[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

That's a shame! You should have asked him if he was really a Bhpian in the first place. If he was not, should have asked him to remove the sticker for being an irresponsible driver.

These stickers can be bought by any one, that is my understanding. So a sticker does NOT mean any thing.

[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

These stickers can be bought by any one, that is my understanding. So a sticker does NOT mean any thing.

I agree that the stickers can be bought by any one. For me, the sticker means a LOT. What is the purpose of having an "I DRIVE SAFE" sticker on my car and I drive in an unsafe manner?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

I agree that the stickers can be bought by any one. For me, the sticker means a LOT. What is the purpose of having an "I DRIVE SAFE" sticker on my car and I drive in an unsafe manner?

In all the cabbies, we have the sticker pasted on the rear " RASH DRIVING!!!. CALL XXXXXX. Despite the fact that the contact no. is displayed for anyone to call, the vehicles are driven rash.
Stickers have no meaning in India. It is more of a show piece.

[sun_king]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

<snip>
Incident #2: We still arrived at our daughter's school ... <snip>

Ironically, the school gate at morning is a place where an impressive collection of these bad drivers converge. This is the place where you may even think of forgiving the RTOs because many a times what unfolds there is a shame to human decency. 10 minutes just before 8:15 AM on a weekday in front of my daughter's school, you can be sure of seeing at least one person who should not have been even allowed to reproduce, let alone be permitted to operate a motor vehicle.

Sample specimens:

• In office meeting, phone in hand, gesticulating and sometimes even taking notes. The vehicle stops on some part of the road, the children get out (vehicle still in gear) and the hero/heroine drives off.
• Susie Wolff wannabe with appropriate shades, whooshes in and turns into the school gate, stops with bumper inches away from the first step, orders her offsprings to unload themselves and as soon as the doors are shut, reverses honking along with that bleep-blop reverse-warning sounds and exits.
• One parent makes a proper stop on the correct side in front of the school gate, in comes another from the opposite side, stops bumper to bumper and starts a honking match.
• Stops in the middle of the lane, sometimes even in the middle of the road. Gets out, walks with their children, drops them close to their classes and comes back leisurely strolling. Honk fest till the end, but who cares and what on earth is this thing called an "apologetic look"?
• Formation drop. Three or even four cars approach abreast or in staggered formation, brakes and the kids exit. Now some want to return and some go straight...
• Trust me, there is more!

The sad part is that all these happen in front of the children and terrifying aspect is that some of these put the children at grave danger. Fortunately, nothing untoward has happened till now, wishing that would be the case always.

Surprisingly, amidst all these chaos, the auto and cab drivers in the vicinity exhibits more civilized behavior. Perhaps for them the proximity to an educational institution triggers some feeble respect, but to many of the 'educated' ones, manners, morals and responsibility still remains untaught.

[Chetan_Rao]

Yesterday evening, around 8PM, location near Hosakerehalli cross, going towads Mysore Bank Colony. Lady driving a dark blue Jazz with two kids in tow. No seat belt for the lady or child seats for the kids. What drew my attention (and alarm) was the half-closed front passenger door while the lady swung in & out of traffic with gay abandon. The door barely hung on while she swerved right a couple of times. I tried several times to get her attention, including tapping on the window once while we were stationary for a second, but she refused to converse. Worse still, she reacted with irritation when I repeatedly pointed at the door.

I hope she got home safely without harming the kids. Can only hope the kids don't follow in her footsteps when they're old enough to drive

[ankan.m.blr]

Dangerous stunt while driving a truck!This is bad driving of the worst kind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv4pP7vdsvA

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Dangerous stunt while driving a truck!This is bad driving of the worst kind.
[

Does the driver ever know the value of life. What if he had slipped and come under the wheels of the truck.

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by sun_king

Ironically, the school gate at morning is a place where an impressive collection of these bad drivers converge.

When I was in school, some 30+ years back, I recall that we used to go in a cycle rickshaw, merrily chit chatting, feeling the cool breeze. Dropping off was systematic, first come first in the queue. All rickshaws and autos used to stop in a queue for drop off.

Then when I was in college, I remember my friends parking their newly-acquired 2 wheelers just about anywhere.

Now that I work in an IT giant where there are rules, I see people still parking big 4 wheelers half-way, diagonally and what not.

Since you spoke about dropping kids at school, and reading all those examples, it just gave me jitters, what will happen when I start dropping off my kid at school, some 2 more years from now !!
I am in favour of school buses, but atleast a year later of joining school.
Till then, I will keep ranting my frustrations out here on the forum.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

When I was in school, some 30+ years back, I recall that we used to go in a cycle rickshaw, merrily chit chatting, feeling the cool breeze.

Society is changing, and I feel it is for the worse . That is the sad part. 20-30 years back most students walked to school. Only a few families had cars (mostly Ambies, and Fiats) and who insisted on dropping and picking them up. Women did not drive around so much, so only folks who could afford a driver to be available at these odd times (in afternoon) could afford this.

Then the next set mainly relied on auto rickshaws, each of them picking up 6-8 kids (and even more). The parents also seems to have good faith in these auto rickshaw drivers, for at least during my school days I did not hear stories of molestations etc. The last set usually used to be folks from near by areas who just walked (a distance of 2-3 kms) in and out of school.

One thing which I today even miss in my home town (leave alone Bengaluru) is school children as a group cycling into school. This was one of the best times I remember. Good exercise, good time to gossip and having a good amount of free time to slowly cycle along.

Today I feel, people have more disposable income. Can afford four wheelers with ease. Every body wants to prove a point and drop/pick up their kids. Kids also perhaps discouraged from cycling etc. (road safety is poor). And general lack of trust on any of the third-parties (like auto rickshaw drivers, bus drivers etc. etc.).

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Dangerous stunt while driving a truck!This is bad driving of the worst kind.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Does the driver ever know the value of life. What if he had slipped and come under the wheels of the truck.

Most dangerous driving is of the ignorant kind. The driver has never been taught, and is not able to imagine, the possible consequences of their action.

Potentially worse is dangerous driver of the guy-thinks-this-is-clever kind. Often, but far from always, associated with youth, where the tendency is to push barriers to the limit anyway, the problem with this kind of driving is that the worse it is, the more clever the driver thinks it is.

Warning to us all*, whatever age: if you are doing something for the feeling of a thrill, or because you are pushing your, or your vehicle's, capabilities (on public roads, at least) then it is very likely that you are actually driving badly, but thinking you are clever. The cleverness usually is just luck, or getting away with it --- and we get away with stuff until the day we don't.



*Me included of course. No self-righteousness here: this should-know-better 62-year-old can be stupid too.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by sun_king

Ironically, the school gate at morning is a place where an impressive collection of these bad drivers converge. This is the place where you may even think of forgiving the RTOs because many a times what unfolds there is a shame to human decency.

A large part of the blame is also due to poor planning on part of the school authorities. And infact what can they also do as the school was probably constructed at a time when people hardly used to own cars. Now everyone wants to drop there child in a car. So in all that mess, coupled with the constant reminder of not letting your child get late creates this total chaos in front of most schools every morning.

Originally Posted by sachinpk

One thing which I today even miss in my home town (leave alone Bengaluru) is school children as a group cycling into school. This was one of the best times I remember. Good exercise, good time to gossip and having a good amount of free time to slowly cycle along.

Those were good times. But would you say the same even today? I am always scared to death seeing school children ride bicycles on main roads these days. After all they are still children and not expected to follow or display total obedience of traffic rules and etiquette. And many a times I have seen them zig zagging or cutting across lanes carelessly specially since they are engrossed in there own chit chat or worried about that class assignment. The traffic has increased manifolds today and has also become more relentless and harsh. IMHO it is no longer safe for children to ride bicycles specially on main roads.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Potentially worse is dangerous driver of the guy-thinks-this-is-clever kind. Often, but far from always, associated with youth, where the tendency is to push barriers to the limit anyway, the problem with this kind of driving is that the worse it is, the more clever the driver thinks it is.

So true. And it is amusing to see them explain there acts of over speeding and rash driving with a simple logic - " Have you ever seen me bang into someone? I have excellent reflexes. My control on the car is superhero like."

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

Those were good times. But would you say the same even today? I am always scared to death seeing school children ride bicycles on main roads these days.

This morning, I saw two kids (with their care takers walking next to them) charge towards the other side of the road. I was at a safe distance and so could brake well in advance. So yes, kids are kids (in fact that is one thing which never changes) and they may care less about traffic rules.

I agree that times have changed, people have become more harsher and generally in short of time. My post was a bit nostalgic - there is no point in thinking that we all can just rewind the clock to 20 years. It does not happen .

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by sun_king

Ironically, the school gate at morning is a place where an impressive collection of these bad drivers converge. This is the place where you may even think of forgiving the RTOs because many a times what unfolds there is a shame to human decency. 10 minutes just before 8:15 AM on a weekday in front of my daughter's school, you can be sure of seeing at least one person who should not have been even allowed to reproduce, let alone be permitted to operate a motor vehicle.

I stay very close to a large public school and I have been a witness to these antics every single day. Adding to the chaos are the School buses which are parked in a haphazard manner blocking regular traffic and creating a unsafe path for kids to be dropped to school.

[sun_king]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

A large part of the blame is also due to poor planning on part of the school authorities. And infact what can they also do as the school was probably constructed at a time when people hardly used to own cars. Now everyone wants to drop there child in a car. So in all that mess, coupled with the constant reminder of not letting your child get late creates this total chaos in front of most schools every morning.

No sir, that is not the case. I wouldn't have mentioned this in a bad drivers thread if such behavior was induced by space constraints. This is a wide road, at least 18-20 meters across in front of the gate and with ample space for temporary parking if used responsibly. Me and several others avoid contributing to the bedlam by parking about 100 meters away from the school gate and walking the children through this mess. We return after the drop taking an U-turn from a designated area far from the school gate, not going anywhere near the gate. It can be done

But some of the bosses and the memsabs don't have the time to walk the extra meters. They need to stop next to the gate. This is fine, but there is only a limited number of objects that can occupy a given area at a given time. Sharing time/space is a civilized solution, but sharing means yielding something and that is not acceptable to Memsab1 and Saab 3. This is a typical case of several "I will do what I want, who are you to stop me?" characters in the same time-space. Bad manners lead to bad driving.

Being late is a personal issue, it is the individual's inability to manage time. The fact that we started late from home does not mean that we can behave like a bully or a moron on the road. And worse, this is not how we should teach time management to children, they deserve better. The constant reminders for being on time should be honored at home.

PS: This particular school is less than a decade old.

[::CMS::]

Originally Posted by ankan.m.blr

Dangerous stunt while driving a truck!This is bad driving of the worst kind.

The video should have shown what he had kept on the accelerator pedal : a brick or a stone!!! (its quite common on highways)