[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

But this is India! Our motto is "Leave no empty space unfilled!"...

... which might also explain our skyrocketing population levels

A daily scene on service roads leading in and out of Electronics city and yes, these are so called sophisticated (and educated?), Techies heading to work on their cars and bikes.

Jumping the median or lane and marching ahead has become way too common on our roads everyday that you hint one of them that they are erring and you sure will be at the receiving end.

Trust me, there are folks at my workplace who ride their bikes to work only because they can do this on service road and reach office "early".

I have zero hopes on any improvement here and cops are totally helpless.

The only wish I have is to install nails on the lane marker on this service road but then we will have people who will get to the other lane somehow and turn on their headlights and Hazards and get past. After all, they know how best to use their headlights during the day.

[Thad E Ginathom]

You can spot a bad driver lecturing some cabbie about their aggression, and thus not paying attention to their own driving and knocking into a third vehicle.

Who was it who got this instant-karma lesson in humility? Oh, I'm too embarrassed to tell! But it is no coincidence that I will be seeking treatment for a small wheel-hub dent in the near future.

[TD_GHY]

Originally Posted by TD_GHY

Pic of Saraighat Bridge, Guwahati. Taken from a Facebook page.

Update: 1 person/patient died as the ambulance he was in was stuck in the traffic jam for over 2 hours. Despite best efforts of the police to clear it up, thanks to mindless people, precious moments were lost. It is these kind of situations i prefer lathicharge of people not following lane discipline.

[PrasannaDhana]

Yesterday I witnessed an incident. An old gen honda city driver tried crossing the road from opposing lane's parking.
A poor tata ace driver didnt notice it and braked at the last moment, inches near the honda city.

The driver of the honda city got down and aggressively banged on the tata ace's windshield. The owner of the city also got down. The tata ace driver panicked and took his foot off the brakes, which resulted in a small bang on the city's side panel.

The owner of the city(old man) started punching the tata ace driver (early twenties). I was requesting them both to get their vehicles parked so that traffic jam is avoided. No one listened. But as soon as the old man punched the other guy, i lost it. I grabbed both the city driver and owner and pushed them to the corner of the road. I told them the tata ace driver can lodge a police complaint now.

They mumbled something quietly and started moving their car away.

Sadly, decency doesnt do anything nowadays. We are all still animals who believe bigger and stronger wins all fights.

If you are wondering why they didnt punch me, by their view, I am one big strong fellow animal

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

If the authorities start deploying (and monitoring) one-way traffic spikes, it might help deter some rule breakers.

Attachment 1594914
Image courtesy trafficspikesusa.com

In our dusty and dirty conditions, the authorities won't have time to spare after having to constantly monitor and maintain the One-Way spikes. They will soon become No-Way spikes or Both-way spikes and eventually scrapped.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by silversteed

In our dusty and dirty conditions, the authorities won't have time to spare after having to constantly monitor and maintain the One-Way spikes. They will soon become No-Way spikes or Both-way spikes and eventually scrapped.

If they are good quality and last a year or two it will be enough to teach most drivers and bikers which is the correct side of the road to use.

[BenjiRoss]

Night time, truck, blind spot, not indicating, no lane discipline, poor judgement, hardly any anticipation, etc leads to this close call between the truck and the car in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ybgAfIIkU

[bblost]

I wanted to ask the driver if it was his "Baap ka road" (Father's road), only to then see that he was older than my dad.

https://youtu.be/y0DsgyYRXdE

[bullrun87]

turning the innova crysta into an off roader and using it to descend a flight of stairs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tghOYb5Ivlg

[dass]

A new trend that I have been noticing off late is that of cabbies and auto drivers reading newspaper while inching forward in bumper to bumper traffic. That's an accident waiting to happen. I really hope they don't start doing this when they are in race mode. Anyone else seen this?

[Sree73]

Originally Posted by dass

A new trend that I have been noticing off late is that of cabbies and auto drivers reading newspaper while inching forward in bumper to bumper traffic. That's an accident waiting to happen. I really hope they don't start doing this when they are in race mode. Anyone else seen this?

Yes. This is a usual scene now. Not only Taxis, today morning, I saw a gentleman driving a Corolla doing the same in Harlur road traffic (Bangalore)

[TD_GHY]

Originally Posted by dass

A new trend that I have been noticing off late is that of cabbies and auto drivers reading newspaper while inching forward in bumper to bumper traffic. That's an accident waiting to happen. I really hope they don't start doing this when they are in race mode. Anyone else seen this?

This is common among BMTC and KSRTC bus drivers too. Signals like Silkboard gives them ample time to finish off the paper anyway

[Chetan_Rao]

Really close shave a few minutes ago on HAL Road (Depot airside entrance). An empty 18-wheeler presumably coming in to pick up a container, just put on his blinkers and swung a right into oncoming traffic like he was riding a bicycle. Miraculously missed causing a pile-up.

I noticed him a second before my cabbie, and we still only missed by about a foot. Homicidal idiot

[dark.knight]

Bad drivers are all there are, in Bangalore, leaders of the list being cabbies and delivery folks, everyone likes to have things delivered these days, be it a safety pin, a bottle of water or a t.v being transported on a bike inside a bag which is 5 feet wide and 3 feet tall.

Examples :

1) An Uber cab's door flung wide open when coming from the opposite direction and this was the driver door! A biker almost ran into it because he was being a bad rider crossing into the other lane to get ahead.

2) A delivery man parked his bike in the middle of the road so that he can "fulfill dhamakedar dreams and wishes", only in this case the bike was bang in the middle of the left lane of a main road and he was busy meeting the "dreamer" inside his office premises to get it signed out, I waited patiently without honking and the minute I see the delivery man I harangued him as did others around me, he nonchalantly rode off being the desi Santa Claus wish fulfiller that he is.

3) Three car pile-up before Sarjapur Road, all had their front/rear pulled in a few inches with the middle car getting it both ways. ALL three were cabs.

4) Food delivery guys parking their bikes all across main roads bordering many hotels, taking away a large chunk of road and they park them horizontally.

If weren't for my very cautious, highly predictive style of driving, I'd not have kept my sanity for too long in this city. Even then I'm observing one more thing which goes to describe perfectly the cruel species that man is, the more allowance you give for others errors, the more they push you off the road. I'm sure some of them out there are as careful as I am and also get victimized as much, but there are too few of us to even count.

[arunphilip]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

Even then I'm observing one more thing which goes to describe perfectly the cruel species that man is, the more allowance you give for others errors, the more they push you off the road. I'm sure some of them out there are as careful as I am and also get victimized as much, but there are too few of us to even count.

This is the part that is most frustrating. I can understand making allowances for less experienced drivers, in the hope that they - like us - will continually improve and learn.

Unfortunately, the general behaviour is such that there is rarely any reward other than self-satisfaction for being a good driver, which in turn encourages people to become bad drivers.

I was ashamed when I realized some time ago that I'd picked up a bad habit - of speeding up and passing people when they put on their indicator to indicate a lane change. I don't know when my behaviour changed, but I'd say the traffic corrupted me, and I allowed it to happen. Since then, I've consciously made the effort to revert back to my original style, which is to reward people honestly signalling a lane change by allowing them to change lanes.