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-   -   Bad Drivers - How do you spot 'em (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/3580-bad-drivers-how-do-you-spot-em-29.html)

Just a couple of Weeks ago I had this experience with a Red Swift Guy at a traffic signal on a beautiful Sunday morning.
Time: 9.00 Am,traffic signal at Hitec city Cyber Towers.
Situation: The lanes are full with three rows of vehicles.Free left turn marked with red beacons.A red Swift stops dead on the turn .Slowly other vehicles line up behind it.Am the 4th guy behind in an Alto.There was no apparent blockade in front of him,so I steer right,come up just behind him diagonally and wait.Signal the Indica guy behind the Swift for a pass with a smile ,which he obliges by waving his hand.Wait for say 30 secs ,but no forward movement.The right straight lanes have begun emptying so to hurry him up honk just 2 times.Then the action begins,the guy from swift gets down comes straight at me ,I lower the window and hear 'You dumb fellow!Cant you see the road is blocked in front of me.Joothe se maarunga' says he pointing to his foot.
I simply smile back saying 'OK,you could have turned on your indicator or mentioned by hand to the others behind you'.Still he repeats 'Joothe se maarunga'!.I keep my cool,again smile back.'OK,no problem'.Just reverse a bit to straighten out,go around the left marked lane and drive off.Then I see what is blocking him - A single beacon right in the middle of lane.
This guy was a middle aged guy ,decently dressed,and looked good.He was probably with 2 others - Wifey maybe and an old woman on the back seat,probably mother or In-laws.
What I thought of, was - Instead of spoiling a very good day and that too in the morning,he could have signalled others behind him by indicators or hand signals.
Anyway I dint take it on my ego,and felt happy for not reacting bad and spoiling my rest of the Sunday by quarelling with him.
Just left him with his problem - Ego or Stupidness.
By the end of that day I closed a very good deal with a very polite and interesting customer who also bade me a very happy smile and a firm handshake.

Here is my experience.

Place: Anna Nagar East - 14th Street. (this is a well planned up-market locality with all decent, educated families live here).

Time: 3:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon.

I am driving very slow, as families, ladies and kids were taking strolls on the side of the street. Allowing them to pass, I was approaching a blind right-turn. 15th and 13ht Street corner).

A Red old Maruti comes fast from the other side, makes the turn at the same speed and screeches right in front of me. I was at less than 10 kmph and I stopped right there.

This guy, with few days beard, seemed to be educated and with a kid to his left, starts shouting at me immediately, even before I could lower my side window" Can't you see, you *&^%??? . Don't you know that you must slow down (!) at bends and turns? Who taught you driving? You &^#%%@@.??? and some of these words came in Hindi too, though I could swear he was not a Northie and he wouldn't know to speak Hindi."

I was utterly speechless. :Shockked:I had'n't even reached the bend. He was the one who came from the other side, took the bend at the same speed and is right in front of me...

I couldn't react. I just upped my side-window and moved on, with all the passers-by looking upon both of us.

What a world I am living in.. Man... Incredible India and even more Incredible Chennai...:Frustrati

I guess the formula is "One-Who-Shouts-First-Is-Right"..!!!

Would the be-silent-suffer-everything provoke these morons to react more like this?. I dunno, but should not we react to such cases in a mature way than just keeping silent?.

To me the most irritating fellow riders atleast, are the school/college kiddos on their snazzy scooties/Activas/Dios cutting apart the traffic and at times singing 'yeh dosti hum nahin chodenge' riding parallel on a busy road. Maybe, they need lessons on "riding on roads in the city" as well apart frm their regular curriculum.

Car drivers, especially the ones who do not think the External RVMs are essential and want to protect them from the passing by two-wheeler/four-wheeler. Why on earth would the car manufacturer give you the external RVMs, somebody should teach those morons.

Watch out for those 3 handed idiots with that extra hand hanging out of the window like a permanent right turn signal...while some use it as an extra A/B pillar supporting the roof.

Can't they keep all their body parts inside?

Reacting / retaliating to these guys, would resemble shouting back at the dogs that bark at you. The way they shout, they don't want to listen. And I am a person who don't have time and energy for street-fights either.
And most of them are sure educated and well-employed. IT has become the 'culture' here to 'shout'... And me here in Chennai after about 15+ years in the middle east, trying to accustom to this kind of behavior.

The best way I think is to 'ignore' and leave the scene asap. This at least shuts 'em up and the scena is cleared soon.

Very cool, very smart :thumbs up

Santosh, I understand your sentiment, but I doubt if any kind of mature reaction would make a difference to people like "these". I think the silence could also be interpreted as indifference. After all, why mess up your day?

Eventually that chap is either going to sit there the entire day waiting for the beacon move on its own, or is going to have to find a "mature' way around it !!! In the first place, how did he get up so close it that he didnt have a way out? Obviously he wasnt paying attention.

I fully agree with you "Just don't" give any importance, to them.

I agree with most of the types mentioned here, and heres my addition, (if its not mentioned earlier)The worst drivers i have seen (at least in mumbai) are the VIP number plated guys. The guys with 1111s or 9999s numbers obviously are drivers for our MLAs and MPs and ppl who we elected to serve and protect us!!My experience with these ppl has been really terrible and most of the times the cops dont dare do anything to them!!Its sad, but true !! (yeah Metallica i love u!!)

The worst guys behind a steering wheel in calcutta are the guys who drive the lumbering,tottering,bald tyred blue 407 Kolkata Police personnel carriers.

I hate those drivers who drive right on the centre of the white line.
Just becomes impossible to overtake especially when they are driving really slow.
:Frustrati

The worst offenders for me are the bike guys, just cutting lanes and going on as if the guys in the cars will break for them to cut lanes and literally the four wheeler guys have a tough time handling these habitual lane cutters. Just travel on the parel bridge (Mumbai) in the evenings and you will know how two wheelers irritate you by travelling in the small gap between two car lanes. It is really pathetic nobody does any thing about them. And the worst part is when you are in the last lane and a two wheeler comes on your left and scratches your body paint and goes off as if nothing has happened. God only save us from these habitaul offenders.

For me, when I'm driving my car all the bike riders are bad. When I'm riding my bike all car drivers are bad.

Who ever over taking me is over speeding. And who ever is in front of me and going slower than me is blocking the traffic.


I hate these guys:

1. Bikers on the highway/city suburbs. 2/3 bikers will simple cover the entire road/lane and they will not let you go.
2. Car drivers who over takes me and with the same speed without any indication cuts into my lane.
3. Bus/truck drivers who use their vehicle size to overpower others.
4. Small trucks like TATA ace with heavy load and moves very slow in the right lane
5. All college/office buses in the evening when they travel in line.
6. All vehicles coming in the wrong direction

And the list goes on ...

To put it in a simple way, EVERYONE EXPECT ME ARE THE BAD DRIVERS. If you drive somewhere near my car, even you are a bad driver. :uncontrol


Regards
Mahesh S

Hey, I do that too and I am definitely not a bad driver. However, at a mind numbing 20 km/h it is kind of an automatic reaction.