[phamilyman]

Folks,

I strongly believe this deserves a separate thread and isnt often discussed. From over on the unwelcome street experience thread, it was said:

Originally Posted by aargee

There're few "uncle" drivers out there who're much disciplined & stick to their comfort level without disturbing others on road

Umm, there are some uncle drivers who stick to their comfort level on the expressway, driving at 70 kph on the rightmost lane.

Everyday I come across atleast 10-20 such drivers, who make everyone else swerve wildly because they are a plain lane hog.

For every guy who swerves wildly, there's a 50% chance that he's an idiot and a 50% chance that he was being held up by a lane hog!

Its my daily experience on the Gurgaon expressway. Again, 50% chance that it'd be a RJ registered Bolero/indica crawling at 60 kph hogging the right most lane - forcing everyone else to swerve at triple digits.

Guys at 60-70 should be in the middle 2 lanes of the expressway. All I want is to drive at 90-100 on the rightmost lane of the expressway without botheration - its better for vehicular throughput too that everyone obeys the lane discipline than one nut forcing everyone else in that lane to swerve.

My daily quota is to honk the living daylights out of atleast 2-3 such idiots on a daily basis. What do others do? Mutter an obscenity under their breath and swerve quietly?

[Cyrus43]

I have a solution for this. And I do this regularly. Go behind them, keeping a good distance of atleast 50 meters, and flash your headlights till they move. After a few mins, they will move. If they dont, downshift and overtake from the left with a short blast of the horn. Simple. no need to swerve etc.

[ghodlur]

Its not just the uncle drivers but aunty drivers, arrogant rickshaw drivers or for that matter 2 wheeler guys who think driving on the right most lane at 40-50 kmph is their birth right. Most of these absolutely dont know what is the meaning of dipper signals.

My way of tackling them - show dipper, blow horns (once or twice max), take left and drive besides them for a certain distance and smile at them. Gandhigiri always works.

[aargee]

@Phamilyman - Oh!!! boy!!! you picked those lines

Anyway coming to the point, one cannot enforce

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Guys at 60-70 should be in the middle 2 lanes of the expressway

Reasons?
1. Though there's a speed limit, most of us hardly observe it
2. Unlike US, where there's a lower bound on speed limit, there's nothing called lower speed limit here. This means, people can even halt. Actually stop without disrupting the traffic, but the entire traffic system here adjusts for the ONE who stops.
3. Since there's no lower bound & upper bound is often ignored, there's no lane speed that is maintained. Which means the said obviously is bound to happen

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Umm, there are some uncle drivers who stick to their comfort level on the expressway, driving at 70 kph on the rightmost lane

There's nothing to get frustrated. The "uncle" is driving at his own comfortable speed at his comfort level (or may be speeding according to him hehe)

IMO, these guys are totally harmless as we can always predict their next move - which is they keep going straight. There are so many dangerous elements otherwise; to name a few...
1. Triples on two wheelers
2. Riding/driving zig zag; unpredictable as when, where, how & which way they're going to swerve.
3. Stop in the right most lane (you read right, right most lane) & talk to someone on the median. Most truckers do this before entering into the city

Once on my way to Erode during the month of May, a cop was talking to every motorist at the toll asking to keep their respective lane. Like, we were on car & he told us to stick to right most lane & truckers & bikers to left most lane. He even told us that he was forced to tell us. I encouraged him by saying, we would oblige that & that's the way to drive on highways & immediately he started to vent out his frustration as how the truck drivers see his advice.

Anyway, point is, as long as people buy licenses through agents & without formal education (on driving) these things are only going to get worst.

My point, be it city or highway, always has been to first alert with blinkers for the first few times & observe how the other guy responds. Most of them seem to show no reaction, which indicates "I'm like this only, do what you want", few others increase the speed, which shows "C'mon now..." attitude & very very rarely people slow down or switch lanes.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by aargee

...Most of them seem to show no reaction, which indicates "I'm like this only, do what you want", few others increase the speed, which shows "C'mon now..." attitude & very very rarely people slow down or switch lanes...

Good one. Yes, the first catagory mostly belongs to truck drivers. Not the usual NP lorries. But the local truck guys and kutti yaanai's [ya ya, the ACE only]

They are least bothered and not [or cant] go beyond 40-50kmph, still occupy middle or right lane only.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Yes, the first catagory mostly belongs to truck drivers. Not the usual NP lorries.

Strongly agreed; I've seen this mostly in the NH's & they mostly yield just at one blink or a horn that too a mild one is sufficient.

But sorry to say, the AP16 (My sincere apologies to my friends in AP) is the most horrible set of drivers. They've the thickest skin than buffalo!!! Very lousy people & seem to stop anywhere, I'm seeing they even slow down in the middle lane, then stop, think what to do & then pull over to left lane. They're so bad, but don't do unpredictable moves.

Originally Posted by mjothi

But the local truck guys and kutti yaanai's [ya ya, the ACE only]

Originally Posted by mjothi

They are least bothered and not [or cant] go beyond 40-50kmph, still occupy middle or right lane only.

One more example Petrol auto & Diesel share auto. I can only think of one reason for this; these guys want to show that they've got a very powerful vehicle (timing & adherence is not a factor at all, people who've hired them will know their stretchable time). However the vehicle cannot yield more than what it can & hence they're been constantly overtaken by other vehicles on the road; inorder to show they're not inferior to anyone they drive like maniacs.

Another reason is Diesel. The Diesel engine (unlike in any modern cars) once slows down become difficult to pick up the same speed & hence most of the time they try to maintain the same speed by driving zigzag & not slowing down.

Best way to avoid these morons is by keeping a constant watch on the RVMs & once such a moron is spotted, simply yield way for him or get much ahead of him so that it takes light years for him to catch up.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by aargee

@Phamilyman - Oh!!! boy!!! you picked those lines

Anyway coming to the point, one cannot enforce

Reasons?
1. Though there's a speed limit, most of us hardly observe it
2. Unlike US, where there's a lower bound on speed limit, there's nothing called lower speed limit here. This means, people can even halt. Actually stop without disrupting the traffic, but the entire traffic system here adjusts for the ONE who stops.

3. Since there's no lower bound & upper bound is often ignored, there's no lane speed that is maintained. Which means the said obviously is bound to happen

That is exactly my problem. Thanks for summarising it so lucidly. Now what?

There's nothing to get frustrated. The "uncle" is driving at his own comfortable speed at his comfort level (or may be speeding according to him hehe)

IMO, these guys are totally harmless as we can always predict their next move - which is they keep going straight.

Absolutely not. There's no way this must be tolerated. While they are predictable - they force the road to become like a high speed maze.

With slowpokes in the left lanes and in the right lane - the high speed traffic has no option, but to swerve into the 2/3 lane and back into the high speed lane. When you do that at 90-100, it becomes lethal.

These MORONS force other people into swerving wildly all over the place while they plod on, regardless and without caring a damn.

@ghodlur/Cyrus: Adjusting and changing lanes is the simple solution which everyone does. But that is what I call swerving really - you'll still be shuffling across lanes at a high speed & cutting in/out of slower traffic. Because of that one obstinate moron!

I tend to change lanes only when i have passengers. Even then, if there is a moron doing 50 kph in the rightmost lane when they should be 90 - I am willing to crawl at 50, switch on my hazard lights and go ballistic honking (I put a pressure horn only for such losers) & flashing the light till they give way. I can always donate 1-2 min of my time to discipline such people. Else their tribe will only increase if everyone else adjusts!

Rest inline

Originally Posted by aargee

There are so many dangerous elements otherwise; to name a few...
1. Triples on two wheelers
Agree
2. Riding/driving zig zag; unpredictable as when, where, how & which way they're going to swerve.
Some are stupid people on bikes, some are people trying to drive at the speeds the expressway is made for !
3. Stop in the right most lane (you read right, right most lane) & talk to someone on the median. Most truckers do this before entering into the city
Oh yes.If only one could drive like one does in Carmageddon :|
Once on my way to Erode during the month of May, a cop was talking to every motorist at the toll asking to keep their respective lane. Like, we were on car & he told us to stick to right most lane & truckers & bikers to left most lane. He even told us that he was forced to tell us. I encouraged him by saying, we would oblige that & that's the way to drive on highways & immediately he started to vent out his frustration as how the truck drivers see his advice.
I'd give him a bribe for this public service itself!!

Anyway, point is, as long as people buy licenses through agents & without formal education (on driving) these things are only going to get worst.

My point, be it city or highway, always has been to first alert with blinkers for the first few times & observe how the other guy responds. Most of them seem to show no reaction, which indicates "I'm like this only, do what you want", few others increase the speed, which shows "C'mon now..." attitude & very very rarely people slow down or switch lanes.

[Gansan]

OK, we are talking about highway driving here. I am (mostly) a weekend driver and at 50 years of age, probably qualify as an "uncle" to most guys here too! My speed at the highways mostly stays between 75 - 90 KPH. I don't feel comfortable above those speeds and don't think it is safe in an Alto that runs on stock tyres, either.

I stay in the middle lane for the most part and move to the right lane only to overtake people who are driving even slower than me. Sometimes after I overtake I may observe another slower vehicle or two in the middle lane a little farther ahead, so will continue in the right most lane till I pass them. At this point of time, I will be doing 90 + KPH and that is the max I am prepared to do. But I usually observe someone doing 120 + draw up behind me and start blaring his horn and flashing the lights.

My reaction is to continue on my course till I pass the vehicles and then move to the middle lane. If he is impatient, let him pass me from the left. So long as I stay at or slightly above the speed limit (80 KPH at most places), I am not holding anyone up! I am not driving slowly, he is over speeding!

Remember, even if you are driving at 120 KPH (which is illegal), you are supposed to drive only at the middle lane and the right lane is just for overtaking. A Merc or Audi giuy may come behind you at 160 + speeds and curse you for being a slow driver!

[pjbiju]

Keep off right and central lanes, highway cops warn truckers - The Times of India

Keep off right and central lanes, highway cops warn truckers

Manish Umbrajkar, TNN, Oct 23, 2010, 03.44am IST

PUNE: With increasing complains about heavy vehicles blocking the central and right lanes on the Pune-Mumbai expressway, the Pune highway police have decided to undertake a drive to educate errant truck drivers and also propose to impose heavy fines on them. Similar action has also been planned on all other state highways.

The highway police said that besides the problem of lane cutting' by truck drivers, another main cause of concern is overspeeding of cars and other light motor vehicles.

According to the authorities, most heavy vehicles occupy the e-way's extreme right lane, which is meant for fast moving vehicles and overtaking, thus causing accidents and traffic snarls.

Deputy superintendent of police (highways), Pune division, Shashikant Mane told TOI that action against truck drivers is not limited to merely fining them, but warning signs will be put up along the e-way and other highways by the highway police as well as toll collecting agencies, reminding heavy vehicle drivers to keep off the right lanes. Also, the highway police will distribute related easy-to-read pamphlets printed in various regional languages, such as Marathi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam at toll posts and eating joints/dhabas along the highway.

Meanwhile, Mane said he spoke to a few truck drivers who had their own reasoning for using the extreme right lane. The drivers complained that they were almost forced to do so because there are pedestrians, cyclists, bullock-carts and other slow moving vehicles in the left lane (in case of other state highways). He said that according to these truck drivers, the speed is thus reduced considerably in the left lane and since they drive heavy vehicles, it becomes difficult to switch from one lane to another. Nevertheless, the highway police have insisted that heavy vehicles should move slowly from the left lane only.

Another rapidly growing issue of concern for highway authorities on the e-way is overspeeding of vehicles, leading to mishaps. They said that although the number of mishaps has decreased over the last one year, the number of fatalities have increased.

At present, the highway police have three speedguns in the Pune district to check cases of overspeeding. Two are used on the e-way and the third is used on another highway. Mane said more such speedguns will be needed once the existing two highways are widened and more lanes are added. The Pune-Kolhapur-Kagal section of the highway is being widened from four lanes to six lanes.

On 2x2 lane highway (like NH4), I usually flash my lights to get my right of way to pass the slower vehicles on the right lane. If that does not work, a couple of short blasts of the horn. If that does not work, a long blast of the horn. If even that fails, I back off a little more, move into the left lane and then go past them. But I always give the fellows some time to move to the left lane. There could be 2-wheelers, other slower moving vehicles on the left preventing them from moving to the left immediately. I have seen that once you are out of city bounds, 90% of the truckers give way and they mostly use the left lane.

But they take a few seconds to move since 90% of the car owners do not have the patience to wait for them to move to the left and they invariably start overtaking from the left. Very often, the truck starts to move to the left and then he suddenly sees the car speeding in from the left. And many of them do this overtaking from the left without even warning the truckers. It is quite sad to see heavy trailers and trucks half moved into the left lane forced to swerve back into the right lane. Sometimes, you have one car guy waiting for the truck to move to the left and blaring his horn, flashing his lights etc. and then at the same time other cars overtaking from the left. A bad situation for the truck drivers. If I were in their shoes, I might have simply crushed some of those moronic car drivers.

Very few buses give way. Also some cars do not give way. I think they simply do not understand that they need to give way. They need to be educated. And as you approach city limits, most of the vehicles tend to keep to the right because on the left lane you will find parked cars, two wheelers, vehicles coming in the opposite direction etc.

Swerving wildly into any lane on a 2x2 highway is dangerous without good visibility. You have better visibility on expressways and it could be safer. Hope the police takes action as outlined in the article and that they do the same in other states.

on the expressway, you are supposed to use the rightmost lane to overtake and then you should get back to the middle lane. At least on the Pune-Mumbai Expressway, the density of traffic does not warrant people to be driving on the rightmost lane. There is plenty of free space in the middle lane. Here people should not be hogging the right lane at all. There is absolutely no reason to do so.

Education and enforcement is the way to improve these things.

-Biju

[NetfreakBombay]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

on the expressway, you are supposed to use the rightmost lane to overtake and then you should get back to the middle lane.

Is it a rule/law ? If it is then this might be one of the ways of enforcing this discipline.

Otherwise, if someone is driving at 80kmps on right lane, he is driving at just the speed limit.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Gansan

A Merc or Audi giuy may come behind you at 160 + speeds and curse you for being a slow driver!

Absoultely bang on the point Sir. Speed is a relative factor.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Absolutely not. There's no way this must be tolerated. While they are predictable - they force the road to become like a high speed maze.

No yaar; even in US people switch lanes even when they follows the speed limits. The speed limit usually is like 55 to 70 mph on some states. This means as long as anyone can do 55 mph they can drive on the highway without being ticketed. But the point being that no one should exceed 70 or go below 55. Since most people know the consequence (Thanks to strict driver education & license evaluation) of crash at 55mph & ruining their life even if they survive, they adhere to the simple policy of slowest vehicles on right & fastest on left extreme.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

These MORONS force other people into swerving wildly all over the place while they plod on, regardless and without caring a damn.

Like I said speed is a relative factor, assume you drive an Alto at 120 Kmph on the right most lane, what would someone driving an Audi call you? Slow right?

But the right practice is, the Alto should switch to left lane yielding way even before Audi blinks or honks. Now, that's what I call is a good driving practice. In US, people come very close to you & one should understand that he's asking to yield.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Adjusting and changing lanes is the simple solution which everyone does.

Remember, that's done all over the world.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

But that is what I call swerving really

Well, there's a difference. Pls allow me to explain.
Switch lane - Check there're no vehicles coming behind in the RVM's including the blind spots; switch the turn lights to the direction you're going to switch; gradually, but as quickly as possible, change the lane.

Swerving - Check there're no vehicles coming behind in the RVM's; after ensuring there're no vehicles, change the lane.

Cut - Simply change the lane (this is the worst & keeps happening all over)

So as long as one is switching lane or even swerving, its fine, but not cutting.

Last but not the least, we cannot expect everyone to be driving in the speeds of 90 Kmph on right most & 70 kmph on middle lanes & lesser at left most lanes. Primary reason being, there's jokers all over who keep dancing on the road & we do not know what the person ahead of me is undergoing when he sees a joker.

Second, everyone has their own limits. No everyone like Gansan sir is privileged to be part of this community, understand & learn, so they're bound to have their own limits; and remember accidents do happen when one crosses their own limits. Be it with sleeplesness or over speeding. Imagine the same Uncle in front of you wants to yield way & in course of that he crosses his comfort zone & speeds up & immediately sees a cattle looking lazily in front of him. Not only him, people behind him are also in soup, unless one is extremely careful.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by NetfreakBombay

Is it a rule/law ? If it is then this might be one of the ways of enforcing this discipline.

Otherwise, if someone is driving at 80kmps on right lane, he is driving at just the speed limit.

No, I do not think this is a rule/law. Sorry that my wording sounded so. What I meant was that even if one was driving at 120 kmph or so, on the PMEW, there is enough room to get back to the middle lane after overtaking slower vehicles and still be able to drive faster (expect around Lonavala) so that drivers who are even faster can use the right lane to overtake you. That is because of the low density of traffic. If the vehicle density is higher, then you will have to use the right lane as well. In fact you will see very few vehicles driving on the right most lane, again expect around Lonavala.

[phamilyman]

@Gansan: Sir - uncle drivers was the term i happened to quote from aargee. My thought was primarily the lane hogs without any stereotyping really (as in the title).

On the intercity highways, I agree with your thought. Infact, I commute and do intercity drives at 90-100 kph because that's the best zone.

Here I agree with pjbiju, I have myself a habit of checking the RVM every few seconds and I make way for those who are MUCH faster than me. And if I can't change lanes asap - I use hazard lights/hand signs.

My specific issue is with the city expressways like the Gurgaon Expressway. The traffic density is so high that using the rightmost lane is an inevitability & changing lanes to accomodate the lane hogs is very dangerous.

@aargee: By that precise defn, I mostly switch lanes But I am essentially uncomfortable with changing lanes at 90-100 kph because it means weaving through traffic. everytime we do it, it makes the road a bit more unsafe if many vehicles do it. And therein lies my discomfort.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

@Gansan: Sir - uncle drivers was the term i happened to quote from aargee. My thought was primarily the lane hogs without any stereotyping really (as in the title).

Its upto anyone how they take it; my idealogy of "uncle ride/drive" is someone who's extra cautious, does road sharing, very attentive when riding/driving, doesn't messes with anyone on the road. In a nutshell, I go my way, I don't bother anyone & all of you don't bother me. I generally like these type of people very much because they simply mind their own business whether they do it right or wrong, they're more predictable & hence we can watch our own without messing up with them.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

@aargee: By that precise defn, I mostly switch lanes But I am essentially uncomfortable with changing lanes at 90-100 kph because it means weaving through traffic. everytime we do it, it makes the road a bit more unsafe if many vehicles do it. And therein lies my discomfort.

Well when you do 90-100 Kmph, then it obviously means the road is relatively free which means almost no traffic & you can simply keep switching lanes.

Trust me @Phamilyman - its very boring to drive in US. People might find exciting for first few miles, but there after its all plain boring to stare the road. But people who're not driving might enjoy watching the scenics outside. Without activities (watching ORVM, changing gears, switching lanes etc) one is bound to fall asleep soon when driving.

[phamilyman]

Trust me @Phamilyman - its very boring to drive in US. People might find exciting for first few miles, but there after its all plain boring to stare the road. But people who're not driving might enjoy watching the scenics outside. Without activities (watching ORVM, changing gears, switching lanes etc) one is bound to fall asleep soon when driving.

Depends boss. I drive quite regularly on NH1, NH8 and NH2 every now and then. NH2 is plain deserted between Agra & Kanpur and I really enjoy those stretches. I am pretty much fedup/dread the truck-choked Jaipur-Delhi section of NH8. Its nothing short of a nightmare for me!!

Though yes, I've not driven on American freeways so can't comment how it'd get after a while.