[shancz]

Originally Posted by tatafanatic

Another anecdote from Uniform life;

Always a pleasure to read your anecdotes from uniform life . Respect

The pleasure is often misinterpreted by people around who look at a hooded oaf looking at his phone and giggling

Might I suggest a separate thread titled the same, not that I am the first/only one to do so.

[puneetakhouri]

Originally Posted by Lord Lucan

Is the overwhelming opinion of this group to avoid such situations is to stay behind the vehicle on the right lane and keep honking till they move to the left lane

Naah, I think its all about making the driver up ahead aware of your presence more than anything else irrespective of which side you overtake from. I for one have this uncanny habit where just before overtaking, I keep looking into the orvm of the vehicle I will overtake to see the driver's face. The moment I see that he checked the orvm looking towards me or my car, I know he knows I am there and then I overtake.
Obviously this doesn't work when overtaking vehicles driving in a convoy, where the old honking flashing is the best, but definitely helps while overtaking vehicles who I feel might swerve suddenly.

[jazrox]

Originally Posted by RGK

From Ulundurpet to Salem there is a combination of two and four lanes. The two lanes are now separated with road cones (highway cones) especially to avoid haphazard overtaking. To my surprise, one gentleman on his Jeep Compass overtook me on the left and I was able to look at the mirror (Left OVRM)and allow him. .

Last week, many vehicles at a stretch overtook me on the left on this stretch just because I was tailing a truck at maybe 35-40 kmph and didn't overtake from the left (I always tail a slow moving bigger vehicle on this stretch) All it takes to hit the 4 lanes is maybe another 5 mins of being patient behind the truck - but nah, we gotta pass when we gotta pass seems to be the motto these days! I always watch my left mirror and move as close as possible to the cones to allow these clowns to pass. One guy crossed over to the right, almost took out a two wheeler (bike guy caught by total surprise) and 3 other cars followed him happily!! After seeing the doctors accident, am super cautious with the MTC buses in Chennai now.

[harry10]

I have always practiced honk and then overtake policy along with expecting to withdraw anytime due to any circumstances. Even in City area I do the same especially with autos and bikes who have the tendency to switch lanes without any indication or looking in their ORVM.

The sensible thing is always to never mess with a bus, truck or any heavy duty vehicle. No point jeopardizing your life or damage to your car for a moment of anger. Accept in your heart out of 10 road users 8 are mostly arrogant morons who have no regard for their or others life and you can control that momentary anger. Also, with zero dep and RTI options car will be back to it's shape anyways so why endanger your life for a piece of metal.

I had my share of road rages and from experience I am saying all this, it's just not worth it.

On a side note I will really recommend installing a good horn, preferably the ones which now come on Hyundai/Kia cars. Most OEM horns aren't good enough, especially Honda cars have pathetic horns which no road user even cares to pay attention.

[Sran]

Originally Posted by Lord Lucan

Is the overwhelming opinion of this group to avoid such situations is to stay behind the vehicle on the right lane and keep honking till they move to the left lane

To stay and honk till pass is given is the ideal way of driving but it is not feasible all the time. We all have been subjected umpteen number of times by bigger vehicles hogging the right lane, so it is not ideal and sometimes overtaking from left has to be done and in my mind there is no two way about it. But I also don't drive above 120 km/hr under any circumstances.

In my opinion your overtaking maneuver was wrong. An Ecosport has just passed the bus and was still on the left lane. When and if you would have passed the bus there was no way you could have stayed on the left lane and you would have to speed up to move to the right lane which was totally dependent on the speed of the Ecosport in front of you. If the Ecosport refused to increase the speed you would have eventually stuck driving in left lane and your overtaking maneuver would have been a waste. If the Ecosport had gained speed you would have to take the right lane crossing the bus which then would have dependent on the speed of the bus. If the bus driver would have slowed down everything would have been perfect and if not then again you would have been forced to be in the left lane. In the worst situation if the driver was an out and out egotistic he could increase the speed and then accident was inevitable. In overtaking from left the ideal situation would have the non presence of Ecosport so you could have sped up for 100 metre and gained some distance and then moved to the right lane.

[Deepsp]

Major accident happened on Pune - Nagar Road in Wagholi, Pune today morning. A Hyundai Verna crushed under a sand truck.
Huge traffic jam there.

Received the pictures on WhatsApp.

[DRIVE_ADDICT]

Im not sure whether im penning down this experience again in tbhp.
Years back, one fine morning on Chennai Koyembedu-Ashok pillar stretch, I was waiting at a signal to turn Green, a State transport bus came behind and honked, i rolled down the window and hand signaled the driver to look at the signal (attitude! ), I didn't realized that it itched his ego, until in the very next signal, when i was about to stop for the red light, he comes at a very good speed behind and i swerved to my left to give way to that monster. It was a very close call and he just went pass me with inches of gap at a very good speed jumping the signal.
From that day, I decided, not to try bring in sense to any nonsense mind. Sad to loose a precious (that too a life saver's (Dr)) life on this incident.

[Neil Roy]

Hi Guys, After reading the various posts on Dr. Karthikeyan’s death, I’m compelled to share my thoughts on the matter. The fact that Dr. Karthikeyan is my cousin’s classmate makes it even more personal. I have crossed the supposed place where the accident took place yesterday and I’m surmising what might have happened that fateful morning. The facts leading up to the road rage and other so called triggers are all conjectures. The road across the BP petrol pump on the madurai bye-pass is a very steep left towards madurai. Any bus/car/SUV finds it very difficult to stick to its lane at speeds exceeding 60 KMPL. Hence, I wouldn’t blame the driver of the bus for intentionally causing the accident at this particular turn. There was never an overtaking room there, right or left. I would blame the road’s design more than the driver and Dr. Kathikeyan for trying to overtake at this turn. Attaching the pic below for reference.



That being said, I find some of the comments on not overtaking on the left, blind spot of bus etc quite fantastic and impractical. While most of the bus and truck drivers in Tamil Nadu are well behaved there are some who take perverted pleasure in trying to delay or hamper fast moving cars. They try to use their higher visibility and greater footprint on roads to intentionally make life difficult for car motorists. This coupled with the relative inexperience or road knowledge of the occasional long distance driver makes it a death trap to the smaller vehicle. The only way this can be avoided is to force the govt to teach defensive driving to all the govt bus drivers and conduct routine psychiatric evaluation. It makes better common sense to educate and counsel a smaller fraction than try to ask all to compromise to indulge a few egos.
On a personal note, the spot where the accident took place is just 15 kms away from his destination. It hits hard to know that a doctor covered 95 percent of his journey to lose his life a few kms from his destination leaving his wife a widow and children fatherless. That’s the most difficult part.

[JReacher13]

Bike stunt on public road gone wrong

This is reported in Bhopal. Apparently, the young chap is trying bike stunts on public road and received a lesson for life. Two people were grievieously injured in this accident. Road safety, consideration to fellow road users and importantly common sense is becoming a rare commodity now days.
Viral Video : కుర్రకారు జోరు..* వైరల్*గా మారిన యువకుల బైక్* ఫీట్లు https://www.eenadu.net/videos/playVideo/Madhyapradesh-Youngsters-Bike-feets-Video-goes-Viral/1/18604

[SKC-auto]

Honking at every vehicle you over take is not practical and comfortable. I only honk at vehicle's which are not driving in a perfect line.

Originally Posted by puneetakhouri

I for one have this uncanny habit where just before overtaking, I keep looking into the orvm of the vehicle I will overtake to see the driver's face. The moment I see that he checked the orvm looking towards me or my car, I know he knows I am there and then I overtake.

Isn't that too close to the other vehicle, also does not work for heavy vehicles where the ORVM is usually the size of a women's travel time make up mirror.

[venkyhere]

Originally Posted by puneetakhouri

I for one have this uncanny habit where just before overtaking, I keep looking into the orvm of the vehicle I will overtake to see the driver's face. The moment I see that he checked the orvm looking towards me or my car, I know he knows I am there and then I overtake.

you can do this even if his window is closed or in the night ?
Most of us check for 'is he going to dart in' by looking at the front tyres when we are close to the guy who is ahead in the neighbouring lane, before making our pass.

[BoneCollector]

A Thar has apparently rolled down the road in Gulmarg today. Scary when you look at it.

Link 1

Link 2

[puneetakhouri]

Originally Posted by SKC-auto

Isn't that too close to the other vehicle, also does not work for heavy vehicles where the ORVM is usually the size of a women's travel time make up mirror.

Originally Posted by venkyhere

you can do this even if his window is closed or in the night ?
Most of us check for 'is he going to dart in' by looking at the front tyres when we are close to the guy who is ahead in the neighbouring lane, before making our pass.

The idea is that I want the other driver to take note of me while I am overtaking so that they do not switch to my lane. So just before I am about to overtake, but I am in the overtaking lane, I locate the driver in the ORVM, if I can see him glance towards me, then I overtake comfortably. If he hasn't looked at me then maybe a small headlight flash or honk and if he notices then I pass.
The reason is that with windows rolled up, if people have music turned on loud, honking does not get in very well into modern cars. And for this purpose I make sure to check if they have noted me or not. This technique actually saved me once where just before overtaking I looked at his ORVM and he had not seen me so I was a bit behind him and in that very moment, the guy cut straight to my lane as cars in front of him had stopped suddenly. And since I was prepared I did not even have to brake hard to avoid him.

[amol4184]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

A Thar has apparently rolled down the road in Gulmarg today. Scary when you look at it.

From the looks of it he seems to have made a turn towards the railing and then couldn't brake? There are no skid marks. Took a right turn for whatever reason and went straight in. Kinda strange.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by amol4184

From the looks of it he seems to have made a turn towards the railing and then couldn't brake? There are no skid marks.

It's quite normal for car's brakes and steering(I mean steering will work, but the car won't turn) to not work on snow unless you have proper tyres (chained).

There isn't any traction to be able to decelerate or to change direction.

The only fault of the Thar driver in the above incident is that his car (tyres) wasn't equipped to handle that terrain.