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-   -   Driving thru hell (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/2808-driving-thru-hell.html)

guys,

we all know we can buy the best automobiles available in the world , right here in india.

but can we drive the cars or bikes here ? enjoy the ride ?

NO. in any big metro driving a car or riding a bike has turned into a most stressful thing.
1) the roads are bad infact pathetic with all potholes. and the number of cars are increasing day by day.

2) the autos and the buses drive like crazy lunatics. as if they own the road.

3) the pedestrians cross the road anywhere they feel like. they jay walk gladly with the surety that the guy in the automobile will take care of them. ( if we touch them we get a bashing and get hauled up by cops )

4) the beggars and enuchs are all big bothers on the signals.

5) people think that the signals challenge them to break rules.

i mean im losing my mind and happiness if i drive on Bombay roads daily. i think the situation is as bad in any other metro as it is in Bombay.

My question is - as a team BHPian how can all of us help getting this situation better ? surely we can do something , take a signature campaign to the RTA or the cops or something ?

come on all u guys, please lets brainstorm and do something before we all go mad. Moderators lets do something !!!!

cheers

Taking a signature campaign to the RTA won't help.
Apart from signature what are we putting there?
N_C, I like the idea of thinking some solution through our post.
Let's have this. Moderators, your opinions!!??

I agree with ya totally NC.
U`ve pointed out the right nuisances.Infact we can really take the initiative to this and improve the situation in due course of time.Its our duty as responsible citizens to improve the quality of life in India and to bring a gradual change in this moment of revolution India is goin thru.It will help immensely.

I`m game for this plan.
How bout other BHPians??
C`mon show ur support.
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This topic was posted at 14.56 and it's 22.18 now and just 2 replies! Now we know why the situation on our roads is so bad. None Cares! Anyway, I feel that instead of blaming everyone else for the problems on our roads, we need to improve first. Are we trying to say that we all drive perfectly? Let's improve first and then we can demand others to improve.
1. How many of us drive within our lanes where there are clear lane demarkations?
2. How many of us wait at signals till it turns green? In Vashi, signals have timers and ppl driving cars like Honda City, Ford Ikon etc. i.e. people like us, drive off as soon as the timer starts counting down from 10. What did they acheive? How far did they go?
3. How many Accords, Mercedes do you see stopping behind the stop line (where visible) at signals? If you try and tell the Merc owner about the stop line , zebra crossing he looks at you like either you are talking greek or have gone bonkers to talk about stop lines in India. And this same guy will drive ahead and criticise another car owner for driving too slow in the overtaking lane. (What the merc owner believes is the fast lane!)
4. How many times have you slowed down when you see a pedastrian crossing at a zebra crossing? if the guy is half way across the road and the vehicle signal turns green, do we stop waiting for him to get across? NO! We start our cars honk at him and start with a jerk to scare the poor guy off.
5. Why the hell do we Indians honk so much? i have never got an answer to this question. So many times when i m at a signal and it's counting from 10 to 0, cars behind me honk. What are they trying to tell me? Break the law? When i stand behind a stop line at a signal they honk. Why? [img]http://www.team-bhp.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/***.gif[/img] I don't believe ppl can be so dumb that they don't know anything about halting behind a stop line. And many times the drivers are pretty old. The kind who will proudly tell you that they have 25 yrs of driving expereince if you try to correct them.
6. Post 9.30pm in Mumbai, there are hardly a few cars that bother to stop at a red light. Why do we need to see a Pandu to obey traffic lights? are in school that we need a master with a cane to discipline us?
Lastly, what do these ppl think they are doing by breaking red lights at night?
*What is the message thats going across to their little child sitting on the seat next to them? The message is that it's ok to break laws if the cops aren't around. We have a whole generation growing up thinking on these lines and thats why i say the traffic situation will not improve for the next 150 years.
Everyone thinks he is right and the other car was wrong. What does everyone think he is? GOD , that they can't be wrong? These are few points that we as car owners and drivers can do to improve things a tweeny weeny bit. As for the other problems:
Government employees have to understand that their job is to make good roads not to make money. Govt. needs to crack down hard on these "Ajwanis". And yes, let the authorities not make stupid excuses for potholes like too many heavy vehicles using the road! As if there no trucks in western countries!

Crack down on RTO's. Send all the officers to a nice western country so they themselves first learn to drive the proper way.

I always say this: Who says Pedastrians have right of way over cars in Western countries? They have it here too! Here they can cross the expressway too, something they can't do abroad. The only way is to pass a law: any person who gets hit by a vehicle while not using the zebra crossing or while crossing when vehicle traffic lights are green will have no recourse in law against the driver. There are plenty of subways in Mumbai and no one uses them. When they get hit the driver goes behind bars! It happens only in India!
* All of us, Government, RTO, car drivers, Pedastrians need to improve. In between there was talk to having a Mumbai CEO to take care of the city. If i was made one, the first thing i would do would be to cancell all licences issued so far!! Send all our so called "licenced drivers" to learn to drive the correct way.Desparate situations need desparate solutions.
I went over board with this. Sorry for boring you guys.

But first thing people... is to teach even normal people how to drive. They block the fast lane even at the speed of 20-30 kmph..then overtake like wild, dont give indicators before turning or cutting some one.! Its so irritating when we try to drive properly but becauz of others v cant. For example.. everytime at Andheri.. if some one is standing behind me at a Signal and it not even being green...he starts honking.. then i need to show him the signal.. which i do by pointing my hand to the red signal! Seriously...if even 50 of us take up the task of educating Indians about driving...i guess..we would be able to change some part pf the population!!!

They were to introduce special lanes for buses in Mumbai.Seen it at a few places only,and obviously the BEST guys do no follow it.
Bout the cabs,as they are plannin to introduce new cabs like indica n stuff it`ll be great.Also if i aint mistaken,they would be educating drivers about lance driving and teaching them english so they could double up as tourist guides,instead of fooling all phirangs comin here.
Hope they do that soon,and these cabbies and buses do follow it up properly.
Wud be the beginning.

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Guys ,

have noticed a few more things...

why do the educated guys talk on the mobiles while driving ? what can we tell the uneducated people ??

why do the very literate people not stop at signals at nite ? if i stop the best buses and autos stop too but the private cars just whiz by as if our vehicles have stalled !!

why do literate people on bikes go thru the smallest gaps at the signals and come rite in front of the car standing first (that too at an angle) and then when the signal turns green the bike stalls...

why do the bike fellas always ride in the fast lane and indicate the cars to overtake from the left ? they feel safer if a car bangs into them rather then a bus ?? strange...

why do people walk in the opposite direction of the traffic that too in the fast lane ..close to the divider ?? amazing....

i mean why do auto guys at the signals in the left most lane decide to go across all waiting traffic for a u turn ?

crazy stuff on our roads ...

i mean we shud discipline ourselves first......and then we can take this matter to others ....

Come on guys ...out with more ideas to fight this menace !!!

cheers

Moderators,

cant we ( all tbhpians ) go and talk to the cops ..for holding a drivnig session for all interested people ??

we could have people like Mr. Pasricha come in and give us a talk on trafffic manners ...

a refresher course on the rules of driving perhaps....

i mean the cops would gladly help us out..it can and will lessen the strain on them as well ...

wat say ??

Delhi has bus lanes... so what... nothing...
every 500 meters is a bus stand... and at that place the busses takeover all 3-4 lanes.

I think... The solution for Delhi should be.

1. Teach people about a bit high speed driving ... i mean 60-70km/h (all drive like F1s till 40.. then.. they go no where else)
2. Increase speed limit to at least 60km/h ( from current 50... 50 in delhi is a joke... see the roads!... 6 lane 8 lane)
3. Minimum speeds should be specified.... people shouldn't be allowed to drive at 30-40km/h)
4. Lane driving is only possible if u have some flow in traffic... if it crawls at 20km/h... forget lanes)
5. Fines for offences should be rationalised.... (like.. you talk on mobile its 1000 and if u jump the worst of traffic lights u pay 100)...
6. The traffic lights should be more reliable... some time.. they go green for 120secs... and other days for 5secs. .. and they are ready to fine you if you go on the 6th sec.

I can go on and on... everything is wrong here.

Vehicles which spoil Delhi's traffic (mostly)
1. Auto's (would drive in the centre of 2 lanes at 30kms/h)
2. Bikes (Traffic is slow they are MotoGP racers.. traffic is fast.. they are like Autos)
3. Busses (well you know)
4. Qualis (all call centre cabs... ready to kill)
5. Maruti Vans (all commercial... ready to die)
6. Santros (born rally racers)

I dunno guys, it's not as simple as it looks. Educating people is ok, but how do we go about it?

Many times the cops are the ones breaking the rules. Ever seen a police jeep at a signal? Even if all the others are waiting, this guy just zips past the signal and the traffic cop can do nothing but salute him.

I recently saw this programme on one of the news channels (please mention the name if you know it), where they stopped a few cops on bikes and jeeps and asked them to produce their DLs. Was amazed to see that almost none off them were in a position to reach into their pockets and produce their DLs.

Shan2nu

yeah,

abt the cops - i had read and seen fotos in a newspaper in bbay abt the cops refusing to wear seat belts !!!!! [img]http://www.team-bhp.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/***.gif[/img]

reasons were very vague ..maan these cops suck....

but still there can be a way where we as a team can make a difference !!

When compared to delhi...i still think mumbai has a better set of drivers....who have somewhat more traffic sense (by a very minute margin though) than their counterparts in delhi....

Guys,

we need solutions for the problems here. we are only discussing whats wrong , that we all know !!

we have to brainstorm and come up with ideas how to prevent this happening .... this is gonna help us and all the people who drive...

come on !!!!!!!

I guess most of you know about this site having read about it in times drive but still here is the link
doesn't seem impressive to me except for the knowledge on penalities. Now we can argue with the pandu at least.

Damn the penalty we pay for breaking the law.
Wot bout the paandus??? They themselves are so corrupt and accept bribe on a platter.Its so easy to bribe any government official.
If they get paid moderately instead of the regular 5000Gs,i guess they "might" stop accepting bribes.
I guess for now,we should all go ahead and meet the head of the RTO department or write a letter to the CM regarding this issue.They will surely help us.....
Wot do ya think??

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