. A choice that seems correct today may appear inappropriate tomorrow. Today’s comforts may become tomorrow’s needs, and what we see as luxuries now may turn into necessities in the future. A particular course of action that suits one situation may prove unsuitable when the situation changes. Moreover, individuals think differently—what one considers right, another may see as wrong. The real nature of a decision becomes evident only after it is implemented, by which time the situation itself may have changed. Every individual faces many challenges in life, and...
Read more

FALL IN LINE

FALL  IN   LINE 43 years back I attended one lecture of noted management expert and teacher , Professor Sharu Rangnekar and later  read his  one small and wonderful   book titled " In the wonderland of Indian Mangers".I honestly feel that no one has described  management style and work culture of  Indian Industries better than professor Rangnekar. Since then I have been a silent observer of the people I have met in various industries. RANGNEKAR described  in the book how people avoid work in the systematic manner.He also mentioned  about 90 /10  formulae stating that  in almost all Indian  industries and offices 90 percent work is done by 10 percent of the employees and balance 10 percent work is done by 90 percent of the employees .When I observe people I try to place them in either 90 percent or 10 percent category . In most Indian industries the basic  management style continues to be " Either you fall in lin...
Read more