Rants on Bangalore's traffic situation

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

You honk at someone, the person stops, looks back at you, stares for 5 seconds as if you asked his kidney, and then does some stunts and goes away.

Soumyajit, the reaction depends on the context in which you let out the horn. I would do the same (Except - "then does some stunts") If someone blares his horn at a traffic intersection/traffic jam even when he/she can see ahead clearly and understand that it is not possible for me to give way unless my car has retrofitted wings! Happens almost everyday at almost every traffic signal on my way.

[rohittunga]

These days another alarming trend is brewing amongst motorists. Ok so the signal turns red and the traffic builds up. The moment the lights turn green, a cab behind me starts flashing headlights and honks. What does he expect me to do ? Jump over all the cars ahead of me or take off vertically ? Or is he giving me a wake up call that light has turned green, better be prepared for the mayhem ahead. Ridiculous!

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by sandsun7

Soumyajit, the reaction depends on the context in which you let out the horn. I would do the same (Except - "then does some stunts") If someone blares his horn at a traffic intersection/traffic jam even when he/she can see ahead clearly and understand that it is not possible for me to give way unless my car has retrofitted wings! Happens almost everyday at almost every traffic signal on my way.

What I meant was, honk - asking for way, when there is a way.
For instance today, at Silkboard, I wanted to take a left towards Madiwala. But vehicles from BTM choked the junction. There were couple of bikers who were blocking the left. I honked and 3 of them moved, except one. Now there was enough space for this biker to move to the right into his own lane, so that I can take a left, but he won't budge. After honking 3-4 times, he gave me a nasty look, and then revved his bike, did some left right movement of his body (looked like stretching exercise) and bike and squeezed into his lane to the right. So now the left lane was free and me, along with a few other vehicles could take the free left smoothly.

After I moved, I kept on thinking - Why did he give me that look ? And what did he think when I honked first and 3 bikers moved out of my way. Why didn't he move ? Was it arrogance or sheer stupidity of that fellow ?

Originally Posted by rohittunga

These days another alarming trend is brewing amongst motorists.... Or is he giving me a wake up call that light has turned green, better be prepared for the mayhem ahead. Ridiculous!

I would definitely accept that I do the same at times. I honk once to wake up the driver ahead of me, to make him aware that the signal has turned green and you should start your engine now. I have been stuck behind various kinds of people. There are family people in the car, the driver is so engrossed in the chit chat that he misses to realise that the signal turned green 10 seconds ago. Then there are lone drivers (cabbies and techies), who get so engrossed in adjusting their music player, or doing FB on mobile that they fail to realise when the signal turned green. So basically it all depends on the situation. I don't honk if I hear that the vehicle ahead of me has his engine on and is inching ahead. That would be an alert driver. So no honking or flashing for him/her.

Bottomline, yes, I do honk once, and exactly once, no flashes at all, if its daytime, one flash if night. This is to wake up the driver ahead of me.
But then there are people who misuse this also. For instance Tempo Travellers. They keep on honking their irritating aftermarket horns and flashing their disco lights. That is when things become annoying.

[sandsun7]

Originally Posted by rohittunga

Ok so the signal turns red and the traffic builds up. The moment the lights turn green, a cab behind me starts flashing headlights and honks. What does he expect me to do ? Jump over all the cars ahead of me or take off vertically ? Or is he giving me a wake up call that light has turned green, better be prepared for the mayhem ahead. Ridiculous!

This is exactly what I was referring to in my previous post! This practice is now prevalent not just among cabbies but even from those riding two-wheelers. Everyone expects the person in front of him to move the next millisecond after the signal turns green.
"At least, give us a a second to engage first gear, sir" is what I cry out to them!

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Why didn't he move ? Was it arrogance or sheer stupidity of that fellow ?

That is nothing short of arrogance! No way anyone can justify that. If there is space ahead of him, and If you have right of way, they ought to move and make way.

I am contemplating printing this and sticking on to somewhere on the dashboard/steering wheel
image courtesy: keepcalmstudios

[rohanjf]

I will stop using narrow and empty village roads until next week.
I was driving through such a road yesterday near Carmelaram, following a big truck (carrying a crane) and a Scorpio. All of a sudden, the truck braked hard, forcing the Scorpio and me to do the same. Then the truck was surrounded by 10-15 boys of about 13-15 years. They were led by two older boys, probably around 18-20 years. They started demanding money from the trucker. Then one of the leaders got climbed into the truck cabin and came out a while later. Then they let the truck go.

Next, Scorpio was the victim. A boy climbed on the bonnet, another two stood on the steps of the driver and passenger doors and started demanding money. One leader started punching the driver's door. After a while, the Scorpio driver (a villager) gave them some money.

Next was I. Fortunately, my car hasn't been washed for over two months. It is brown in colour right now (original colour is red). So the boys came to me and asked for money: "Anna, swalpa duddu kodanna. Devasthanakke duddu beku.. 10 rupayi kodanna" (elder brother, give some money. Need money for temple. Give 10 Rs).

I angrily replied in Kannada, "if I want to give money to temple, I will give it to temple directly. Get of my car or else I'll drive over you."

To my surprise, I was let go! They probably thought that my car is smaller than Scorpio, so I am poorer :-D

Over the years, I have observed that this kind of collection starts a few days before Ganesh Chaturthi. More than devoutness or the love of God or respect to the religion, the villagers want to compete with their neighbours on which village's Ganesha idol is larger and celebration is bigger. If you happen to give money to one group and are stopped by another group a mile later, you cannot say you already gave money. If you say so, they'll reply saying that that money was for that village's celebration!

[benbsb29]

Rohan, i know that feeling. The same happened to me once when i was on my Scorpio while passing through a village. The vehicle was surrounded by boys of similar age groups as you mentioned demanding donations. I said the same thing in an angry tone, that if they did not move, i would run them over. They moved and allowed me to proceed.

So, it does depend on the tone and confidence displayed. Another example of mob mentality, for sure.

[IronH4WK]

@rohan: this has happened to me twice - once when we were on a TBHP drive to some falls (don't remember the name) and recently (Aug 30th) when i had been to a resort on Kanakpura road for a team outing.

sometimes these kids just try to block the car by standing in the middle of the road (as it happened on Aug 30th), but sometimes they keep stones on the road or pull a rope across (as happened on the TBHP drive) to block the car! one just needs to be stern and assertive. in both situations i revved my engine to let them know they better get out of my way - and they did!

[rohanjf]

Sometimes it is just not worth leaving home early to beat the traffic.

Today I left home at 7.20 AM, hoping to reach office by 8 AM. First 10 KMs were covered in 10 minutes. Then I came across two long container trucks going through Gunjur. I knew they would create a traffic jam at the bottleneck in Varthur. If I followed them, I'd end up being late to office.

Overtaking one truck was easy. As I started overtaking the second one, I noticed an oncoming school bus. The bus was parked slightly off the road and some kids were getting into it. There were no vehicles behind it. So I had enough time to overtake the long truck. So I flashed my headlights once and started my maneouvre. Half way through, the school bus started moving! I couldn't have braked, as the container truck was going very very slow. I also had to consider the other container truck following it very closely. So I accelerated hard and completed the overtake in the nick of time. It is such a tricky situation. I still can't think of any way of avoiding it, except not overtaking the trucks at all.

Again I say, the schoolbus drivers are trained to drive carefully (and some schoolbuses even have this written on them). But I don't think they are trained how to use indicators while stopping or starting.

But this risky move didn't help much. There was a traffic jam on the Varthur lake road stretch, thanks to a broken down BMTC bus (328H). Policemen were trying to manage the traffic.

That's not it. At Varthur Kodi, a school bus belonging to Greenwood High had rear-ended a Mangalore registered Polo, creating scratches on the right side of Polo's rear bumper. The drivers were arguing, and that created a bigger jam.

Then I got stuck in traffic jam at Brookefields and Doddanekkundi industrial area, and finally reached office (near EMC2 or Soul Space Arena mall) at 9 AM.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Then I got stuck in traffic jam at Brookefields and Doddanekkundi industrial area, and finally reached office (near EMC2 or Soul Space Arena mall) at 9 AM.

At 7:20 in the morning, why not the ORR itself ? Would'nt that be faster ?
Any specific reason for Varthur road ?

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by ampere

At 7:20 in the morning, why not the ORR itself ? Would'nt that be faster ?
Any specific reason for Varthur road ?

The closest point of ORR from my house, Iblur, is about 15 KM away (it would have been 13 KM if there was no flyover construction near Carmelaram). I stay in a village called Sompura, near Sarjapur town

My standard route is Sompura - Yamare - Dommasandra - Gunjur - Varthur. After that, I usually take Borewell road - Nallurahalli - Graphite India - Doddanekkundi. But because of the jam at Varthur Kodi, I decided to go to Graphite India signal via Kundanahalli. I won't do that mistake again. I will take right at Siddapura Shell petrol bunk to reach Nallurahalli.

The stretch from Varthur to Kundanahalli, and the stretch from Kundanahalli to Graphite India have too many breaks in the dividers, and so too many options for U-turns. When buses, trucks and tractors try taking U-turns, that always results in chaos!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

The closest point of ORR from my house, Iblur, is about 15 KM away (it would have been 13 KM if there was no flyover construction near Carmelaram). I stay in a village called Sompura, near Sarjapur town

There is a road from Gunjur which takes you behind Intel and comes out at that junction. Is it worth taking that road? Is it active and good. Because I believe if you can make it to ORR somehow before 8AM, you can easily reach EMC signal via ORR without trouble.

[pramodpk]

One lane of the entire stretch from ITPL to Hope farm is practically useless as Trucks and BMTC buses (500 series volvos) are parked obstructing free flow of traffic during peak hours. Traffic cops are not bothered about this. Last Sunday evening while I was walking back home from Park Square mall, saw traffic cop promptly pasting no parking tickets on the private cars parked on the road. Frustrati

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by ampere

There is a road from Gunjur which takes you behind Intel and comes out at that junction. Is it worth taking that road? Is it active and good. Because I believe if you can make it to ORR somehow before 8AM, you can easily reach EMC signal via ORR without trouble.

Do you mean the road that goes via Panattur and comes out at Kadubeesanahalli underpass? It has enormous craters that true offroaders will enjoy. Between points B and C, there is no road at all. But recently, they have started relaying the road:

I usually follow this route, where there is no road only at 3 places highlighted with red squares:

However, I do not want to take risk in the mornings, because the road at Bellandur Railway is extremely narrow with drains on either sides. Sometimes school/college buses, water tankers and construction trucks create deadlocks, and one can end up waiting for hours (I remember bensb29 mentioning he was stuck there once).

[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

However, I do not want to take risk in the mornings, because the road at Bellandur Railway is extremely narrow with drains on either sides. Sometimes school/college buses, water tankers and construction trucks create deadlocks, and one can end up waiting for hours (I remember bensb29 mentioning he was stuck there once).

Tell me about it! This was the time i was driving to work on my Scorpio and decided to take this route thinking i would escape the ORR traffic. As it was to happen, joy was short lived and there was a long lorry which was trying to take a turn here and with both sides being blocked by water tankers as well as Tata Ace trucks coming up the wrong side of the road.

I somehow got my vehicle off the road, parked it and had to play traffic cop, just to make some space for vehicles to squeeze through. It took all of 20+ mins to make some space for the lorry to turn and then some more for making some space so i too could pass this point.

Was horrible! I would have reached earlier probably if i was using the ORR.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

I will take right at Siddapura Shell petrol bunk to reach Nallurahalli.

Alert: Most of the road from Shell to GE junction has been dug up on one side. And its not re-done properly. Very very slow moving traffic. More because the road has narrowed down from 2 lane to 1 lane.
I scraped the underbody of my Beat at many places while travelling on this road on Monday.
I would still recommend taking the Kundanahalli route, albeit the multiple gaps in divider + the major jam at the Kundanahalli signal.

Personal recommendation: Take the ORR. Its definitely a longer route than your existing route, but its almost a free flowing traffic with decent road condition.