Lone Women Drivers in Delhi. Be Alert. I am still too shocked.

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Honda Monk

What a women or old citizen should do in such situation is to call police (I know police ain't of much help and is befriended with such criminals), this at least scare them for a moment.

Why only women and senior-citizens? I believe that this should be applicable to every citizen in the Country. Got a problem? Call the police. Even if they are an incompetent lot.

Men must not take matters into their own hands. It's just not recommended for one to do that. ALWAYS seek help from authority. Remember, it's their duty!

Try and get the number of a higher ranked constable, or the commissioner. It isn't hard. Networking will go a long way in helping you, as long as you use it for the right purpose.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by Sugeeta

I rolled down the window about 2 inches so that I could hear what he was saying.

For future reference: NEVER OPEN THE WINDOW/UNLOCK THE DOORS.

These crooks use attention distraction to confuse and then rob or worse. This is not restricted to women, but women are of course targetted more often so should hence be more careful.

Whatever they might say, Do Not Stop if any one asks you to (even if they say your car tyre is flat). Instead I'd suggest risking a ruined tyre by driving home/nearest known service station/petrol pump before checking.

[devsoftech]

Slightly OT - I once rear ended an auto rickshaw and the auto-driver stopped the auto then and there and came out to initiate an argument. I drove to the left, came out and locked my car. I have an auto rollup module, so if windows are open, it will lockup even when open. While both parties were arguing, some useless people were too interested in the parked car and peeping from outside (I would call them potential thugs). Had it not been the rollup module, I guess I would have lost my cellphone+laptop+gps - It would have never struck me that I can loose my valuables in case of a street incident and that how vulnerable a open car can be when you loose concentration. I could have been more happier what the piece of mind the roll-up module give me at that instance.

Also, I disagree that these thugs lookout for "soft targets". How did they know you have a galaxy note ? Why are plain jane mobile owners not compromised ? How do they know of the timings ? Do you have a maid at home ? could be a nexus. I may sound dumb, but the bus driver is also involved. He wants to feel like a robinhood by helping the "not-have" thug. no scandal is spontantaneous - its all preplanned and has proper exit routes. hope these thugs are caught very soon. Wonder if they will stop a road roller one day, saying it has run over their foot.

[drmohitg]

I feel its way too easier to advice to not to open your windows and doors for such people. The problem is until they run away with your stuff, you would not even think once that its a set up. Each and every excuse they give you like a flat tyre , oil leak or having hit someone would surely make you check. And how practical it is to drive with a puncture. You might do serious damage to your tyre/alloys.

[spoiler]

These incidents are horrific.To have pepper spray,knife or even gun might help you once,but if these people can drag you to that extend they can do more to overcome that.That is not a permanent solution.Lack of concern to the fellow passenger is the root cause.If we show total lack of insensitivity incidents like this will happen more.If society starts reacting rather than live in fear then there will be no such incidents.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I feel its way too easier to advice to not to open your windows and doors for such people. The problem is until they run away with your stuff, you would not even think once that its a set up. Each and every excuse they give you like a flat tyre , oil leak or having hit someone would surely make you check. And how practical it is to drive with a puncture. You might do serious damage to your tyre/alloys.

Well, let me put it this way. What would you rather have compromised, your or your family member's safety - or an alloy wheel or tyre?

These kind of crooks have been around for a long time. Way back in the 80's, my father remembers a crook attempting a similar trick. In those days it was a simpler ruse of thumping the car and playing injured and attempting to get as much out from the vehicle driver as compensation.

The crooks have obviously upped their game, and one can't really sit around expecting everyone to be driven snow.

[webblescott]

Originally Posted by Sugeeta

Was trying to locate a thread on the matter, and came across many. But I also wanted to warn lone women drivers to not only avoid lonely stretches, but also to remain alert in the middle of traffic jams.

I am narrating my personal experience. Something that happened with me last evening, at approx. 7.15 pm, on the way home from work.

==================
Any suggestions what to do next? I was too shocked to react, but would like to take up the incident with the cops, sans the harassment.

I take full responsibility for having panicked, but if I am a lone commuter, it does not mean that I am a sitting target for being robbed.

Hey that was a sad incident, Especially when you were driving alone.
Well we cannot just blame Delhi for this incident , this can be happened anywhere in the country. Number of crimes are growing day by day. Let me inform an incident happened month's back in Mangalore.

Mr "x" coming out of Bank with cash (Approx 5 lacs), He is getting into his Fortuner, He start moving around 500m and suddenly one guy from the street seriously waived his hands and walked near to the car, it was a slow moving traffic so Mr X stopped the vehicle aside. The guy informed Mr X that the OIL is leaking from your vehicle. So he came out of the car and locked it. He checked the engine and other possible parts for leakage, but he couldn't find anything wrong other than drain water going out of Air conditioner. So the guy left the scene and Mr X start moving again and reached Highway limits from the town area. Again two guys in a 2 wheeler quickly overtook him and informed something is leaking out of your vehicle. Mr X felt very STRANGE, there could me something wrong then this is the second time some one is informing. So drove the car aside and in hurry he forgot to lock the vehicle. Even the 2 wheelers start helping him to find the fault. When Mr X bent down to check the engine one of the 2 wheeler tried to push him under the vehicle and second person Opened the Rear left door and grab the Bag which contains the money. In seconds of matter when they tried to flee from the spot some pedestrians on the highway side caught them red handed.

So what i understand from this incident is CRIME makers are spread across the city and Highways. So be careful in Day and Night.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by VeluM

Well, let me put it this way. What would you rather have compromised, your or your family member's safety - or an alloy wheel or tyre?

No I am not saying that the value of an Alloy is more. What I am saying is that its very hard to figure out when you are in trouble. The world has not gone all that bad. 9 out of 10 times if a stranger tells you on the road that your tyre is punctured, your tyre would be punctured indeed. But you can't panic each time and drive away fast on a flat tyre right? I myself, on an average, signal people on the road atleast twice a month. Most of the times it is either a puncture, fuel lid is open, boot is open, women's saree is stuck in the gate and so on. So although we should be careful like not to drive with open windows and keep valuable stuff displayed on the dash/seats, at the same time we can always stop and check the problem depending upon the location. Most of these crooks are petty criminals and they would not hurt you. So if the street is well lit and there are people around you can stop. Or may be stop at the next petrol bunk or next to a police man and so on. Ofcourse it depends upon the situation and if its a deserted stretch and you find something fishy then do drive away as fast as possible!

Just an incident that happened 2 weeks back: Me and some friends were driving to a highway dhaba on the NH1 in my Innova. I spotted this Laura with a couple inside and the rear tyre was flat. The guy was driving at speeds of 100 on that flat tyre. I flashed my lights, honked and finally managed to tell him there is a flat tyre. For those 3-4 seconds the look on his face was priceless. Imagine a MUV on a highway with 5 guys inside tyring to make you stop with an excuse. Perfect set up for a disaster. But what can you do in such a case? There was no bunk for the next 8-10 kms and no one will help you. In our case the guy did stop and we offered him help but he was reluctant so we left him to change his tyre.

Edit: BTW I didn't get a notification for you having quoted my post. Have you disabled it?

[Rajat]

Hi Sugeeta,

With the kind of stories coming from Gurgaon-Mathura stretch day in and out (no offense to the region meant; blame it to the statistics), I am glad to know about your safety and the composed way in which you reacted in a potentially dangerous situation. It was unfortunate that you had to loose your cell phone. I have encountered similar situations on a lone and notorious stretch of highway in Mumbai twice but with god's grace and alert mind I could ensure safety of life and material.

There is this common modus operandi that these groups use near "Deonar" Abattoir. A group of teenagers will pretend to be idling around a huge speed breaker (the kind which scrapes the under-body of your car even at dead slow speeds) and as you try to negotiate the breaker trying to avoid the scrape as well as keeping the engine from stalling the groups starts panicking pointing your vehicle and screaming "Aag-aag, dhuaa, dhuaa" (fire-fire, smoke-smoke) and a couple of them even manage to come in front of your vehicle forcing you to stop. In this whole act they even burst something like a throw cracker in front of your car putting you into a tizzy.

The first time I encountered them I was driving in my Old Alto. The car got stalled in the whole panic but i sensed something wrong hence I did not get down. The smoke from the cracker did scare me a bit but just as I was about to get down I could smell 'diwali' type cracker smoke possibly due to my AC setting to external air. I was sure that this was some kind of con. Just as I cranked my car 2-3 boys became aggressive and started thrashing my car's bonnet with bare hands. I just revved my humble 3 cylinders hard and took off, brushing my car against those guys.

The second time, nearly a year after at the same place, I was in for the same sequence of events in my Wagon R. Only this time, instead of slowing down, I lowered the gear and steered the car towards those guys with a High Beam+horn to scare them away. Though my car took a little bit of beating on the speed breaker (the Catalytic converter got bumped and scratched), I was conspicuously giggling having conned the cons

[caprico4]

its very shocking how unsafe we all are in every aspect.

the EXACT same incidence happened with my father-in-law just yesterday at Dadar, Mumbai. both his phones were stolen (Blackberry and HTC).

of course, there is no end to this. We as decent citizens just have to be more and more careful, watchful and diligent with each passing day. Be skeptical and doubt everyone, dont even think of being a good samaritan for a stranger on the road who is waiting to pounce and con you.

its sad, but thats the state we are living in and things are only going to go downhill.

[thoma]

Originally Posted by Rajat

pointing your vehicle and screaming "Aag-aag, dhuaa, dhuaa" (fire-fire, smoke-smoke) and a couple of them even manage to come in front of your vehicle forcing you to stop. In this whole act they even burst something like a throw cracker in front of your car putting you into a tizzy.

Come on India, this is serious. On one side, we have cars catching fire and the passengers victimized to death, owing to being late to get off the car. On the other side, we have thugs trying to loot us giving false fire alarms.

How do we really pick out the wheat from the chaff?

[Jignesh]

Hello Sugeeta,

Sad to read your story & also very relieved that you are absolutely safe.

My colleague just narrated a similar incident that her Uncle faced last month in New Delhi.

The Gentleman is a Lawyer & lost his wallet & mobile in almost similar modus operandi used by the thieves. But as he is a Lawyer, he kept his cool & was able to mentally overcome the shock & approached the nearest police station.

I understand your state of shock, but there is little we can do in cases like this.

Thanks,

[purebliss]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

For those 3-4 seconds the look on his face was priceless. Imagine a MUV on a highway with 5 guys inside tyring to make you stop with an excuse. Perfect set up for a disaster.

I can relate with you very well drmohit.

Here, in my case, I was riding in my bike along with my friend when we saw a family of four on a bike in front of us. The loose end of the Lady's saree was precariously close to the wheel and there was no saree gaurd as well.
So as good samaritans, we caught up with them and shouted "saree, saree".

To our surprise, they didn't stop, did nothing with the saree, but instead sped away.Assuming that they couldn't hear our miffed voice (both were wearing helmet), we sped and tried to stop them by waving our hands.

To cut a long story short, in the next few minutes, me and my friend learnt quite a few new expletives in local tongue. The look on our face (if any one looked) was also priceless.

It didn't help us the fact that - we were both 6ft /large built, was riding a bullet and to top it all - both were wearing helmets.

Little wonder they mistook us as a potential "chain snatchers/trouble makers" though it was broad daylight.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Edit: BTW I didn't get a notification for you having quoted my post. Have you disabled it?

I understand what you are saying, and I too inform others of such situations when necessary. However when it comes to my wife, I've asked her not to stop for anything. Except of course if the car is on fire!! She can't change the tyre herself, so it makes no sense stopping when signalled. The only thing to do is to "limp home" or to the nearest petrol pump or service station.

It would obviously be stupid to speed with the vehicle in that condition, but the point is that these are opportunistic villains. They take advantage of diversionary tactics. Keeping oneself locked in and unreachable ensures that one is safe and can drive away when necessary. Arguing about speed and such is immaterial, and distracts from the criticality of this simple protective step that every lone (especially woman) driver should take when confronted. Driving over someone's foot in the middle of traffic even if true would mean that the foot was in a place it shouldn't have been, so why argue and allow them an opportunity?

Ps. No, I haven't disabled any setting, so you should have received a notification.

[SLK]

It's not a women thing! This happened with me TWICE.

This happened with another person in office sometime during the last 1 week.

First phone gone from the co-driver's seat.

Second time I was lucky! I spotted the spotter. My phone was mounted on the dash, and I removed it after I spotted a fishy looking person looking at it. Within the next 30 secs, another came and hit on my wheel, but when he peeped in, there was no phone and he went away.

Only solution, the phone/ laptop should NOT be visible, avoid putting on the blue-tooth hands free when not in use.

Its been more than 6 months since the first incident! I'm still too shocked.