[Prado]

There are two near miss experiences which I still remember vividly, which has helped me improve my driving afterwards. Happened years ago on separate occasions.

1. Cattle on road.
Happened somewhere between Ulundurpet and Chennai. I was going at around 90 kmph on the right lane, on the two-lane divided highway. There is a slow moving truck on the left lane at around 60 kmph. There is grass/shrubs on the divider and I saw a man standing with two cows with leash in hand. I proceeded to overtake the truck and all of a sudden onw of the cows entered the right lane just a few meters in front of me. I was almost halfway past the truck. I think my reflex got me to swerve to the left - I was sure the front will miss the cow, but I was expecting the rear to get hit. Luckily I managed to miss both the truck and the cow. After this, I always watch out for the cattle, move to the middle/left lane if possible, or slow down. I always try to go in the middle lane if available to get more reaction time. In two lane roads, I try to go over the lane marking if there is no traffic around.

2. Distraction during driving
This happened somewhere between Salem and Coimbatore. There was a right hand curve and I was going at around 90 - 100 kmph, on the right lane. I decided to fiddle with the audio aux cable - had to take my eyes off for a fraction of a second, while speaking with my passengers. Next thing I know I was a few inches from the divider. Somehow managed to move left without incident. Now I am very careful while fiddling with things inside and avoid doing such things in traffic and curves.

[aj.jaswanth]

A tall truck roaming in the city. It barely fit in an underpass. I was behind it and maintained some distance as it started touching leaves above it.

Bikers had a narrow escape with a falling branch. What if it fell on any pedestrians? Maybe pedestrians also need to wear a helmet these days!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxO8P2Vm4MY

[Ashtoncastelino]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaS8TeNBCc8

Close call with a dog. Yes, my car doesn't have ABS and I was driving in my Village limits. The A-Pillar was a blind spot and I saw this dog last minute and Maneuvered carefully. Luckily, there was no contact and I'm glad nothing happened else it wouldn't have turned out a good new year's eve

[nova.19_exe]

Well, first, credits to @CentreOfGravity, he created a similar thread but for non-automotive incidents.

Okay now, getting to the story!

Sometime around last year close to around 8PM, we had a little get together at my place and my cousin sister and my cousin brother, both their families were invited! And my cousin sister and my BIL (let's call him Az) had bought a brand new Virtus 1.0L and I was over the top (Virtus fanboy alert). Anyways, so I had already gotten a drive in it but my elder brother, who is also a BHPian, I had been hyping him up saying "oh the Virtus is this, oh the Virtus is that" and he was listening to me with ears wide open!

So I went and told Az that "let's slip out and go on a drive". He said "you guys go near the car, I'm coming in 5."
Excited we ran to the car and my brother started checking it out from the outside! 2 mins later, Az comes and I get in the backseat and my brother gets into the passenger seat! We get out and hit the stretch leading to Vydehi School, and the roads leading there were empty so we floored it a bit but then there were a few cars so we took one of the lefts which led to a dark, unlit road and we started flooring and we were at a speed of 120, a few seconds later, we realized the road was ending and the only way to go was a slight bend leading to a private road, which wasn't even visible. So we slammed on the brakes hard, and I panicked and started holding the front seats tight! I could feel the rear end lift a lot and there were people walking around. If at that moment Az had turned the wheel by the slightest, the car would flip over and God knows what would have happened in that time, but he didn't and tried to slam the brakes even more only for us to stop a few inches from the footpath, the people walking there just moved out of the way to save themselves. We then came to a halt. Took a few seconds to check on each other and moved away from that area and got back home!

P.S : We still didn't tell anybody about this incident, not my parents, my cousin sister, nobody! To this date, whenever us 3 meet, we still talk about that day and think of how we escaped death that day!

[ChristComesSoon]

Here's a harrowing freak incident that happened to me. I have left out most of the personally identifiable information & location references.

I got robbed and chased by miscreants - could have escalated to an ugly outcome.

I left my home at about 6:40 AM today 2023-10-20 Friday to go to my workplace. This is a route and commute that I have made regularly for nearly 7 years.
I was driving my car on the Hennur-Bagalur Main Road around Empire Restaurant Kothanur, Bangalore, at about 7:10, AM when I saw that there were 3 people on 3 scooters (one was white in color, another yellow, and the third a dark color) without helmets and shabbily dressed going very slow on the their scooters. They may have been around 19 to 25 years of age.

They were covering more than half the road and causing a traffic congestion. There were heavy vehicles like trucks going on the right lane of the road.
I sounded the car horn (short beep) so that they would give way. They did not give way. I sounded the car horn about 3 more times (in short bursts) and they reluctantly gave way.
I went on past them and proceeded onward till the next slow down on the road. These 3 scooters came up and now started blocking the road again. I sounded the car horn again.
They gave way, but they were giving a chase now. I would have been going about 60 kmph.

One of the scooterists came up to my left side and motioned to stop the vehicle – I did not stop the vehicle. He then proceeded to kick the vehicle about 4 times, causing damage and dent to the door panels.
The other 2 scooterists came up on the right side, overtook me and stopped their scooters in the middle of the road, forcing me also to stop.
They came to my left and right side window and started shouting on why I had sounded the horn. I mentioned that I was on my way to work and that I sounded the horn so that they would give way.

While I was turned to the right window, I did not realize that the person on the left reached in through the left window and stole my phone which was on the passenger seat.

I lost my phone and sustained dents to the car due to these unruly rowdies on the road. I realized I had lost my phone only after reaching my workplace. Unfortunately, in all of the mental stress, I had not noted the registration number of these vehicles, neither did I have a dashcam installed.

Going to the Cops *******************

The same day, in the evening, I went along with 2 of my friends (a Kannada-speaking couple, one a lawyer). I recounted my ordeal to the police inspector available.

He basically talked me out of filing an FIR, saying it's a long process and nothing would come out of it and that it would require a court visit, etc.

Instead, they raised something called an ~NCRT report to block the SIM of the phone, which was stolen by one of the miscreants in that incident.

And another document (forgot what it is called), to try to get insurance cover for the damage to my vehicle. Which he also said is likely not to be honored by insurance companies, since this is technically not an "accident".

Both these documents actually don't address the actual problem.

In that incident, there was a chase that lasted for at least 4 to 6 kilometers. We asked the police to access CCTVs of shops / establishments on the road - and they just couldn't be bothered with that much work.

In fact they asked me to check with the shops myself! The audacity!

In my incident of that day, I held back as much as I could so as not to escalate the situation. Also if it had come to a physical confrontation - though "I think" I could have overpowered the 3 lawless wicked people, I didn't know if they were carrying any weapons. So just didn't give an opportunity for it to escalate.

[saket77]

Someone wrote earlier I guess that either these incidents are becoming more and more common in Bangalore or we have TBHP folks from Bangalore in majority, hence we read more about such incidents at the place. I am also reading more and more of such incidents in B'lore. A dashcam is now a must have; else we just saw what help you can receive from the police.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

In my incident of that day, I held back as much as I could so as not to escalate the situation. Also if it had come to a physical confrontation - though "I think" I could have overpowered the 3 lawless wicked people, I didn't know if they were carrying any weapons. So just didn't give an opportunity for it to escalate.

One has to ponder over things like this. When one comes across possible miscreants in 2 wheelers or 4. What has that person got to lose from an altercation with me? And what have I got to lose from an altercation with them?

In every single instance that I have asked myself this question, it was always me that came out the loser by a big fat margin.

Hence, in your case 1 honk should have sufficed. After which music in your car and a leisurely drive to your destination would have worked better. I know in hindsight all of us can come up with better solutions. But your incident will probably act as a good alert for many of us here and hopefully we will ask: who comes out worse in this possible altercation?

[saisree]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

In my incident of that day, I held back as much as I could so as not to escalate the situation. Also if it had come to a physical confrontation - though "I think" I could have overpowered the 3 lawless wicked people, I didn't know if they were carrying any weapons. So just didn't give an opportunity for it to escalate.

I know this is going to be humiliating and going to give you sleepless nights for some time now. Smoothen your senses and try to turn your concentration on something else.

Unless you have a great backing, police will not give you any look and action. They are overburdened with many things already and instances like these are very small for them.

[efgritesh]

Originally Posted by saisree

Unless you have a great backing, police will not give you any look and action. They are overburdened with many things already and instances like these are very small for them.

Alternatively if you can go viral about it by publishing it on social media, thats anoter way of getting attention from cops. Although not sure if OP had a dashcam in this case, and if the the footage from such dashcams is always going tell enough story about what happend.

[lordrayden]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

Also if it had come to a physical confrontation - though "I think" I could have overpowered the 3 lawless wicked people, I didn't know if they were carrying any weapons. So just didn't give an opportunity for it to escalate.

You made the right decision.

Though, even if they did not have any weapons, it would still be highly unlikely that one person can overpower 3 men in such a situation. And going by your description of their behavior, they have probably been in physical altercations many times before. In the real world it would be very rare for even a martial arts expert / professional fighter to be able to single-handedly take on 3 others without serious risk to themselves. I think movies and TV skew our perception of what one person can do in no-rules / anything-goes physical combat with multiple opponents.

[udzgodfather]

I am really sorry for what you went through, as a tax paying law abiding citizen, the administration should have provided you with a solution rather than talking you out of the FIR.

Bangalore Police should have given you more support, they should have atleast tried to track the CCTVs and Two Wheelers, when law breakers get scot free from small incidents like this, it gives them a psychological boost to commit bigger crimes, the Bangalore administration should nip this in the bud and make an example out of this miscreants on what happens when you break the law.

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

Here's a harrowing freak incident that happened to me.

Groups of bikers or triple riding bikers are easily provoked, even by a horn.
I normally maintain my distance and rarely use horn, especially if I spot them on unlit roads or deserted roads.

[charanreddy]

Not to blame the victim, Why was your left window down / unlocked in the first place ?

Please get a dashcam for evidence or even a deterrent. There are far too many news stories of rowdies getting locked up due to dashcam evidence to have escapaed notice of these anti social elements and they would probably leave you alone. Secondly dont open your window or unlock your car. Say that you will calling the police to resolve the issue. In India police is sometimes as hard as dealing with these rowdies but atleast for hte fear of escalation they wouldn't harass you too much.

As a follow up, tweet the Bangalore Commisioner and DCP of your area if you need more help. Police Inspectors need to submit reports around how many FIRs opened and how many were succesfully closed and hence he could have tried to dissuade you from filing the report as he would be answerable. It is your right to ask for FIR to be filed and hence you could have insisted on it especially with a lawyer. You can alternatively file a PCR (Private complaint) in court to get the police to file the FIR but I would exhaust other remedies if you want to follow up.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by ChristComesSoon

One of the scooterists came up to my left side and motioned to stop the vehicle – I did not stop the vehicle. He then proceeded to kick the vehicle about 4 times, causing damage and dent to the door panels.
The other 2 scooterists came up on the right side, overtook me and stopped their scooters in the middle of the road, forcing me also to stop.
They came to my left and right side window and started shouting on why I had sounded the horn. I mentioned that I was on my way to work and that I sounded the horn so that they would give way.

While I was turned to the right window, I did not realize that the person on the left reached in through the left window and stole my phone which was on the passenger seat.

One of the reasons why I always keep the window rolled up, and even if I don't want to use the AC, I will only roll it up halfway and keep the window up. Seeing the situation in Bangalore every day, from social media posts to BHP articles and police responses, I would say that driving in Bangalore without a dashcam is the same as driving a car without insurance. It poses a high risk to life itself.

It's really disheartening to see that the police have not taken any action. They might take action only when someone else faces harassment in the same way, captures it on a dashcam, and posts it on social media. It seems they take action more for the sake of public relations than for preventing future incidents. If they took action now, they could prevent another incident. Either a politician or a government official should be affected for action to be taken in this country. Until then, it's up to you.

[ChristComesSoon]

Originally Posted by lordrayden

I think movies and TV skew our perception of what one person can do in no-rules / anything-goes physical combat with multiple opponents.

Yes, you're right! They looked very scrawny - but just looks are not a good indicator of strength.

Originally Posted by charanreddy

Not to blame the victim, Why was your left window down / unlocked in the first place ?

Since I was forced to stop my car, I rolled down my left window - not all the way, but about half the way - since one of the persons came to my left side. The other 2 came to my right side. So, after talking to the person on the left, I rolled down the window on my right side too, just a little.

Yes, getting a dashcam is very important now, with the way things are in Bangalore.

Thanks for the detail on the reporting on the FIRs. In hindsight, I should have insisted on filing the FIR.

On a general note: ---------------------------

As a car-driver on Bangalore roads for over 2 decades:

1. Why is it hard for us Indians to comprehend that there are faster vehicles on the road, and that it's just decency to give way to a faster vehicle? Why should a short honk be interpreted as "offensive"?
2. Why is situational awareness of what's around you, not known by most riders and drivers on the road? We have 3 mirrors, especially to look behind.
3. Why have we not yet figured out the concept of lanes on the road? There are oblivious drivers / riders haphazardly moving between lanes while at dangerously low speeds.
4. Why don't we have billboards on the road that state road etiquette & rules in text - such as, "Give way to a faster vehicle behind you," or, "Keep to the left lane if below xx speed."

I surmise that this is because, we don't care about our "neighbor" on the roads - if we look at it from a phsyco-analytical perspective. We assume that rules are arbitrary and that they are meant to be broken.

* Note: Obviously, what I have written is based on my subjective experience and don't apply to everyone, but those certain groups of people.