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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-598.html)

Totally relatable. Used to do that earlier. Then I realised just because people speed up to get past I shouldn't do the same. Now I conveniently wait for people to change lanes, take U-turns and cross the road with people behind me who can honk all they like. I get a thumbs up from a decent guy trying to take a turn, a thank you when I allow people to cross and a smile on the old lady or man or the poor guy who has to push his overloaded hand cart. One day I'll be in their place or my parents will be their place in 10-15 years and maybe good karma will come back.

Today afternoon while entering a fuel station, I glanced at my IRVM to find this two wheeler rider behind me. The guy was intently looking into his phone which he was holding with BOTH his hands!! I stepped on the accelerator and got myself out of harm's way.
Wondering what all some people will do to look cool.

These I think are the need of the hour on most our roads. Probably this is only way Indian drivers can be tamed. Otherwise, drivers in most of our cities just jump onto the other side and start driving like it is their side. If that is not enough, they just switch on their headlights on "High Beam" and keep going about their business. I think these spikes should be put on each intersection or a median break.

Guys, are we forgetting that this is India? :)

Won't be long before this happens -

I was driving inside a residential locality slowly and cautiously since there are several 4 way junctions at cross roads. At one of the junctions, I spotted a scooter coming from the cross road on my right so I stopped to let him pass. He goes straight (perpendicularly in front of my car) so I expected him to continue onto the cross road on my left, but guess what ?
He turned left into the main road where I had stopped just beside my car and starts honking for me to give him space (he wanted to move on the wrong side of the road I was on!) :Shockked:
He could have so easily made a legal left turn (no signal just look and proceed) without even bothering about me nor bothering me at all.

This pictorial representation is enacted as is almost every day here in Delhi-NCR.This is exactly how we Delhites, NCR-ites like to tackle the check points put up due to Republic Day.

If you can't go over them (read cars in front) go around them!

If I had not braked in time, I would have been the victim of this Swift driver's sudden lane change to avenge the blockage by bikes. I hope the video explains enough, but there were two lanes of traffic merging onto old airport road. This junction is manually controlled by police and we were given signal to take the right. The swift was on the extreme left lane when we joined, while I was in the middle. To my right was the truck. After joining the road, all the three lanes were blocked by a bunch of two wheelers which crossed the road. Once the crowd started clearing, the extreme left lane in which the swift was in was still blocked while the middle and right lanes were clear. As we started moving, this swift guy thinks he is still driving a bike and makes a really 'Swift' lane change and then tries to scoot out. You can notice that by the speed at which he is turning the wheel.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWmi6crvtn0

Apparently it was his first day with the car purchased used. I was concentrating on the truck to the right. Though in the video it looks like the truck squeezed me, its not so. He was tracking his lane correctly, and I was tracking mine. Else I would have ended up in replacing the entire front panels of my car.

What followed was even annoying. I pull up to this swift guy near the signal since it was red, and he tried to squeeze again and the mirrors of the cars brushed. That was it, I lost my cool there and gave him an earful. The people in the truck had witnessed this too, and they too yelled at him. Once the signal turned green, this guy stayed away from my back and I could see him use the lane change indicators every time he switched lanes :D

If you made the guy think, then it is all worthwhile. Somebody made me think, the other day, and I'm grateful for it!

It was a 120 second signal. I had a girl next to me in the car so I had to watch my words and actions. He was blaming that there was a bike ahead of him so he wanted to avoid him. My argument was that doesn't mean he jumps lanes. If I followed the same logic to avoid him, I would have swiped the truck. Told him once that he should brake if there is something ahead of him and not switch lanes all of a sudden. Still he was adamant that he 'just' wanted to avoid the biker ahead of him. Then I moved to some common sense lessons and that's when it became all apologetic and the signal turned green :D

I have to admit, I was at the receiving end a few months back during a similar scenario but in moving traffic. But I didn't end up being so close except that a sudden steering input from my end startled a biker riding next to me. There was a bike ahead of me which in order to dodge a hump came right in front of my car but at a slow speed. I spontaneously made a slight steering input before braking which caught the biker to my right by surprise. I immediately apologised and admitted that I should have just braked and not steered. He was a decent chap and things ended with the apology.

This Sunday, I was driving towards Silk board on the Iblur flyover, when I see a Royal Enfield with a well educated guy (I am basing this on the way he looked... A proper RE helmet, Aviators, a Virat Kohli like trimmed beard), with an equally good looking, educated looking girl sitting behind him.
To my surprise, the guy takes a U turn right there on the down ramp of the flyover, and goes back up the flyover, on the wrong side. Further down I see that there is police checking taking place, and this could have prompted this dare devilry.

The lengths and risks people take to avoid a small fine is baffling.

Was it a sobriety (otherwise known as drink-driving) check-point? Or was the pillion not wearing a helmet? Because otherwise, going by your description, don't think he would have been pulled over anyway.

We it was the middle of the day, maybe around 12 PM. Drunk, maybe not.
The pillion did not have a helmet. But I am also guessing something to do with the license. Maybe expired, or no license?

I encountered quite a few examples yesterday evening after dark.

On a four lane road with a grade separator (two lane on each side, however about 1.5 lane effective due to encroachments) two cars were coming on wrong side on first lane because the did not have the patience to wait for traffic signal to turn green on their side.

I am at an unmanned T junction (shown in brown) halfway through. There is an e-rick coming from my left (yellow). I stop to let him pass. However our impatient hero (red) comes barrelling down and closes the gap infront of the slow moving e-rick. It took a lot of maneuvering to untangle this knot.

I am about to take a free left turn in a long wide road. I see a car ahead on last lane with hazard light blinking. I assumed (my mistake) it is moving in same direction as me (pity even police encourage use of hazard lights while moving) and began to line up with it. Its headlights came on: it was in fact driving towards me! Fortunately there was sufficient distance available to make amends on my part.

Happened with me just today, A Narrow lane and a uber/Ola driver coming from the opposite lane suddenly stops signals his right turn indicator and suddenly turns right to enter the gate of the building by the time he did i had already crossed the building gate but he decides to block my way and stands there asking me to reverse! I waved at him that he is the one blocking my path and there no place for me to reverse anyways, He bluntly refused until i got down from the vehicle and shook him up nicely, Obviously he did reverse up then, In Short, These Ola/Uber driver's are slowly becoming a menace on the roads, To either pickup their customer or to drop them, Or probably trying to do as many trips possible in a day, These people are putting their own life as well as other's life and properties on risk, Its not the first time i have encountered such driver's driving rashly.

Talking on the mobile while driving is a crime and yet it has become so much common place. Almost 50 % of the vehicle drivers that I see are fumbling with the mobile phones with one hand on the steering / handle.

I think what we need is a biker cop chasing down and stopping people doing such acts. I remember many years ago I was driving from the Wipro circle in Hinjewadi towards Wakad chowk and I had one hand on the window sill. A bike riding policeman came behind me and asked me to stop. I asked him what was the matter and he said that I was talking on the mobile while driving.

I flatly refuted his charge and told him that I did no such thing and in fact I ask people to keep their mobile phones aside and drive safely. Yet he was adamant and asked me to hand over my phone so that he could check it. Now in those days I had a Nokia 1100. I handed it over to him. He checked the recent calls list and call history. The last call was over an hour earlier. With somewhat sadness he handed over my phone and asked me to drive safely and went away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N1iw5Vdim8