[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by balenoed_

Not sure on what basis you figured out that it is that group of people. Look at the recent fatal accident reports of this road. All of those involved people traveling to just Bangalore to Mysore or vice Versa, Cabs, or Tempo travelers or two wheelers. The ones heading out on the long drive to Kerala usually drive safely as they have a long way to go and wouldn't want to burn out all the fuel and energy here.

Not to justify this particular video, but it is quite easy to attain a speed of 130 on this road. Again, no way justifying the video, but it isn't that crazy or scary to be called out.

Do you justify overtaking from the left most lane at 100kmph or higher? Do you justify someone doing 140kmph approaching you and honking at you to give way than lift their foot off and pass you safely? If no, these are the exact things what the driver did. If yes, then all the best. I know the driver isn't as crazy as Faisal Khan. But the whole objective of speeding to make this video itself is dangerous. The guy hardly lifts his foot off the pedal in the entire 17 minutes of video. And his heavy breathing is a terrible giveaway of what he's trying to achieve.

I know there are many, rather most won't agree with me. But someone has to call a spade a spade. And don't please indulge in Whataboutery. I do drive fast and at times done higher than legal speeds. But one needn't drive the way this guy does. The left most lane overtaking on a three lane road is the most dangerous maneuver, especially at triple digit speeds. And not lifting off when you are at illegal speeds when approaching a slower but legal speeds is totally unpardonable and reeks of entitlement. Such folks don't deserve a place on the road.

[balenoed_]

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

Do you justify overtaking from the left most lane at 100kmph or higher?

How many of us go by the books? Honestly, haven't you not done that, ever?

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

Do you justify someone doing 140kmph approaching you and honking at you to give way than lift their foot off and pass you safely?

He didn't honk and chase anyone out of his lane. He was honking to warn the vehicles on the adjacent lane. Honestly, haven't you not done that, ever?

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

The guy hardly lifts his foot off the pedal in the entire 17 minutes of video. And his heavy breathing is a terrible giveaway of what he's trying to achieve.

Why to be so much judgmental and get down too much into the nitty-gritty of this particular video?

Getting OT. I'll back off.

[toyotafanboi]

1. The leftmost lane is the enter-exit lane. This is generally for trucks and slow moving vehicles and the speed limit indicated for this lane is 80
2. The middle lane is for cars and buses and the speed indicated is 100
3. The right-most lane is the overtaking/passing lane and the speed indicated is 120

Simply put, stick to the middle lane and maintain speed of 100. Use right lane only to overtake and move back to middle lane. Use left lane when you are going to take an exit. If everyone followed these simple rules, driving on the expressway would be a stress free affair.

https://www.carandbike.com/news/lane...ghways-2681059

[bravo6]

Originally Posted by ontheroad

Is there no law enforcement camera in the expressway? As his vehicle number is visible in other videos in the YouTube channel, can someone please forward this over speed video to any competent authority?

I've seen even government Innovas go pedal to the metal on this road. Heck I've seen cyclists ride in the left lane. There are CCTVs installed in a few sections, not sure if they are functional/monitored.

Originally Posted by toyotafanboi

1. The leftmost lane is the enter-exit lane. This is generally for trucks and slow moving vehicles and the speed limit indicated for this lane is 80
2. The middle lane is for cars and buses and the speed indicated is 100
3. The right-most lane is the overtaking/passing lane and the speed indicated is 120

Simply put, stick to the middle lane and maintain speed of 100. Use right lane only to overtake and move back to middle lane. Use left lane when you are going to take an exit. If everyone followed these simple rules, driving on the expressway would be a stress free affair.

There's always slow trucks that try to stick to the right lane, not just here but on every highway. What is written, and what happens in practise can be two very different things. You can't speak out about overtaking from left when there are 2 very slow vehicles blocking the middle and right lanes. Their relative speed is 1-2kmph and they will take a while to pass each other and create a safe gap for you to overtake legally.

Edit: Here's an argument for NOT using the left lane. Happened back in November I think. This was less than a minute after the Baleno had passed me.

https://youtu.be/deAXHMAgk4w

[theabstractmind]

Caution: Preaching speech

None of us are saints. We have all - almost all of us - pulled in a dangerous maneuver or two in our lifetime. Even overtaken from the left most lane. Most of us did it because we considered it normal behavior. And many still do because they still consider it acceptable. We accept the risks involved in those cases, including the risk of the others making a mistake during such situations. We continue to do it despite a great number of accidents coming out of crashes on the left lane or overruns. There are hundreds of such cases listed on this forum itself.

Here's an interesting article about "Normalization".
https://thegrowtheq.com/are-you-norm...-bad-behavior/

I can't verify the authenticity of the content but do read about the NASA accident. It is very representative of what we do with many other things in our lives, including driving.

As an evolving society, we are expected to break such shackles of normalization of bad behavior - including driving habits. The reason is that the risk you take in a triple digit speed overtake from the shoulder or left most lane is not just your risk, it is a risk for the others too. Imagine a situation when one overtakes from left and another one from right at the same time, any correction by the middle lane driver could cause a catastrophe. I have myself been dangerously cut off by some idiots from the left lane even when doing legal speeds. And that's what brings the protests. Don't even talk about other hazards like a broken down vehicle, narrowing road, a stray dog, a pedestrian, or a two wheeler, and so on. The video of the Baleno overshooting an exit and reversing is one such example.


So when one is objecting to such behavior, it is in the interests of safety. Overtake by all means. Keep a margin for error from all parties. In the slower lanes you abide by the rules and try not making one mistake to correct another one. The slower vehicles are not doing something illegal, but hazardous, and need to be fined. But they are also effectively normalizing their behavior as their vehicles cannot deal with such overtakes, or other hazards on the left lane. When you overtake from the left lanes at triple digit speeds, you are no better or worse off than that illiterate truck driver who is there due to limitations of his trade, and others on the road. It is finally, and unfortunately, individual choice on whether we continue to normalize or attempt to change.

Well. I haven't said anything which I or some other learned member has not said so far. But I will take a break from these topics. Possibly forever. I know many will sigh with relief now All the best and hope each one of us is safe!

[itwasntme]

https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.c.../100168420.cms

Majority of vehicles 'speeding' on the BMIC.

[Oppanna]

Had to travel to Kumble and chose to go via Mysore - Madikeri - Sullia - Jalsoor - Mulleria - Badiadka - Kumble.

Travelled via Mysore expressway and trust me i was literally scared as i saw many over speeding and driving recklessly.

I stuck to middle lane at 80kmph as much as i could and i was seeing people overtaking me from left at 100 plus! Had to sit on the rear view mirror always.

Same was seen while returning too. The barricades are broken near Shivalli/Indhradhanush and saw many cars parked without even putting the blinkers!

God knows when will people be sensible and care for other road users.

[paragsachania]

A drive on the Bengaluru-Mysuru "Expressway"

Did something that I would desist on a weekend. Ended up doing a round-trip to Mysore and back on a Sunday and for “sight-seeing”. I had no choice but to give in to nuptial obligation of helping few guests who were here on a short visit to Bangalore and were eager to see the city of palaces, Mysore.

All my earlier drives to Mysore have strictly been on weekdays and even if by chance I had to drive on a weekend, I had preferred taking the Bellur Cross-Nagamangala-Pandavapura route to avoid the mess on the erstwhile 4 lane National Highway. Hence, this was also my first drive on the newly “completed” highway also touted as “expressway”.

Few good things first:

• Great time saver– Bangalore Mysore is now seriously a cakewalk in terms of driving
• Good road surface– Not much or zero undulations, nearly seamless expansion joints
• Well done elevated sections that bypass most of the towns
• Reasonable waiting times at the entry/exit toll booths even on a busy holiday weekend
• Width of the lanes remains consistent including presence of shoulder throughout 95% of the highway barring few bridges
• Stress-free- All of the above factors make sure that the driving experience is absolutely a stress-free affair now

The shortcomings:- Things that could have been better

While all of us went gung-ho about this expressway, the primary reason was something that we all would acknowledge. The pain of crossing towns and haphazard traffic rendering the left lane almost useless during many of our earlier drives. The time taken for such short distance earlier was anywhere between 3 to 5 hours depending on the day and time one was driving. Hence, it is an undeniable fact that today one of the sole reasons why all of us find this road a lot better is largely attributed to the time that it saves for every reason referred above. Given its present state, there are still some of the critical aspects that bother me and fixing them may not really better the timings further but will surely make this highway much safer and accident free.

• Unscientific entry and exit points – Not referring to those which are “carved out” by the villagers in protest for reasons best known to all of us and discussed here, the entry and exits that have been designed by the authorities are indeed very dangerous. They appear out of nowhere and without a safe (extra) lane to exit or merge back with placement of collapsible plastic bollards. Vehicles tailing traffic on the first lane often either come to a dead stop due to one of the vehicles ahead of them taking an exit or one of the vehicles merging. At times, few vehicles suddenly shift lanes from left to center.
  
  
• Absence of a merging lane – A very bad implementation if one wants to refer to this as expressway. If anyone is merging onto this highway, the vehicle is immediately on the left lane with no proper lane to assist seamless merging. While constraint of space is very much the reason for completely ignoring this, it would have been immensely helpful to ensure an extra lane at merging points (Including exits).
  
  
• Lane indiscipline rules here – So the KSRTC buses, TTs and other LCVs which were always infamous on this road for constantly hogging the fast lane next to median shamelessly continue to indulge in this behaviour even now despite of free flowing traffic for the entire stretch. Discount them and we still have cars in all shapes, sizes and BHP figures still driving at 60 kmph completely oblivious to the block they are causing to those wanting to overtake. This behaviour was quite rampant on the entire stretch and on all 3 lanes.
  
  
• Be my guest, all are welcome – Autorickshaws & 2 wheelers were aplenty on a Sunday evening return that on many occasions the left lane was blocked by them and at times 2 wheelers trying to overtake from the center lane without checking their RVMs. So many entries and exits have quite merrily welcomed vehicles of all types on this expressway which completely mars the driving experience. Not to forget the fact that few of these 2 wheelers that run out of breath around 100 kph also overtake you at their top speeds and ride parallel with you for long distances or cut you abruptly. Hence, unless you press that throttle and increase the gap or release the pedal and make way, its definitely a very uncomfortable situation.
  
  
• Not a fast road on a busy day – Blame this on the haphazard lane indiscipline, if you want to drive even between 100-120 kph on a busy weekend, you will not be able to do that without zig-zagging and cutting through slower than usual traffic or braking multiple times. We were 6 of us and driving anywhere above 100 kph would mean compromising on the passenger comfort by lane changes or frequent braking. Hence, on a busy weekend, you are better of driving between 85-100 kph and keep everyone happy. Driving faster is certainly an option though.
  
  
• Of broken mesh fencing and “customer friendly” restaurants – Many places especially in front of popular eateries had broken mesh and line of cars merrily parked on the shoulder to access these facilities. Somewhere before the exit toll towards Bangalore, I also noticed 2 cars parked to sip tea and relish snacks from a cart parked on the shoulder lane and a small opening in the mesh fencing. Food plazas at strategic points in both directions should help in future.
  
  
• I ain’t no paying toll – Many regular users have found a way to escape paying toll. They would exit onto the service lanes before the toll booths and merge back at the next entry point after the booths. If such points remain the way they are, it is sure for certain that the projected revenue collection from toll will witness a significant shortfall.
  
  
• Seamless entry/exits onto Mysore ORR and Bangalore NICE roads- Wishful thinking this but the choking points indeed are the Manipal Hospital (Columbia Asia signal) at Mysore and NICE road interchange at Bangalore for onward and return respectively. We have often seen how expressways are designed in such a way that they have beautifully designed interchanges that will direct traffic onto major entry points into the cities seamlessly. Though we didn’t face much of a problem during our drive with these, traffic had surely chocked up at the ends.

The merging lane, short in length and right into the 1st lane:


Weekend traffic felt like outer ring road:


2 wheelers and rickshaws were a regular affair:


And such 2 wheelers would often get into the center lane at 80 kph to overtake!


One of the many unscientific entry and exits all along this highway:


Dangerously parked vehicles, 2 wheeler with a licence (headlight), slowed me down to the 20s:

In summary, the newly opened highway is a definite time saver and quite arguably an immensely stress-free experience compared to yesteryears. Politics aside but this road certainly must me made an access-controlled highway. The sad part however is that since this is not a completely greenfield expressway like almost all of the expressways in our country, it is going to be a tough challenge to address all these shortcomings.

[vivek95]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

[h3]Hence, this was also my first drive on the newly “completed” highway also touted as “expressway”.

Thanks for a detailed review and clearing up my confusion on this particular road. Had been waiting for your review on this highway since a long time to ascertain that this road is NOT an "Expressway" but simply a multilane regular highway. Even here, the Mumbai--Nasik highway NH3 is similarly misnamed as Expressway ever since it was built some 12 years ago. At least the Bangalore--Mysore has good surface, Mumbai--Nasik varies between patchy and smooth and mandatorily pothole ridden post monsoons

Anyways, good to know driving Bangalore--Mysore is now a stress free experience.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vivek95

Had been waiting for your review on this highway since a long time to ascertain that this road is NOT an "Expressway" but simply a multilane regular highway.

Even the Chitradurga-Hospet stretch of NH 50 is referred as an "expressway" while it is still a regular dual carriageway highway with a median although it still refers to the name of the project by the consortium.

I would prefer such highways to be just called as tollways or just highways unless these are access controlled and like anyone can enter or exit like a rat into a drain (service road).

By the logic of 3+3 regular lanes and 2+2 service lanes and calling the "Bangalore Mysore road a 10 lane expressway", even the Tumkur-Chitradurga stretch qualifies for the same for more than 5 years now.

[Image courtesy: Googlemaps streetview]

[Kosfactor]

@Paragsachania - Thanks for sharing , there is plenty of useful observations.

You should travel at night as well once , preferably in the rain , the expanse of about 8 lanes width and the fury of our monsoon , it's a very interesting situation.

I think they should have named the highway differently, just call it the Mysore highway or road or Mysore expressway, that is the destination after all so why have Bangalore in the name?!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

You should travel at night as well once , preferably in the rain , the expanse of about 8 lanes width and the fury of our monsoon , it's a very interesting situation.

I'm someone who prefers driving through the night instead of day. While returning from Mysuru yesterday I was hoping that the next time I drive, it should be a weekday and dark. I am sure that the experience will be a lot better but I did notice one thing on this highway where there are couple of underpasses that became famous during the onslaught of incessant rains last December.

From my own experience of driving on major highways and expressways across the country, an underpass is something that you wont come across quite often and it is usually an overpass for the main carriageway. Am sure we will know how this highway will hand that situation when regular rains occur over the coming months.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

[h3]
[*]Unscientific entry and exit points – They appear out of nowhere and without a safe (extra) lane to exit or merge back with placement of collapsible plastic bollards. Vehicles tailing traffic on the first lane often either come to a dead stop due to one of the vehicles ahead of them taking an exit or one of the vehicles merging. At times, few vehicles suddenly shift lanes from left to center.

One white Hyundai Aura (KA 04 .. 2913 registration) entered from one entry directly to the middle lane without checking. Worst part, it had TBHP stickers. They were also throwing thrash from their car on to the road.

I chose Sunday (yesterday) for my first expressway drive and agree with all your comments. Entered from Mysore ring road-Manipal hospital signal at 3.20 p.m. and took 1 hour 40 minutes to reach NICE road exit.

[Krish_Diesel]

Its becoming a hot and burning topic now. However my thoughts on the video and its Purely my observations and I am not judgmental.

Expressways are designed for fast driving. I've driven on expressways in France, and they are real expressways. Since driving is done on the left in France, the slowest traffic should be in the far rightmost lane, the middle lane should be used for medium-fast traffic, and the leftmost lane should only be used for overtaking. When overtaking, vehicles in the middle and right lanes should move to the left lane with their indicators on, pass the vehicle in front, and then return to the middle or right lanes.

Its better we do not discuss about Autobahn because for us expressways are only for 100KMPH.

However, even though India has highways, top speeds are limited to 110 KMPH. If we really need to travel at speeds under 110 km/h, a six-lane road is not necessary, and it would be a waste of tax money.

In this video, the driver is composed and doesn't drive erratically. He is not cutting off lanes and is driving at a constant speed. I'm not sure why I find comments like "Give video to police," "Dangerous driving," "Negligence Driving," "Stressed," etc. surprising.

Look at the picture below, which was taken on the same stretch of the Bangalore-Mysore expressway. These three so-called disciplined drivers are travelling at a constant speed of 80 KMPH, and they all ignore to let me pass until I honk at them. By the way, when I first honked, I did so occasionally. They didn't even bother, so I had to honk like a lunatic before they tried to overtake each other slowly and went on since they were speeding up again at the same time and at the same speed. After continuous honking, one of the guy thought to himself "There is a moron/reckless driver/idiotic driver/rash driving guy" behind me and let me pass him.




This guy had to change lanes because his apparently good fellow drivers on the road were not maintaining lane discipline. Everyone would have cheered this video if this driver has stick to a single lane which he couldn't do as fellow drivers didn't adhered to lane discipline. Let's complain about slow drivers who don't stay in their lanes first before drawing any conclusions or passing judgement on those who drive over 120 kmph. Furthermore, the majority of the reported accidents that occurred on this expressway were actually the result of careless lane discipline, which is fancifully and conveniently called "Speeding."

[am1m]

Is the new Mys-Blr highway really that dangerous for bikes? Planning a Mys ride once I get back home to Bangalore and planning to use the new highway. Of course if by then 2-wheelers are really banned, will not use the road and stick to the old highway. But from previous posts I gather that bikes are still being allowed through legit entry points and there doesn't seem to be an option to stick to the old route throughout anyway.

Is that still accurate?