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-   -   Road Rage - Understanding, Avoidance and De-escalating Situation (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/133373-road-rage-understanding-avoidance-de-escalating-situation-45.html)

to Point#1 - it is evident from the video that splash did hit the Auto guy, I guess you may have missed noticing it while driving (peripheral vision)

to Point#2 - why would you omit those from the video when you did retain quite a bit on 2x mode

I don't think whatever vehicle you were driving (duster?) would've skidded going from 30-0 kmph unless you were driving on snow.

Bottom line - We (common driver/riders) can never win in an road rage. Better sense should prevail - park one's ego aside - do all possible gestures/tone admitting guilt - apologise.

Never ever make it seem like you don't care / running away.

Peace out! :thumbs up

You have given enough explanation.

Let me tell you why he went wild.

1. Not because he got splashed. But he felt you did not do enough to avoid splashing him.

2. You just carried on without stopping and apologizing immediately ( according to him). That always creates an impression that you are trying to escape though you might not have any such intentions.

I once went through a huge splash of water near Kalyan Nagar after a heavy spell of rain around 8 p.m. Totally my mistake as I did not expect any water logging at that spot and it is my regular route. There was no one either side of me as far as I could see and I carried on. After about 500 meters, a goods auto was waving his hand. I thought he was signaling that the boot was open lol:.

I immediately pulled over, rolled down and " enn aithu sir" ( what happened sir)? That cooled him down as he was about to shout at me for blinding him completely for a moment with the splash. I then said sorry and he carried on shaking his head :).

This is unfortunate. Sharing another incident happened with my wife just yesterday in Mumbai -

She was driving alone in afternoon within city on left-most lane, when an idle Police SUV parked on the edge of road suddenly entered the lane without indication or bother looking if there's incoming vehicle from behind.

Police vehicle dashed pretty badly to our SUV, throwing it off balance and fairly causing deep damage. When my wife got down to check, Policeman got angry & tried to scare her saying you were driving at high speed. She being a far expert driver than most gave a proper peace of mind to both police officers explaining point of impact, city speed regulations, street-side parking rules and their authority over traffic :D

While they tried to flee, she insisted they file FIR & exchange insurance information. Unable to respond and seeing this lady won't budge to their threats, they agreed to settle matter at nearest Police station. Over there the Station incharge tried to play judge and dismiss matter as 'thik hai, ho gaya'; and to the point all of them re-tried to play high speed angle & deny any blame. Now my better-half demanded they prove it in court and file FIR right away.

With no sign of budging, they finally agreed for Accidental damage report to get the repairs done through insurance. Again, in report they tried to play it down saying accident happened & 'scratched' civilian vehicle. But my champ made them write full details of extent of damage (including wheels, tyre, all 4 panels etc). This report is important because Insurance companies will find every reason to deny or reduce claim amount (especially for older vehicles).

Now car is at service centre, insurance survey underway. We won't get it back for another 15-20 days for sure. Yet to know how much we'll have to pay out of pocket despite insurance coverage. Forget money and time lost, the harassment and trouble because somebody from Govt authorities did not follow road regulations is unique horrible experience.

This incident could've very well gone to different conclusion. I wonder what made it less horrifying? Is it the sheer luck we're in Mumbai and authorities here are less rowdy than other cities? Was it presence of mind that she was able to counter them with logic? Was it because she was calm in the moment of distress when a Policeman of all people exhibited road-rage instead of showing maturity? Has internet/media made authorities less of a bully? Why even today in developed places of India, accident results to 'settling it on street' than following guidelines?

Please be careful everyone, roads are full of bad people. Know your rights.

What does insurance mean here exactly? The third party insurance of the police SUV? Or is it something else?

Yes. This was 3rd party damage by police car to another vehicle. They've liability to compensate for damages caused (which is usually covered by mandatory 3rd party insurance). My insurance company will pay for damages on behalf of one who caused damage through a central pool of money collected from all mandatory third party insurances. Exchanging this information with proper accident report makes the process little easier.

The accident report helps insurance companies know the details of damage caused in accident. In case the report is not detailed, insurance company may reduce claim stating that few particular dents on my car are not from accident; they were present prior to accident hence invalid for compensation.

This is so unnerving first of all and ridiculous on the auto guys part to charge at someone with a stone. Thank God things got de-escalated quickly. Once I was in a taxi and the driver activated the windshield washer and a bit of the water got sprinkled on a biker behind us. He came forward at our side and told the driver one should see whats behind and then spray. In such cases one should be just aplogectic towards the other guy and move on.

Wowclap: This is truly inspirational. Bollywood might be interested lol:
At the risk of sounding sexist, I think the driver being a woman helped a bit in this situation. If I travel with my wife in the front passenger seat, the police stops us less in highways compare to if I travel alone or with a male companion. Heck, a woman also pays lesser amount of insurance premium in India which is opposite of what happens in some other countries. Women also pay lesser car loan interest. So, there is a general perception that women are calmer and safer drivers.
Perhaps this is also supported by statistics otherwise insurance companies won't be a part of it.

Something similar happened to me. I was standing at a red signal when I decided to wash my windshield just once. A bit of the spray fell onto the helmet of a rider coming up just beside me.

Before he could react, I immediately rolled my window down and said: "Sorry, boss. I did not realise it might splash on you. Here are some tissues if you want." Whatever protest he might have had just died there and he just took a couple of tissues, gave me a thumbs-up and we went our separate ways.

Sometimes an immediate and genuine display of contrition goes a long way in de-escalating the situation.

That was exceptional handling of the situation.
Me being the idiot I am, would have tried to mock charge him with my vehicle.
Or probably would have nudged him for self-defence.
But you know how violent auto unions are.

Reminds me of the time ( early 1980s) I was going with some fellow tennis players for a match at Dhanbad. We got bumped in the rear by a vehicle with policemen and their family members as well. It was a taxi and not a police vehicle. It was my car - an Ambassador. I told the cops that you are in the wrong so you have to compensate me. They tried to wriggle out of paying. My fellow players were discreetly signalling I should let it go. These were cops in Bihar after all! I suspected that they probably comandeered the vehicle and were doing something that was not legal. They were on the back foot very quickly when we were discussing who should pay. Any how to cut a long story short I got cash which was more that what I estimated it would cost for denting and repainting. First and last time I got money from a cop!

First of all your wife did a great job! : )

A question, why are they biased towards older vehicles?

Sorry if I sound pessimistic, but how come the policemen allowed your wife to take back the vehicle without keeping it for 8-15 days at police station.

Also I guess most often Police Vehicles (Cars, SUVs, Vans) don't have valid insurance after the original one gets expired.

I squirted a biker with my windscreen washer once. It was a genuine accident, and I immediately apologised: he laughed and said, no problem.

On another occasion, a biker stopped by the car, and was telling me something. My disability is language, and, even after all these years, I have not learned Tamil <Blush>. Eventually I asked if I had splashed him: I think that is what he was telling. I just said, I am sorry, very sorry. He understood, and also understood that, to get anything else out of this non-local-language foreigner would be tough --- and drove away. I don't think I splashed him, but hey, maybe, and the apology cost nothing.

Today, I was doing an aggressive right turn across traffic, an nearly drove into an auto that I thought was going to let me go. At first I hit the horn, and he looked roughly at me. It was his right of way. I thought better of it and gave him a, yeah-my-bad wave, and he nodded back and drove on.

Why will Police keep the vehicle? Under what rule/sections of the law?

Conditions under which a vehicle can be legally impounded are very limited. The amount of paperwork required to take custody of property (car in this case) is huge. Impounding would’ve required FIR/registration of crime. These guys were not showing willingness for simple accident report. Perhaps because they themselves knew that this mishap was their fault. Police can seize vehicle only under few noted conditions under Motor Vehicles Act; or in case of serious Penal offence.

And just to add further, it’s okay if there was mistake on behalf of police vehicle. It’s called ‘accident’ for a reason. Any one of us can unknowingly commit mistake causing accident. That’s why there’s system of liability insurance. Most road-rage situations happen because people jump to fix the blame and take/avoid ‘payment’ as a first thing during mishap.

Older vehicles tend to have dated damage due to extensive use over years. Consider for example - If my car already has few dents on left side due to various unknown reasons. Now if I happen to have accident on same left side of car & make a claim. All the existing damage gets clubbed with new ones & insurance company ends up paying for repairs not really part of the claimed incident.

Older vehicles are not as carefully driven a brand-new car. You are far more mindful of fresh new car in first 1-2yrs. Especially exterior- as a owner you feel guilty for weeks if your new car incurs a single scratch rl:

Most believe older vehicles will have higher maintenance, frequent breakdowns & thereby higher claim frequency. Partly a reason why you struggle to find comprehensive insurance cover when your vehicle gets older. God forbid if it’s discontinued model/OEM.

All above are perception and experience based behaviour of insurance companies as per my dealings in fraud control, liability sector. In absence of precise analytics and extensive ground-data, insurance companies developed their own general methodology to judge the risk. Maybe in coming years with personalised underwriting & new technology, these perceptions will go away.

For generations, in my native country, youngsters bought old, cheap cars for their first vehicles. That then became one of the most expensive categories to insure. Combination of youth, inexperience, vehicle likely to be driven with not too much care. That was not perception. That was hard data. Insurance companies know very well what they are paying out for. It is subject to continual analysis and scrutiny by actuaries (who are humans with number-crunching computers implanted in their heads ;) )

India does not yet have this person/personal-record-based insurance system, but I would be very surprised if they do nor analyse their claim data.

By the way, most personal car insurance in GB is for the named driver (or couple maybe) only. Adding other drivers is expensive. Accidentally, I found out that that there are exceptions. I added my girlfriend to my policy --- and the premium dropped! Why? Her profession: nurse. Heart-warming :)