[selfdrive]

China executes youth over road rage killing - The Times of India

My initial reaction to this story was disbelief. While executions are a different matter altogether, at least justice was delivered for a cold blooded murder.

[mmxylorider]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

China executes youth over road rage killing - The Times of India

My initial reaction to this story was disbelief. While executions are a different matter altogether, at least justice was delivered for a cold blooded murder.

Exactly. Though I am all for capital punishment, this was taking it to extreme. What I did like reading was that justice was swift rather than a dragged on court case. We should have separate courts for traffic related offences.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

Exactly. Though I am all for capital punishment, this was taking it to extreme. What I did like reading was that justice was swift rather than a dragged on court case. We should have separate courts for traffic related offences.

+1, a separate fast track court should be available for traffic offences. The additional costs of such a service should be levied to the traffic offenders. In fact this can be a 'profit centre' where the fines should be so steep that:
- the expenses of this court are covered and profits can be made (legally)
- they act as a deterrent for the 'smarty pants' on the streets

I was reading another article on the capital executions in China and this seems to have no impact/ reduction in corruption levels. Normally this should have acted as a huge deterrent but it is perhaps being used as a tool for subversion against political/ local opponents.

In India, the best deterrent would be a hefty fine. And by hefty I mean something like a % of the OTR vehicle cost.

Once they start fining people heavily, all rash driving and road rage will be curbed to at least some extent. Why should fines be affordable in the first place?!

[anilisanil]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

In India, the best deterrent would be a hefty fine. And by hefty I mean something like a % of the OTR vehicle cost.

Once they start fining people heavily, all rash driving and road rage will be curbed to at least some extent. Why should fines be affordable in the first place?!

I am afraid no. Imagine a cop asking nonchalantly would you pay 50K fine or give 10K to me? Shrug! Too many people == too many creative ideas to break laws and find loop holes to escape!

[mmxylorider]

[quote=selfdrive;2382913
In India, the best deterrent would be a hefty fine. [/quote]

A hefty fine would mean a bigger bribe to avoid the fine. Let the fine be what it is but make the offender pay at designated places/courts etc ater confiscating license or vehicle papers. That would mean another day to be wasted and hopefully would be a better deterrent.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by anilisanil

I am afraid no. Imagine a cop asking nonchalantly would you pay 50K fine or give 10K to me? Shrug! Too many people == too many creative ideas to break laws and find loop holes to escape!

At least the higher expected bribe will put people off rash driving/ committing traffic offences? Normally a bribe would be around 25 to 50% of the cost of the fine. So instead of a bribe of 50 (against challan of 100) a bribe of 1000 (against a fine of 2000) would be a bigger deterrent. Nevertheless, all this is just wishful thinking, so lets just agree to disagree

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

A hefty fine would mean a bigger bribe to avoid the fine. Let the fine be what it is but make the offender pay at designated places/courts etc ater confiscating license or vehicle papers. That would mean another day to be wasted and hopefully would be a better deterrent.

+1, also this should be done in person and not by proxy. If the driver isnt the owner, the vehicle owner should be obligated to be present. Otherwise, chauffered vehicles will continue to defy traffic rules.
By the way, do chauffeurs/ personal drivers have a separate driving license? They seem to be quite the rage these days (pun intended). I have seen at least 3 fights in the last 4 days involving chauffeurs.

Perhaps at places/ roads where space is available for vehicles to be parked on the street; they should be parked overnight in the open at owners risk. But a contradictiry thought there is why punish the vehicle; especially from a bhpians point of view thats blasphemous!

[JoeMichael]

Age sure changes a lot - 10 years back anybody cutting me off , or squeezing into my lane, would totally work me up and midtown madness would follow - But now its more like - "ah kids !!! trying to impress someone / satisy their own ego".

I have to take a U turn near Leela palace/Manipal hospital to go to work. Everyday invariably you will see some moron , mostly autos or Teanas/ Jettas /Innovas owned by Leela or Royal Orchid cut across from left lane , block the flow and expect all others to stop for them, virtually bullying there way ahead. Initially I used to compete , now I realize- a minute saved is not worth a scratch on the car.

In case of you getting rear ended or scratched by someone, its best to see assess the situation before you react. Had an incident where a fortuner scratched my car as he was zig zagging. I asked him to stop the car. As I got down , saw a lady in her 40s in the back seat and looked nervous after seeing IAF sticker on my car. The driver was blabbering something in Kannada. I ignored him and went to the lady and told her a couple of grands would fix the dent on my door. But If she further employs this guy , she might get killed very soon.

She apologized on behalf of the driver and asked him to apologize too, gave me her visiting card and offered to pay for damages. If it was the driver alone , I would have just noted the number and filed a complaint , not worth my time to have a verbal warfare.

Its best to tell yourself that people who drive rash are immature amateurs and not worthy of your attention. Just ignore and even have a smirk at their hare brainedness.

[StarrySky]

Originally Posted by JoeMichael

I ignored him and went to the lady and told her a couple of grands would fix the dent on my door. But If she further employs this guy , she might get killed very soon.

Had a similar incident a few months back. I was turing right from a signal and there was this blue Ikon turning left from the opposite lane (he had a free left turn). He was overspeeding and almost drove into me. I was left with nowhere to go as there were cars in the other lane. I had to stand on my brakes and pray that no one rear-ends me. He continued to drive rashly, including overtaking another car in a blind curve. I caught up with the car when he was stopped near a shop. I stopped next to him and found that the car was driven by (probably) an under-age boy (he didn't look older than 16-17) with his mother(!) in the front passenger seat. I opened my window and told the mother than if you let your son drive like this, you won't see him alive for too long.

[ghodlur]

I have been three months in UK and have hardly seen any road rage. The only form of rage I have seen is honking and that too at extreme conditions for eg a cyclist moving slowly in the bus lane. The drivers in UK are the most patient ones I have seen. I have heard from my colleagues that in case of any accident nobody raises their voices and the crowd never gathers around the accident. However somebody does approach if anybody is hurt otherwise its left to the drivers to settle the issue.

[anilisanil]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I have been three months in UK and have hardly seen any road rage. The only form of rage I have seen is honking and that too at extreme conditions for eg a cyclist moving slowly in the bus lane. The drivers in UK are the most patient ones I have seen. I have heard from my colleagues that in case of any accident nobody raises their voices and the crowd never gathers around the accident. However somebody does approach if anybody is hurt otherwise its left to the drivers to settle the issue.

No man, there is indeed road rage in UK. I have been there and seen it too. My UK colleagues son superbike was thrown out of a road by a speeding super car, only because the bike was able to overtake the same. The super car escaped.

The public transport drivers and truck drivers are generally non british and are bit rude. They honk and they even spit at people, I have seen this many a time in my stay at Watford and Brentwood. However, due to lesser population and better law enforcement we do not see it as often as it happens here, another reason is that the licensing authority teaches certain things which most people adhere to! And there are always exceptions

[SuperSlick]

@JoeMichael & starrysky, appreciate the way you both had handled the situation! Calm and polite to put forth your views! That shows how 'responsible' you are and other drivers should be. Not just thinking about themselves but also care to think about others on road.

[ariesonu]

My wife told me this incident to me few weeks back:
Sometimes she takes those shared cabs with her society friends to nearby mall for their monthly ladies day out.
On that day, my wife was incidently sitting in the passenger seat, saw photo of two little boys huddled around an elder girl & something was written in marathi under the photo. Since my wifey cannot read Marathi, she asked the cabbie about the photo. To which he replied that the photo is of his daughter & two sons. His daughter died in a freak truck accident about two years ago in Reay road area & since then he keeps that photo in his cab to remind himself, of keeping his cool while on the road & observing the best road practices.
The marathi words underneath roughly translated to "PAPA COME HOME HAPPY"

May god bless his daughter's soul.

Raab Rakha.

[JoeMichael]

While we are discussing bad drivers - want to mention a very good driver as well. This was the day when I was to pay full amount for my new car.Since the dealer had dealer had already taken possession of my old one and I had some personal business to attend to called up Bangalore City Taxi

The cab was driven by a 40-ish gentleman. Regn number 7016 if i'm not mistaken.
I have to admit he was perfect in his driving. Proper Signals, No unnecessary honking , no swift line change , No zig zagging , No race to beat the signal . We went from Domlur to JC Road to Bellandur to Koramangala and finally to Richmond Road.

I had to tell him that, in Bangalore , I haven't come across a better cab driver. Couple of days later I had to go to Airport. Usually , I book a Meru , But this time I called up Bangalore City Taxi and specifically asked for this gentleman

Wish all Cabbies shows his level of maturity and expertise.

[Gany]

@JoeMichael, do you have his number & name? I think if more people start asking him to drive around that will set a trend!

[JoeMichael]

Originally Posted by Gany

@JoeMichael, do you have his number & name? I think if more people start asking him to drive around that will set a trend!

No I dont have his number. They donot entertain direct customers. Booking has to be done through their call center only...You can mention the regn number and check if the guy is available.