Team-BHP - Bad Drivers - How do you spot 'em

It is beyond me why people occupy two lanes when driving. What's with driving between the line dividing the lanes? Not only is it irritating but you force others to over take you either very closely from the right or from the left. I am now at a point where I do not like driving in the city anymore. It is such a headache. Also people in single lanes who suddenly stop to ask directions or to pick up/drop someone. Hello where are the manners?

Are anti-glare internal rear view mirrors of any use? If I use it, I cut glare from a lot of idiots who use high beam on well lit streets. At the same time, I don't see some vehicles at all. Because, they don't turn on the headlights or some smart idiots turn on only fog lamps (at the bottom of the car) and come too close to be viewed in the mirror. Also, headlights of most of the rickshaws are not visible with anti-glare.

I've noticed this in Mumbai. I can guess that the situation may be similar in other cities.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sa_kiran (Post 3067264)

Between being blinded by a high beam's reflection which hinders your visibility of oncoming traffic and being unable to see some ignorant drivers in your rear view mirror, I'd go with the latter.

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Originally Posted by amitoj (Post 3067330)

Between being blinded by a high beam's reflection which hinders your visibility of oncoming traffic and being unable to see some ignorant drivers in your rear view mirror, I'd go with the latter.

Indeed, I would rather be able to see what is up ahead of me (blinded by reflection of headlights behind me), than being unable to see what is behind me. Lesser of the two devils!

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Originally Posted by AbhishekB86 (Post 3067227)

That's because they think the line dividing the lanes has to be passing through the center of the car when they drive.

Has anyone else in Mumbai noticed that nowadays 70-80 % of autos and most of the old Padmini cab drivers do not switch on their headlights at night anymore ? Really stupid and dangerous as they still drive as rashly as ever even without the illumination.

If Im not mistaken I started noticing this around the time they started switching to electronic meters. I also read in the paper that the batteries of the meters are expensive and need to be charged once a year for a high price or replaced in 2 yrs for a high price or something like that.
Maybe these guys are skipping the meter battery and connecting it to the main bettery to cut costs ? The meter and headlight might not be able to draw power simultaneously so they keep the headlights off ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mortis (Post 3068167)

I've noticed it in rickshaws. But, their headlight may not be powered by battery. Anyway, headlights are so lousy that they are hardly visible, when turned on.

Another thing that I've noticed off late is that they occupy all the lanes and move very slowly, like overloaded trucks on Expressway. They used to be restricted to left parts of the road earlier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mortis (Post 3068167)

The auto-drivers do this all the time here in Chennai. And its a known fact that meters are only display pieces here. Not sure if the gain is big for them by saving on the lights. :Frustrati

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Originally Posted by sukhoi30 (Post 3066919)

agree: Hazard lights are meant to be used only when a vehicle is stationary. Using it in a moving vehicle is totally wrong. Many modern cars have the facility where the hazard lights turn on automatically after an accident. When I was abroad, there are fines for misuse of hazard lights. This should be implemented here too.
It really bothers me when vehicles turn on the hazard lights inside tunnels or during rains. It is very hard to make out whether the vehicle is stationary or moving.

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Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 3067163)

I completely disagree. Hazard lights are to be used to warn of a hazard whether that hazard is your own vehicle or something ahead. You can give other drivers an extended period in which to think, "something is going on," and slow down and/or be ready for immediate reaction. This includes suddenly driving into rain or fog.

What should not be done is keeping the hazard lights on when other people have caught up, obviously got the message, etc etc.

I agree with "Thad E Ginathom" on this. In fact I use this to my advantage whenever there is an emergency braking maneuver at a decent clip. Moment I see that I need to brake harder than normal, I immediately switch on the hazard lights. Otherwise, the guy behind me (hopefully maintaining some distance) would see my brake lights but may fail to notice my rate of deceleration. With the hazard lights, I am sure to grab his attention that this is more than just normal braking and he'd better be careful.

Had the misfortune of meeting this lady driver near Graphite India signal in Whitefield, Bangalore. On the side which comes from the Shell Petrol bunk.

She randomly barges in from the left on to my lane honking continuously. I try to not give her way, but then for the well-being of my car i gave way. She goes up ahead of me, and moves over to the right lane. I guessed that maybe she wants to go straight towards Kundhalahalli, and I was already on the left lane waiting to go left.

then she does the opposite, and barges into my lane again from the right! I was like "Seriously lady?"!

So I patiently waited, took a snap of her, and wanted to see what she does. The comes all the way to the left lane, does her shenanigans, and wades over to the middle lane again and goes straight when the signal turns green.

She would've hit my car at least on 3 occasions.

Please avoid her car like the plague if you happen to see it.

Bad Drivers - How do you spot 'em-img_20130319_083952.jpg

Bad Drivers - How do you spot 'em-img_20130319_083956.jpg

Saw a funny yet risky incident today: A guy in a Hyundai Verna Fluidic decided to check whether his tire pressure is alright or not.So what's wrong with that you might say? Well the guy driving the car, opened the door,bend half of his body outside to look at the rear wheel all this while the car was still in motion at about 20kms/hr:eek:.

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Originally Posted by richie4u (Post 3070663)

Looks like the guy is still in Amby or Jeep era. Old habits die hard! :uncontrol

I remember people used to do similar earlier.