[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Xryder

En route to work today, thought I had spotted a fellow TBHPian.
Let the pictures tell the rest of the story.


Pic 01 : Spotting outside Reliance Trends next to Lifestyle on Richmond Road.
Attachment 565700

Pic 02 : Traffic Signal outside Sunflower Hotel (already turned RED a good 5 minutes before photograph was taken). Going straight takes you to Richmond Rd-Double Rd etc and Left is Hosur Rd going towards Koramangala. To the right is Museum Rd.

Attachment 565717

What I thought was the spotting of a fellow TBHPian turned out to be someone jumping a signal. He stopped first at the RED signal, then waited for a good few minutes to get a clearing from the oncoming traffic from the right side and then merged with them to the left towards Hosur Rd, while the signal was still clearly RED. There is no free left here at this signal.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

how did you know that? Is there a signboard saying no free left? I could not spot any in picture

On a 4 road junction, when the traffic on your opposite direction and your right side has got the green signal, there is no free left turn allowed.
A free left is available only when the traffic on your left has a green signal
This is because 99% of the vehicles will go straight or right which will not cut your path, hence you need not wait.(the 1% who take U-turn is not a big problem while merging)

In the photo, we can clearly see the vehicles coming from the right.
SO, THERE IS NO FREE LEFT ALLOWED.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

And back home at Kerala, the A-Star and Swift have all the 3 mirrors used always - traffic is lesser there and so no worries about mirrors getting damaged.
.

Talking about Cochin? I think not cos the bus drivers and autos really love these ORVM's and they tend to take it along with them at times .

[JoeMichael]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

how did you know that? Is there a signboard saying no free left? I could not spot any in picture

Pardon my ignorance - But I was under the impression that no left turn is free unless mentioned or signalled so - Please correct me if wrong.

Anyways , If I am not mistaken the spot mentioned here is Vellara Junction , which is about a km from my residence and there is no free left here..And it is extremely dangerous to turn left blind here. There would be vehicles from Museum Rd , from the right, joining Hosur Road at this point and it is not wide enough to accomodate merging traffic as well.

[Xryder]

Originally Posted by sumathindra

Well, sad that he jumped the red light. I have been in similar situations where from behind the traffic starts honking and i have always made it a point to not budge till the lights turn green. On a couple of occasions i have stepped out to tell the vehicle behind if he is ready to pay the fine if i get caught by a cop. This makes the guy stop yapping...I guess in today's times we have to patient and keep our cool.

Anyone jumping the signal is a moron. He is not only endangering his life, but others as well. In places like Dubai, jumping a signal is not only considered as an on-road offence, but also endangering other lives. Whats worse is if you happen to get into an accident by jumping a signal, they charge you with attempted murder.With regard to honking from behind while waiting at a RED signal, it is quite rampant here. It not only irritates me but I fail to understand what they achieve by honking in such a situation.Or maybe they are under the impression honk like crazy and the signal turns GREEN.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

how did you know that? Is there a signboard saying no free left? I could not spot any in picture

Just a little before the traffic signal post to the left as seen on the picture, there is a no-free left turn sign board. This sign post is located to the left side of my position, in the picture. Even if there was no signboad, you cannot take a free-left unless it is depicted by sign or the traffic signal blinks green to the left. And for those of you who are aware of this junction, the traffic coming onwards from Hosur Road towards this junction are provided a free left turn paved out to join traffic towards Richmond Rd.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

On a 4 road junction, when the traffic on your opposite direction and your right side has got the green signal, there is no free left turn allowed.
A free left is available only when the traffic on your left has a green signal
This is because 99% of the vehicles will go straight or right which will not cut your path, hence you need not wait.(the 1% who take U-turn is not a big problem while merging)

In the photo, we can clearly see the vehicles coming from the right.
SO, THERE IS NO FREE LEFT ALLOWED.

I think that is correct, atleast by international driving standards. But sadly, many free-left turns implemented on our roads do not adhere to this factor/logic.

Originally Posted by JoeMichael

Pardon my ignorance - But I was under the impression that no left turn is free unless mentioned or signalled so - Please correct me if wrong.

Anyways , If I am not mistaken the spot mentioned here is Vellara Junction , which is about a km from my residence and there is no free left here..And it is extremely dangerous to turn left blind here. There would be vehicles from Museum Rd , from the right, joining Hosur Road at this point and it is not wide enough to accomodate merging traffic as well.

This junction is a choke point, especially for traffic heading towards Hosur Rd and traffic coming from Hosur Rd towards Museum Rd.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Talking about Cochin?

No. Was referring to the 1-horse town called Mavelikkara where I live. Cochin from the little I have seen of it, comes with the additional problem of narrow roads, unruly private buses etc, apart from traffic density. I would prefer Chennai to Cochin.

Originally Posted by JoeMichael

I was under the impression that no left turn is free unless mentioned or signalled so

I was under the impression that if not expressly indicated as "No free left", the turns are free left. In Chennai, if you don't see a "No free left" board, it is considered a free left - and that is how the cops here enforce this. Can anyone clarify this, substantiated by some link from traffic rules ? I did some googling, but could not find much.

[jeevmenon]

In India, which drives on the left, a "Free left turn" is allowed unless there is a sign prohibiting it ("No free left (turn)"). [3] In certain places an explicit sign also guides drivers to take a "free left" turn.

Source: Right turn on red - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[JoeMichael]

Well there seems to be ambiquity in the rules here . I was fined twice for taking free lefts in Bangalore sometime in 2006. On both occassion the law enforcer informed no free left turn unless indicated so. After which I have been following this religiously--Please gurus any help here.

[naveen.raju]

A common sight everywhere but see how far they went. On the left you can even see the Police aid post. The auto clearly blocks the free left lane too

[JoeMichael]

Naveen- Is this the signal after medical trust, where left goes to Marine Drive , High Court and Right joins just before Valanjambalam
Or the one at Kadavanthra junction.

[Thad E Ginathom]

At Thiruvanmiyur (Chennai) junction, there is a No Free Left sign applying to traffic turning left from LB Road to ECR. However, stopping there seems to irritate the police controlling the junction as much as the vehicles behind!

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by JoeMichael

Naveen- Is this the signal after medical trust, where left goes to Marine Drive , High Court and Right joins just before Valanjambalam
Or the one at Kadavanthra junction.

Joe, this is the one at Kadavanthara jn.

[JoeMichael]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Joe, this is the one at Kadavanthara jn.

Well I guess this is recently made a free left. In my student days this wasnt a free left and to be fair a narrow two lane road towards Kaloor.

Have seen more than one idiot take that free left and immediately cut right to enter Varkey's supermarket, blocking or kissing other vehicles.

IF I am not mistaken now this is four lane , hopefully wide enough to accomodate merging traffic

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by JoeMichael

Well I guess this is recently made a free left. In my student days this wasnt a free left and to be fair a narrow two lane road towards Kaloor.

Have seen more than one idiot take that free left and immediately cut right to enter Varkey's supermarket, blocking or kissing other vehicles.

IF I am not mistaken now this is four lane , hopefully wide enough to accomodate merging traffic

It's been some years now and wide enough for vehicles to take the free left. But in most junctions here in cochin, vehicles block the free left lane. In the medical trust junction (coming from northern end of MG road.) they have put up boards and traffic pylons but no effect.

[supremeBaleno]

BTW, one of the worst driving practices that I have seen near my place in Kerala (not sure if it is like this all over Kerala) is at railway crossings. You come to a crossing and wait in line on left side of the road for the gate to open. Bikers/Autos/Cars/Tempos/Buses just cooly come to the front of the line on the right side of the road - so effectively the whole road is now fully jammed. The same behaviour on the other side of the railway gate.

So, when the gate opens, it is chaos - no one is going anywhere because instead of what should be vehicles driving across the tracks, the scene is more like 2 armies going to war (hand-to-hand combat as shown in Mahabharata serial). All this jazz about 100% literacy, makes the scene even more disheartening.

A Malayali will stand patiently in the long queue at the BEVCO counter, but will not stay on his side of the road at a rail-cross. Amazing !!!

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

BTW, one of the worst driving practices that I have seen near my place in Kerala (not sure if it is like this all over Kerala) is at railway crossings. You come to a crossing and wait in line on left side of the road for the gate to open. Bikers/Autos/Cars/Tempos/Buses just cooly come to the front of the line on the right side of the road - so effectively the whole road is now fully jammed. The same behaviour on the other side of the railway gate.

So, when the gate opens, it is chaos - no one is going anywhere because instead of what should be vehicles driving across the tracks, the scene is more like 2 armies going to war (hand-to-hand combat as shown in Mahabharata serial). All this jazz about 100% literacy, makes the scene even more disheartening.

A Malayali will stand patiently in the long queue at the BEVCO counter, but will not stay on his side of the road at a rail-cross. Amazing !!!

Afraid to say, it's still the same at certain places. I experience this at few crossings in Cochin alone. Situation becomes worse when it's open.

OT - As you had mentioned, they wait patiently at BEVCO counters.