[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

At the risk of generalizing, this looks like a Pune Registration if I am right?

Raigad (Pen) RTO. Pune is MH-12/14. But you wouldn't be far away in that "generalization" statement, I wouldn't have been surprised if it was a MH-12/14 registered number - we have several of them (bad drivers) out here.

[sumathindra]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

ever heard of it you dimwit!!

This is an everyday scene on way to my workplace. Most of such offenders are ironically quite educated; Trust me this is sheer arrogance. On many occasions I have actually confronted them for such behavior and all you get is a cold stare with no remorse whatsoever! Honestly our traffic cops MUST track such offenders and take action rather then chasing 2 wheeler's and the lesser mortals in not so fancy vehicles! But will they do it is the question.

Shame on such "educated" people who have no respect and fear of laws of the land and road sense.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by naveen.raju

Ah! Come to Cochin buddy. You will see the buses instead of cars doing this.

Yeah, I've had close encounters with 'em red buses from hell! I think long back (late 90s) there was a Malayalam movie too (Jayaram and Jagadish) touching on the issue of the red bus racing.

[Blur]

Now this might be an everyday experience for folks down South, but let me narrate it anyway.

Had gone down to Hubli from Mumbai on Saturday. Had passed Dharwad and was approaching Hubli, when the road goes from being a divided heaven into an undivided regular road. It was late evening and darkness was falling fast. I was approaching a narrow bridge and there was an oncoming vehicle approaching from the opposite direction with its high-beam on (of course!). Something (maybe it was the gleam off a radium strip) alerted me to the presence of another (big) vehicle right besides the oncoming vehicle. Then, to my utter horror, this mystery vehicle driver (who till then had no running lights on, forget headlights) flashed his headlights once. It was an NWKRTC semi-luxury (purple/blue coloured) bus! And it was heading straight at me, without any prior warning! I just about managed to pull to the side and get in a hard stop and avoid a head-on. My family was shaken. I was plain numb.

Talk about spotting bad drivers, here was a plain sadistic one who was in my face!

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Blur

Now this might be an everyday experience for folks down South, but let me narrate it anyway.
. Then, to my utter horror, this mystery vehicle driver (who till then had no running lights on, forget headlights) flashed his headlights once. It was an NWKRTC semi-luxury (purple/blue coloured) bus! And it was heading straight at me, without any prior warning! I just about managed to pull to the side and get in a hard stop and avoid a head-on. My family was shaken. I was plain numb.

Talk about spotting bad drivers, here was a plain sadistic one who was in my face!

In India of 2012 it is akin to suicide to drive on the highways at night. We are a lawless, arrogant and selfish race of people who value nothing but our own individual comfort, convenience and time.
The thing is it does not matter however many people die on the roads. It is a mere statistical blip in this devilishly over populated place.. There are more and more people just like RakthaBheeja the Rakshasa, leaping out to replace them!

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

we have several of them (bad drivers) out here.

yep, experienced that on my last two trips to Pune! do you know how many i had to run over to come meet you guys

[deathwalkr]

Talking about night driving, why do most people hesitate to turn on their lights during the twilight hour? Waiting for complete darkness to turn on the lights? They forget that switching on lights gives your vehicle better visibility on the road to the vehicles in front.

Scariest is when oncoming vehicle has high beam on on a two lane road and a vehicle without lights overtakes that vehicle and is suddenly in your lane. And that vehicle is as good as invisible!

[sajo]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

We are a lawless, arrogant and selfish race of people who value nothing but our own individual comfort, convenience and time.

Couldnt agree with you more.
If rules and regulations fall under the realms of my comfort and convenience, they are fine, otherwise...who cares ?
We perhaps are the only nation in the world to be so.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Talking about night driving, why do most people hesitate to turn on their lights during the twilight hour? Waiting for complete darkness to turn on the lights? They forget that switching on lights gives your vehicle better visibility on the road to the vehicles in front.

Scariest is when oncoming vehicle has high beam on on a two lane road and a vehicle without lights overtakes that vehicle and is suddenly in your lane. And that vehicle is as good as invisible!

Most drivers don't think about other motorists. That's simply not taught by any driving schools/parents. People don't switch on the lights because they think they can still see clearly. I have had such people in my car who have questioned me for turning on the lights early by asking, "HAHAHA, are you so blind? Can't you see the road?". I have always replied, "I want to be visible to others". After telling that, they get my point. Until then, that thought would never have crossed their minds!

I encounter such people daily, who do not turn on the lights till it is completely dark. And while overtaking, they suddenly flash their highbeams, which comes as an even ruder shock.

But even when such people switch their lights on, they do no favour to anyone. Because they always drive on high beam and they always have the illegal high-powered bulbs.

[voodoochild]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

So let's start a rumour:

Using high beams wears out your expensive headlight bulbs and will also mean replacing your battery more often. Who knows, even the alternator might suffer. Batteries are expensive; alternators even more so. Even on a new vehicle, this will not be covered by warranty.

Spotted a senior gent ferrying his family in a Swift yesterday. Pulled up next to him at a signal, knocked on his window and risked giving him Thad's BS word for word, and HE BOUGHT IT!
He switched beams, almost apologising to his light switch!

I've noticed that while about 80% of male riders use constant high beams, 99% of women do the same! Is there some sort of logic here? "Research proves that women cannot see the dipper switch"? Thad, may I request another gem of wisdom to pass on to the unwashed herd?

Cheers,
Rahul

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by Blur

Now this might be an everyday experience for folks down South, but let me narrate it anyway.

Had gone down to Hubli from Mumbai on Saturday. Had passed Dharwad and was approaching Hubli, when the road goes from being a divided heaven into an undivided regular road.

This two lane stretch of the NH4 is undivided hell even during the day!

Two instances during my recent drive -- in both instances, cars including a wagonr, merc and a yellow board were overtaking from the opposite direction. I flashed lights asking them to wait for me to pass as I was too close for them to make a clean pass. They could have waited for a few seconds as there was no vehicle behind me but not a single car was ready to budge!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nl7Mtoehbw4

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by voodoochild

Spotted a senior gent ferrying his family in a Swift yesterday. Pulled up next to him at a signal, knocked on his window and risked giving him Thad's BS word for word, and HE BOUGHT IT!

WOW !!! If this works even for 50% cases, it is better than getting wild at the hi-beam user and working ourselves up.

Regarding hi-beam, my experience in Chennai and Kerala has been bad with 2-wheeler riders than cars - they seem to have the switch set in hi-beam position permanently. The hi-beam of even puny bikes is harsh enough to irritate you in a car.

I don't see a reason why one would need to use hi-beam in the city at all, other than to inconvenience others. If the roads are bad, drive slow after setting the headlamp levelling accordingly and maybe use driving lamps.

[Blur]

I witnessed another example of stupid@wheel on the return leg to Mumbai.

This was somewhere around Kolhapur. Here we have a lot of tractor-trailers overloaded with sugarcane crawling in the left lane.

I was in the middle lane and both the right and middle lanes had slow moving vehicles ahead of me. A jeep overtook me from the right, tailgated by a Wagon R. The vehicle ahead in the right lane wasn't budging, so these guys pulled to the middle lane. Even that vehicle didn't give way, so the jeep pulled to the left lane and started to overtake. The Wagon R fellow followed blindly!

The catch was there was a tractor-trailer ahead in the lane and the overtaking window was extremely tight! The jeep could see this and zipped through in time. The Wagon R then found himself rapidly closing in on the huge, unrelenting rear of the tractor-trailer! He just about managed to panic brake in time!

I saw the Wagon R guy's expression when I passed him. It made for a sorry picture!

[acroback]

Yesterday while following the rush hour 10:AM traffic of Old Madras road, I was following the right most lane to go straight.

Before the signal which takes you to Indiranagar, I saw a alto scooting from my right at speed. The distance between me and the start of divider was mere 4m I think. I noticed the alto had a advocate sticker on back and a lady was driving the vehicle. Had I not braked, she might have crashed into the divider loosing her fast paced teeth in the process.

The smart cat lady couldn't get far and was forced to stop at next signal. Not sure how scooting like idiot helped her.

[AbhishekB86]

Originally Posted by Blur

I witnessed another example of stupid@wheel on the return leg to Mumbai.

This was somewhere around Kolhapur. Here we have a lot of tractor-trailers overloaded with sugarcane crawling in the left lane.

I was in the middle lane and both the right and middle lanes had slow moving vehicles ahead of me. A jeep overtook me from the right, tailgated by a Wagon R. The vehicle ahead in the right lane wasn't budging, so these guys pulled to the middle lane. Even that vehicle didn't give way, so the jeep pulled to the left lane and started to overtake. The Wagon R fellow followed blindly!

The catch was there was a tractor-trailer ahead in the lane and the overtaking window was extremely tight! The jeep could see this and zipped through in time. The Wagon R then found himself rapidly closing in on the huge, unrelenting rear of the tractor-trailer! He just about managed to panic brake in time!

I saw the Wagon R guy's expression when I passed him. It made for a sorry picture!

Hence it is always wise to not blindly follow someone when overtaking from the left. Specially if you're tailing and the vehicle ahead is larger than yours. This counts for several accidents on the highway. I can bet my money the guy in the wagon-r learnt his lesson just for a day and will be back to his antics when he's over the shock.