[audioholic]

Today we were almost run over by a TN Registered black Alto K10 driven by a dude trying to show off his racing skills to his co-passengers in front of Inorbit Mall, whitefield. Traffic was at standstill and we were crossing the road towards Inorbit. The car in the right lane had stopped to give way for pedestrains and this guy zips through the left lane and missed us closely and sped away, without giving a thought. When I looked back at him to show him some gratitude for sparing us, I spotted a URL sticker at the back and the Driven by sticker on the bumper.

We did not run across the road from a bush or jumped the divider and surprise you mate, we were crossing at a designated spot. Please slow down in such intersections at least.

[aneezan]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Today we were almost run over by a TN Registered black Alto K10 driven by a dude trying to show off his racing skills to his co-passengers in front of Inorbit Mall, whitefield. Traffic was at standstill and we were crossing the road towards Inorbit. The car in the right lane had stopped to give way for pedestrains and this guy zips through the left lane and missed us closely and sped away, without giving a thought. When I looked back at him to show him some gratitude for sparing us, I spotted a URL sticker at the back and the Driven by sticker on the bumper.

We did not run across the road from a bush or jumped the divider and surprise you mate, we were crossing at a designated spot. Please slow down in such intersections at least.

That intersection is a crazy one. I normally slow down well because I know for sure some cab or TT will push their way from the intersection while going towards the Vydehi junction without looking out for either pedestrians or other cars. During peak hours, its usually a fight for space in both directions.

[Soumyajit9]

Yet another crazy pedestrian !!

Climbing down the Bellandur Flyover towards Marathalli, Bangalore, around 11:45 PM, encountered two pedestrian crossing the road in front of Ecospace.
I am always prepared for surprises at this location any point round the clock.

While the first pedestrian decides to sprint across, the second one turned out to be a dumb one, froze in the middle and didn't know where to go for a few seconds. I slowed down, while vehicles were still zooming past me !!

He showed no urgency to sprint to either side of the road.

This point is a chaos during the day due to large IT parks in the vicinity, and there has been a constant demand to build a pedestrian overbridge. A traffic warden stands here to stop vehicles and let pedestrians cross, but only during the day and evening, not at midnight.

It is upto the pedestrians also to be cautious and careful in taking decisions when crossing the road at odd hours (11:45 PM).

Here is the video, of the zombie.
Let the pro-pedestrian activists start their rant on me.
He was holding a confirmed ticket to the heaven if it were not me, who slowed down, and not another mad cabbie zooming at 100 kmph !!

https://youtu.be/SuEG98nrL8Y

[xotiq]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Yet another crazy pedestrian !!

Climbing down the Bellandur Flyover towards Marathalli, Bangalore, around 11:45 PM, encountered two pedestrian crossing the road in front of Ecospace.
I am always prepared for surprises at this location any point round the clock.

While the first pedestrian decides to sprint across, the second one turned out to be a dumb one, froze in the middle and didn't know where to go for a few seconds. I slowed down, while vehicles were still zooming past me !!

He showed no urgency to sprint to either side of the road.

This point is a chaos during the day due to large IT parks in the vicinity, and there has been a constant demand to build a pedestrian overbridge. A traffic warden stands here to stop vehicles and let pedestrians cross, but only during the day and evening, not at midnight.

It is upto the pedestrians also to be cautious and careful in taking decisions when crossing the road at odd hours (11:45 PM).

Here is the video, of the zombie.
Let the pro-pedestrian activists start their rant on me.
He was holding a confirmed ticket to the heaven if it were not me, who slowed down, and not another mad cabbie zooming at 100 kmph !!

If there was a proper crossing or skywalk, there would be fewer people rushing to crossover. The irony is that we can travel all the way from home to the bus stop, but crossing over to offices that are few metres across the road is a challenge.

Since there is no aid for pedestrians and even employees, how do you expect pedestrians to cross? Your ranting and name calling does not help. And sprinting or darting across the road as you mentioned is more dangerous than standing still.

There has been multiple meetings with the authorities by ORRCA and companies along the road have approached BDA. Unfortunately nothing has come out of these yet.

[deathwalkr]

@Xotiq, bad planning is the culprit no doubt, but pedestrians on road at night are a headache. they can see you fine enough but seldom do you get to see them and sometimes it's too late.

and the car/bike will be put to blame.

it's a weird situation but roads need to address all such situations. two wheeler lane, truck lane, pedestrian over-walk zones etc etc

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

Yet another crazy pedestrian !!

It was a jaywalker for you, and it was an energy conscious biker for me, last night. There's this empty stretch of undivided road connecting Central Jail road and Haralur Road, where I was behind a Logan taxi (driver on the phone) tailgating another white-board Logan (driver engrossed in an animated conversation), chugging along at 20-30kmph speeds. I look ahead, ensure that I have a clear stretch to overtake both these cars - pitch dark, no headlights, and nobody in the distance illuminated by my car's low beams as well as the first Logan's lights. Downshift, accelerate and no sooner than I'd passed the rear wheel of the leading car that I see a bike rocketing at me bang in the middle of the road - without any form of lighting and the rider wearing some dark coloured clothing. In a split-second decision, I switched on my left indicators - while the imbecile on the bike first swerved to his right and finally to his left; completed the overtake and went back to my lane. Had I been a little faster, I would've ended up in the wrong place.

Looking back:
- I'm the idiot, being considerate and not using high beams
- I'm the idiot, to not have honked at late night hours
- I'm the idiot, for not intimidating the biker by flashing and honking, and shouting expletives at him
- The biker has every right to ride on the lane marking, bang in the middle of the road
- The nincompoop on the bike is a champion of energy conservation, by not using the headlights

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

they can see you fine enough but seldom do you get to see them and sometimes it's too late.

And to compound the problem is the menace of everyone on high beams as though to make the "my <add the apt word> is bigger than yours" statement. The majority of drivers (of private vehicles included) know about 100W and 130W bulbs, but hardly anyone knows that they cause a lot of inconvenience and should be used judiciously.

Originally Posted by xotiq

If there was a proper crossing or skywalk, there would be fewer people rushing to crossover.

Just a skywalk would not be the solution. There's a skywalk in front of Christ university. People still prefer darting across the road, braving traffic, to using the skywalk which also has a lift. There are underpasses at every signal on Hosur road between E-city and Bommanahalli, but you can find more people doing acrobatics at the tall median at any point of time, than those using these underpasses in an entire day. Post a cop at these vantage points and let them catch jaywalkers, make them wait in a PCR van until they catch enough people to fill it to capacity, take them to a court, make them pay the fine there - this will work. The reprimand should pinch at the point where it hurts the most - time and then money.

These problems have to be addressed at the root level - common sense. Nothing else will help, and that cannot be imparted in classrooms.

[asingh1977]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Just a skywalk would not be the solution. There's a skywalk in front of Christ university. People still prefer darting across the road, braving traffic, to using the skywalk which also has a lift. There are underpasses at every signal on Hosur road between E-city and Bommanahalli, but you can find more people doing acrobatics at the tall median at any point of time, than those using these underpasses in an entire day. Post a cop at these vantage points and let them catch jaywalkers, make them wait in a PCR van until they catch enough people to fill it to capacity, take them to a court, make them pay the fine there - this will work. The reprimand should pinch at the point where it hurts the most - time and then money.

To be honest: It is the mentality of us Indians. If people can cross tracks at railways stations without using the over head bridge or "bend" their two-wheelers under gated railway crossings to get through, anything is possible. Worst is when a jaywalker does something life threatening and the driver honks: you get a virile stare back. People on the streets these days (drivers and walker) step out with boat-loads of attitude and foxy gumption. People hate to be corrected. Be it subtle or candid. Bikers though are the worst pestilence on the Indian roads. Predicting them is like having foresight for rain or an earthquake. Even the latter is scientific vs. the former.

[IronH4WK]

last night i was standing at the bakery near my house and enjoying a cup of tea when i see a woman driving a Figo bolt out of a nearby lane and bring it to a quick halt in front of the supermarket on the opposite side of the road.

this is how she parked it

[IronH4WK]

Ah! Found another near the same spot. Pay attention to the number plate.

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

... when i see a woman driving a Figo bolt out of a nearby lane and bring it to a quick halt in front of the supermarket on the opposite side of the road.

this is how she parked it

I think more than the parking skills of the lady, its the brilliant chassis and firm suspension setup of Ford which is at work here.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

last night i was standing at the bakery near my house and enjoying a cup of tea when i see a woman driving a Figo bolt out of a nearby lane and bring it to a quick halt in front of the supermarket on the opposite side of the road.

this is how she parked it

I think she had meant to take the bike, and got confused

[Chetan_Rao]

Witnessed bad driving and shameful lack of humanity/civic sense rolled into one situation yesterday.

Sunday evenings see heavy traffic in shopping areas, and my neighborhood's no different. I was out running a few errands, and had the misfortune of needing to cross a busy junction on foot. While I awaited my turn to cross, an elderly gentleman began crossing with me. He seemed to drop something and in the few seconds it took him to pick it up, the traffic (held stationary by a traffic warden for pedestrians to cross) absolutely let rip at the poor old man. The gent was bewildered for a moment by the deafening cacophony (heck, I was unnerved by the explosive noise), and in his confusion stood frozen in the middle of the street.

I had to scream at the first line of cars to stop the bloody honking, while another guy helped the old gent across.

Most of the waiting cars were personal vehicles, and the first one in line (honking the loudest) was a gentleman who appeared in his 60s himself, well-dressed family in tow. Idiot.

What have we become, if we can't even show courtesy to a elderly person? Instead of doing the minimum decent thing of giving him a few seconds to cross (too much to expect any of the morons to actually get down and help), they just sat there and harassed someone who could've been their own father/grandfather and nearly gave him an anxiety attack (or worse). I'm not the cursing type, but I had to really bite my tongue to not abuse the idiots.

P.S. All this happened in ~10 seconds. Why the rush?

[KiloAlpha]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

...
Sunday evenings see heavy traffic in shopping areas
...
Why the rush?

I was out with my family on Sunday evening as well. I was negotiating traffic around a place where there was a fun fair/crafts fair. Which was within a 50m radius of some large restaurants & stores, a temple, and a cinema. Perfect recipe for sluggish, ill-tempered traffic.

I didn't honk, I wasn't impatient, and yet, I don't believe I was delayed by more than 5 minutes in the end.

The reward? Wife and son are happy, and tell me they had a "nice drive".

I would agree. Whats the rush?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Crossing a one-way road from one lane to another is tough. The traffic will not stop until it is forced to.

I was stopped, along with others, and amongst the last three to cross were three bikers, nose to tail. the first of them had to stop for something, the second bumped the first, the third bumped the second. The were moving barely at walking pace, but ---would you believe?--- the three stopped on other side of the road to argue about it

[cruising_rapid]

I must say that overconfidence is an understatement, as they diligently tried for this synchronization and proudly posed for this.

Please show it to your kids and youngsters at home and tell them that this duke rider met with an accident just minutes after this happy click. Fortunately, he escaped with some minor bruises.