[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by cyqed

Typical. There is no chauvinism "Erupting" here. Just a normal discussion on how bad female driving is.

Based on few incidents of car driving ladies, you have generalized that ladies are bad drivers.
Tell me, don't you see hundreds and thousands of truck drivers, bus drivers, auto drivers etc., jumping red lights, killing people, driving in right lane of expressways at 40kmph. so who are those. Are those lady drivers dressed up in false moustache to spoil the reputation of men who are good drivers? Or maybe they are robots unleased by secret society of feminists to give a bad name to men.
Due to the tendency of most men to "notice" whenever a lady is at the wheel, esp in a car bigger than their own, its very easy to notice bad driving when a lady driver does it. However, given the miniscule percentage of lady drivers on our roads, esp the highways, and given the large number of fatalities on the roads, I would think that bad drivers are not really gender specific.
If I were to single out female drivers, I would call them worse than men only in one respect, i.e driving at lower than speed limit in right lane. But then there are hundreds of cars driven by men in Delhi on DND expressway and they go at a merry 50kmph on the 80kmph expressway, often choosing a stop 10 meters behind the "Vikram" on the center lane, so that to overtake you need to be very careful that you do not nick either the vikram, or their supercar going at 50.
But then you were talking about Bangalore. I havent driven in bangalore for years, so probably in the last 5 years there are no men driving below the speed limit in right lane in bangalore, or maybe you are looking too much at the ladies and noticing their driving

[Akshay1234]

Originally Posted by cyqed

There is hardly any "chauvinism " here. Like always, women make a big noise telling men are chauvinists and they want some rights to do things which they are not capable of doing. Our Indian Knowledge reached it peak during the vedic times. During then, the people with extreme knowledge about the earth and universe said, Women needs to stay home and assigned some works for them. The People back then did that for a reason -- untill somewhere in the 19th century when women thought they can run the show like men do. Then came forth the women's commission - which is such a big joke

wow you seem to hate women man. you really need to get some....

i feel that most women arent really bad drivers, theyre just worried. of course i have seen some women driving even 7 series that too with confidence.

anyway back to the topic.

[jassi]

@cyned - its simple math - the number of women out there on the roads is miniscule, so the chances of a few of them screwing up spoils the reputation for all womenkind?
Look at all the men on the road - the dumb taxi drivers, 2 wheeler jokers, men in cars swerving 5 lanes without indicators or even for that matter driving at 40 in the rightmost lanes slowing everyone down, tempos, autos, the list goes on.
Just because one has a road incident with a few women, does not mean all women are bad drivers - by that generalization I have had more incidents with men so all men are bad drivers including me, you, thad, spit, etc - ehn?
and since everyone is a bad driver, all men and women should sit at home and bake bread or make chappatis -maketh sense??

[IronH4WK]

i agree with cyqed about most women being bad drivers (and that's where the agreement ends). there are exceptions of course. most men are bad drivers, but there are exceptions for that too!

it's not a gender thingy. BUT women do have the audacity to think that they should not be held responsible for their actions and/or should be let go in case they cause problems for others, even if it causes fatalities (there are exceptions for this too).

many months back, i was coming out of Leela Palace and there i saw an accident on on the Airport road, in front of Manipal Hospital. a woman driver had banged her Swift behind another Swift and was arguing with the driver of the car in front and a traffic cop how it was not her fault that the other car was in front of her. even the traffic cop was convinced that it was it was the woman's fault (she was drunk) be she kept screaming on the top of her voice. not only did she cause a big scene out there, but also created a big traffic jam! and i think the cop let her off just to get the traffic moving (and there was an ambulance in the traffic). advantage woman!

also, in case of an accident if one argues with the woman driver, they are considered rude, even if the woman is at fault. all thanks to our society where women are held in high esteem (or at least thats what they want you to believe).

when my wife was in college (of course before marriage - stop grinning), she was once caught by a traffic cop who was routinely checking vehicles. she only had an learner's license and according to the law, she was in the wrong (person holding a LL should be accompanied by a person holding a valid DL). she panicked and started sobbing. the traffic cop let her go without any fine. advantage woman!

in the end, its just a case of feminine water power over masculine will power! and in most cases, feminine water power wins hands down!

@Tejas: we're all friends here, lets not make personal attacks at each other. your comment about the nazi insignia was totally uncalled for.

Originally Posted by jassi

and since everyone is a bad driver, all men and women should sit at home and bake bread or make chappatis -maketh sense??

hehe.. this guy knows humour!

[vinesataris]

Don't know about other cities but I'm pretty sure the Auto drivers in Hyderabad are the worst drivers I've ever seen. They don't give any sings of turning before they take a sharp turns, they don't seem to be stopping but they stop anywhere on the roads. I've seen a thousands of cars in Hyderabad which are the victims of these autos. My first accident, I'd rather say a scratch and a small dent was made by a three wheeled Auto. The second accident by an auto and this time, an auto wala rammed into my car which was parked on the extreme left side of the road (Govt. parking). It charged me a bomb to get back my car in a shape. Got nothing from the auto wala.

The second worst drivers according to me are RTC bus drivers. Recently, a bus driver hit my car which is idling near a traffic signal. To my shock, he was drunk. This is the time I started to hate the police dept of Hyderabad. The driver hit my car, escaped from the spot and police being the evidence of this incident did no help to me. I filed a case against the driver but of no use. The police fined him and left him. I wrote to the entire RTC dept about this incident but of no use (of course they said they would take an action against the driver).
Got my car repaired through insurance as I was not in a position (financially) to pay for the repairs.
Posted this in Consumer complaints also. I know it will be of no use. Follow the link below.

APSRTC Complaints - Vehicle hit by a drunk bus driver

[suhaas307]

In keeping with the topic: IMO, 80% of the cars out there are driven by men and naturally, 20% by women. (This is just a guess, not hard-proven-statistical data) Now, out of all the male drivers, I'd say 65% of them are horrible, 5% are sort of clueless, 20% are pretty alright and 10% are pretty good!

But, I haven't come across a single woman driver who is good behind the wheel. I'm sorry but that's just MO! It's true! Now, I probably shouldn't bring this up, but I think my mother herself is a pretty bad driver. Our beloved Santro delivers only 10 kilometers to the liter and that's purely due to her horrible driving style! She hangs around in 2nd gear when she's supposed to be in 3rd and when she can slot it into 4th, she's in 3rd! The engine spins more than necessary because of the lower gear that she insists on being in! I've seen her build up speeds of 20 km/h in 1st gear! And she isn't flooring it or anything, she just keeps the engine spinning for a long time till she shifts up! And it's the most annoying thing in the world!

And the Santro is one of those few cars that are blessed with a dead-pedal and she doesn't use it! She rests her foot on the clutch instead and she refuses to change this habit!

And the worst part is that she refuses to listen to me and take some advice (woman ego you see) because I'm her son who's just 20 years old and she has had 15 years of driving 'experience'!

I've seen several women who are like this! And oh, one more thing! Of all the women drivers I've seen, all their cars have serious mechanical damage i.e. the clutch has completely worn out due to that habit! The gears feel rubbery and the handbrake works just about 70% (largely due to the fact that they forget to disengage the e-brake and carry on driving with it on for many miles!)

This is what I've observed and I'm sorry, I'm not being a chauvinist. I'm sure women are better than us at many things, but they aren't the best drivers! There are many men who drive badly, who swerve, give no indication, drive recklessly, etc. but there are few men who are good! The same doesn't apply for women. The day I meet a woman who's good at driving, I'll take all this back!

[Spitfire]

Then how come people advertise their cars as lady driven when it comes to selling them (the cars i mean) ?

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I'm sure women are better than us at many things, but they aren't the best drivers! There are many men who drive badly, who swerve, give no indication, drive recklessly, etc. but there are few men who are good! The same doesn't apply for women. The day I meet a woman who's good at driving, I'll take all this back!

Women are mechanically challenged?

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Then how come people advertise their cars as lady driven when it comes to selling them (the cars i mean) ?

Well, women do influence the buying choice though they don't drive often.

[vamsi.kona]

vinesataris
Don't know about other cities but I'm pretty sure the Auto drivers in Hyderabad are the worst drivers I've ever seen. The second worst drivers according to me are RTC bus drivers.

Add to that the Seven-seaters or mini-taxis.

IronH4WK
also, in case of an accident if one argues with the woman driver, they are considered rude, even if the woman is at fault.

And remember, the ever present heroes who are ready to showcase their macho in front of the woman just to impress.

cyqed
Our Indian Knowledge reached it peak during the vedic times. During then, the people with extreme knowledge about the earth and universe said, Women needs to stay home and assigned some works for them. The People back then did that for a reason -- untill somewhere in the 19th century when women thought they can run the show like men do.

Though off-topic, I am quite surprised to hear this in our forum. vedas, never imposed any restriction of any sort on women, it was some people who said such things. If Vedas said such things, then how come we consider Gayatri as veda mata and Saraswati as goddess of learning. After all there is only one power, you may call it by whatever name.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by Spitfire

Then how come people advertise their cars as lady driven when it comes to selling them (the cars i mean) ?

if you've noticed, nowadays, everything the "brands" sell, they use women. furniture, detergent, home appliances, airlines, homes and even cars

found a real nice driver this evening (and rich one at that)! was on the Old Madras road on the signal before the turn to Indiranager 100ft road and there was this sky blue Toyota Fortuner on my right - there were three vehicles side by side. as the signal went green, the Fortuner tried to bolt and when trying to squeeze past the biker in front of him, he went left as if my Getz didn't exist, scraped my front right side of the bumper and just drove off!!

fortunately i kinda predicted his move and steered left just enough to avoid major damage. otherwise he would have taken my front bumper with him! what this guy did pissed me off! i power shifted, raced in front of the Fortuner and brought my car to a halt, got out, walked over to the driver in the Fortuner and knocked on his glass.

when he opened the door and got out, my anger kinda fizzled out. it was a man in his mid 50's and was travelling with family. he didn't understand why i had stopped my car in front of his and walked up. when i told him why, he said he didn't see me! aw cmon! Getz isn't a small car! and you don't change lanes like he did without looking in the side-view mirrors first!

when he saw what he had done, he said he was sorry and will pay for whatever the damages. at this point i didn't feel like taking the fight any further. the man was genuine when he apologised, but i was furious about what he did to my baby! anyways, told him "just because you're driving a big vehicle, you don't own the road" and left it that. got in my car and drove home (had to be home in 10mins to attend a telecon)

a picture of today's adventure attached.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

he said he didn't see me! aw cmon! Getz isn't a small car! and you don't change lanes like he did without looking in the side-view mirrors first!

Fortuner is a tall vehicle. It is possible that the low Getz is not seen on the rear view mirror. Did it have a front fender mirror?

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

when he opened the door and got out, my anger kinda fizzled out. it was a man in his mid 50's and was travelling with family. he didn't understand why i had stopped my car in front of his and walked up. when i told him why, he said he didn't see me! aw cmon! Getz isn't a small car! and you don't change lanes like he did without looking in the side-view mirrors first!

when he saw what he had done, he said he was sorry and will pay for whatever the damages. at this point i didn't feel like taking the fight any further. the man was genuine when he apologised, but i was furious about what he did to my baby! anyways, told him "just because you're driving a big vehicle, you don't own the road" and left it that. got in my car and drove home (had to be home in 10mins to attend a telecon)

a picture of today's adventure attached.

I see that you've fallen for the 'innocent' old family-man trick. Even women play this to their potential! It's quite possible that he might be genuine but you can never say! It's good if he was though. But at the end of the day, the damage is done!

Sorry about your Getz! That might not look nasty but everything hurts. I know how you feel!


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Oh, and one more statement that I'd like to add to the main topic. How do you spot bad drivers? Well, here is one that I thought of after a long wait at a certain traffic signal:

If you see that the driver has reclined his seat more than what's necessary, he is probably a laid back driver and he tilts towards the negligent side in most cases.

I've seen several drivers who recline it even beyond 75% andalmost lie down and drive! How on Earth do they see the dammed road? It's pure stupidity! Pull up your seats for God's sakes!

The correct driving position is something not many are aware of. But to achieve that, you MUST NOT recline your seat more than required or necessary. It should be adjusted to the correct angle and in such a way that when you stretch your arms out (elbows straight) and rest your hands over the steering wheel, your wrists should break (and your hands should fall at the other end) at the rim of the steering wheel. I hope I'm clear about this.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by sbraj

Fortuner is a tall vehicle. It is possible that the low Getz is not seen on the rear view mirror. Did it have a front fender mirror?

yep, he did have that thingy. haven't seen a Fortuner without it.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

I see that you've fallen for the 'innocent' old family-man trick

damn! next time i'll beat up the "family man"! lol

Originally Posted by suhaas307

The correct driving position is something not many are aware of. But to achieve that, you MUST NOT recline your seat more than required or necessary. It should be adjusted to the correct angle and in such a way that when you stretch your arms out (elbows straight) and rest your hands over the steering wheel, your wrists should break (and your hands should fall at the other end) at the rim of the steering wheel. I hope I'm clear about this.

yep, that's the correct position to be in. anything closer/farther always is gonna cause a great deal of discomfort in the long run.

did you get this information when watching MEGA Factories on NatGeo - specifically the show they were showing the BMW Z4?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

]If you see that the driver has reclined his seat more than what's necessary...

Equally, those that push the seat right up to the wheel.

I'm not absolutely sure that either are necessarily bad drivers, but it certainly indicates ignorance of some the very basic driving lessons.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Equally, those that push the seat right up to the wheel.

I'm not absolutely sure that either are necessarily bad drivers, but it certainly indicates ignorance of some the very basic driving lessons.

I have seen lots of women drivers do this. They are right up near the steering. And they grip the steering as if it is going to fall otherwise. Not sure whether this indicates anything of their driving style.