[shibujp]

Revenge does not work. It just aggravates the situation. At the most just flash your lights at the offender. If he does not respond, leave it. You lose your temper and you have just become a worse driver. You are suddenly become obsessed with teaching him a lesson than doing a great job of driving.

You understand the situation better when you think about how much education most of these drivers have.

Driver education i mean.

The driving manuals are from the year the car was born .

Most of the accidents here are attributed to one factor - overspeeding - of course - dents are not considered to be accidents - only those that kill people. All efforts are directed to reducing the speed but not at educating drivers to be better. There are no efforts to improve the awareness of the drivers by the authorities which is much cheaper and more effective than all the expensive infrastruture upgrades they plan. Those are needed but education first.

Then there is the sagely advice by the "driving experts" and "teachers". Just learn steering balance and clutch, get a license - then you need to practice on the road. That is the only way you'll learn - sure!! and frustrate the hell out of other drivers. Do you ever thing that someone who basically finds it difficult to learn to pilot his car is going to the trouble of figuring out how to use his light judiciously. I was amazed by the Maruti Driving School instructors here in Trivandrum when my wife went there - basics of crossing a junction - stop, look, go was not taught. The instructor was more concerned about the honks of the vehicles behind and they would look on behalf of my wife and instruct her to go through the junction without stopping. Do i need to add that they did not have any night driving instruction at all?

Signalling, using your lights etc are basics. But here it is advanced driving.

Of course we need to keep reinventing the wheel - while other countries have successfully managed to tackle the driver education problem we are still learning the hard way.

"Expert" drivers here fail driving tests in the Gulf and in Western countries because they are simply not "expert" enough to drive with laws. They are not used to paying attention to yield signs, traffic lights etc.

So at the crux of the situation lies one very simple solution - stricter licensing tests and better driver education. And while you are at it, try not to go for the 100W bulbs - but make do with better 55W bulbs. Be the change you want to see - applies to driving as well. Take it from me - I was a serial road rage offender to people who I felt violated my driving rights.

Drive on,
Shibu.

[headbanger]

Talking about these uneducated drivers, take this.
a.)In winters here in Delhi, extreme fog conditions are encountered and these uneducated folks try high beam even in the fog. The fact is high beams shouldn't be used in fog since the fog will disperse the light into many directions making the visibility worse. Not only these people risk themselves, but anybody who is on the road is at risk- be it the other drivers or pedestrians.

b) These folks will toggle the light stalk between high beam and low beam instead of giving a dipper by pulling the lever upwards. And if you question why did they toggle the light, pat comes the reply "Are wo saamne waala bhi to mujhe lights maar raha tha". Funny as much as it sounds, imagine the apathy these people are in as far as education and following rules are concerned!!!

[thedreamcatcher]

Well there is another thing which annoys me. Quite often you see guys driving in the wrong direction. Ideally, despite the lack of commonsense on their part, but if some amount was to prevail, then use your blinkers. But no, these guys come at you with their high beams on and keep flashing it also at times.

Many times I have thought of driving straight in their path and stopping in front, blocking their way, give them a moutful, but then again, I see that behind them, there are more doing the same thing

[sohail99]

I usually turn on my rear fog lamps and it usually drives them(high beam blinders) crazy! lol!

If you're stationary, you can try re-positioning the mirrors such that the light is reflected back at them!! (give them a taste of their own medicine!)

While on this subject, I noticed that on highways most trucks are using high beams but at least they have the courtesy to switch to low beam when we give them a dipper flash!

[synchromesh]

Originally Posted by shibujp

Revenge does not work. It just aggravates the situation. At the most just flash your lights at the offender. If he does not respond, leave it. You lose your temper and you have just become a worse driver. You are suddenly become obsessed with teaching him a lesson than doing a great job of driving.

This sounds good and is also workable on leisurely weekends.

But what about the days when you have had a stressful day at work. Don't you think you would have to unnecessarily put up with the nuisance caused by some ignorant driver?
Like some of the TBhpians have opined, I would switch on the high beam and drive towards him.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by synchromesh

This sounds good and is also workable on leisurely weekends.

But what about the days when you have had a stressful day at work. Don't you think you would have to unnecessarily put up with the nuisance caused by some ignorant driver?
Like some of the TBhpians have opined, I would switch on the high beam and drive towards him.

Leave the full high beam drivers. What if, at broad daylight they switch on their lights and starts to overtake another vehicle coming onto your lane? This happened to me while driving to blore especially between coim-salem stretch where these bus drivers overtake at blind curves. I had no option but to drive off the road and stop the vehicle. These guys drive as if it's their own road. After testing my patience, I decided to stick to the road. When they started overtaking, I switched on my lights and stuck to the road keeping the speed to the min. I stopped right in front of them. They had no choice but to stop the bus and turn to their lane and in some case, reverse their vehicle. I did get some support from other motorists when they started shouting and abusing them. I know this aint the right method, but their overtaking made me go off road at many times.

[visu03]

I usually use anti glare clear lens glasses when driving during the night. This helps quite a lot. (You can get these lenses from any good optical store)

Also i do dip my head lights so that on coming vehicles see me clearly and steer away from me.

I feel that revenge is a bad idea since, blinding the on coming vehicle can confuse the other driver and may cause him to drive into you (wrong guessing the margin, etc).

[dr_anurag]

Revenge is no solution. It could lead to disaster. When I pointed the fact out to a young lady driving on high beam, I was amazed to hear that she had no clue her lights could be lowered and how. In most cities in India the road lighting is pathetic and does require one to use the high beam. The best option is compulsory fitment of auto- dipper in all new cars. Autodipper is a highly sophisticated electronic device that switches headlights of your vehicle to Dipper Mode (Low Beam) automatically when the sharp High beam lights of an oncoming vehicle falls on your windscreen and it switches back from Dipper Mode (Low Beam) to main beam (High Beam) automatically once the oncoming vehicle passes off and vice versa and it all happens within a fraction of seconds. Its not all but there’s lot more to it. Autodippers also keeps high beams under control automatically in well lit city streets & at all Red Light halts keeping in view no undue inconvenience to the Traffic Police officials manning the traffic.

[Unknownsatan]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

I stopped right in front of them. They had no choice but to stop the bus and turn to their lane and in some case, reverse their vehicle. I did get some support from other motorists when they started shouting and abusing them. I know this aint the right method, but their overtaking made me go off road at many times.

Be a bit careful brother. These guys are real dumbheads. Not worth risking your life teaching them a lesson, they will never learn.

Better go off roading for sometime

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by Unknownsatan

Be a bit careful brother. These guys are real dumbheads. Not worth risking your life teaching them a lesson, they will never learn.

Better go off roading for sometime

Ya i know. I did go off road many times, but had to show them how it feels. So gave them to taste their medicine. I made sure that they overtook at very low speeds so that I could stop right in front of them. Anyways, I know this aint gonna work. So decided to keep off road after that.

[octane1002]

Err..since we're talking revenge here, may I suggest revenge with a capital R..STROBES
P.S.this suggestion should not in any not in anyway be treated as an endorsement for such irresponsible acts.

[mayankk]

There used to be this zen in south delhi.He had a ruddy 7-8" reflector spot lamp on his roof.The car looked quite strange, but one look at that structure atop, you knew what it was.Never saw it used, but i pity the fool who got flashed by it.In fact, a lot of times when we crossed paths, i was glad i didnt drive with high beams.not even to know the "capabilities" of that mini-sun!!

[synchromesh]

Originally Posted by mayankk

He had a ruddy 7-8" reflector spot lamp on his roof.

I have come across cars with such lights. By the positioning of the lamp, it is evident that the driver is not using these lights to see the road ahead.
It will be angled towards the other lane.
If I run out of patience with the high beam drivers, I think I will opt for something like that soon!

[R2D2]

Revenge on people who drive with high beam on?? Quite silly.

When it comes to night driving, one blind man is bad enough, 2 or more blind men is asking for an accident.

Cheers!

[devenashani]

Very true revenge on hi beam drivers is like biting dog back! It will hurt you more then doing any good.

Safe and sensible driving is the way to go.

Originally Posted by R2D2

Revenge on people who drive with high beam on?? Quite silly.

When it comes to night driving, one blind man is bad enough, 2 or more blind men is asking for an accident.

Cheers!