[Bass&Trouble]

Originally Posted by Rtech

Yes I was. Am I lucky I wasn't thrown in jail for driving with a camera in one hand? LoL

He he, yeah thats what I was thinking.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by kpbhatt

today my car was stopped on my way to work and the traffic cop fined my driver for not putting on the seatbelt -- 100 Rs ka challan; my driver was fuming -- i always wear one -- the driver finds it uncomfortable...

Did this happen in Pune? The growing number of unseatbelted drivers talking on the mobile phone in Pune is appalling. We've talked about it for too long. Isn't it high time that these fines are instituted?

I believe in Mumbai it is more than Rs. 100 and applies to all front seat passengers.

But in Pune, this should apply to drivers of police Qualis and military Jeeps plying in civilian areas too!

Ram

[rks]

Very drastic and unnecessary action by the cops, who seem to have no idea of what constitutes rash driving. Lane-cutting without indicators is not necessarily criminal, as long as the driver checks his rear-view mirrors. At best that is a very minor offense and to jail people for that is equivalent to a police state. It won't wash here and people will vote out the government.

And I have always been against these absurd speed limits. The appropriate speed to drive at varies depending on the situation and restricting speeds to absurdly low levels will inhibit free movement of traffic in an already over-crowded city.

[amit]

A few days back there was another article in Indian Express about how cops want to get tough with rash driving. Just above that was another article about how Mumbai's constantly jammed roads and rude drivers are resulting in patients dying in Ambulances before they can reach the hospital. The article quoted one ambulance driver as saying that he was actually stopped by a cop for driving on the wrong side of the road (with siren blaring) despite their being a seriously ill patient inside!

And these cops are going to decide on whats rash driving!

[satish_appasani]

There are many roads in Hyd which have 10 KMPH limit signs where one can easily drive at 40 KMPH. So do they expect us to push the car rather than drive it in these roads?

[Aditya]

Great. People are gonna get jailed for driving at 50 and 60km/h while Alistair Pareira is gonna be out on bail soon even after killing 7 people. Don't know what to say.

[Ram]

Originally Posted by rks

Very drastic and unnecessary action by the cops, who seem to have no idea of what constitutes rash driving. Lane-cutting without indicators is not necessarily criminal, as long as the driver checks his rear-view mirrors. At best that is a very minor offense and to jail people for that is equivalent to a police state.

@rks, what is criminal or what is not is to be decided by the law enforcement authority, not by every common road user.

I say, "Better a police state, than a criminal society".
By way of example, motorists in Pune are known for atrocious driving, not wearing seatbelts, two-wheelies not wearing helmets, talking on the mobile phone (hands used, or hands free)...

If they cool their heels in jail for a while, it would hammer some sense into them and make the streets safer for all of us.

The punishment should result from the crime of careless driving, rather than by the results of that careless driving.

A near miss, where a head on collision is averted by timely intervention by the victim's car is as serious as when the head on collision destroys cars and takes life and limb.

If a scooterist runs a red light and tosses a child into the air, the crime is not somehow less serious, if the child's luck saves her from injury or death. Were the child to get maimed or killed, the scooterist's act should not be seen as any more criminal, than if the child had managed to save herself.

I think that drivers that run red lights while talking on the cellphone should be stopped and arrested, even if there is no accident.

Another thing...
A driver wishing to change lanes has a duty to other lane users.
He must indicate intention to change lanes by using his turn-signals.
Merely saying, he checked his mirrors, does not absolve him of his responsibility to other lane users.

But if you think the policeman must be trained to decide what constitutes rash driving, I agree with you.
Policemen everywhere in the civilized world are trained in this, among other things.

Ram