How to avoid road rage

[horsepower]

but in Delhi it seems every second bloke carries a gun.

You are right tanveer. It seems everyone is carrying a gun or a vip sticker on his car, specially in NCR region.

In gurgaon, I always try stay away from people in white SUV's. As they always have a VIP sticker and drive their SUV's insanely. Land money has gone to their head and they think they can break anything( rules and heads). And have a penchant for the white vehicles.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by msharma_79

i think you got the point.i wish you have a good life ahead.


just checked your profile, i was wondering if i was talking to a teenager,but your not.

Great, have fun

and go get them tiger

that was a good one.
I agree road rage gets no one anywhere.I was a dumb A** in my very young days and used to really start off at anyone who used to cut into my lane,honk bla bla but with age i have learnt to be cool.
Some days back near imax a truck brushed the right back part of my 800.I stopped the car on the road to check and the truck stopped behind me.

Obviously i was angry but then i just told him that was he so stupid enough to turn without seeing the car.He said 'sorry mistake ho gaya'
I told him 'fine' and the damage was not much anway but then it got over in less than 5 min and both of us were on our way.
If i wanted i would have rearranged his face but then who knows i might get some rearranged teeth and for a few hundred bucks i aint gonna go through that mental agony too.

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by horsepower

You are right tanveer. It seems everyone is carrying a gun or a vip sticker on his car, specially in NCR region.

In gurgaon, I always try stay away from people in white SUV's. As they always have a VIP sticker and drive their SUV's insanely. Land money has gone to their head and they think they can break anything( rules and heads). And have a penchant for the white vehicles.

i totally agree those guys not only have white cars they also wear white, i tell you that is the last they have white on them.

earlier just callcentre cabies used to have rodes, hockey, baseball bat in the car. Now it has become a trend here everybody carry one.

soon the dealership will start giving baseball bats free with the car if this continues

[horsepower]

dealership will start giving baseball bats free with the car

I hope they do that otherwise, they it will be used against them if they do not service my car properly.

[Sagittarian]

There is one age old rule that one can follow if one wants to have safe driving - the other guy is always the king. If you practise that, there would be very little problems on the road. I have seen many times, smiling is a good way to make the other guy see sense. It is not always possible, but it works like a charm.

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by Sagittarian

There is one age old rule that one can follow if one wants to have safe driving - the other guy is always the king. If you practise that, there would be very little problems on the road. I have seen many times, smiling is a good way to make the other guy see sense. It is not always possible, but it works like a charm.

well i would slightly disagree with you here, i would not treat the other guy like a king but a commoner like me and you can respect a commoner also.

[vasudeva]

I have found out through experience that in a situation that can turn ugly, it is better to be humble rather than be forceful with a point. Discretion is the better part of valour, and better to lose a shouting match than to have some broken ribs. Let the other guy vent his frustration, and go away. This may seem cowardly to some, but when was humility and equanimity not a great virtue. A barking dog can not make you a lesser person and make you lose your civility and dignity.

[nirmalts]

This is a great thread and I am sure will keep many hearts healthy if we truely follow many advises here. But I don't really know how to apply Gandhigiri in few situations like below (esp in Bangalore traffic).

Situation 1:

You meet with an accident for a mistake which is not yours. You smile at the other guy. He takes advantage of this and claims that the mistake is yours. You end up paying for his damages.

Situation 2:

The guy coming towards you wants to take a right. You decide to let him pass by so that on coming traffic is not affected. He smiles and takes a turn, but the guys on your left (keep in mind that there are atleast 2 - 3 lanes of traffic in one direcion) does not think so and does not let him pass by. Now you are blocking the traffic in the lane you are in. Also the on coming traffic is blocked. You end up receiving curses for your good deed from the guys behind you.

Nirmal

[msharma_79]

Originally Posted by nirmalts

This is a great thread and I am sure will keep many hearts healthy if we truely follow many advises here. But I don't really know how to apply Gandhigiri in few situations like below (esp in Bangalore traffic).

Situation 1:

You meet with an accident for a mistake which is not yours. You smile at the other guy. He takes advantage of this and claims that the mistake is yours. You end up paying for his damages.

Situation 2:

The guy coming towards you wants to take a right. You decide to let him pass by so that on coming traffic is not affected. He smiles and takes a turn, but the guys on your left (keep in mind that there are atleast 2 - 3 lanes of traffic in one direcion) does not think so and does not let him pass by. Now you are blocking the traffic in the lane you are in. Also the on coming traffic is blocked. You end up receiving curses for your good deed from the guys behind you.

Nirmal

this is not gandhigiri or so called "being a wimp". this is about not getting mad on the road and screwing up situation you already are in.

Defuse the situation and find a solution like mature adults, i know it is bit difficult on the road as there more crazies on the road then reasonable ones.


finding fault is one of the main reason why people go crazy on the road.

[Mayavi]

Originally Posted by nirmalts

This is a great thread and I am sure will keep many hearts healthy if we truely follow many advises here. But I don't really know how to apply Gandhigiri in few situations like below (esp in Bangalore traffic).

The most important part of driving is to know when to invoke Gandhi and when to invoke Bose.

[normally_crazy]

Under the Imax flyover at 10 am towards vashi - peak time traffic, atleast 8 lanes of traffic in the marked 4 lane road. I come to a stop from 20 kmph and BAAM - a huge noise. I felt like I lost the bumper - get out and see the guy in the car behind (a Superb no less) putting his hand up in a gesture that said sorry. I inspect the rear bumper - nothing seems wrong, so I ask him why so close ? He says "Sorry boss". I smile & say - get going. He smiles back. I get into the car and move off.

The reason the guy must be tail-gating me could be the numerous 2 and 3 wheelers that try and squeeze into any gap they get. I gave him the benefit of doubt.

[akg7091]

I am usually a very calm driver and always give side to other vehicles, even wave my hand so that they know I am waiting for them to go first.
Around 10 months ago, I was in a small accident. There was construction going on at the Noida entrance, and I was behind a silver Indica. Suddenly he applied heavy brakes and I rear ended him at around 15km/hr ( I was at 50 km/hr, and the car couldn't fully stop on applying brakes )
Anyways, I got out, looked at his car and said that I am sorry and I will get it repaired. I was polite, accepted my mistake and offered to get it fixed. This uncle ji and his driver come out and the driver starts shouting. I again say that look, first of all you applied heavy brakes and even I did but could not stop. I am not being abusive. I offered to pay for the damages. Still he kept shouting. By then the construction workers working there came over and started to support me.
I again told them to come with me to the local car market and get an estimate. Now the uncle ji starts to shout. I again offer to get it fixed, but I guess smiling and trying to avoid fights is taken as a sign of weakness.

Now I am not saying anything, but my father is a very senior government officer who knows almost all policemen etc in NCR. I stayed calm, went over to my car and told them to follow me to the shops. This uncle ji again shouted at me, and this time I lost my cool. I hurled abuses at them, told them to go to hell and call the police and let them handle it.
In the meanwhile, I called up my dad and told him to come.

You should have seen his face when my dad arrived. It seems he knew who he was, as he just shut up on seeing him and said nothing. I told him exactly what happened ( not the abuses, but about how I hit his car ) and he told him to go with me to get it fixed.

My point is, it is nice to be calm, smiling and courteous. However sometimes people consider it to be your weakness and abuse you for no reason. Then you should not stay silent.

One more story, about how I once lost my cool ( it has only happened one time )
I had just got my car one week ago. There is this very narrow road leading to the entry of our local market. As there was heavy traffic, I just parked my car on one side to make way for other vehicles. There was a pole right opposite my car. Now a city comes, and there is plenty of space for it to pass. However on the side of the pole is a ditch and the stupid driver in his attempt to avoid it scratched my car ( real bad too )
I saw him coming, blowed the horn continously when I saw that he was about to scratch my car. His bumper came off in the process. I couldn't move the car as I had a car behind me and a motorcycle was parked in front of me.

I got out of the car, started shouting at the driver. He was absolutely silent. Then a priest got out of the rear seat. And he was soooooooooooo calm.
He talked very sweetly to me and my sis. His face was the picture of calmness. I still remember it clearly.

Although I was mad, I let it go and went home. I know I shouldn't have lost my cool, but it was a brand new car and the stupid driver didn't even stop when I blew my horn.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by nirmalts

This is a great thread and I am sure will keep many hearts healthy if we truely follow many advises here. But I don't really know how to apply Gandhigiri in few situations like below (esp in Bangalore traffic).

Situation 1:

You meet with an accident for a mistake which is not yours. You smile at the other guy. He takes advantage of this and claims that the mistake is yours. You end up paying for his damages.

This thing happens when the other guy asks for damages. But then this is what insurance is for. He can claim `accident'. However, if he is mean, heavy and looking for a fight, and you are outnumbered and outclassed, then it is better to let the strong win. This thing happened to me last week when a Hyundai Accent hit my Corolla from behind and on the side. Thank God that his fender hit my tyre. As aresult, his fender got damaged and I only got some nicks (which I rubbed off with 3M). However, on the road at the time, they were apparent and it was dusk, and thank God again there were 2 more elderly people sitting in the car. Thus the situation was resolved without any money passing hands. My luck.

[msharma_79]

@akg
this is so unfortunate, had it been so other country i would have suggested to call the cops immdiatly and ask them to sort it out.
get to know whose fault is it and get the third party insurance.
but being India where cops are waiting for oppertunity to make a quick buck it is a bad idea, you waste time and waste energy and you end up paying cops for nothing.

that is one of the reason why people tend to get things sorted out on their own.

during my last visit to dubai i spoke to lot taxi driver( they have camry as a regular taxi) and traffic is big problem there, lot of small accidents happening because bumper to bumper traffic.

so if you get into an accident there. you immediatly call the cops and the do the similar thing like i mentioned at the start.

and amazing thing that they told me is that if you have dent or scratch on your car which looks like an accident, the car garage will not repair till the time you involve the cops.

[sumannandy]

Thanks for the great thread.

I was driving home yesterday. I was on the right lane and a state bus was on the left lane. There was little gap netween us but not enough for a car to pass, considering it had to change lane and I was approaching the bus.

A car came from the left lane and ignoring my continuous honking, it squeezed in the gap, changed lanes and went ahead. It was a dangerous situation.

Now I followed the car to its destination. A young guy came out. I told him that I did not mind that he overtook me, but he should drive safe. He aplogized and said that he would take care in the future.

I think educated people do accept faults most of the times if approached the right way.

Had there been a driver, I would have approached the owner, as it is not worth arguing with a driver who will never accept his fault. But chances are there that the owner would teach him a lesson.