[Acharya]

At the end of the day, damage to the car can be fixed, you can forget an unpleasant experience, ego & temper will settle down to normal level.
However, if thing go awry, none of this is worth risking the life. No matter how big enthusiast we are about cars, road fights are simply not worth it.

Originally Posted by naturaldisaster

Yes ill agree with you say. I did realize this later on. But when someone damages your car, and tempers flare, its very difficult to control words and actions.

[dinesh6481]

Originally Posted by ambivalent_98

Slightly OT but I was a victim of daylight extortion in Murugeshpalya.

In the hindsight if you could reach your home safely and see your family then everything you did was right. just do not mull over these things now. Its a valuable experience and much depends on personality to personality. However I would still regard that you could get away from situation because of mature and calm head. However if you wish to pursue the case, its your wish and your are fully entitled to it

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Boss I am sorry but I disagree. You did not handle it correctly. You were merely lucky. But life is too precious to take such chances in lawless lands that we call NCR. Your first mistake is to move away from scene of incident unless its blocking traffic. Second is to go to a empty field even if it is next to the main road. Lastly waiting for this so called neta/hooligan friend to come.

I am also from Delhi and firmly believe that a delhite will hardly be conned in this fashion. Its always the people from outside states who are conned. I guess this is the scene in all the states. They look for easy catch, don't they?

Originally Posted by Acharya

At the end of the day, damage to the car can be fixed, you can forget an unpleasant experience, ego & temper will settle down to normal level.
However, if thing go awry, none of this is worth risking the life. No matter how big enthusiast we are about cars, road fights are simply not worth it.

Very well put down and aptly brought out. I firmly believe this and do not normally get in any altercation, but it is something with Delhi auto drivers that I cant stand. though I have started to live the fact that they are not going to go anywhere, so better change your driving style.

Though I am wrong to quote this example here but I have two sets of rules for any road rage related incident. If I am travelling with my family, then irrespective of the mistake by either me or the other party, I just don't take time and apologize with folded hand. But if I am travelling solo then I don't hesitate to call the police at scene in case the other party is acting funny. Similarly on highways I just don't get into any kind of argument and a simple 'namaste' does more than flurry of hate words. I have realised that its more important to reach home to your family then to have your inflated ego get the better of you.

Mod Note: Please use the EDIT or MULTI-QUOTE buttons instead of typing one post after another on the SAME THREAD!

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[ambivalent_98]

Originally Posted by Acharya

At the end of the day, damage to the car can be fixed, you can forget an unpleasant experience, ego & temper will settle down to normal level.
However, if thing go awry, none of this is worth risking the life. No matter how big enthusiast we are about cars, road fights are simply not worth it.

I completely agree sir. Its just not worth it.

Originally Posted by dinesh6481

In the hindsight if you could reach your home safely and see your family then everything you did was right. just do not mull over these things now. Its a valuable experience and much depends on personality to personality. However I would still regard that you could get away from situation because of mature and calm head. However if you wish to pursue the case, its your wish and your are fully entitled to it

Thanks for your kind words. I did not pursue it on purpose because it is really not worth it. What was shocking and I recovered in a day or two was that such a thing can actually happen. I treated it pretty much like an accident that happened and have gotten over it.

[centaur]

Not sure if this would categorize as road rage but would want to put it down here anyway and understand your views on it. Was travelling to office this morning and had a few colleagues in the car with me (including a pregnant lady). Was driving slow owing to this and there was this Municipal transport bus which was being driven in a way that it was occupying two lanes such that on either side no car could overtake. I was anyway driving in the left lane as I was going slow and had no intentions to overtake him anyway owing to the reputation many of these idiots carry along.

Suddenly the bugger notices a bus stop and without any indicator turns left and brakes hard. I did not want to brake hard and instead gradually slowed down turning my steering slightly right just in time not to let my ORVM hit the bus. Since he was taking a long time to move I changed the lane, over took him and again changed to the left lane.

Around 3-4 kms down the road, I was at a signal and unfortunately the road there narrows down slowly from 3 to 2 lanes. This is a daily route and most buses and 4 wheelers stick to the second lane and do not try to use the 3rd lane (there are some exceptions of course). This retard uses the 3rd lane and completely brushes the ORVM and then stops midway. Half of the bus has gone ahead and he arrogantly signals from his window for me to move to the other side. At this point I am so furious that I feel like punching him in the face right in the middle of the road but keep quiet owing to my colleagues in the car. I thought os overtaking him and call the cops as well or even give him a piece of my mind. I wanted to take a pic of the rogue drive and the bus number but couldn't as the signal turned green and vehicles started moving.

On reaching office I checked the ORVM and see that a small portion of it is kind of filed away and otherwise round/curved surface is now flat. What can be actually done against these Coporation bus drivers?

[vnidta]

Two things - Had a chance encounter with two of the best souls and one worst soul this morning. The best followed the worst of course. So, here's the story - The sorry story of my co-passenger (Hereby referred to as "Friend" since he doesn't want his name to be used anywhere - until things take the right course)

This morning, we were late to hit the road.., which is happening since the last two weeks due to multiple work+personal commitments and the drive from Basavanagudi till Kadubeesanahalli takes close to an hour and a half if we start anytime later than 8AM. So, here we were.., crossing the Bellandur flyover and heading towards Central Mall Fly-over. During our commute from Agara flyover itself, we took note of this Xcent being driven from one side to the other while the driver was on phone. We usually get frustrated at such people and if they come close, we tend not to give way to them. We were avoiding him for some time and kept going our way till we came close to this Central Mall flyover. Just at the beginning of it, there's this gap which people use to create one extra lane and then try to squeeze in at the end. Today, the width of that 'one-extra-lane' was good enough for a two wheeler.., or max, an auto rikshaw. This villain of ours (yes, not a hero this time - sorry! He doesn't deserve to be anywhere near that word) squeezed into that gap and tried coming back to the actual lane. I was extremely angry and blared the horn till I passed him.., while blocking him from entering the lane.

Now, I was under the impression that Mr. Anand Reddy.., our villain, was just like another driver in a hurry and would keep doing his normal routine and move on. But I was wrong! He came back, pulled up next to us and started hurling abuses at us. Then he started beating on the LHS ORVM (Thanks Hyundai - that took the abuse well and not a scratch). Then he started beating badly on the door. Though it pissed me off, I just pointed the DashCam at him and he kept doing the thing without even realizing that's his acts are being recorded. The beatings on the door became violent and I was also concentrating on driving at the same time, the DashCam's fixture got weak and it fell off. I lost about 2 minutes of video in the process. That's when this jerk pulled my Friend's hand while both cars were in motion. May be he tried to grab hold of the shirt collar, which would have caused injury then and there itself. It was decided to pull over to the side and have a word with the other guy and so we did.

I put the DashCam back on its spot, tried searching for the villain and he was nowhere to be seen at the place I pulled over. At the same time, my Friend was already on call with the Police Control Room and we started moving again. Our villain had parked a few meters further and insisted us to pull over. We did so and thought of having a decent exchange of words. Again, Mr. Reddy wasn't ready to give a damn to us and kept on hurling further abuses... Some of them are as below...

"nimmappandeno road idu" (Does this road belong to your father?)

"highway'na idu?" (Is this a highway?)

"Throws abuses!"

Till this point, it was tolerable as it was a verbal fight. Things started turning nasty once this guy came to know that we were seriously on call with the PCR. He started moving away, before which he tried to scare us one more time by reversing the car hard as though he'd break our front bumper.., to which we did not care. Now comes the physical assault! Yes! That's it.

My friend got out of the car and tried to stop him since his abuses were pretty bad and we were already determined to get the cops involved. This seem to have enraged the jerk and he stopped the car, came running towards my friend and hit him very hard on the face. My friend lost grip and fell down and had injuries on his face, both hands and left leg. Immediately, he fled the spot since he saw me trying to use the phone this time around. All this has been captured by the DashCam with utmost clarity. Sorry, not posting it yet due to request from my friend - until things resolve.

We got the phone number of the eye-witness - one of the ORRCA Security Guards and proceeded towards HSR Layout Police Station to lodge a complaint of physical abuse as suggested by the PCR.

Coming to the best souls part now... In the middle of all this, I immediately had Pramod (silversteed)in mind. Called him up and informed him of the situation. He was in touch with me all the while and once I was at the Police Station, I got an unexpected call from Anil (IronH4WK). I explained him the situation and was thankful to these wonderful guys. As I was filing the complaint, I got another message from Pramod informing that he's on the way and so is Anil. Just 5 or 6 minutes, we had Anil standing right behind us!

My friend was injured and we were bothered only about filing the police complaint and did not even care about his injuries... Anil went ahead and got the first aid and bottles of water for us - we never thought of such basic stuff! A few minutes, Pramod was there as well. They were there till the procedures were complete. We shared the videos with the cops along with a few screenshots. Two of them below for your reference...




As you can see, his beatings completely folded the LHS ORVM forward.

Finally, a complaint was filed at the HSR Layout Police station.

This day has been a mixed bag. I'm currently out of words, but would like to say "Even on the darkest of nights, the stars lit up the sky". Pramod and Anil, I can't thank you guys enough! It was a much needed moral support for us. My friend has also asked me to "Thank You" both one more time from his end

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by vnidta

Two things - Had a chance encounter with two of the best souls and one worst soul this morning. The best followed the worst of course. So, here's the story - The sorry story of my co-passenger (Hereby referred to as "Friend" since he doesn't want his name to be used anywhere - until things take the right course)

Hey,
Its totally worthless to create a scene with such people. They are uneducated, ill mannered and most of the times display uncivilized attitude to say it in the cleanest words. When this lane cutting things happen, its best to avoid honking or signalling them. Just move on as if you did not notice them at all, in that process not letting them through. It works for me even with reckless cabbies. They all get in line. If in that case they still ram in and cause an accident fault is always theirs, so they wont have much to do. Such things will just ruin your day.

Though the law is there on your side, anyone will be shaken by such an incident and this could have gone to a dirtier level. Just let such morons zip past and pray that they kill themselves in some accident.

[vnidta]

Originally Posted by audioholic

When this lane cutting things happen, its best to avoid honking or signalling them. Just move on as if you did not notice them at all, in that process not letting them through.

Even I belong to that category, but this guy was a different case altogether. He had frustrated me to such an extent by cutting to my lane, moving to the next in a loop, I resorted to that honking part.

Such things will just ruin your day

It definitely has! It's screwed my entire day. Still at office, not able to concentrate.., at the same time, not in a mood to drive back home yet. My friend on the other hand is still insisting on staying a bit more. Don't know what to do.

Though the law is there on your side, anyone will be shaken by such an incident and this could have gone to a dirtier level.

Betcha! Thankfully it did not go any further. If it had, I might not have been able to write this up now...

Just let such morons zip past and pray that they kill themselves in some accident

Exactly my feeling.., but on the humanity side, I'd like him to be injured badly - not killed (well, a bad injury is far worse isn't it?)

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by vnidta

Two things - Had a chance encounter with two of the best souls and one worst soul this morning.

Hi vnidta!
Extremely sorry and saddened with what happened to you and your friend!
Hope your friend and you recovers soon, both of the injuries and the trauma.
Don't think much about it.

Pardon me for posting the following if it's inappropriate at this time. I had got it as a whatsapp forward a year or two ago.
Sharing it here as it is one thing which i have tried to follow ever since and have worked wonders for my peace of mind.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’
This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so…Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don’t. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day.

Take care!

[sajo]

@Mods : Should the above posts be in the Road Rage thread ?
Extremely shocking incident vnidta. We really should resist the urge to correct the wrongdoers of this nation, as, well , we are far far outnumbered.
A few weeks ago , an animal from Pune specific species called "Guntha Mantri" deliberately rammed his Hyundai Creta into my Swift as I was patiently waiting at a Signal, purely because I honked and did not give him way as he tried to merge into the road after driving from the wrong side. All of this has been captured by my dashcam , but whats the use ? I cannot reprimand him ,nor can I approach the cops with a reasonable hope of receiving help, as Hinjewadi (where this incident happened) is their "neck of the woods" , with cops and most of the local populace bending over backwards to let these goons have their way. As a common citizen of this lawless country , my only option is to continue to suffer in silence and question some of the the choices I have made.

PS: I checked the plates of the aforementioned Creta, and not surprisingly, were fake and belonged to an Alto.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by vnidta

So, here's the story -

I really don't know what exactly to type.. all I can say is that it's a sad situation in a city when people get riled up to such an extent for what is basically, unavoidable traffic idiosyncrasies.

What's happened has happened and I know in the heat of the moment, one would feel like standing up for the right.. I've been there myself but somehow I bring myself to remember the fact that people in general see things from their own, selfish point of view and there is no point trying to win an argument with them even if they are wrong, lock, stock & barrel. Ego makes this world go round and depending on the situation one can cross any level to prove a point and appease his ego. At such a situation one must ideally only look to diffuse the anger rather than escalate it by further arguments/stopping the car etc. Your friend put himself into a bad spot by getting out at the wrong time, nevertheless I guess sometimes one cannot plan what happens ahead of its happening.

We need to spread more awareness about safe driving, not losing one's cool and how to handle irrational motorists when on the road, as such incidents are on the rise and not even 1% of them are reported I bet. The road system seems to be falling apart and that's why I'd requested in the suggestions thread to have a separate focus on safety so that non-members India-wide can also read and follow it, thus decreasing the occurrence of such incidents to a large degree, GTO has replied positively saying there will a full section dedicated to it vis-à-vis the couple of threads in existence today and that's indeed a great plan.

In my opinion, never set fire to the kerosene, unless you have an extinguisher handy (self-protection skills). Its always better to walk away from a conflict as sometimes, only pure irrationality defines a few people and they're beyond the scope of logical arguments. Let me just wish that you and your friend reach a point where all is forgotten just for peace of mind sake, I'm sure we're all aware of danger lurking in every corner in earth and sometimes it just says hello all of a sudden, this was one of those moments.

Keep the thread posted with developments on the legal side of things, that is the only hope for equalizing as of now. Yes, the Getz is one superbly built car.. great to see that nothing happened to the vehicle.

[m_upreti]

It is either road illiteracy or sense of being superior on our roads which makes the people behind the wheel / handle to think they are always right.

After multiple trips to South America (Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, etc.) my perspective of driving has gone a sea change. Those places people respect each other on the road, courteous "you first" & thumbs up are the norm of every day driving absolutely and no honking unless it is really necessary.

Zebra crossings & pedestrian lights are adhered to and most of the drivers stop and wave off the pedestrians letting them cross the road.

So while back in Navi Mumbai, I start my new enlightened driving and very soon I realized I am becoming a menace to others.

Examples:

1. Late afternoon, at a crossing with orange light blinking (day time the signal is put to orange there) I stop politely to let some school children cross the road, and before they could move across my car I sight a Fortuner, rushing in from my left, and I had to shout a warning to the children to stop before this great guy did some damage.

2. Evening time same crossing on a weekend, the road is chock a block with cars and I patiently wait for the Alto in front of me to move, because of the angle of the road, a Honda City is struck next to me with music and horn blaring, the co passenger sticks his head out of the window and shouts at me to blow my horn, I tell him, where will the car in front of me goes, and he tells me in choicest hindi, "Horn maro tabhi to *&^%$# aage bharega" (press the horn only then he will move). I rolled up my window and managed to move slightly top the left to let this person go ahead of me and blare his horn.

3. at 8 PM, on one of the 2 lane roads bordering a popular mall near my place an a double parked Innova suddenly decides to cut right forcing me to break to avoid hitting him, the guy looks at me as if I have done some great crime by driving on the road and zooms off, while this is happening behind me I hear continuous blowing of the horn and flashing lights, I move to the side, and wave the auto making the racket ahead, the guy or rather 2 guys on the front seat, cut in front of me and like some movie stunt start shouting asking me to come out as my breaking apparently made them break to, I roll down the window, and point to the Innova rushing ahead and tell them politely to maintain distance. These two guys, drunk are in a mood for some confrontation. Anyways, I am on home turf, (this happened just outside the gate of my Society) and seeing the commotion 2 guards come out and then 2 more from the shops in the complex and then these guys decide beat a quick retreat and move of advising me to learn to drive.

These make one sit back and think, is it better to stand out or be a part of this rowdy culture which we call driving on Indian roads. But I am still not deterred with these and continue to drive in my new avatar.

Back in Colombia last night, the drive was a bliss, the cab stopped at every red light (post 9 PM) despite no traffic on the road, allowed pedestrians to cross and not a single honk of the horn on the entire 30 Kms. drive.

[Acharya]

My friend, I am sure we all are able to identify in traffic, when someone is driving real bad or cutting across lanes.
Few things which help in such situations, first, be self aware that there is bad driver and you should avoid him at all costs. Second, purposefully slow down or shift to a safer lane behind bad driver, maintain at least 6-8 cars in between bad guy and yourself.
Otherwise, if you could overtake, do it quickly and safely, maintain the distance.

No matter what, you just cannot teach anyone civility, road manners and basic etiquettes while on road. I was not in your situation yesterday, I surmise that it was perhaps avoidable.
Hats off to fellow BHPians (Silversteed & IronH4WK) who provided timely support

Originally Posted by vnidta

Even I belong to that category, but this guy was a different case altogether. He had frustrated me to such an extent by cutting to my lane, moving to the next in a loop, I resorted to that honking part.

[centaur]

Originally Posted by sajo

A few weeks ago , an animal from Pune specific species called Guntha Mantri deliberately rammed his Hyundai Creta into my Swift .........SNIP........but whats the use ? I cannot reprimand him ,nor can I approach the cops with a reasonable hope of receiving help, as Hinjewadi (where this incident happened) is their "neck of the woods" , with cops and most of the local populace bending over backwards to let these goons have their way. As a common citizen of this lawless country , my only option is to continue to suffer in silence and question some of the the choices I have made.

PS: I checked the plates of the aforementioned Creta, and not surprisingly, were fake and belonged to an Alto.

This has become an issue anywhere in Pune and the worst part is that cops are neither bothered nor helpful. I have seen people get beat up for no fault of theirs and cops not doing a thing about it. There have also been cases where such rascals have told the others "to go ahead and complain to the cops and we will see what happens next. Cops wont do anything to us for sure but you cant be sure of what will happen to you". As a law abiding and tax paying citizen, this what we get to live with. I suppose the cops in Blore are atleast supportive in such cases and do take action unlike Pune. Sorry if this is OT but had to just get this out.

[sajo]

Originally Posted by centaur

This has become an issue anywhere in Pune and the worst part is that cops are neither bothered nor helpful.

Couldnt agree more with you on this. And its going to get worse, much worse, before things may change for the better.
There is a school for these guys' kids in Hinjewadi Ph-1, and just look at the number of so-called-kids driving and riding merrily around it on Bullets and in cars. And it doesnt stop at that. Emboldened by the complete police apathy , these guys had once hurled huge rocks on cars parked inside an IT company's premises , adjoining their school campus, causing severe damage to several cars. They even hurled rocks at security staff who rushed to the site, and threatened them with dire consequences. This, from school kids, mind you.
The company in question raised a hue and cry with the police department, but to no avail. The incident was quietly buried and employees were requested to not park in that area until they built a fence several times higher from the current size. If this can happen to a company who has good pull with the Hinjewadi Industries Association, just imagine the plight of the common man ?

[tharian]

In regards to Vnidta's episode yesterday and since it is posted in this thread, ,my 2 cents.

I've had my share of arguments on the road , some almost getting physical and every time needless to say, it has left a bad taste in my mouth which takes few days to go. And every time , I make up my mind not to loose my cool on the road or get bothered. But when I am behind the wheel it is almost as if I am a different person and in the heat of the moment, I stop thinking rationally.
So now what I do is keep repeating to myself what I should be doing which will not lead to a confrontation. But there are times I find myself getting annoyed with someone cutting into my lane, driving slow on the right lane, excessive honking and so forth and unlike before, one honk or stare is equivalent to calling the errant driver and his family all the possible names which then becomes are fight.
It takes practice to control one self in situations like these.

Another pointer which I try doing , but I haven't got around practising yet.
Loose sight of the guy who is annoying you. The more you see him, the more you will get affected and will tend to do something which can be avoided.

The single aim of Indian driver/rider is to be first. Let him be first, stay back and stop if required and loose him and then move on.