[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

This is just one of the many stupid incidents we have to come across, every single day. No time to shout sense into this fool nor to block the way till he reverses. It was peak hour and we all had to get to work.

I may be repeating this but the bus had its headlights on and that means no matter even if your car's engine breaks down right on the lane that you are, you are expected to give way .

Actually, there is no concept of give way on our roads ever since drivers learnt the art of using headlights as weapons to demand and make way onto the traffic in the opposite direction.

[Turrrb0]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

This is just one of the many stupid incidents we have to come across, every single day. No time to shout sense into this fool nor to block the way till he reverses. It was peak hour and we all had to get to work.

My god that chrome bus!!!! What an eyesore, I guess that bus drivers driving sense is as bad as the bus owners taste!

[airbus]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

since drivers learnt the art of using headlights as weapons to demand and make way onto the traffic in the opposite direction.

In most cases these buses try to bully the vehicle coming from the opposite direction on right lane due to difference in size of the vehicles

[RoadMonkey]

It's been 3 months since I've stationed myself in a famous but relatively small-ish city in Haryana and I'm pretty sure I've not taken a single left turn here without a two wheeler squeezing in to overtake from the left. I have come to call my left ORVM as "two wheeler saviour". Whether it saves the two wheeler or yours truly from the torment is up for interpretation.

They also seem to fashion out lanes for themselves in the jams, often between two four wheelers or the right shoulder and the four wheeler. I'm always scared of the long scratches they might leave, given that they often cross with a gap of a couple of inches.

I usually have a running gag (a way of coping for me from an otherwise very stressful experience) with my passenger where I guess whether the two wheeler will cut in front of me or not. I'm more right than wrong.

Here's a dashcam footage of being overtaken from both the sides! Slowing down for speed breakers (or car breakers) is for suckers!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQkosui-6Hk

There was yet another speed breaker ~10mts ahead. Doesn't seem to slow people down at all, leading to more of these unscientific speed breakers.

Another gentleman who thinks speed breakers are for suckers and felt free to overtake me through the separation for the opposite lane at a blind turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79Q7p50ojm8

Bonus video - Tractors/autos usually carry TMT bars for construction hanging out of their vehicles, I've a habit of calling it "death on wheels". here's one I spotted whose bars fell out. I personally know someone whose father died of a similar incident, fortunately this time there was nobody behind him. Indian roads don't allow you to keep some room ahead, 20 vehicles will try to insert themselves in any little gap you leave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2bqI78E3ms

Sharing my troubles in this thread makes me feel a little lighter about my experience while driving. I do not mean to offend any Haryanavis here but this state is becoming a little difficult for me to adjust in. I have driven around ~60k kms in my life and this is the first time I've felt hesitant to take my car out for a drive. Perhaps I'm too used to the calmer demeanor of Punjab's roads.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by RoadMonkey

Here's a dashcam footage of being overtaken from both the sides! Slowing down for speed breakers (or car breakers) is for suckers!

Any brain on wheels would avoid that, because what if the other biker causes the car to swerve? Want to be on the receiving end? They don't think, don't care.

I really appreciate your videos for being cut to the ten to twenty seconds that really matter. Or am I just a GOM (Grumpy Old Man) for not wanting to enjoy the view for two minutes before the action happens? Anyway, thanks!

[RoadMonkey]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Any brain on wheels would avoid that, because what if the other biker causes the car to swerve? Want to be on the receiving end? They don't think, don't care.

The general assumption a lot of people seem to have from their behaviour is that they take the car to be a stationary obstacle they've to pass. They do not think it can turn, swerve, accelerate or they won't be cutting in and/or crossing with so little gap. Sometimes there'd be enough space for them to overtake freely yet they'd overtake from close range.

I really appreciate your videos for being cut to the ten to twenty seconds that really matter. Or am I just a GOM (Grumpy Old Man) for not wanting to enjoy the view for two minutes before the action happens? Anyway, thanks!

I understand, I suffer from similar impatience while watching videos with minutes building up to the action. I'm still in my mid 20s.

I should mention that I don't want to come across like a "car snob" who thinks he has a superior right of way on the road. I have ridden a two wheeler for most of my life before I got a car and I made sure not to do the things I now bemoan.

[Thad E Ginathom]

We are all upset when our cars get damaged. Just paid 7k for tinkering/painting my last biker scar. But as driving enthusiasts, I honestly think that, however mad we get at these guys (and gals), what upsets us most is the complete disregard for their own lives and safety. A leg is worth infinitely more than Rs.7k, and a life is priceless. I've spoken to a guy who said, "I know you're right... but... I'm late."

[RoadMonkey]

Yes. The way some two wheelers drive, it shows a callous attitude towards their own safety. Not everyone seems to be wearing a helmet, some don't strap it in. Here's another incident, which was captured but didn't "happen" to me.

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

I was going through the dashcam footage trying to find a particular incident but I couldn't. It's a peculiar pet peeve of mine. Two wheelers, rather than reversing a little by foot, prefer to take a full fledged U-turn on the road, when they want to turn, often with little regard for the oncoming traffic.

While I was going through the footage, i noticed something my eyes have been telling me for a while - nobody here seems to know that you can actually lower your high beam within city limits, when driving below 30-40. Literally everybody seems to have it set on high, even within townships where speeds are <20 and nobody responds to dippers.

The people who drive on the wrong side in tight lanes with high beam take the cake! They're blinding you while directly coming to hit you and you've to save them with only what amounts to "good judgement". You can't see, there's another car on your right and one tailgating you. There's only so much one can do in these situations.

There's also aggressive driving by four wheelers with an attitude of "you have more to lose than I do". Many four wheelers have crossed me with a gap of a few inches, where, if I hadn't backed off, it certainly would've left a mark on my car. That's something the dashcam cannot fully capture. People do not seem to care much about their cars, or at least have the number of a bodyshop on speed dial. Here's a video but I don't think it quite captures it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxX8pFzWJB8

I can't help but be reminded of this song whenever I go out in this city. Everybody here seems to be a hurry. And given all the pollution, the chest pain part is quit literal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rz6JfgCJtk

[Nalin1]

RoadMonkey,

Your videos are Indian roads in a nutshell !.

We fill gaps in front on two, three, four, eight or whatever wheelers. And we have unbelievable amount of confidence in our fellow Indians. They will save themselves and save me.

In one of the videos above, you did not fill the gap quickly enough. So others filled it. First come first serve .

[RoadMonkey]

Originally Posted by Nalin1

In one of the videos above, you did not fill the gap quickly enough. So others filled it. First come first serve .

It wasn't like that. The video does not capture what was going by my left side. I would've filled the gap had it not been a given that my left side would be completely scratched. The etios was sitting at a gap of a couple of inches from my front fender and decreasing the gap ever so slightly. Either I could've risked it or backed off, I backed off. The Wagon R guy clearly is "I've nothing to lose" kind of person. The Dzire did the same thing. It's not a case of filling the gap, I did not have the room to do it. Perhaps a 360° dashcam is in order. That's the only way one can appreciate the predicament of a non aggressive driver on Indian roads.

[BLACNWYTE]

RoadMonkey, I can empathize with you. Yesterday I was out with my wife and I casually said to her that everyone here comes on the road with the intent to get themselves killed and is challenging death. She told me I need to lighten up. For the next 4-5 kms I just asked her to look out for the instances where a two or four wheeler cut across, joined the road or crossed and intersection without even a cursory glance towards the oncoming traffic. It was easily more than a dozen times. She then told me that now she gets what I mean when I say I'm stressed after our 220km drive to her home.

And it's just not young chaps on Dukes and Dios but even younger women and older ladies on Activas and Fascinos ride at breakneck speeds without even a helmet. I ride an Activa and honest to God, I'm scared to take it beyond 60 on open and empty road and I see young ladies zooming past me full throttle without even a helmet and I think, aren't they even a little scared?.

[PrasannaDhana]

I really really hope the swift guy and the Indica Vista fellow have a justification that they have to hurry up and pull someone out of a fire nearby, for this stupidity.

The truck on the right lane had already started to change lanes and even after that the Indica Vista driver proceeds to overtake by driving over the shoulder. The truck driver is taken aback and then switches ON his turn signals. And once he had settled on the left lane, a bigger idiot driving the swift overtakes my car from the left, driving down the shoulder on the mud patch, and then overtakes the truck.


Funny part is both these idiots kept driving at 70-80 kmph after this and I had to overtake them in the next 30 seconds. Why then the hurry!

https://youtu.be/C-b6_fANfDo

[RoadMonkey]

My dashcam with a crash detection system has ~2-6 SOS videos saved after every trip on the highways. What's risky behaviour for the dashcam is normal behaviour for our roads.

Another sign and irritating behavious of bad drivers is - being an ass and then looking away because they know they've been an ass and would be called out on it. It means people KNOW they're being annoying but have no qualms being that way.

Today's bravery award goes to -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TjBEfTRvOk

I thought the indicator might not be working until he turned it on juuust at the end, after having changed lanes.

[Turrrb0]

Originally Posted by RoadMonkey

It's been 3 months since I've stationed myself in a famous but relatively small-ish city in Haryana and I'm pretty sure I've not taken a single left turn here without a two wheeler squeezing in to overtake from the left. I have come to call my left ORVM as "two wheeler saviour". Whether it saves the two wheeler or yours truly from the torment is up for interpretation.

They also seem to fashion out lanes for themselves in the jams, often between two four wheelers or the right shoulder and the four wheeler. I'm always scared of the long scratches they might leave, given that they often cross with a gap of a couple of inches.

I usually have a running gag (a way of coping for me from an otherwise very stressful experience) with my passenger where I guess whether the two wheeler will cut in front of me or not. I'm more right than wrong.

Here's a dashcam footage of being overtaken from both the sides! Slowing down for speed breakers (or car breakers) is for suckers!

Somehow, looking at all these, I feel however world class our road infrastructure may become. We are beyond saving. How many ever over overhead crossings (with even elevators mind you), Road dividers/medians. People will just not change. This and the accident thread are one of the most depressing on the forum, and I'm always left irritated/P*ssed off after I'm done reading them...

[silverado]

Originally Posted by RoadMonkey

I can't help but be reminded of this song whenever I go out in this city. Everybody here seems to be a hurry. And given all the pollution, the chest pain part is quit literal.
https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=1Rz6JfgCJtk

Thanks for sharing, what a beautiful video that is.
This one should go to FIAT Classic thread instead.

The city which was driveable in those days, has become much much worse.
Now there is no more "seene me jalan" people must be getting heart attacks now with the traffic situation currently.