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

had two incidents today.

1. in the outskirts of Kasturi Nagar (near the Ayyappa temple) a white ANHC came really close to our car and his right ORVM hit mine (he was travelling at speed whilst i was waiting for a pedestrian to cross). nothing happened - the mirror just folded in and folded out but by the sound of the impact i thought the case might have broken. fortunately nothing had happened - even the Team-BHP sticker on it wasn't damaged.

2. while passing through the Cantonment station and heading towards Cooke Town (beside the railway track), a BMTC is stopped on the left, so i go right to overtake. a nincompoop on a Kinetic comes from the opposite direction (the road is a one way). i stop the car so that this guy can wrestle his way out. all of a sudden i hear a thud! turned and looked to find two tapori's on a beautified (yep, the bike looked pretty gay) Samurai had rear-ended our car. hastily he overtakes me from the left and while passing, glares at me as if i caused him an inconvenience!

turned into a street to check the damage - not even a scratch!!

our car is bheri bheri lucky, touch wood (quick, someone lend me their head) :D

Bad drivers are the ones
Red signal jumpers,
Indicators given for right and turning left
Speeding close to us. Coming fast behind us and bang our bumpers.
the bikers cut to over take and scratches our front bumpers.
Day dreaming while driving or in the signal and leave the clutch to kiss the rear car.
Un necessary Honkers.

I am waiting at a signal on the left most lane. Signal turns green and I start to move. The moment my car started to move, I hear a squealing sound from the left side. I am shocked and my heart miss a beat.

First reaction is I have hit some metal surface. Turn and look. No, I haven't.

Is it something from the car? I continue to move slowly to check out. No. No more sound.

After few feet, there goes the sound again.

This time I caught the source. It was an autorickshaw horn from behind. The horn surprised me for sure, to say the least.

Bad horn. Does that indicate a bad driver?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbraj (Post 1987457)

i think it does. that kind of horn would make one jump out of their skin. it could prove fatal to weak of heart. also, such sound could arouse the curiosity of the pedestrian and make them look for the sound, thereby creating an environment for an accident. such disregard for public safety by the owner/driver of the vehicle in question does (IMO) brand him/her a bad driver.

PS: it scared the crap outta you, didn't it? :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbraj (Post 1987457)

Bad horn. Does that indicate a bad driver?

Those horns (air pressure) are illegal in India. If pointed out to an efficient cop, the owner will be penalized.

Even I experienced such horns and mostly in two-wheelers. There are two kinds - the one mentioned in the post, the "screamer" types which scare the daylights out of you and the other ones that sound like some truck or heavy vehicle horn and you look back and are totally dazed because your ears tell you the source of sound is in close proximity but your eyes just can't locate the "huge vehicle". Only when the "dude" overtakes you (which he definitely will) and you see him honking infront of you, that you realize where the sound came from. :Frustrati

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronH4WK (Post 1987470)

That kind of horn would make one jump out of their skin.

I almost jumped out of my skin the first time I heard a horn like that. It sounded like a hyena was laughing just behind me! Then I found it was actually the horn of a bike and was irritated. Just then this fellow passed me and honked again to overtake an auto, and the driver was so startled he was poking his head out and looking behind to see what it was. Then to my amusement, he let him draw parallel and increased speed to match the bike, and started bad mouthing and shaking his fist under the nose of the biker! The biker could not draw ahead because of another vehicle and I closed the gap to ensure he could not fall behind either! He was hemmed in by the median on the right side! For a stretch of about 2 KM this continued, till the next signal!:uncontrol Hopefully he learned his lesson!

Another irritating horn is the one that sounds like the wailing of a small child!

Quote:

Originally Posted by gururaj r (Post 1986016)

@ Mr Suhaas,

I read with interest your photos. Some of the photos have been taken in the middle of the road - if you have taken the same while driving - that is not a good way of driving.

Take care. Drive fast. Drive safe.

:uncontrol haha ...sorry this might be OT .
Yeah ,drivers who take pics when driving could qualify as dangerous drivers as well

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronH4WK (Post 1988713)

not if you know what you're doing. although i cannot vouch for others, i know i'm good at it ;) take a look at this - the first two shots were taken without taking my eyes off the road (and it is bumper-to-bumper traffic). the third one was when i was at standstill. also, these shots were taken using a DSLR and not a mobile phone or a P&S. there have been times where i've decided to keep the camera down and concentrate on the driving because safe driving is first priority.

hence, i would say if the person is a experienced driver and is also good at taking pictures (handling cameras while in motion) he/she shouldn't be termed a bad/dangerous driver. :D

By the same scale, those who talk on mobile too shoudn't be termed a bad/dangerous driver, if he/she is 'good at it'!. In fact, talking on mobile requires less 'skills' than taking good pictures in a DSLR, under any circumstances I believe.!

It's like this -
'Every new biker on road is a Racing Champion until the moment he meets with an accident. Then he becomes a biker'.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Latheesh (Post 2001642)

If you spot a 'SRS Travels' sticker on a vehicle in Bangalore, carefull they are the worst of the lot. Few of the IT biggies transportation is handled by them.

...including ours. They're one of the main reasons why i still drive to office. I feel so un-eco-friendly driving the Bolero to office everyday.

:(

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 2001669)

I have noticed one funny thing. Drivers who have Turkey Towels on their seat backs are very bad drivers. Follow carefully and one would understand.

Peculiar observation! What is the background of this interesting statement?
Are you referring to the cab drivers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k (Post 2001669)

I have noticed one funny thing. Drivers who have Turkey Towels on their seat backs are very bad drivers. Follow carefully and one would understand.

Me too think this is strange. I used to have Turkey, Brazilian and Egyptian towels on my seat & back when I was in Saudi all through 11 years, just to avoid my butt being barbecued and nothing else. How does this qualify to being bad driver mate? Can you explain a bit what you found out by following carefully please?