[india008]

Originally Posted by venbas

Can we move to another topic. It's getting boring . In the original thread I clearly mentioned that major fault was with me and it was completely avoidable incident. ...

So no flogging the dead horse please.

To be frank,i wont post anything where i am at the wrong end of things. It take guts to post such a video of such an incident.
Who know it might help someone else to take the right decision in such a situation. So don't be frustrated by the post that questions you. Those criticism will help other too in future.

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

Absolutely!!

A lot has been said. I know 99% of us won't even share something where we are in the wrong.

Time to move on.

I am in that 99%

Originally Posted by MangoMan

I am sorry to bring the horror again, just out of curiosity, I did not see the INNOVA again, when you joined the lane after that celebrated overtaking from the left. He should have appeared in the video, since he was not interrupted.

Did I miss something?

He too might have braked after hearing the city's tire screeching sound.

[naveen.raju]

Squid wasn't lucky this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9ffmPQSA4

It was a close call for the lady on the bike.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW99sXPdswk

[PrasannaDhana]

Mistake 1 : Taking too many stuff with your pillion rider

Mistake 2 : Forgetting you have stuff jutting out of your motorcycle's dimensions and riding close to pedestrians.

I am glad it was cardboard that hit the poor old pedestrian lady and not some sharp metal structure.

https://youtu.be/0dwDpO_91KM

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

I am glad it was cardboard that hit the poor old pedestrian lady and not some sharp metal structure.

And I hope it was something expensive in that box. They deserve it!

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

And I hope it was something expensive in that box. They deserve it!

It was just cardboard and an aluminum vessel. They were lucky

[venbas]

Originally Posted by PrasannaDhana

It was just cardboard and an aluminum vessel. They were lucky

The pedestrian was lucky that the cardboard sheets were mild. Just a few days back I saw a similar instance of 2 "pullingos" ramming straight into a pedestrian walking ahead of them on the pedestrian lane of all places . Did not even bother to stop and enquire with the fallen pedestrian. Thankfully the pedestrian was safe though shaken after the incident.

[Venky03]

Hazard lights turned on during heaving rains/driving in tunnels is such a common sight. Once my friend had turned on the hazard lights while entering a tunnel, when I asked the reason he replied : "Because the guy in front turned them on."
It rained heavily on 11th and majority of drivers had hazard lights turned on, is this bad driving or poor road safety education?

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

I personally turn on headlights when the visibility is poor and use side indicators only while switching lanes.

And then there's this guy, swerving between two lanes without any lights.

[Thad E Ginathom]

There are a lot of people here who think that hazard lights should only be used when a vehicle is stationary. I disagree. I think that hazard lights should be used to indicate a hazard, whether it is one's own car (eg when stationary) or something else.

I would use hazard lights to warn traffic behind when entering a bank of rain, or fog. And then turn them off, because now everyone else has caught up and knows about it too. I might use them if I have to slow down considerably, because that might be hazardous.

But I would absolutely agree that they are hazard lights, not low-visibility lights. To use them in a situation when indicators should be used is dangerous and stupid.

[ishan12]

Originally Posted by Venky03

Hazard lights turned on during heaving rains/driving in tunnels is such a common sight. Once my friend had turned on the hazard lights while entering a tunnel, when I asked the reason he replied : "Because the guy in front turned them on."
It rained heavily on 11th and majority of drivers had hazard lights turned on, is this bad driving or poor road safety education?

I find a lot of people on the forum nitpicking on the correct use of hazard lights. I personally find absolutely no problem in using hazard lights under extremely heavy rainfall when the traffic is moving considerably slow compared to the normal speeds.

In fact I find it really useful and a really safe practice in such situations. I was recently coming back to Pune from Goa and we encountered extremely heavy rains after Satara around 6 in the evening. In such conditions the hazard lights really make it easy to spot a slow moving vehicle in front of you from a distance while the tail lights can not be noticed from that far off unless the vehicle in the front brakes. Also the ORVMs and the front windows fog up a lot in these situations and the hazard lights from the vehicle right beside/ behind you help you to take notice.

I drive a lot from Pune to Surat/ Ahmedabad. People familiar with this route would know how it rains like cats and dogs around the Vapi, Valsad area during peak monsoon. It rains so heavily that even during the day visibility becomes really poor and traffic speed comes down to 40ish speeds on a smooth 4 lane highway. Again hazard lights come to the rescue in such situations. I have seen many cars even stop on the dhabas and let the rain pass.

Hazard lights primarily are to indicate a hazard. And rains such that people have to drive at really slow speeds is definitely a hazard. So its absolutely fine. No need to create such fuss about it. If my fellow motorists and myself are turning them on and that is helping me drive and feel safer, Its all good. No matter what the right road safety education book says. Who knows, the guys who wrote that book has never seen the monsoons in India.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes, I can agree to that.

The only complication is indicating. In bad conditions it is even more important. It's a pity that the indicator switch doesn't override the hazard switch, but it doesn't and we have to.

Other countries have high-intensity rear fog lights. And they really are bright, which leads to another nuisance: many people think turning on the lights means turning on all the lights, and, in normal conditions, they are very annoying.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by ishan12

Hazard lights primarily are to indicate a hazard. And rains such that people have to drive at really slow speeds is definitely a hazard. So its absolutely fine. No need to create such fuss about it. If my fellow motorists and myself are turning them on and that is helping me drive and feel safer, Its all good. No matter what the right road safety education book says. Who knows, the guys who wrote that book has never seen the monsoons in India.

I agree.
Personally I always prefer switching on headlighs and tail lights in low visibility conditions (like fog or rain). However if cars ahead of me have their hazard lights on then I switch them on too. My reasoning for this is simple, I am the odd one out if I don't switch them on and someone may fail to notice my car in this case assuming everyone in the lane has their hazard lights on. Indian driving conditions are absolutely different from rest of the world so every driving etiquette can't be applied here. Common sense saves us more than following every procedure.

[Venky03]

Originally Posted by ishan12

In fact I find it really useful and a really safe practice in such situations. I was recently coming back to Pune from Goa and we encountered extremely heavy rains after Satara around 6 in the evening.
Hazard lights primarily are to indicate a hazard. And rains such that people have to drive at really slow speeds is definitely a hazard.

Originally Posted by harry10

I agree.
Personally I always prefer switching on headlighs and tail lights in low visibility conditions (like fog or rain). However if cars ahead of me have their hazard lights on then I switch them on too..

It does improve visibility in the rains as seen in the video but it does take away your ability to signal the intention to switch lanes. There are a lot of heavy vehicles crawling on fast lanes and one may have to switch lanes.
The only way we communicate with other vehicles is via visual and auditory indications(and some anticipation as well), and that is what you guys have mentioned; slow moving vehicles are a hazard and turning on hazard lights to indicate slow speeds is fine.
But again, if you have hazard lights turned on then that does not justify swerving/overtaking at high speeds.

Some clips from the same day :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Kn_cr2d5w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rInqT4oxklE

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by ishan12

I find a lot of people on the forum nitpicking on the correct use of hazard lights. I personally find absolutely no problem in using hazard lights under extremely heavy rainfall when the traffic is moving considerably slow compared to the normal speeds.

You have got to be kidding me Hazard lights being used to indicate extreme braking like mentioned is alright. BUT leaving them on just because it is raining is absolutely daft. If you care so much about safety, simply invest in rear fog lamps. That is what they are designed for, being brighter than the tail lamps but emitting a static light that does not distract. Leaving hazard lights on just because it is raining, may alert other motorists of your existence but also makes it extremely annoying when trying to judge distances between vehicles; since the lights keep flashing and it gets scattered due to the rain, it becomes tough to gauge distances kind of a similar effect that full beams have. Maybe that inability to gauge distance is what causes everyone to slow down. Please, please, please understand that there is a reason behind everything. Buy yourself some rear foglamps if your car is not equipped with them and use those instead.

Originally Posted by ishan12

No matter what the right road safety education book says. Who knows, the guys who wrote that book has never seen the monsoons in India.

quite a scary assumption there. Perhaps we ought to use strobe lights as well.

Originally Posted by harry10

However if cars ahead of me have their hazard lights on then I switch them on too. My reasoning for this is simple, I am the odd one out if I don't switch them on and someone may fail to notice my car

This sounds to me like the kind of reasoning few folks use when they flash their high-beams while barreling down the wrong side of the road. Your tail lamps should be more than sufficient for others to see and if it is foggy, simply use static rear fog lights. I mean if one can spot a plane in the sky with its markers, what clouds are you driving through?

[ishan12]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

You have got to be kidding me Hazard lights being used to indicate extreme braking like mentioned is alright. BUT leaving them on just because it is raining is absolutely daft. If you care so much about safety, simply invest in rear fog lamps.

I can have rear fog lamps, but 99.9% of the other cars wont. So the hazard lights make life simple in such occasions and makes it easy for you to spot others from a distance.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

That is what they are designed for, being brighter than the tail lamps but emitting a static light that does not distract. Leaving hazard lights on just because it is raining, may alert other motorists of your existence but also makes it extremely annoying when trying to judge distances between vehicles; since the lights keep flashing and it gets scattered due to the rain, it becomes tough to gauge distances kind of a similar effect that full beams have. Maybe that inability to gauge distance is what causes everyone to slow down. Please, please, please understand that there is a reason behind everything. Buy yourself some rear foglamps if your car is not equipped with them and use those instead.

I find the opposite to be true. In extreme rainfall scenario I can judge/ spot a car from distance. Infact I really need to be careful to spot 2 wheelers, specially the old ones with dim tail lamps. So to each their own.

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

quite a scary assumption there. Perhaps we ought to use strobe lights as well.

Find nothing scary here. Hazard lights are to indicate hazard and I find heavy rainfall to quality being a Hazard.
We Bhpians may have good driving manners and use the indicators for a lane change all the time, but how many other drivers do it? At least they putting their hazard lights on makes for better visibility.
As for me, turn them off, use indicator, turn them on again. Simple.

As I said, to each their own. I do what find to be the right thing given the situation. You may feel otherwise and that perfectly all right.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by ishan12

I find the opposite to be true. In extreme rainfall scenario I can judge/ spot a car from distance. Infact I really need to be careful to spot 2 wheelers, specially the old ones with dim tail lamps. So to each their own.

So you mean to say flashing lights makes it easy for you to gauge distances? I implore you to conduct your own experiment to verify that as you must be the only person in the world who feels that way. Like I said, it makes it easy to spot a vehicle but far more difficult to track it. Flashing lights makes it tough to gauge the distance between it and another vehicle due to the scatter of light and the light itself not being constant, and also makes it difficult to gauge its rate of acceleration/deceleration. These are simply the facts not my opinion or anything just plain and simple fact. So if you really do care about safety as you claim, then what on earth is wrong with getting yourself some rear fog lamps?

Originally Posted by ishan12

I can have rear fog lamps, but 99.9% of the other cars wont. So the hazard lights make life simple in such occasions and makes it easy for you to spot others from a distance.

I don't understand this logic behind not using foglamps. I mean what are you trying to say? Because others don't have them you won't use them?