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Old 13th November 2018, 20:54   #16
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

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Originally Posted by JoshMachine View Post
As some of you might be aware, there was an experiment carried out by the Highway Authorities on the famed Pune-Mumbai expressway few years ago to find out real impact of time saved if one steps on the accelerator.
@JoshMachine - Thanks for pointing this out. I am pleasantly surprised that such survey was conducted. I think most people have a very exaggerated sense of how much time they can save by driving recklessly. I do not have a problem with speed per se, but how and where it is used.
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Old 13th November 2018, 21:19   #17
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

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Last edited by GTO : 14th November 2018 at 09:32.
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Old 13th November 2018, 22:03   #18
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Nicely narrated Malyaj. Loads of such samples roam on road. On spotting them, I give way, otherwise they’ll honk or burn your retina. Leave them rage in peace and enjoy the spectacle as they tend to not maintain safe distance from vehicle ahead and end up smelling the behinds. Ultimately tortoise wins.

Last edited by Thermodynamics : 13th November 2018 at 22:09.
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Old 13th November 2018, 22:46   #19
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Putting others at risk is one thing, many seem to be interested in putting others at stress and enjoy it. I hardly know how to react when some SUV with all kind of stickers, which were to display their superiority status keeps honking and flashing when you have no where to move!

Tint rule seems to be a blessing in disguise for them, as no one wants to confront a car not knowing how or how many brain less apes are inside. There are times I wanted to buy an SUV and put bull bars to defend myself, but hey, surely not worth the effort.

I am glad that we don't have gun culture, just an white SUV with stickers seem to boost their egos so much, can't even imagine what an weapon can do.
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Old 14th November 2018, 06:31   #20
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

I remember a few years back this same experiment was carried out on Mumbai roads by Mumbai Mirror staff.
Two vehicles traveled from Western Suburbs to Nariman Point - one was rash and the other was sedate.
The difference in time was not even 5 minutes.

I was unable to locate that article online however I found this experiment carried out by Pune Traffic Police online but this was carried out using motorbikes.

Quote:
Tejaswi Satpute, DCP, Traffic Police, Pune, asked two bikers on Tuesday, September 4, to commute from Katraj area to Shivaji Nagar. While she asked one of the bikers to follow all traffic norms religiously to cover the 10-km distance, the other one was given a free hand. The bikers were given vehicles from the same brand.

Notably, both the riders reached the destination with a difference of just four minutes.

Pune Mirror 05.Sep.2018 .
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Old 14th November 2018, 07:38   #21
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

I used to be that "Boy" you have described, not the one who will put others life into danger. But the one who wanted to overtake everyone/everything possible and getting irritated with drivers refusing to give way. But that was long time a ago

It was 2007, I was travelling to Mangalore from Bangalore in my Scorpio along with 3 friends. I was maintaining a good speed and was stopping every hour or so for a tea or a smoke, since driving at that speed tires you out. There were a couple may be in their late 40s or early 50s travelling along with their 2 teenage boys in Maruti Omni. They had some luggage on top of the Omni. It was a white Omni with no tint glasses and the Omni driver was maintaining a stead speed of 60/70 KMPH

I first overtook them before Nelamangala and remember those boys peeping out to have a look at my Black Scorpio with big Aux Lights. The ordeal started there after.

Every time I stopped for a break and then started the journey I would see them in front of me on the road. I overtook them atleast 3 times before Hassan. When I stopped for lunch at Hassan, I saw the same couple and kids eating at the restaurant. This continued till Mangalore, I would stop for 10-12 mins and they would pass by and I had to overtake them again.

I was surprised to see the same couple and kids at the same Guest house which I was staying and they had reached before me. They had come to attend the same function which I gone to attend. At the function the Omni driver comes to me and calmly asks why I was stopping so many time. When I told him it was for tea, he had a smile on his face. When asked why he was smiling, he told that he and his wife had thought may be I was suffering from piles and had to stop frequently. I was a bit embarrased, but understood his sarcasm. He advised me to take things a bit slow and stretch it for long.

The whole incident made me think of driving fast and the way I was travelling. Added to that my wife was pregnant and I had to change my driving style.

Now I am that Omni driver, who drives at 80/90 KMPH and reach the destination a bit late then others, sometimes at the same time and sometimes a bit early as well.

By the way, I also own a Palio GTX which I keep driving from Bangalore - Madikeri - Bangalore very frequently.

Regards
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Old 14th November 2018, 08:08   #22
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

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Originally Posted by JoshMachine View Post
there was an experiment carried out by the Highway Authorities on the famed Pune-Mumbai expressway few years ago to find out real impact of time saved if one steps on the accelerator.
A good experiment and one we can easily replicate as a wide social experiment. I have done this myself - One year I had 60km of driving : 30 up and 30 down.

What's a curious person to do - set up an experiment to check the effect of peak speed/velocity on the travel time?

Reporting my results - No matter what my legally reasonable top speed, the average speed in the city during the time of my travel remained about 20 (or kmph).

Difference in time of my arrival to a given destination (home/office) : Less than 2-minutes is the best value.

After few months of doing this, I lost interest in the experiment since the results were crystal clear enough and I settled for the smoothest acceleration and deceleration! Had to endure some unnecessary honking, but that anyway exists and persists no what matter.

Anyone that drives over 5-kms one way can easily do this experiment for themselves and be convinced about "The Futility of Hasty Driving."
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Old 14th November 2018, 09:20   #23
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

My signature needs to be updated I suppose to "The fool who bullies his way through one jam waits longer at the next"
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Old 14th November 2018, 09:40   #24
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

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Originally Posted by Malyaj View Post
Driving fast only gets you faster up to a point. With all the bottlenecks that we have, we eventually reach the destination more or less at the same time as everyone else.
Superbly written & awesome post - thanks for sharing! Two points I would like to add.

1. Years back, my family had gone to Deolali (~3 hours & 180 km from Mumbai) for a holiday. I was in my souped up Civic, while my driver followed in the humble Tata Indigo. I gave him money for tolls + meals and revved off into the horizon. Redlining my Civic, enjoying the free-flow exhaust & Race Dynamics powerbox, admiring the hydraulic steering's feel at speed and cornering hard on the ghats with my grippy Michelin Pilot Sports, I made it to our Deolali house in good time. Me & my folks went in and barely had a cup of tea served to us when I hear the familiar clatter of Tata's 1.4L diesel outside . I don't remember the exact time difference, but it was barely 15 minutes between an enthusiast driving a modified Honda versus a bored chauffeur driving a bone-stock Indigo diesel.

BUT & equally, I might add:

2. Most of us petrol-heads don't redline or corner a bit harder to get to the destination earlier. We do it for the pleasure of driving. And I sure as hell had a grin plastered on my face for hours after the enjoyable drive .

Last edited by GTO : 14th November 2018 at 09:41.
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Old 14th November 2018, 10:19   #25
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Good thread with apt message.

Relating incidence from recent trip between Jammu and Srinagar. For days there had been reports in October that the traffic is jammed up on this vital highway. We were travelling to Leh to be part of Raid-de-Himalaya and we had enough inputs from people who had travelled ahead of us about horrendous jams. A team had been stuck for 20 hours two days back!! Talk about super jams.

Most of the people travelling for the rally were therefore taking much longer (about eight hours longer) Jammu Rajouri Shopian Srinagar route. Even we planned to do that but due to some other reasons we landed up at Udhampur early morning at 0500hrs to be informed that the highway is open for small vehicles. We made good time from Udhampur till after Ramban with the major time cut short by beautiful tunnel under Patnitop range.

At this juncture we started hitting some traffic blockage due to small stretches of road bein one way due to landslides. While the long lines of trucks were very well behaved and were moving - at snails pace - in one single line it was the jerks in cars and bus drivers who were the reason for repeated bottle neck as they tried to "cut in front" and in the process blocking the oncoming traffic leading to gridlocks. Fortunately for us we found a local taxi drivers heading off the highway to join up an under construction village road to byepass the jam up to Banihal - 10 kilometers away. This stretch was totally jammed u due to imbecile idiots who did not have patience to wait their turn. Next day we got a report from some one else who was behind us and was stuck in same jam for fifteen hours. And he was on a bike!!

So it's not just a question of overtaking by driving on opposite lanes but also being the cause of traffic jams. We see this also every time at railway gates all across the country.
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Old 14th November 2018, 10:26   #26
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Most of us petrol-heads don't redline or corner a bit harder to get to the destination earlier. We do it for the pleasure of driving. And I sure as hell had a grin plastered on my face for hours after the enjoyable drive.

Adding to this, there is a difference between fast driving and rash driving. It is not necessary that a person might be redlining its car when he is going fast in comparison to other vehicles plying on road. An auto will be the slowest while ascending a flyover while a high end car will be much faster. There is some reason most of us look at the bhp and power to weight figures before buying a car. That 0-60/80/100 depending on the permissible limits of the road surely bring a smile on our face.
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Old 14th November 2018, 10:38   #27
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Fast driving can be very effective, trust me.

On a Christmas weekend Friday evening, I drove from kochi to a suburb of Thrissur (total 90 kms). Due to it being start of a long vacation, there was incredible amount of traffic. People in Kerala would be able to appreciate this.

Crazy driving helped me reach destination in 2 hour 20 mins. My brother in law started in a different car at the same time from the same place. He reached in 4 hours. And he is not a slouch in driving, trust me - in fact he is one of the faster drivers in my acquaintances.

Driving an awesome handler like Ford fiesta classic Petrol helps - especially the oodles of low end torque.

Yes, it is risky driving in such a fast manner. Highly risky in fact. If your reflexes are not as good as a professional rally car driver, don't even think of trying. Especially braking reflex - on this drive, at least on 3 occasions I had to brake very hard and instantly - even a 0.1 second delay in braking would have meant disaster.

So, please don't do it. I myself have almost entirely stopped doing it.
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Old 14th November 2018, 10:44   #28
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post

2. Most of us petrol-heads don't redline or corner a bit harder to get to the destination earlier. We do it for the pleasure of driving. And I sure as hell had a grin plastered on my face for hours after the enjoyable drive .
The fun driving on a nice piece of empty winding road is every petrol head's dream. It let's you enjoy driving without bothering others or being bothered by others. You and the machine - Bliss, yes I hear you motorcycle fellows. ( someone sitting next to you about to..is also a possibility)

I have nothing against people who want to drive fast, being reckless is another matter altogether BUT not many know the difference. These days I find rental cars out for a spin having fun and are completely out of control on the highway, same goes for badly maintained cars full of stickers instead of paint. You can see them a mile away and it never seems to hold a straight line.

Swerving in an out of lanes endangering lives is a big No for the purpose of having fun.

I almost always have precious cargo while traveling, and as usual we will be running on a tight schedule(it's me versus Google). The balance of speed, comfort , safety , the next Coffee Day , I don't get that much fun driving on highways.

The Ghat sections is where I find driving heaven, the precious cargo also enjoys this thankfully.
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Old 14th November 2018, 11:04   #29
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

Malyaj - You have put into words what I have felt on many an occasion. So much so that I have now become sort of numb to it all. I call it the "baap ka road" attitude... and it used to irritate me to no end, what with all the antics being pulled by drivers all racing off to God knows where (maybe that's why we're called the human race!)... I just let them do their thing and hope that karma catches up to them.

Last edited by arnieshwartz : 14th November 2018 at 11:33. Reason: corrected typo; additional material
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Old 14th November 2018, 11:12   #30
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Re: The Futility of Hasty Driving

I think its best not to react whenever you encounter such drivers on road and allow them to pass. It is possible that the poor chap is really in trouble, maybe a flight/train to catch, attending to some emergency, etc. etc., you never know. Its really not our business. Also, not reacting to others actions on road, helps you remain calm on road. Unnecessary stress/emotions on road can land you in troublesome situations, which you could have easily avoided had you been calm.
How far or how fast you get to your destination driving hastily, also depends upon your driving skills. As GTO said, more than reaching a destination fast, its the adrenaline flow, which makes us do that sometimes. Its fun sometimes when the roads allow.

Last edited by chaudh2s : 14th November 2018 at 11:15.
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