[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

The *you can overtake me* signal has been abolished as a part of the highway code internationally.

Umm, but no one here knows that is the case!! As late as last August, I found people from delhi to chennai use / respond to this signal just fine.

Since then, I have found people around Chennai respond to it just fine, as also many truck drivers using it!

What would you propose as a replacement for the same?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

What would you propose as a replacement for the same?

Nothing. Do not signal to say "You can overtake me". It is the judgement call of the driver of the overtaking vehicle, whether the manoeuvre is safe or not. What would happen if he crashed (even into your car) while overtaking? Can he legally blame you for asking him to overtake? Or does he own responsibility for his own actions and admits to making a mistake in judgement, which caused the crash? It is for this reason that the "you can overtake me" signal is not in use any more internationally. Indian drivers, of course, couldn't care less.

Some more details: http://mylicence.sa.gov.au/road-rule...ook/overtaking

Being overtaken
When driving a vehicle being overtaken by another vehicle, you must:

• keep to the left, if safe, to allow a reasonable space for the overtaking vehicle to pass or
• keep within your lane and
• not increase your speed until the other vehicle has completely overtaken your vehicle and returned to the lane or line of traffic.

Even if the vehicle ahead does signal you to overtake him, it is your responsibility to decide whether it is safe to do so.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Nothing. Do not signal to say "You can overtake me". It is the judgement call of the driver of the overtaking vehicle, whether the manoeuvre is safe or not. What would happen if he crashed (even into your car) while overtaking? Can he legally blame you for asking him to overtake? Or does he own responsibility for his own actions and admits to making a mistake in judgement, which caused the crash? It is for this reason that the "you can overtake me" signal is not in use any more internationally. Indian drivers, of course, couldn't care less.

Some more details: http://mylicence.sa.gov.au/road-rule...ook/overtaking
Even if the vehicle ahead does signal you to overtake him, it is your responsibility to decide whether it is safe to do so.

Interesting, firstly i would file that for my next driving stint overseas.

But - coming to India, I would respectfully disagree as the legal liability perspective does not really hold much water here.

This signal is critical for my driving often. On many mountain / ghat roads, I only overtake trucks when the trucker ahead of me signals that it is okay to do so. I would rather flash my headlight / honk many times to elicit an "okay to overtake" signal. In the absence of that, I will only overtake when we enter a straight section, else I will just hang behind that vehicle.

Even otherwise, it is a "courtesy" signal - that I let the vehicle behind me know that the coast is clear for them. Atleast in India thus far, since there's no legal liability angle, i would continue to use this signal!

[sgiitk]

What isf often used (in rhd countries) is indicate left, which means I am staying left and you are free to overtake me. It will be a right flasher in lhd lands. It is NOT an OVERTAKE signal. At best it can be interpreted as I am willing to be overtaken.

[Sheel]

If I cannot see through the corner, I will not overtake.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by Sheel

If I cannot see through the corner, I will not overtake.

Exactly. I will trust only my eyes for this decision making, even if I get a 'go ahead' signal from the vehicle in front.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

What isf often used (in rhd countries) is indicate left, which means I am staying left and you are free to overtake me. It will be a right flasher in lhd lands. It is NOT an OVERTAKE signal. At best it can be interpreted as I am willing to be overtaken.

Fair enough. We're pretty much on the same page.

Originally Posted by Sheel

If I cannot see through the corner, I will not overtake.

Sheel,

Principally we're on the same page.

Except I'm not so sure even seeing through the corner is good enough. On many himalayan roads, esp with a turbo-laggy diesel like Swift D, in the time between you see through the corner (assuming its a right hander and you see the coast is clear) and you overtake the truck, there is a period of 3-4 seconds.

Now the truck, by simple virtue of being ahead of you on the curve can tell you whether the "coast is clear" or not. esp on busy not so wide roads I prefer to let the truckies guide me - because you don't know when some other speedster comes downhill from the other side in the interim.

This is my nightmare scenario in the hills, esp around Nainital etc where there are far too many over-ambitious first-time hill drivers on the loose.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Now the truck, by simple virtue of being ahead of you on the curve can tell you whether the "coast is clear" or not. esp on busy not so wide roads I prefer to let the truckies guide me - because you don't know when some other speedster comes downhill from the other side in the interim.

This is my nightmare scenario in the hills, esp around Nainital etc where there are far too many over-ambitious first-time hill drivers on the loose.

The truckie may indicate left or right to tell you to overtake. How do you figure it out? As for hills the worst I had was driving from Grenoble to Geneva in my UK registered (rhd) Ford Escort. A total nightmare.

[humyum]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Umm, but no one here knows that is the case!! As late as last August, I found people from delhi to chennai use / respond to this signal just fine.

Since then, I have found people around Chennai respond to it just fine, as also many truck drivers using it!

What would you propose as a replacement for the same?

On the single lane highways in internal Maharashtra like going from Mumbai to Goa by Pen-Mahad-Sawantwadi route, truckers indicate that its safe to overtake with their right indicators too. It's really helpful, of course I don't trust them 100% and always leave room for surprises, but its a good indication that you can watch ahead yourself and overtake.

Originally Posted by saket77

Exactly. I will trust only my eyes for this decision making, even if I get a 'go ahead' signal from the vehicle in front.

That is true, but a second opinion always helps right ?

Originally Posted by sgiitk

The truckie may indicate left or right to tell you to overtake. How do you figure it out? As for hills the worst I had was driving from Grenoble to Geneva in my UK registered (rhd) Ford Escort. A total nightmare.

Along with the signal, there is always a posture of the vehicle ahead which indicates what he means by the signal. The tele-tel signs are quite evident all the time.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

The truckie may indicate left or right to tell you to overtake. How do you figure it out? As for hills the worst I had was driving from Grenoble to Geneva in my UK registered (rhd) Ford Escort. A total nightmare.

Its quite simple atleast in India - its almost always the right indicator. Here are a few scenarios - its a "coast is clear, now overtake" signal If a trucker puts the right indicator:

• After having shifted into the middle lane from the right lane (4+ lane highway) - its a "okay stop hassling me, now overtake" signal
• (in ghats esp himalayas) After you've been tailing a truck for a couple of minutes flashing your lights and the occasional pip of the horn, and then you get the RHS indicator -
• If the car / vehicle is moving left or not changing its lane

etc etc.


I always give the other vehicle two-three seconds after their indicator is switched on - that avoids most wrong interpretation scenarios.

[sgiitk]

Well right indicator and hogging the right lane, inviting you to overtake from the left. Both are wrong!!

[humyum]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Well right indicator and hogging the right lane, inviting you to overtake from the left. Both are wrong!!

I have never seen a trucker or any large vehicle on the highway ever ask anyone to overtake from the left. Its usually the smaller cars which are moving fast and start passing the trucker from any gap possible. A trucker will 99.99% of times move over to the left and ask you to overtake from the right, its the car guys who are impatient and don't even wait for him to move back to the left and muscle their cars from the left and put themselves in a precarious situation. Trucks don't have the reflexes of a car and hence if it can't change lanes like a F1 car, while cars even at 100-120 can shift lanes pretty quickly.

[sgiitk]

@humyum; I see it all the time NH25, NH2 etc. I have seen it on NH8 though not that frequently. So maybe we are driving on different planets! Basically the joker is on the RH lane on a busy two lane highway, and does not want to move left even when the coast is clear. Even on the YE you see more traffic in the middle lane than in the left lane! Often I am in the left lane and then have to either cross two lanes or overtake on the left. Hobson's choice.

[phamilyman]

On a side note, I found this powerful ad:


Think before you drive while sleepy!

via: http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print...oundation_pram

[nijelj]

Disclaimer : Posting here, since the other related threads are closed.

I drove last weekend from Kottayam to Bangalore in the night. We had our daughters birthday party on sunday afternoon, so with the prep and the party and the after-party, we were ready to leave only by 6 pm. I'm not sure why, but the roads in kerala were empty to an extent (Due to the ISL final maybe). I reached my in-laws, 90kms away by 8pm, had a light dinner and then started at 9pm. The traffic was sparse and we had a quiet uneventful ride throughout.

For a long time, I was feeling sleepy on the avinashi-salem stretch. I started looking for a median to get on to the service road, so that I could rest for a while. Even while looking for a median, I started to doze, so much so that I almost rear ended an Auto going on the middle lane at 40kmph. Shaken, I thankfully found the break in the road . Since I had my baby, my wife & her female friend with me, I left the engine running with A/C on and door locked. Pushing my seat back on full recline, I curled up with a pillow on the drivers seat. Time : 0100 Hrs. With the idling shifts of the A/c cutting on and off, I thought I would not get any sleep.

Next thing I remember is jumping up with a gasp and grabbing the steering wheel. I was feeling horrified that I was driving in my sleep. For a minute my face was like this . I looked at the clock. Time: 0130 Hrs. It slowly dawned on me that I must have been dreaming. I had slept for half an hour and hadn't even realized it. Started driving soon afterwards, taking multiple breaks for hot sweet black tea and washing my face.

Like that drinking binge which makes you swear off drinking for a month or two, this kind of experiences (of tiredness, risky driving) has left me wary of night trips. But I know I will be back to this soon, because will need to travel at night to conserve leaves from office. Only way to manage for me is to take power-naps when possible.