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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-408.html)

I was returning from office at 8:30 pm near Whitefield when suddenly my day-night IRVM stopped working and my headlights became unusually bright. It took several seconds for me to realize what was happening. I could see 6 extremely bright white lights (Headlights, Auxiliary lamps, bumper mounted fog lamps) behind my car. The lights were so bright that I couldn't bear the glare of lights even though the IRVM was in night mode and my headlamps were rendered useless since the light from the car behind illuminated the whole road at my front. I let this moron overtake me and realized that it was a Swift. The fog lamps were not properly mounted due to which it was producing the flickering effect which caused even more irritation. I hope some cop catches this moron and just smash all those flood lights on his car.

It reminds me of a similar situation. So, here I was at st thomas mount - GST road intersection (Benz showroom) waiting for the cops to clear the traffic jam created by our CM's visit. The atmosphere was already heated up with commuters being forced to wait for more than 20 mins at this junction. (Time taken to reach Kathipara - airport even with traffic is max of 30 mins). THen there is guy in a swift with bright white lights (xenon I guess) at a distance.

This light is so powerful that it did blind me and others waiting in intersection. Cops got irritated by this guy and asked him to switch off the lights. Despite repeated warning, the guy did not switch off the light.

A SI got angry and threatned to break the lights, only then he switched it off.

Wonder why the cop did not book him?

I wish he had broken it, guess the cops did not want any unwanted attention when CM passed them.

This is a funny incident which took place a couple of weeks back I would like to post. This happened at Carstreet, Mangalore. Those who know this road will know how congested it is. It is a two lane road with median and parking on both side (odd & even days) and a market and lots of shops and is usually crowded at peak hours.
So there was a traffic jam ahead on the left lane while the right lane was somewhat free, and all vehicles start lining up - most of them within the median on the left lane. I too was in my car and was waiting behind a bus, on my left where a couple of 2 wheelers. Out of nowhere a guy in a beat up kinetic honda from behind comes whizzing on the right lane and stops on my right side on the other side of the median. He couldn't cut in and he was bang in front of a Black Amby with big bull bars and all the blings which was coming from the opposite side. The car couldn't maneuver around him because of the vehicle parked on the car's left. The driver of the car honked a couple of times and this guy didn't budge.
What happened next had a lot of people around laughing. The driver puts his car in gear and just drives straight into the scooter - slowly and kisses his front mudguard!!! The KH guy was shocked and embarrased, he slowly moves his scooter to the right side into the parking space and lets the car move :uncontrol.
The expression on his face was priceless.

^^^^ That lesson needs to be taught to a lot of people on our roads (both on two & four wheels), who just assume it's everyone else's responsibility to make space for them by doing whatever acrobatics required. A slice of humble pie (having to move or back up into the correct lane, as long and as far as it takes) should be the order of the day.

What car was that btw?
Sounded pretty nice :P

Thanks :) That was my Palio 1.2 with Magnaflow end can.

Its a bad driver reporting and a confession. I was travelling to Kottayam from Bangalore. The drive till Angamali was pretty much uneventful. But soon we had a host of lane shifters and tailgaters and honkers. One elderly gentleman almost forced me on to the pavement , when he decided he wants to use the entire width of 4 lane road to take a U turn with his Maruti 800. To be frank I was mildly irritated. Next event was by a spark who tried to overtake from left on two lane road, almost causing an accident. I thought I will stop for a while once I pass Kakkanad ,as I feeling irate and distracted. But then came the straw that broke the camel's back. Just past the signal at Kakkanad after civil station, a gentle man driving a BMW 320D , comes speeding on my left and pushes me to the oncoming traffic. By god's grace, I missed a tanker truck by less than an inch. My hands where still shivering , when I got ahead of him and blocked him and I got out of the car and confronted him.

I asked him if he had a problem and he could have got me killed - His reply " Why did you overtake me ?" Wow -I was amazed he did all that stunts just because his ego got hurt that a lesser car overtook him at the signal. I let him go , but then he started playing around by slowing down and blocking me. Finally near Chitrapuzha bridge, I was about to overtake him and he tried to close the gap , but luckily for me I was able to get ahead of him and the car in front of him. This made him furious and started zig zaging , missing accidents by whiskers.

He almost ran into the toll booth while trying to jump the queue. Somehow I had cooled down by then and I let him pass ,knowing otherwise it will end up in him causing an accident. I don't want to justify myself, I shouldn't have got down from the car and probably should have taken a break when I was feeling angry. So yes he was a bad driver , but I was one too.

I don't think there was anything (apart from personal risk) wrong in confronting him.

It is always safer to have the bullies, thugs and idiots in front rather than behind. If they are going to play silly games slowing and blocking you, then just drop way back.

This is what I tell myself. In practice, I find that I am more than willing to let people past me unless they tailgate and act like bullies. Then I get stubborn. It would be better if I listened to my own lessons!

Tailgaters! I want to get a sign made for the rear windscreen: If you are so fond of my backside, perhaps you would like to get out and push!

That is a common sight everywhere. I think very soon, it would be against the law if a person is driving without using the mobile.

Ya, let's catch up in the middle of the road! Traffic behind? To hell with them. :)

I am just curious , don't you think you were a bit rash ? at 0:44 you overtook the truck a bit aggressively , a sudden lane change no ? . At the end it sounded like a wheel spin (near the toll gate) .

Sometimes, with the T-bhp stickers. Getting more frequent these days.

What is the definition of being Rash?

Overtaking:

When I overtook the truck, there was nobody behind me trying to overtake the truck, no-one was even on the right lane behind. Plus, the road in front of me was free of oncoming traffic for a safe distance. I overtook the Truck swiftly, rather than slowly passing; thereby occupying the right lane for a longer time creating more danger for myself and for oncoming traffic.

I make my overtaking as quick and precise as possible. You can see many drivers trying to overtake another vehicle moving at almost the same speed in 5th gear, gaining 1 kmph more per minute :D. They occupy the right lane for longer periods of time putting them and oncoming traffic at risk.

Wheel spin:

Intentionally accelerated quickly. Was it rash? Was I stealing someone else's way or creating a dangerous situation for anyone else? Throughout the drive, I was sticking to speed limits. When you accelerate quickly, wheels may spin briefly. Nowhere in the rules it has mentioned that one should not accelerate more than this many G's :)

Many of the Indian drivers don't know how to accelerate properly through gears without hindering the traffic behind them. For this, they should learn from how people drive in places like Europe. When they enter a bigger road, they accelerate quickly to the minimum decent speed. On the contrary, some of us enter a highway dead slow, and will take forever to reach at least 50 - 60 kmph! Some of them will never even care to reach that speed.

Indian drivers are taught to drive 'slow' based on the notion that it is safe always. The driving schools teach us to shift up as soon as the engine is able to pull the car without lugging in any gear. Put it in first - start moving, shift to second, and when the car rolls, shift to third and when you reach 20 kmph, shift to fourth etc. This is not a good way to drive especially when you enter a motorway.

Once a colleague asked me: "Why are you shifting to third (from 5th) while overtaking? It will slow you down, no?"

Agreed , only you can judge the situation on the road when you are driving . However in the video it looked as though you were engaged in some spirited driving and made a sudden lane change to overtake. I drive more sedately and generally maintain a lot of distance between vehicles on road .

This is from our Office parking lot.