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

Quote:

Originally Posted by drhoneycake (Post 3902347)

Check this out. This BMTC Volvo driver seems to be late for something. Skipping stops, almost knocking down two wheelers, a goods auto and going off-road to overtake a cement mixing truck.

I will play the Devil's Advocate here. To me it looks normal having seen similar fast driving by College and IT company buses in OMR. Just because he accelerates hard and drives fast, that doesn't make him a bad driver. It is all a matter of perspective.

You should see the College Buses of JPR racing ahead of traffic in the morning. But these drivers are good and despite what may appear as abnormal speed, there hardly is any mishap. Your video shot from behind the bus doesn't actually show that he was rash. :)

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Originally Posted by Prowler (Post 3902419)

I will play the Devil's Advocate here. To me it looks normal having seen similar fast driving by College and IT company buses in OMR. Just because he accelerates hard and drives fast, that doesn't make him a bad driver. It is all a matter of perspective.

You should see the College Buses of JPR racing ahead of traffic in the morning. But these drivers are good and despite what may appear as abnormal speed, there hardly is any mishap. Your video shot from behind the bus doesn't actually show that he was rash. :)

I feel you are taking a contrarian view just to troll the thread and have fun.

The bus is being driven in an appallingly rash manner, cutting too close to other road users including cyclists and pedestrians. Perhaps it would take just one injured or dead road user to change your perspective.

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Originally Posted by SS-Traveller (Post 3902430)

Hmm.. I feel the driver is under control - he even indicated a lane change after overtaking the cement mixer. Also, the fish eye lens of the dashcam makes it look that the peds are too close to the bus. Otherwise we'd have seen the peds jumping out of the way of the bus.

Rash is a relative term, someone's rash might be very different from my definition.

One funny incident happened earlier this month.

I was with uncle's driver, coming towards Badarpur toll in the evening. We had stopped at a signal and there were 50 seconds to go. We were in the right-most lane (a junction) and a car behind started honking. We had stopped just before the white line and could not give him way, and were watching his actions (and hand gestures) through our rear view mirrors.

Now this man gets out of his car, literally like a hero and walks towards us in full attitude (bent forward, hunched shoulders like hulk! :uncontrol)! Knocks at the window, looks at the driver and suddenly his personality changes. Do note that driver is a afraid-of-no-one type village guy, a 6' 4" Pehelwaan.

That man (suddenly with a 12 year old's voice) - Bhaiyya... thoda gaadi aage bada lo. U-Turn lena hai.

[Brother, please move your car a bit. I have to take a U-Turn]

Driver (with his natural growling voice) - Chalaan katega toh tu bharega?

[Will you be responsible if I get fined?]

That man - (Nothing to say, looks at the traffic light which shows 20 seconds now)

Driver (this is the most hilarious part) - Jaa baith jaa gaadi mein! lol:

[Go get back in the car]

Poor man walks back to his car, gets inside, defeated.

Surprisingly, the driver followed all rules and didn't move a bit till the lights were green. In the meanwhile, I was jumping in my seat like crazy over the driver's ending comment! So, what I wanted to say is that we need such people who stand firm on their ground when they are right. Standing behind the white line is basic discipline and shows how good a driver you are. Most road-users would have moved over the crossing (white line) to let the car behind pass. My uncle's driver took things very well by citing the problem of fine of jumping red light, instead of arrogantly saying that he is not gonna move (which would have resulted in a road rage).

So a bad driver is one who starts crawling ahead of the white line when the signal is still red. Do these 10 or 20 seconds really matter that much? I think VAT69 should change its advertisement, and bring a scene highlighting a car stopped behind the white line at a signal, with tagline '1 in a 100'. Seriously.

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Originally Posted by paragsachania (Post 3902355)

Techies - Wake up from the slumber. It's time you act. Take on that driver if he breaks rules or send a strong message to the officials at your workplace.

There's a reason why I don't take the cab anymore. The so-called Techies who were in the cab had this attitude - "Any vehicle that we are in is not at fault". So, even if our driver was at fault, the attitude was to always support the driver and blame the other good drivers out on the road for no fault of theirs!

Quote:

Originally Posted by audioholic (Post 3902393)

This was rampant in the cabs provided to my company.... Mornings they are in a hurry to reach office and they dont tell anything to the driver(or as you say they are in a deep slumber) and evenings they want to get home in time, let it take anything. Hence they ignore if the driver is driving like a mad man....Two incidents happened .... That led to the employees in turn bashing up the driver and the transport desk, and the non cooperating drivers were shunted out of duty

agree: Until such stuff happens, the Techies do not understand anything. Unfortunately, the techies who were with me are still sticking to the same driver. In fact, they have been demanding the Transport Desk to keep the same driver on that route (Prestige Tech Park to Srinagar ~ 22 kms). He's had two incidents thus far after I stopped taking the cab, but still, he's doing what he does always! So, some Techies never change, do they? :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by satan's_valet (Post 3902485)

The bus driver was definitely driving rash. But along with him, you jumped the last signal as well.

Agree I did. The road leading to Meenakshi was closed that day (beyond the entrance to the mall), so no vehicles from that side. Also everyone was just moving, so I too followed.

Also Had I stopped at that signal, I would've got hammered by another BMTC Volvo who was tailgating me and flashing his headlights.

Sent from my iPhone 6 using Team-BHP

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Originally Posted by satan's_valet (Post 3902485)

The bus driver was definitely driving rash. But along with him, you jumped the last signal as well.

The double edged knife of a dashcam.

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Originally Posted by drhoneycake (Post 3902657)

Agreed the bus was a bit rash, but looks like you did exactly the same things as him. went too close to the cyclist wearing blue, did a little bit of offroading when overtaking the cement mixer, and jumped the meenaxi mall signal. As far as I can see, you stopped the Polo from taking a left, because both you and the Volvo jumped the signal.

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Originally Posted by tilt (Post 3904338)

Was basically testing my new dash cam and captured a couple of video snippets here for your viewing pleasure

:D If I start posting such videos, I would have the numbers in thousands! I have already overburdened youtube with many 720p videos from my DashCam and I shall surely go about with more of them, but yeah.., this city's turning into a nightmare nowadays.

:OT The second part of the second video was near Binny Mill right? Correct me if I'm wrong. Is that your daily commute stretch or do you stay nearby? Just curious.., since I'm from Chamarajpete.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vnidta (Post 3902605)

The so-called Techies who were in the cab had this attitude - "Any vehicle that we are in is not at fault". So, even if our driver was at fault, the attitude was to always support the driver and blame the other good drivers out on the road for no fault of theirs!

Very true!

A few years ago I lived in Chennai. One morning I had gone out alone in my car. There is a place which has a curve and immediately there is a signal. The light was red, so I stopped. Another car came and stopped on my left. There was enough space on my right for a bus. A BPO company's mini-bus (Eicher type) chose not to use this space, but stopped behind me. Maybe he came around the curve too fast and was taken by surprise. Being a regular on that route, he should have known there was a signal there.

He waited a few seconds then honked at me to move. I didn't, because the light was still red. He then shifts into gear and rams me from behind! What I did next was wrong, but I blew my fuse. I turned off the engine, walked over to him, opened his door, reached up to him and gave him a resounding slap. Naturally he got of the drivers seat and tried to start a fight. Unfortunately for him, a bus terminus was a few yards away, and there were a lot of bus drivers and conductors lounging around who had seen the whole thing. They rushed to my aid and yelled at the guy. One of them called the cops. By now the staff in the bus rushed out and started blaming me for everything. Either they did not realize what had happened, or they were supporting the young driver come what may.

Meanwhile it was suggested to me to move my car to the side. I did this right away, and this coward used the opportunity to take off with his vehicle (till then my car was blocking his bus).

I had noted the company name. I googled it, found some info and sent an email to one of the founders (an Indian, based in the UK). After a few days, the local HR guy called and told me he had spoken to the staff in the bus, and their driver was totally innocent and I had created the entire problem from scratch, so it was I who had to apologize!

I was so furious at that guy's arrogance that day, I would have taught him a lesson he would not have forgotten, but had to let go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheTeacher (Post 3905748)

HR guy called and told me he had spoken to the staff in the bus, and their driver was totally innocent and I had created the entire problem from scratch, so it was I who had to apologize!

I was so furious at that guy's arrogance that day, I would have taught him a lesson he would not have forgotten, but had to let go.

DashCam.., not just at the front, but both the front and rear. That's the only solution to problems like these. Even if we don't win at situations, we would have proof to at least show that we aren't being unreasonable :)