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Old 11th June 2020, 15:43   #31
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

Completely agree! In recent times, driving around in town has become a really scary affair, atleast here in Kochi. This is mostly due to a lot of reckless 2 wheeler riders on the road.

2 weeks back, a guy on a bike clipped the front fender of my Ecosport. He was driving parallel to our car and came right onto us to avoid a pothole on the road. Fortunately, he didnt fall off from the bike and agreed to pay for the damages.

Generally though, my inference is that due to lack of public transport, many inexperienced drivers have come out onto the road and with no proper law enforcement, they are having a free run. All that can be done now is to drive cautiously and avoid these meniacal drivers.
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Old 11th June 2020, 19:34   #32
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

The biggest issue that I feel is that some of the roads were closed owning to lockdown, so people used to drive/ride in the opposite direction. The same thing has flowed down even now. Even the traffic signals were switched off due to low movement. When I come out to buy some groceries, I see riders without a helmet which was opposite before lockdown. Reason: Traffic Police have taken a backseat owing to Corona, they used to issue challans in busy junctions. Now they totally absent. If they care about social distancing, let them use CCTV cameras to monitor traffic. Drunken driving is also increasing because of the absence of cops.
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Old 11th June 2020, 22:30   #33
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

When you get up in the middle of the night and suddenly put on a light, it feels harsher and brighter than it is normally. It's because we were used to the dark and sudden light feels harsh.

This is probably the same situation. There was peace and tranquility on the roads for a long time and we had become used to it.

Now we have full traffic back with all its irregularities, violations, disregard of rules etc. The sudden change from peace and tranquillity makes one feel that things are lot more harsh than they were earlier.

We might have thought so about the light too if we didn't know that the wattage remains the same.
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Old 11th June 2020, 23:33   #34
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

I thoroughly enjoyed a few drives during the lock down while I was trying to get a movement pass to bring home my daughter from her grandparent's house. For once the roads were calm. People weren't honking and I loved driving in 40-50 km/hr range. And maybe for the first time while driving no cus word came out of my mouth.
As soon as restrictions were eased people seem to be in some sort of revenge mode. This is coupled by the fact that the traffic police is nowhere to be seen. I guess it will take couple of months before we get into pre lockdown driving mode.
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Old 12th June 2020, 08:06   #35
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

Here in Delhi too, the driving has worsened during/ after the lockdown. I have been going to the office on alternate days since mid-April and most of the red lights were turned off (blinking orange light all the time) at that time. People were racing past the intersections all the time. Now that they have started functioning normally, they are still doing it. Traffic police has taken a backseat these days also due to fear of contracting Corona Virus from the offenders. Instead they are leveraging the increasing no of traffic cameras and sending the challan notices directly to offenders home/ mobile.

Daily I find colleagues/ friends complaining about getting over speeding challans/ stopping Vehicles on zebra crossing(a really dumb thing to do and easiest to avoid).
On another note ‘ Bhpians commuting in Delhi please check Delhi Traffic Police website for pending challans, you may have one dating back to February like me which only showed up last week on the traffic police website!
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Old 12th June 2020, 10:41   #36
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

I ventured out onto the roads of thane after almost two months. And I mirror the sentiments of the OP. However, on reflection, I realised that the discomfiture that I felt, was very similar to how I felt when I drove in India after spending a few years abroad. It’s not that I had forgotten how to drive, as I was driving daily, it’s just that being anticipatory about other drivers’ rashness was no longer a muscle memory. Over the next few days that muscle memory came back and the feeling of unease also went away.

So for me,at least, while people are probably being more rash, and many drivers are replacing their chauffeur at the wheel after years, but for me, it’s that I have got a bit unused to the “business as usual” of Indian roads
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Old 12th June 2020, 11:11   #37
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

In Delhi, it has been raining on and off from past few weeks, the roads are broken and people too are taking undue advantage of empty roads, so yes one has to be very careful while driving but at the same time I have noticed that number of speed cameras have increased. Traffic police department has installed cameras at many places all over in Delhi. Probably it was easy for them to install during lockdown period. The online challans for over speeding and jumping red lights have increased. I know several people who were out driving during the lock down and have got challans to pay now. I think it’s a good move from the traffic cops!
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Old 12th June 2020, 15:35   #38
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

I also feel that there is a deterioration in the road manners. I have been going to office 25-30% for the past month. I see that lot of people don't care for traffic lights on roads, lots of wrong side driving etc. Some of the roads I take, has very thin traffic compared to the old normal, so one has to be really careful at junctions and traffic lights. Most of the places where there used to be traffic cops, are now without monitoring, so this is making the situation worse.
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Old 12th June 2020, 16:47   #39
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

So it's not only me thinking along the same lines. I have been driving more since March 2020, esp. after lockdown was announced. Being employed in the essential services sector and increase in workload and responsibilities meant that I had to travel between three offices within the same district. For safety I ditched my trusted Activa and depended on my car for all these journeys. Finally I could find parking spaces near my city office (office building has limited parking facility). I enjoyed the almost open roads for about 2 months. Suddenly when the restrictions were relaxed I saw an exponential increase in vehicles on road. The only absentees were buses, esp. private transport buses which is a menace and hazard most of the times.

Initially I also thought along the same lines of OP that people have somehow managed to learn to drive more badly and then I thought that since I'm accustomed to sparse traffic, the sudden change might have made me uncomfortable. Now after some more driving in these conditions, I have come to understand that both are partially true.

More people are opting for personal vehicles, hence more crowd on roads. More crowd with more impatient drivers/riders means more chaos. I changed my daily commute from two wheeler to a car, citing safety reasons. It is logically plausible that people who used public transport have shifted to two wheelers and many two wheeler users may have shifted to four wheelers. Hence more number of vehicles on road.

Naturally, two wheeler riders are more impatient. I have experienced more impatience while on my Activa rather than in my car. May be it has something to do with the riders being exposed to the elements and pollution, with the added congestion of helmets and riding gear, if any. There are also a few four wheeler drivers who thinks they are riding a two wheeler. These people just add to the confusion on the road. A fraction of the users have lost touch with driving habits/etiquette post lockdown period. Sudden turns and stops, no signalling, hogging two lanes at the same time, ignoring traffic lights etc. Hopefully their lockdown hangover will wear off sooner. Until then and normalcy (earlier one, the one which all of us were used to)being restored the road conditions like this will prevail.

Foe me I got a good two months of open roads and those memories are going to last. New happy place for me to think about in the new maddening traffic.
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Old 13th June 2020, 11:12   #40
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

I have ventured out only a few times (4 times to be precises) into the city since the lock down started. Was happy to find that my driving reflexes have not rusted. But at the time I drove into the city was pre-lockdown 5.0 and autos and cabs were not on the road in numbers.The two wheelers were a different story - the zig zag antics has either increased, or it is lack of practice from my side.
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Old 13th June 2020, 13:36   #41
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

Post Lockdown situation will be entirely unexpected from the days we drove before. Bikes and Cycles have expanded, causing boisterous traffic size on significant streets. I am sharing my experience with Kolkata. Self-propelled vehicles are not under any condition keeping up traffic rules. Police have now released the cars to drive as their own choice. Social distancing pushed people to opt for two-wheelers, which will result in low utilization of public transport and more traffic on busy streets. At last, we have to drive circumspectly to guarantee the wellbeing of people on the road as individuals are unaware of outer business due to concentration on safety measures as well as their job responsibility.
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Old 13th June 2020, 18:09   #42
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

Yes, I can confirm this. Here is my experience.

I traveled from Vadodara to Ahmedabad and back, twice in last 4 days, via Expressway (NE1). My observation is, the average speed of people driving on this stretch has increased by at least 20 KM/H. I saw humble Altos and Wagon Rs doing 120 KM/H.

I usually drive at 100 to 110 KM/H speed range and I have driven on this stretch hundreds of times. My observation is, number of cars overtaking me, has substantially increased after unlock.

Last edited by moralfibre : 15th June 2020 at 11:51. Reason: Typo
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Old 15th June 2020, 10:46   #43
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

Although I see your point in this, I disagree. Personally, I have been more humble in my driving from before lockdown. Where i used to do zig-zag manouvers, now I just let go and wait to take a legal overtake if I have to. Sometimes I just follow.

But one of the biggest enabler for my behaviour is that my travel time is cut by half because of less traffic/ vehicles. And that is a blessing in BLR so I pay back by being a good citizen following rules. Of course there are lunatics around, for now I am going to take an 'ignore' position. And I hope I continue this for long.

I realise now that my driving was rash and could have been incidentful if I had lost my concentration. Now I chill behind wheels- no hard accererations or hard brakes.

As a general rule that I follow in city:
1. Less traffic- more rules conscious and no-no for signal jumping even if a dumbo honks behind you.
2. Night drive- even more cautious, not speeding over 40 and maintain slow lane.
3. Rain drive- same as above but being very cautious of puddles and passer-bys

Thanks
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Old 1st July 2020, 04:27   #44
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Re:My first major Accident, Dangerous driving post lockdown.

yes, i completely agree, in fact, I have become an unfortunate victim of rash driving during the post lockdown phase in Mumbai.

Background-
since May I drive daily from Mulund to Sion hospital to drop and pick up my mother who is a nurse at that hospital (since she is an in-charge of a COVID ward it's too risky for her to travel in public transport). To make matters worst my Grandfather got infected by the COVID 19 and he was admitted to the same hospital where my mother works, my grandfather was in a (still is) in a serious condition, therefore, we need to go out every day, hence the car is very important for us.

The accident-
last week around 5 pm, as usual, I was driving from mulund(home) to sion hospital (around 25kms) to pick up my mom. as i passed Priyadarshini circle it started to rain heavily so i turned on my wiper, headlights and fog lamps. due to rains the average traffic speeds were low 50kph to 60kph. as i approached the sion flyover (which is a single lane flyover for southern traffic due to that it is a well-known accident zone) the traffic slowed down a bit to around 50kph. as i was about to enter the flyover a white tinted innova started honking and was dangerously trying to enter my lane from the left side since there was no space for this gigantic innova to enter i honked and dropped the gear and accelerated ahead of the innova. The care behind me did the same thing. after about 150 meters the traffic came to a abrupt stop as i was maintaining 2 cars distance my baleno came to a halt with any drama but the car behind was not maintaining such distance i came to the stop with very little space to spare. after some 10,15 seconds, i heard a loud bang and sound of a horn and felt a something just pushed me from behind. so I immediately turned on my hazard lights and stepped out of my car.
the car behind me a ford aspire had literally had eaten into my baleno's rear bumper, and the white innova(same car which was bullying me earlier) had smashed into the back of the for aspire.

initial reactions-
Me being only 20 years old this was my first major accident i was completely stunned. I just stood at the road for few seconds facing towards the cars and was trying to assess the situation and figuring out the next move.
First things first the aspire looked pretty banged up soo i knocked on the driver's side window and asked the driver if anyone was hurt, the driver was in a state of shock but apart from that he and his co-driver seemed okay. so i walked towards the white Innova first thing i noticed that it had a very dark tint it was impossible to see inside the vehicle and it had a yellow number plate. i went towards the driver's side window and asked if everyone was okay there were around 5 people in the car. since everyone was okay, after that i called my best friend who lives about 10kms from the hospital and asked him to drop my mom home.

Indian road rage phase-
While i was talking to my friend on the phone my dad who was also with me went towards the innova driver and told him that he was responsible for this accident at that time my dad was under a lot of stress because of my grandfather was in the hospital due to covid. therefore he and the guys from the ford aspire were on the verge of the beating the innova driver
soo I immediately jumped in and advised we should go to the police station.
following the advice given by many experienced drivers on this awsm website i kept myself clam and kept others from hurting each other. we had to leave the ford aspire on the side of the road because it had multiple tire bust and some serious internal damage. soo the aspire occupants sat in my car and we went to the police station to file an accident report.

first time in the police station-
the police were a bit harsh towards me, in the beginning, they assumed that i was too fast and braked suddenly and that caused the accident (at that point my father was in the car talking to my mom about the health of my grandfather) the police havaldar just assumed i was on a joyride, he was just not ready to listen to me i think its because i am 20 years and in Bombay there are many cases of accidents where the majority of times teenagers are at fault. i told them that i was picking up my mom and i also showed him my car and the BMC hospital sticker on the car. At that time my dad came out of the car and he is a central government officer soo the police were listening to him he told him what happened the police let me and the ford aspire guys go just after noting down the damages to both the cars. They also scolded the driver of the white Innova don't know what happened to him after that.

Aftermath-
i called up the nexa garage manager and asked him to get my car repaired as soon as possible but there were no mechanics or spare parts available at nexa but he recommended a Vitesse maruti work shop near Siddhivinayak Bombay.
So my elder brother limped the car to vitesse workshop and dropped the car currently, my baby by batmobile(2015 baleno zeta) is getting repaired at the garage.
Due to the lockdown the vitesse representative said that it will take atleast 25 days to repair the car
anyways all the repair costs are being paid by my insurance company.

Police Said that if i wish i could take this case to court and have the innova guy pay for my damages. I opted not to since I want my car back and repaired as soon as possible. Is this the right decision? let me know.

the ford aspire came to a halt on the right side of the lane in order to not to hit a moterbike rider who was riding on the left side. therefore the damages to my car are on the right side.

Dangers of driving, post lockdown-inkedimg_20200622_180557_li.jpg

Dangers of driving, post lockdown-inkedimg_20200622_180614_li.jpg

Dangers of driving, post lockdown-inkedimg_20200622_180616_li.jpg

Tinted windows and the yellow number plate is that even legal?

Dangers of driving, post lockdown-inkedimg_20200622_180625_li.jpg

this is off topic my car's front bumper and bonnet somehow got damaged during this accident even tho my car didn't even touch the car in the front,is Maruti's build quality is that bad or there is some other reason?

Dangers of driving, post lockdown-inkedimg_20200622_180607_li.jpg

Dangers of driving, post lockdown-img_20200622_1809051.jpg
Sorry for any mistakes i did in my post this is my first post on the team-bhp website

please guide me and help me improve my mistakes thank you!
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Old 14th December 2020, 10:13   #45
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Re: Dangers of driving, post lockdown

While many people will feel their driving skills will not have faded over time, it is worth bearing in mind that furloughed employees may not have driven for almost four months or more. For those employees who have driven during the lockdown, many may not have driven their work vehicle, which might be larger and have a different layout to their personal car, so they might need a period of adjustment.
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