Go Back   Team-BHP > Indian Cars > The Indian Car Scene

The Indian Car Scene Swifts, Vtecs, Mahindras, Nanos and everything else on the Indian Car Scene.


Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 16th April 2008, 14:46   #46 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: Delhi
Posts: 1,922
Default

Read this 2006 article in NBER about the licence corruption process in India. No checks on driving skills, only bribes for licences.

Does Corruption Produce Unsafe Drivers?
__________________
For one who sees Me in all beings and sees all beings in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.
vasudeva is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16th April 2008, 15:42   #47 (permalink)
BHPian
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: horamavu
Posts: 307
Default

Break'ing Skills: How many of us good in applying break? we cruise @120 and hit 160+ but ever applied break on that speed just to learn and understand what will be the distance it will take to complete halt. Have analysed how stable our verhicle when we apply the breaks? If we test this then people will not dare to touch these speeds.
TeddyBear is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16th April 2008, 15:50   #48 (permalink)
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NYC/MAA
Posts: 826
Default

We don't follow rules, respect authority nor obey the law. Especially, the educated in India. They think they're 'above' the law. They behave the same way an uneducated driver does by breaking red lights, indulging in road rage and parking in "No Parking" zones. What is the use of education, if they're going to follow those who break them?. Physicians heal thyselves. Let us look at how everyone in India is in some way also responsible for the chaos , before we always keep pointing fingers at the Govt. Govt. can only do so much. How many citizens in India pay taxes vis-a-vis the entire population?. Where do you think the money for good roads is going to come from?.
nickatnite is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 16th April 2008, 17:35   #49 (permalink)
BHPian
 
simplyself's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Hyderabad
Posts: 139
Default

Even if corruption doesnt make bad drivers, it may stop one from becoming good driver.
simplyself is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 08:08   #50 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
aaggoswami's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Vadodara
Posts: 3,152
Default Read this

Quote:

@
swift8847
The auto wallahs always escape. They feel like they have been given the extra right to break the rules and fight in their defence. Very annoying, especially in bangalore and chennai.

Well let me tell you that 90 % of all Richshaws are owned by policemen.
What we see are just the drivers. So mostly the Rickshaws always manage to run away from cops.


Quote:
@nickatnite
We don't follow rules, respect authority nor obey the law. Especially, the educated in India. They think they're 'above' the law. They behave the same way an uneducated driver does by breaking red lights, indulging in road rage and parking in "No Parking" zones. What is the use of education, if they're going to follow those who break them?. Physicians heal thyselves. Let us look at how everyone in India is in some way also responsible for the chaos , before we always keep pointing fingers at the Govt. Govt. can only do so much. How many citizens in India pay taxes vis-a-vis the entire population?. Where do you think the money for good roads is going to come from?.
The basic problem is the moral and the thinking level of the road users.
As you have mentioned, the educated india is probably the worst driver in the entire world. Govt is bad someone from educated india gives them bribe. If all the common man gets disciplined, then most of the corrupt officials will die, because then who will pay the bribe. You are perfectly right in what you have said. I am finding it very difficult to put my thoughts into words.
__________________
Never Dream because broken dreams hurt the most.There is no market for emotions.
EVENTUALLY FATE DECIDES EVERYTHING.
aaggoswami is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 11:20   #51 (permalink)
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Noida
Posts: 203
Default Here is the morning's story

Today morning as usual I was driving on the way to my office in Sec - 62. Now there is a straight road there about one km long which is quite smooth, wide and free from much traffic. I normally drive my car to the speed of 80 - 85 kmph on this stretch.

Now, I was driving in the right lane to avoid a rickshaw in the middle lane. Suddenly a cyclewallah turned right from extreme left to make a right turn. I blasted the horn, braked hard and the cyclewallah managed to turn his cycle back to the left lane casually as if nothing was wrong. Cursing in my head I continued on my way.

Now, the question is that God forbid if I had hit the cycle, what would be the actual cause of the accident - Overspeeding or the idiotic cyclewallah ?
shobhit15 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 11:53   #52 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Mumbai
Posts: 3,238
Infractions: 0/1 (8)
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by nickatnite View Post
parking in "No Parking" zones.
The "No Parking Zone" story: Government allows supermarkets, shopping plaza's, malls and banks to come up with barely any arrangement for parking. Most of these have their entrances almost on the road. Then there is parking chaos and to stop it the government notifies that road as a no parking zone. They then start towing cars and make money. There is one such supermarket coming up near my house and this one doesn't have a parking spot for even one car. Yes, I am serious. The road is the busy Sion-Trombay road that takes you from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai and onto Pune. There is also a mall coming up on the same road. The road is a 3 lane road. The supermarket doesn't have any parking spots. There will be double parking on the road as everyone will want his car parked right in front of the enterance and in no time a 3 lane 'superhighway' will be turned into a by lane. If a layman like me can see the upcoming chaos why can't the expereinced IIT passed out engineers and city planners?

Quote:
Govt. can only do so much.
Let the government first do the 'only so much' that they can.

Quote:
How many citizens in India pay taxes vis-a-vis the entire population?.
Not too many but the government by their own admission were shocked at the high tax collections that they made in the last quarter of 2007. Where does the money go?

Quote:
Where do you think the money for good roads is going to come from?.
The government is charging toll from every vehicle that enters and leaves Mumbai for 'maintainence of roads and improving road infrastructure.' Any small silly road thats made in India is now becoming a toll road. They also levy a surcharge on petrol and diesel sold for the same. .This is something that not many people know. Add one time tax, excise and various taxes on 'luxury items like cars' and I don't think the government is in any need of money to make good roads. After all this what do we get? Highways with paver blocks, potholed roads, roads with no safety or basic direction boards due to which drivers get confused and this results in traffic chaos, many accidents are because under construction roads have no warning signs. I could write about this with real examples and photographs all day!

By the way, toll on the Mumbai-Pune expressway has been hiked. And if I remember correctly, some bridges on that so called expressway also have paver blocks/tiles!
__________________
Have you ever noticed that everybody driving slower then you is an idiot and everybody going faster then you is a maniac?
amit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:11   #53 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
supremeBaleno's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Weekdays at DetroitOfIndia (Chennai) & Weekends at VeniceOfTheEast (Alappuzha).
Posts: 2,510
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by shobhit15
Now, the question is that God forbid if I had hit the cycle, what would be the actual cause of the accident - Overspeeding or the idiotic cyclewallah ?
Let us look at it the other way. If you were within the prescribed speed limit, chances are the accident would not happen, inspite of the cyclist's idiotic lane change. This is not to say that I am finding fault with you or that I stick to the speed limit always. Just another way of looking at it.

I agree that the way the cyclist traversed through all the 3 lanes might be wrong, but then what do you expect him to do in a system which is clearly against cyclists & pedestrians ? One thing we really need are cycling lanes. And ofcourse footpaths. These itself will go a long way in not only reducing accidents, but also making driving less stressful for motorists.
__________________
Suzuki Baleno : 91bhp @ 5500rpm, 130.5Nm @ 3000 rpm, 14kmpl in city @ 100% a/c.
Fun & economy needn't be mutually exclusive.

Last edited by supremeBaleno : 17th April 2008 at 12:12.
supremeBaleno is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:22   #54 (permalink)
Team-BHP Support
 
tsk1979's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: New Delhi
Posts: 11,290
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by supremeBaleno View Post
Let us look at it the other way. If you were within the prescribed speed limit, chances are the accident would not happen, inspite of the cyclist's idiotic lane change. This is not to say that I am finding fault with you or that I stick to the speed limit always. Just another way of looking at it.

I agree that the way the cyclist traversed through all the 3 lanes might be wrong, but then what do you expect him to do in a system which is clearly against cyclists & pedestrians ? One thing we really need are cycling lanes. And ofcourse footpaths. These itself will go a long way in not only reducing accidents, but also making driving less stressful for motorists.
I guess thats a big myth.
I have had 1 accident and 1 near accident on NH1 with 90kmph limit. The first one happened when I was doing around 80-85kmph, and ditto for the second one.
In the first case a biker changed lane without signaling and I rear-ended him sending him flying. He was too stoned to feel the pain, and people gathered on the spot shouting that I was speeding.
Luckily for me a NHAI patrol van was coming behind me, and the police guy ended the arguments by giving 2 tight slaps to the biker and telling him about lane discipline.
I escaped with a scratched bumper to my indica.
The drunken bike guy was asking me to pay for his mudguard and rear tail lights.

In the second incident, a cycle guy came from behind the bushes on the center median without any warning.
I hit the brakes hard and stopped just in time.
He tried to run away, I picked up speed came to his side and gave him a whack on his back which sent him flying into the bushes again(all thanks to my momentum). My hand hurt like hell though.

In both cases if either of them had died, the press would have said "A car travelling at high speed mowed down a cyclist".


Recently 41 schoolkids died when axle of the bus broke due to poor maintenance. I see countless trucks on the road with broken axles, because they overload and do not pay attention to the vehicles health.
Many such trucks while going down overturn and cause damage to other cars which are "speeding" nearby.
So whats the reason for such accidents? Overspeeding?
__________________
Reclaimed, wrung dry and recycled....!
tsk1979 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:24   #55 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
esteem_lover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Madras
Posts: 6,281
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by amit View Post
There is one such supermarket coming up near my house and this one doesn't have a parking spot for even one car. Yes, I am serious.
I can identify with one in Shanthi Colony, Anna Nagar in chennai. It is a purely residential colony which has turned into a shopper's paradise & a super market with no space for parking even a motorcycle.
__________________
Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better in the future.- William Wordsworth
esteem_lover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:34   #56 (permalink)
Distinguished - BHPian
 
suman's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Gurgaon
Posts: 3,522
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by supremeBaleno View Post
One thing we really need are cycling lanes. And ofcourse footpaths. These itself will go a long way in not only reducing accidents, but also making driving less stressful for motorists.
Do you seriously think that even if cycling lanes were there, cyclists would ever use them?

Let's take a "live" example. The new 27 odd kms long expressway (Delhi-Gurgaon) has slip roads for two wheelers & three wheelers throughout, except for a 3 or 4 km stretch where the slip road is yet to be made.

Now, all 2 & 3 wheelers are expressly forbidden on the rest of the expressway stretch (except for the bit mentioned above). Do you think they give a damn? No! They use the expressway right through, sometimes in the middle lanes, sometimes in the extreme right lane & sometimes in the extreme left lane. Not to mention that they do cut lanes as well. Imagine an expressway where the limit is 100 kmph & you have a three wheeler merrily doing a break-neck 35-45 kmph. Break-neck time for you if you come out of a curve & see him meditating right in front of you.

So, in our country, it really doesn't matter if you give cycle lanes or pedestrain paths or whatever - the mentality of the people will not change. Unfortunately.
__________________
"Unborn TO-MORROW and dead YESTERDAY,
Why fret about them if TO-DAY be sweet!" - The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Last edited by suman : 17th April 2008 at 12:35.
suman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:34   #57 (permalink)
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: NYC/MAA
Posts: 826
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by amit View Post
The "No Parking Zone" story: Government allows supermarkets, shopping plaza's, malls and banks to come up with barely any arrangement for parking. Most of these have their entrances almost on the road. Then there is parking chaos and to stop it the government notifies that road as a no parking zone. They then start towing cars and make money. There is one such supermarket coming up near my house and this one doesn't have a parking spot for even one car. Yes, I am serious. The road is the busy Sion-Trombay road that takes you from Mumbai to Navi Mumbai and onto Pune. There is also a mall coming up on the same road. The road is a 3 lane road. The supermarket doesn't have any parking spots. There will be double parking on the road as everyone will want his car parked right in front of the enterance and in no time a 3 lane 'superhighway' will be turned into a by lane. If a layman like me can see the upcoming chaos why can't the expereinced IIT passed out engineers and city planners?



Let the government first do the 'only so much' that they can.



Not too many but the government by their own admission were shocked at the high tax collections that they made in the last quarter of 2007. Where does the money go?



The government is charging toll from every vehicle that enters and leaves Mumbai for 'maintainence of roads and improving road infrastructure.' Any small silly road thats made in India is now becoming a toll road. They also levy a surcharge on petrol and diesel sold for the same. .This is something that not many people know. Add one time tax, excise and various taxes on 'luxury items like cars' and I don't think the government is in any need of money to make good roads. After all this what do we get? Highways with paver blocks, potholed roads, roads with no safety or basic direction boards due to which drivers get confused and this results in traffic chaos, many accidents are because under construction roads have no warning signs. I could write about this with real examples and photographs all day!

By the way, toll on the Mumbai-Pune expressway has been hiked. And if I remember correctly, some bridges on that so called expressway also have paver blocks/tiles!
Anyone who has visited or living in the so-called "developed' world will tell you about tolls, and the many we pay to use the roads and bridges, in addition to paying taxes. Regarding taxes, i agree with your statement, but who is going to support the world's largest and massive social welfare state that actually rewards people for doing nothing else but procreating. Rice for Rs2 a kg?. Who is taking responsibility for this?. I am responsible, as a homeowner , for maintaining the stretch of pavement in front of my house(any weather) , not the municipality , where i live in the US. I guess , here, nobody 'does' their part, the Govt. or the citizens. Everyone is ready to pass on the buck and play the blame game.Meanwhile, the managed chaos continues.
nickatnite is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:37   #58 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
supremeBaleno's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Weekdays at DetroitOfIndia (Chennai) & Weekends at VeniceOfTheEast (Alappuzha).
Posts: 2,510
Default

tsk, your incidents were on the highway with you driving within the limit, while that was not the case with shobhit. Also, the first biker was drunk and the cyclist deserved to be hit due to the surprise factor, in which case even a speed of 40kmph might not help.

I did not say that shobhit was at fault, inspite of the fact that he was over the limit (we all do that). My point was that at lower speeds, the chances of an accident happening are lesser, due to better anticipation, faster reaction time and ofcourse lower braking distance.
__________________
Suzuki Baleno : 91bhp @ 5500rpm, 130.5Nm @ 3000 rpm, 14kmpl in city @ 100% a/c.
Fun & economy needn't be mutually exclusive.
supremeBaleno is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:44   #59 (permalink)
BHPian
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Noida
Posts: 203
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by supremeBaleno View Post
Let us look at it the other way. If you were within the prescribed speed limit, chances are the accident would not happen, inspite of the cyclist's idiotic lane change. This is not to say that I am finding fault with you or that I stick to the speed limit always. Just another way of looking at it.

I agree that the way the cyclist traversed through all the 3 lanes might be wrong, but then what do you expect him to do in a system which is clearly against cyclists & pedestrians ? One thing we really need are cycling lanes. And ofcourse footpaths. These itself will go a long way in not only reducing accidents, but also making driving less stressful for motorists.
I agree that if I would be driving slower, the car would have stopped earlier and that would have prevented the accident. However that means that we just reduce the speed limit on the roads and forget about training ppl basic traffic sense. This is exactly what the traffic police in Delhi has done. Earlier the speed limit used to be 60 for cars. Now its 50 and in some places like ISBT it is 40 or something.

Well, how about reducing the speed limit to 10 to avoid any accidents at all ??? I'm not saying that its ok to overspeed but definitely only reducing the speed limit is not the solution.

On the road I mentioned, there is indeed a pavement separated by iron railing. But the cyclewallah was too lazy to take the cycle on the ramp and chose to paddle on the road instead.

The onus definitely lies on the government and it cannot shirk away by saying that overspeeding is the only problem. The seat-belt was a law since many years but only when Delhi (and Noida) traffic police enforced it strictly for a few months did the ppl learn to wear the belts even though most of them do not like to do so.
shobhit15 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 17th April 2008, 12:47   #60 (permalink)
Senior - BHPian
 
supremeBaleno's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Weekdays at DetroitOfIndia (Chennai) & Weekends at VeniceOfTheEast (Alappuzha).
Posts: 2,510
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by suman
Now, all 2 & 3 wheelers are expressly forbidden on the rest of the expressway stretch (except for the bit mentioned above). Do you think they give a damn? No!
Are they aware that they should not use those lanes ? I mean, as in, are there boards/signs mentioning this ? Asking because in Mount Road here, the 4 lanes are clearly marked (bikes+autos / cars / buses+trucks / service lane) and people use it accordingly. But the new IT corridor does not have any marking and people drive all over the place - maybe they are not aware that they should not be in the fast lane (close to median) in their bike at slow speeds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by suman
So, in our country, it really doesn't matter if you give cycle lanes or pedestrain paths or whatever - the mentality of the people will not change.
I don't know about Delhi/Gurgaon, but my comments for having cycling lanes was from what I see in Chennai traffic. These guys literally have a bad time commuting. And worse than them is the case of pedestrians. Motorists leave the stop line even before it has become green for them, which is usually the time for the pedestrians to cross.

And in places where we do have broad pavements (Pondy Bazaar for eg.), it is taken over by hawkers (with political patronage), making people to walk on the road. If we have a pavement, I see no reason why people won't use it ignoring their safety.
__________________
Suzuki Baleno : 91bhp @ 5500rpm, 130.5Nm @ 3000 rpm, 14kmpl in city @ 100% a/c.
Fun & economy needn't be mutually exclusive.
supremeBaleno is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Bangalore: One More Reason To Get Stopped v1p3r Street Experiences 62 14th May 2009 18:51
So what is your Reason for not fixing your car? Technocrat Shifting gears 33 11th August 2008 20:58
Is This The Reason Chevy U-VA is Not Being Launched. redcandle The Indian Car Scene 0 29th September 2006 18:09
some startling news in the motorcycle world devarshi84 Motorbikes 13 7th October 2005 21:33
Another reason to buy BMW amit The International Automotive Scene 1 4th May 2004 03:00


All times are GMT +5.5. The time now is 02:27.


Powered by vBulletin
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Content Relevant URLs by vBSEO 3.1.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2009, Team-BHP.com

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608