[Tkm]

Keep your eyes low. Don't look at anyone in the face. Never drive fast in the city. Cutting a few minutes off might cost you in the long run. Never lose your cool. Thank God we are not in Russia. Would request all to just type "Russia road rage" on you tube and see the videos. We will think Indians are saints. By the way one of my friends was shot at as he did not allow a car to pass him. Be careful of black fortuners and black endeavours with very dark sun film...usually will make trouble

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by PowerSpike

As we know, in India, it's always the fault of the larger vehicle and the 'poor' auto driver always gets the sympathy vote of the crowd and the 'system', unless someone is willing to step up and fightfor what is right.

This is so true! So many times, on the highway between Chennai and Bangalore (which I drive often in the night / early morning), there are these bike riders who blow by at probably 150+ kmph, when I'm doing a 90/100 in the middle lane. At that speed, even a touch of my ORVMs might send them to grievous harm and I will invariably be the accused.

In my court case incident, I was completely NOT at fault, but I was the one who had to spend a ton of time and money to sort out legal stuff. A dashcam would have easily overturned the police inquiry.

Experience is a hard teacher.

[santhoshp2004]

A friend once taught me this lesson - while driving on roads in India, just keep in mind that your primary objective should not be to go from A to B, but to protect and safeguard all those co-drivers who are traffic-awarenss challenged. So be sympathetic, not outraged.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

I have a story to share.
One day, I was driving my car on a highway. A Chevy Beat was driving behind me for sometime continuously honking and flashing his lights so that I could make way for him.
There was not enough space for me to let him pass through. I was sure he got irritated. Once traffic got cleared a little, I let him go.
Now what he did was, he overtook me and immediately slowed down in front of me and signalled to stop at the side of road.
I had 2 thoughts in mind - either drive past through him ignoring his intentions but that would lead to a bad chase Or simply stop by the side and have a talk.
I parked by the side and he came out with full anger. I knew where this will go.
What I did was - I lowered my window and apologized to him for not giving way due to traffic.
That immediately calmed him down and he went back to his car and left.

Lesson I learnt:
Even if you know it's their fault, no point in explaining/educating them. That's wastage of our time and energy.
Apologizing is enough for the other person to quickly calm down.

This is the usual story whenever I go to Chennai from Bangalore in my Bangalore registered car.

Happens one out of two times I travel there which is twice a year.
The exact same thing happened to me when I went last week when a cab driver kept honking from behind in traffic and finally he wanted to squeeze through on the left and hit my mirror and couldn't go through. Finally he found his way on the right and gave me the stare and went on. I didn't react since this was normal for me and expected. Just that I make sure I don't react because that is what they want.

[White Aviator]

Hello, I'm posting an incident that happened with me just a few hours ago.

As I reside in Pune, I always knew I would post on this thread sooner rather than later as the everyday commute is becoming increasingly stressful due to the devil may care attitude of people on the street. It seems as though almost everyone is a goon of the area and they drive/ride as if it's their private road, even a slight reaction from your side would result in you getting threaten or beaten up.

This incident happened today morning when I had just left home for my office on my KTM Duke 250 wearing complete riding gear as I usually do (The street conditions have become so bad that you can never be too safe so I always have atleast my helmet, gloves and jacket on).

Here are the events that happened:

1. I was passing from the backside of JW Marriott which is the main entrance of Pavilion mall to join SB road and an Activa ahead was going very slow so I went ahead and tried to overtake him from the right.

2. He immediately swerved right and I had to brake. I felt he might be going right as he was almost on the opposite side of the road. He had not used his indicator which is not a surprise as most people on the road think of it as optional.

3. Him now being on the right and almost on the opposite side, I went ahead from his left when he suddenly swerved left and I braked hard to avoid a collision and honked as I felt he might not have noticed me coming. Here I also realized this person does not have any mirrors on his vehicle and not even a helmet on as he had his trusty goggles to keep him safe.

4. I now knew he had noticed me coming and I didn't want to be stuck behind such a hazard on the street so I made a quick overtake from the right and moved on. This is when I heard some shouting so I checked my mirrors to see him giving me the finger.

5. At this point I was about to join SB road and had to be aware of the traffic coming from the right to safely join the road so I slowed down, looked and continued joining the road when I suddenly notice this person is on my right. He now started firing expletives and said some other things which weren't audible to be through my helmet.

6. I told him to keep his finger showing to himself as it was him who was driving dangerously. He then went ahead to throw in a few more expletives telling me to get lost from his area. I told him to get lost in return as I don't want to speak with him. He got even more agitated which I should have known and started shouting something laced with expletives which I cannot remember as at that point I had my attention the traffic coming and safely negotiating through it.

7. I also remembered reading this post (Road Rage - Understanding, Avoidance and De-escalating Situation) on the forum and felt it's better to accelerate out of this situation before it takes turn for the worse so that is exactly what I did.

8. I saw there was a good gap in the traffic ahead and accelerated quickly and thought I left him behind but I then noticed him chasing me down. He quickly caught up to me on his Activa and was shouting telling me to stop so he can show me who he is. He even tried to cut me across to slow me down and stop me but now I was afraid of getting beaten up by this goon and accelerated more to leave him behind.

9. He chased me towards the end of SB road but couldn't keep up with me once I joined Pashan road which has less traffic and I could ride at a faster pace. I was relived to not see him in my rear view mirror anymore but still very angry and upset because of the incident. I thought to myself of the great day I had planned ahead of getting work done quickly and then going to meet a few friends which calmed me down.

10. I then reduced my speed to my normal commuting speed and reached my office safely. I then sat and gathered my thoughts taking a moment to myself and talked to a close friend about our plans for the day which made me forget all the anger. I then immediately started compiling this post so that I do not forget anything


Key takeaway and learning points:

• I'm unsure what upset this person so much as I just honked and did not even look back at him when I overtook him to just move on and now I feel we cannot even honk to make others aware we are there and overtake whenever they let us overtake.
• No matter what the other person says on the street and no matter how insulting it is, it will always be better to just ignore and move on.
• I'm happy that I had my Duke with me through this so I could outrun him. I cannot imagine what would have happened if I had a slower bike as this person was riding the wheels off of his Activa and now I think its safer to have a faster vehicle.
• If I would have stopped I'm sure this person would have called up his fellow goons and even the people on the road would have sided with him after looking at my bike. People easily assume that the one with such bikes are rash riders or some might even try to target me thinking I'm very rich as I'm riding this bike.
• Calling the Police may not have helped as they too could have had similar assumptions as the point above I feel and I would have to spend a lot of time and energy for such a small incident. Also I'm sure these goons would have already done all the damage and left before the police came so its better to just get out of the situation then and there.
• Doing a google search of 'Road rage incidents in Pune' will give you some horrifying articles where people were even murdered due to such small issues so its better to never engage with them
• Always keep in mind that these people don't know you so what they say about you is false so do not let it affect you. The people who do such things usually have nothing left in their life so they do this to make their life entertaining or maybe doing this is their job. We have a lot of things to look forward to and such incidents disturb our mental peace so think abou the good things in your life and move on forgetting such incidents.

[Small Bot]

Originally Posted by White Aviator

6. I told him to keep his finger showing to himself as it was him who was driving dangerously. He then went ahead to throw in a few more expletives telling me to get lost from his area. I told him to get lost in return as I don't want to speak with him. He got even more agitated which I should have known and started shouting something laced with expletives which I cannot remember as at that point I had my attention the traffic coming and safely negotiating through it.

Now, I understand that anybody's reaction might have been similar. But I feel that this probably could have been handled better by you, though I cannot say for sure.

A somewhat better reaction to the offensive language could have been: "Sir, I don't think I was in the wrong, but still I apologize if you were offended. I'll drive more carefully." I still don't know if it might have de-escalated the situation, but it could have at least stopped him from becoming so angry as to follow you. Most people cannot psychologically stay mad for long at others who clearly show them respect. You also come out as the better man in this situation.

This is just a postulate however.

[aansh singhania]

I reside in outskirts of pune and therefore have to travel on a national highway almost everyday. I am also a relatively new driver with a only 4 month old driving license. Now this national highway was recently repaved but the divider height wasn't increased therefore people make a lot of illegal u-turns by just jumping the divider.
One fine day as I was driving in my honda city a splendor which had three young people on it and all were without helmets ( obviously) made such an illegal uturn and I was caught off-guard . I was able to control the car easily but just honked at them once. I think this was the mistake because for some reason the guy who sitting last turned and stared at me and started hurling "colorful" words. Now when I was learning driving my dad had told me that try to avoid speaking to these guys as much as possible because it isn't worth it. I remembered this advice and accelerated away from them fully knowing that they won't be able to follow me on the highway.
I guess this was the best decision.

[s.jain1990]

Originally Posted by Bhupesh_2628

I have a story to share.
Lesson I learnt:
Even if you know it's their fault, no point in explaining/educating them. That's wastage of our time and energy.
Apologizing is enough for the other person to quickly calm down.

I have a similar story to share. I was driving in heavy traffic and the car was at standstill for about 15 minutes. I lowered the handbrake and the car moved back just about a few centimetres. The result was that the bumper of my car kissing the bumper of the car behind.

The guy from the car comes and starts punching the window. I stepped out of the car and I told him that I will pay for the damages. On accessing the damage, there was not even a scratch. The guy was more furious and I told him to calm down and I will pay for the damages if he thinks there are any.

He backed off and he said “show me that you have a license and I will let you go”. Mind it, i am a 30 year old man and I no where resemble like an under-age driver. I masked the address with my finger and showed him the DL. The guy just went away after that. I still wonder what went wrong with him and why was he so angry without any damage.

Also, that day I understood how important it is to stay calm in such situations. I am sure if I would have raised my voice, it would have ended up with a physical fight.

[Thad E Ginathom]

The roads are full of people who have no right or sense being where they they are. They often inconvenience, endanger, or just annoy those of us who are trying to be in our right place.

It is very hard not to hit the horn and or gesticulate, but I have a new motto I'm trying out:

Never mind where on the road other people are, just drive on the piece of road where they are not.

[careind]

I had an experience while I was travelling in the Chennai - Bangalore NH on my WagonR 1.2 AMT @90-100 kmph. My driver was driving the vehicle and I was in the co-passenger seat and my parents were in the rear.

Till date I am not sure how I slighted a Fortuner that was going quite slow. On a wild guess he might have thought my driver manoeuvred too close while overtaking, though I will never know the reason.
Whatever be the case, he suddenly started overtaking me in quite close quarters and then would stall me when he got in front.
The first time I experienced this, I wrote him off just as as a novice. But then, this started happening everytime we went ahead of him while overtaking in different lanes. He would overtake us in close quarters and then stall us. After a couple of times I realised that he is doing it intentionally. My driver was complaining to me about the "Novice" at the driving seat. But the moves looked too calculated.
I detailed my suspicion to him and he took umbrage and wanted to give him a piece of his mind. And that completely changed my outlook as that behaviour could lead to a mishap if my driver started competing. I just stopped for a longish tea tea break to give enough space between him and us and carried on.

People should understand that any vehicle is a weapon of destruction if driven irresponsibly and should not do so just to prove a point. Honk, flash headlights, vent our anger within the AC cabin, and then move on.
The one golden rule to always employ on the roads - Never compete on the road. Always let the other guy "win". That is safe!

[RGK]

Generally, most of the road rage is caused because of not letting way and I have started doing this with a good amount of success. I lower my window, stretch my hand and signal to wait for a few distances and allow them to overtake.

[gotoguru]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

The roads are full of people who have no right or sense being where they they are. They often inconvenience, endanger, or just annoy those of us who are trying to be in our right place.

It is very hard not to hit the horn and or gesticulate, but I have a new motto I'm trying out:

Never mind where on the road other people are, just drive on the piece of road where they are not.

Rightly said. Best to avoid driving, and do things WFH.
The maintenance of various vehicles that ply on road are pathetic. It's all by God's grace anyone goes out safe on roads nowadays.
Anyways drive defensively and drive safe.

[Kumaran93R]

To all the people who are travelling between TN and KA, please understand that the horn is used very differently in the two states. I travel between Chennai and Bangalore every week.

In Chennai, and in most of TN, most people use the horn to signal, that they are coming faster and to warn others to not get in their way. It is mostly not used to 'shout' at others. This is also important safety because the types of vehicles plying on the roads in Chennai are much more diverse and at much different speeds than in Bangalore. For eg, usually heavier the vehicle, the lower the frequency and louder the horn is.

Bengaluru has a very different culture when it comes to honking. Most people don't honk, and honking is usually considered as being aggressive. This might have to do with the numerous no honking boards, and also because of a much more homogenous mix of vehicles travelling at similar speeds. I've seen several instances of people driving at very similar speeds on the roads in bangalore. (Something which you almost never see in Chennai.) The need for honking in Bangalore is much lower.

When I started driving in Bengaluru, I was getting stares for my normal honking. It took quite a while for me to understand this difference and change my honking pattern between Bangalore and TN. But most people in the road aren't aware of these small but crucial things like most BHPians. So please give them the benefit of doubt and let them go. Not worth trying to fight with anyone on the road and loosing your peace.

Hope i'm not trigerring any state based issues here, just stating the differences in normal driving styles between the two places to give a better understanding of the situation.

[Fuldagap]

This is a rather different post compared to most others and I seek pardon if it imparts wrong method to take on such issues.

1. I was driving family's Linea 1.4 on a state highway somewhere in western UP in 2017. We were returning from a funeral. The road had almost negligible traffic. After sometime, a new Swift Dzire came flashing headlights from behind and just as it was about to pass us, some rural area appeared on the scene and due to slow moving bullock carts and all the driver of Dzire was not able to overtake me.

I had understood his frustration from the first instance itself and I tried a lot many times to let him pass somehow. However for approx 2 kms he was not able to overtake me and I was driving normally due to parents and 2 old ladies being inside, constantly trying to give him way but was not able to due to narrow road and other small vehicles coming from all sides.

After approx 2 kms when the rural area ended I instantly made way for the Dzire so that he can overtake me. As soon as he overtook me he deliberately tried to show off and passed me so closely that the Swift's rear was almost about to touch the Linea's bonnet. My meter told me 70 kmph. Then he sped off with as much speed as he could. The Swift was new and it had very good acceleration. The old ladies in my car hot really scared of his act and let a sigh of relief when nothing bad happened.

Till now I had not even thought of being rough with the guy or anything of that sort. But the way he passed us could have led to disastrous consequence if i had not quickly managed to not let his rear touch the Linea's bonnet. The old ladies were scared and that saddened me bit too. Within a fraction of a second I visualised all that could have gone wrong and decided to teach him a lesson (still thinking what could still go wrong). I lowered 1 or 2 gears and sped up to him. He was already driving fast and seeing me in his rear view mirror he understood and started driving even faster. My father sat in the co driver's seat and tried to stop me once but he knew it was too late. After approx 5 mins of 'chase', I managed to halt the Dzire in the middle of a steep curve and empty road. By the time he was able to 'respond' I was there at his door which was unlocked and I managed to drag him outside, caught him by his collar and served him with proper rasgullas without counting. Initially he tried his muscle power and tongue power to respond but soon understood what he had gotten into. A thin looking light weight fellow beating the shit out of a heavy guy. His passenger was the owner of the Dzire, a sardar fellow who afterwards came out to be an acquaintance returning from the same city as us. I made him do 10 sit ups on the road and apologise to the old ladies sitting in the Linea and to his own employer, the owner of the Dzire too.

I even threatened him to take him to the next police station and make him spend a day or two there.

Not advocating what all happened that day and to do such sort of things, the fact of real world is, if you happen to be polite or humble or law abiding or follow the rules, generally people on Indian roads take you for granted and try to bully you unnecessarily. People in so called SUVs even more. I was carrying a piece as is the norm there and knew very well beforehand if I was or I was not capable of carrying the incident off.

Then I continued the journey at the same calm speed that we were doing earlier and reached home safe and sound.

The thing is we need a civilizational change in driving habits and etiquettes on Indian roads and that sir is going to take a lot of time.

2. Another incident happened on Bremen chowk at 12 in the night in the year 2010.
I was riding pillion with my friend on his old Splendor. There was no traffic around but we still were waiting for the red light to go green. Suddenly a local drunkard on his Splendor came from behind and stopped beside us mocking us for stopping at the traffic light when there were no police or other vehicles. We both tried to laugh it off with the gentleman but he had other ideas. As soon as we tried to go ahead after the green signal, he blocked us and instantly came off his bike charging at us shouting god knows what in his local language. By the time we could realise anything, we both had been been hit twice or thrice by the gentleman. Pissed off, we both became very angry but good sense prevailed and I stopped my friend from reciprocating. We both tried to laugh it off and told the gentleman that we won't ever stop at traffic signals again in life. The gentleman became happy and went back to his bike. We went to Pune railway station and to KP afterwards, had a jolly good time. I still doubt whether or not it was good to not have responded to the gentleman fellow but that is what we did.

After so many years of travelling and driving places, I've realised that there are no winners or losers or brave or cowards on road. The circumstances could become averse in a moment. It's better to be on the safe side, remain calm and think of better things ahead rather than giving into what the 'local' drivers make you do. Calling the police is altogether a different game in India worthy of its own thread!

I stated my two experiences here as they happened, not advocating any of the decisions I took.

[digitalnirvana]

A Finnish owner of a Tesla Model S 2013 is so upset that he's blown his top.

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Literally

"From time to time, things just go wrong, sh*t hits the fan. Then it's time for Finnish intransigence to step on the lead," it says, setting the tone for what's about to happen next - a massive explosion.

https://youtu.be/7_9aVzf5fC4