[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

my car almost ended being featured in this thread thanks to a nincompoop behind the wheel of a Eicher!

we were on our way back to Bangalore ... all of a sudden i see the reverse lights light up on the Eicher and its starts reversing slowly....

Count yourself lucky. Very very lucky. The Eicher was reversing slowly, and he had working reverse lights!

[vina]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Yes its arrogance and I am guilty as charged. But it is a grown distrust in fellow humans(?) that has made me act in that way.

Each silent person in that bus contributed to the drivers rashness. I don't blame the driver, his upbringing has been poor.

I have got into enough situations in this city to not trust the guy standing next to me. Each one acts selfish and wants to fire the gun from somebody else's shoulder. He for me was another one of them. For the whole 15 mins after I had the spate with the driver not one person joined in to condemn him. The whole bus was silent. And this individual waited till we got off the bus to voice his support. Does it matter to me then?

Oh not at all. I look up to your posts on this forum. I am feeling guilty of doing what you rightly said was not correct. And on second thoughts I should have not being that rude. But at that moment and the rush, that came out in an instance.

Its my fear of being left standing alone to fight a common battle that is not mine, that makes me bitter. I don't want to be a martyr.

I have had such lone battles before and joined people in their lone battles too.

you are lucky you didn't get dirty looks from passengers who were "getting late for work" without realizing they were making haste to Yamraj - I have had that experience too.


What you told this other guy was right - even if you hadn't told him there was very little chance he would have done the right thing. Let's hope this will wake him up from his stupor, he may not find his voice to stop another driver from speeding - but he may remember your words when somebody else tries the same and support vocally.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

Count yourself lucky. Very very lucky. The Eicher was reversing slowly, and he had working reverse lights!

I second your thought mate! Those working lights saved you. But isnt there a way to counter these speed freaks? Really poor attitude. If ever some one dares to correct the driver in MTC, then he would purposefully drive even worser. Well I had this experience once and had to walk a couple of stops back since the driver showed his arrogance by not stopping at the stop where I was supposed to get down. It was not just me but were a couple of others more who suffered and I got the blame that i should have kept my mouth shut!! What a society is this? I did complain this incident to the depot and they are still taking action!! Its been almost a year and last before leaving the country I saw the driver still driving the same way and same route! I guess we TBHP's are the "bunch of idiots" probably who wants to follow rules and have courtesy for other citizens!

[vina]

Originally Posted by AlphaKilo

I second your thought mate! Those working lights saved you. But isnt there a way to counter these speed freaks? Really poor attitude. If ever some one dares to correct the driver in MTC, then he would purposefully drive even worser. Well I had this experience once and had to walk a couple of stops back since the driver showed his arrogance by not stopping at the stop where I was supposed to get down. It was not just me but were a couple of others more who suffered and I got the blame that i should have kept my mouth shut!! What a society is this? I did complain this incident to the depot and they are still taking action!! Its been almost a year and last before leaving the country I saw the driver still driving the same way and same route! I guess we TBHP's are the "bunch of idiots" probably who wants to follow rules and have courtesy for other citizens!

(I may be inviting an infraction but) - Why didn't you guys just beat him up? Rather than beating the dead horse that would have given that man some lesson.

On a more legal note - why don't you put a RTI application on what is the action taken? that will wake up the officials concerned.

[issigonis]

Originally Posted by Trust_In_Thrust

On the Udaipur - Delhi route drivers go upto 140 kmph as per GPS .
MAny drivers also driver sanely but yes few of them actually take it to 140kmph .The last week when i came back this speed was at in midnight on chittorgarh expressway.
Also the new Merc buses in Gujarat are also topping charts at around 150+ as i heard from few of my contacts .

Seatbelts definitely should be mandatory in these buses.

>>>

I am surprised and a little concerned to hear that SRTC buses drive at 140-150 kmph on the NH76 ( Udaipur -Chittorgarh highway).

I thought these buses had speed governors which would limit the top speed to about 80 kmph. These buses, howsoever technically advanced should not be driven at 100 kmph and over, simply because our road & traffic conditions are not conducive to high speeds, especially sustained high speeds.

I think one reason for driving at such high speeds is for commercial reasons ( faster speeds =faster turnarounds=more business for the owners)

Drivers on our roads do not observe sane and safe behaviour (abrupt lane changes without signalling, unpredictable driving styles and so on) and so one has to drive defensively everywhere and everytime.

The few times that I have driven on the Udaipur-Chittorgarh stretch, I have found the lorries observe proper traffic behaviour ( give way if they are in the right most lane, when they see the vehicle flashing its lights etc.). In fact the Himmatnagar-Udaipur stretch is good too.

Rajasthan has arguably the best behaved lorry drivers.

Hope this level of driving behaviour continues!

Regards, drive safe

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by vina

(I may be inviting an infraction but) - Why didn't you guys just beat him up? Rather than beating the dead horse that would have given that man some lesson.

On a more legal note - why don't you put a RTI application on what is the action taken? that will wake up the officials concerned.

Sir, true. I could/should have done it. But, I am out of country and at that time I was busy with my visa procedures. These are not valid reasons though! But still!

On that beating part, well, just for asking the driver to slow down, he went two stops ahead, and I was blamed by my dear fellow passengers that I am the cause for their inconvinence!! and with given Union strengths, had I even touched him on his shoulders, the whole bus drivers union would have gone on strike.

[Ragul]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

the driver just puts up his hands and says the security told me the back was clear to reverse, so i reversed!

My instincts usually make me stop behind another vehicle at a position where he can clearly view me or part of my car in the mirror. Sometimes we just find ourselves in a spot that is hard to wiggle out of I know ... it can be hard in heavy stop start traffic. But the one time you remember to position your vehicle behind another with visibility to the front driver may be your lucky day!

Glad you wiggled out with no harm done.

--Ragul

[YaeJay]

Been there. A demo i10 backed right into me. Those idiots dint even bother to see if they hurt anyone. All they were worried about was the scratch on their bumper. That dealer actually lost 3 orders from my family.


You were lucky, they had reverse lights and you could back out. I always try to be visible, almost never hover around the blind spots. But I guess I will only be visible if the guy in front checks his mirror!

If all the stingy goose with folded orvm could atleast invest in a Rs.300 after market wide center mirror we wouldnt be invisible!

[Thad E Ginathom]

Trucks in UK often have a sign on the back: If you can't see my wing mirror, I can't see you.


(Oh, that's Brit speak for ORVM. From the days when they were mounted on the wing.)

Back to Accidents.

It seems we lost a neighbour today. Some sort of faint or dizzy spell on his bike and that was it. Not someone I knew personally, but I knew the little boy, coming to search for his ball in the garden.

No helmet, of course. Died from head injury.

[YaeJay]

We must be the only ones that ride with their wings tucked in! What wing mirror ?

[vina]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

I think you got me wrong (or probably I was not clear enough), what I wanted to say that the right most lane is only for overtaking and when another vehicle coming at a higher speed then you are supposed to give him way. Overtaking from left is not exactly legal and people on our roads (like that Sumo) force one to overtake them from left side even though they've option to move to the left to let other vehicles pass. The only people who follows this rule are the (believe it or not) interstate Trucks, they'll always(90% of them) come to left hand side of the road to give you way. I'm sorry to say but the Sumo or the Second Omni ( was talking about the second omni only) are still not the ones on my good book. BTW, let me re-iterate that I'm trying to say that the Bus with loud horn and insane speed is the right one. But while prosecuting one law-breaker we shouldn't make the other law-breakers right.

I'm sorry.

I have seen trucks drive and on highways most of them are very safe drivers (though many behave as if a primate could drive better).

If the Sumo/Omni were doing 80-90 kind of speeds, I wouldn't blame them at all. They were not breaking any law and were testing the speed limits anyway. If someone wants to overtake them he is probably already breaking the law pertaining to speed limits - why shouldn't he overtake from the left too.

Also from personal experience - I was once driving a Kinetic Honda, overtook a truck on his right, and was slowly turning into the left lane when an aggressive sedan (don't remember the make now, but it was a fast car) first overtook the truck from the right and then proceeded to overtake me on the left - this when I had my indicators on !

I mean sometimes when you see a true moron approaching at very high speeds on the left lane - it is best to stick to your lane and let him pass the way he wants.

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Trucks in UK often have a sign on the back: If you can't see my wing mirror, I can't see you.


(Oh, that's Brit speak for ORVM. From the days when they were mounted on the wing.)

Back to Accidents.

It seems we lost a neighbour today. Some sort of faint or dizzy spell on his bike and that was it. Not someone I knew personally, but I knew the little boy, coming to search for his ball in the garden.

No helmet, of course. Died from head injury.

Where? Even the kid? Why don't people realize someone else has to clean up the mess? Why does everything has to be enforced? Even animals are more responsible. A fraction of a second is all it takes to change one's fate, his/her families fate.

So, how important is a helmet? I still remember, me and a friend/neighbour of mine met on our way back ( I was coming back from work on my Kiho and he spent the whole day with his friends watching some cricket match on tv in a hotel room, riding his Shogun). We were doing really slow speeds ( 40km/hr). At one point there was a bullock cart (now, don't expect me to say slow moving bullock cart!) I saw one enthu nutcase on a shogun trying to cut in, I slowed and stayed behind the cart, my friend did not see him, not his fault, but he was on the road the next second. He was unconscious.
I put him on a rick, took him to a hospital get his forehead stitched, left him at home, got his bike back home.

He later lost his vision on his right eye. His parents spent almost two years trying to fix his vision. He did recover later on.

If one could do so much damage at about ( most likely less) 30 Km/hr, Imagine what can happen at higher speeds.

Anyone, that loves his family would care to get back home in one piece, Would try very hard not to be a human crayon.

[vina]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

Where? Even the kid? Why don't people realize someone else has to clean up the mess? Why does everything has to be enforced? Even animals are more responsible. A fraction of a second is all it takes to change one's fate, his/her families fate.

So, how important is a helmet? I still remember, me and a friend/neighbour of mine met on our way back ( I was coming back from work on my Kiho and he spent the whole day with his friends watching some cricket match on tv in a hotel room, riding his Shogun). We were doing really slow speeds ( 40km/hr). At one point there was a bullock cart (now, don't expect me to say slow moving bullock cart!) I saw one enthu nutcase on a shogun trying to cut in, I slowed and stayed behind the cart, my friend did not see him, not his fault, but he was on the road the next second. He was unconscious.
I put him on a rick, took him to a hospital get his forehead stitched, left him at home, got his bike back home.

He later lost his vision on his right eye. His parents spent almost two years trying to fix his vision. He did recover later on.

If one could do so much damage at about ( most likely less) 30 Km/hr, Imagine what can happen at higher speeds.

Anyone, that loves his family would care to get back home in one piece, Would try very hard not to be a human crayon.

I have already mentioned quite a few times on team BHP (perhaps this thread itself) how a helmet saved my life twice on highway accidents.

In July 2000 my father was found face down in a pool of blood about 1km from my house by his colleagues/neighbours who were on their way to work (about 2km from my house). My father used to drive a Bajaj Chetak and is a very slow (BUT NOT SAFE - he is my father, I love him, but I never ride pillion with him if I can help it) rider and he was found a few meters from a turn - he could not have been doing anything more than 20kmph when he fell.

He spent three days in ICU and to date doesn't remember what happened. And he is renowned for his memory - he once met and old classmate after 20 years and congratulated his friend for wedding anniversary - the guy's wife was not very amused with her husband (because the husband didn't remember himself).

My father did not have any injuries except on the head - hypothetical situation (1) even a cheap, not-so-good helmet would have allowed him to walk away with a few scratches, and hypothetical situation (2) if his colleagues hadn't found him, he would have passed away on the road that day.

Since that day we insist on helmets, carry two helmets on the two wheeler we have, and even if a guest shows up without a helmet we force the guest to wear one.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

Where? Even the kid?

This is news as per ironing lady. The guy was alone on the bike, his wife, child and dog survive him. They earned from owning the building and letting out portions, so the family is not going to be destitute --- except in the matter of fathers, which no-one can afford to loose. Worse: i think he was only 40-something.

It seems this happened in Guindy. I would have thought the chances of coming off a bike there and not being immediately run over would be slim, but no, in this case it seems a helmet could have saved him.

[mobike008]

Note from Team-BHP Support: Again this thread is witnessing off-topic comments. Please stick to discussion of topic.

If it continues, we'll have to do a mass-cleanup. Thanks for your co-operation.