[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Forget Drivers who are uneducated, I have even seen "some very educated people" lacking basic driving etiquette's. Sad but true.

Sorry to be blunt.

Spike

[sarmarishi]

Great to see so many opinions coming in. Keep that coming.

By educated I didnt mean that the person has all the skills necessary or is rich. some educated people also lack basic manners. May be I should have defined that as something else. But what I wanted to emphasise on is why drivers are not told what not to do with the cars they have bought with thier money! Or what is the best way to tell the drivers what not to do and what not to do?

Originally Posted by dot

Personal experience of employing drivers has been very limited and for a very short duration. However I noticed that if you tell them nicely what to do and what not to do, they tend to follow. The drivers with so called low levels of education, understand the difference between right and wrong, good driving practices and not so good ones. I dont think education has anything to do with it. It is a just good communications. After all everybody is from the same planet.

Having said that I have a personal grudge against the "educated folks" sitting pretty in a call center cab and enjoying the antics of the driver. Why cant they step in and prevent the driver to stop rash driving, or using high beam or other offences.

I tell you, they are just enjoying.

When I have employed taxis I could not sit quietly if the driver was doing some mischief. A simple question usually works. It may not work with everybody, but if it works with half the population, our roads will become better.

I couldnt agree with you more on this. Only if some people did something about it, the world or rather roads would be a better place.

In fact whenever I have taken a Meru and the driver tries to skip a Signal I have also commented and asked him not to. Or when they cross the speed limit!

I really think that if companies really wanted to increase their CSR presence they should have taken up something like basic driver education programes instead of opening driving schools for those who can afford. Not saying the driving schools are not helping but i think its a pseudo CSR initiative! Cos it increases brand presence and they earn from it. A true CSR programme doesnt not get a single penny back!

[JustCause]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Forget Drivers who are uneducated, I have even seen "some very educated people" lacking basic driving etiquette's
Spike

And I've seen some Illiterate people employing drivers for their BMWs & Audis.

@OP
We must also try to look from a driver's(chauffeur's) point of view. Long working hours + waiting in the car + endless driving takes a toll on their mind as well as body.They sometimes engage in side jobs to make some extra cash which further lengthens their working hours.

The driver's job is a severely underpaid one too. Rs 5000 a month is even less than what rickshaw pullers/ domestic helps make these days.

Driver jumps signals & drives rashly because the 'maalik' tells him to hurry. He stops abruptly blocking traffic because the 'maalik' tells him to get some trinklets from the small shop on the side.

Technically, the maalik in the back seat is responsible for most if not all of his driver's actions. Yet, in the MACT (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal) almost ALL of the accused are drivers(Chauffeurs).

Bring the 'Backseat driver' to book & all of this stops.

[Sunney]

Bad driving habit is mostly synonymous with under developed countries.
One of the main reason is our general worst road condition. 90% of roads are no roads to international road norms.
This make drivers and passengers become irritant and weary of the situation, try to get out of the place by any means; say illegal means, by disobeying rules, traffic norms.... This become a permanent habit.

In Europe's wider roads, 99% drivers stick to norms. Driving obeying rules is possible, because wider, good roads are available in right ratio per head.

So this too is a major reason. When roads are improved violation too will come down drastically.
This is me.

[Suess]

Originally Posted by Sunney

Bad driving habit is mostly synonymous with under developed countries.
One of the main reason is our general worst road condition. 90% of roads are no roads to international road norms.
This make drivers and passengers become irritant and weary of the situation, try to get out of the place by any means; say illegal means, by disobeying rules, traffic norms.... This become a permanent habit.

In Europe's wider roads, 99% drivers stick to norms. Driving obeying rules is possible, because wider, good roads are available in right ratio per head.

So this too is a major reason. When roads are improved violation too will come down drastically.
This is me.

Then what makes us drive recklessly on good highways? It's not condition of highways. I have seen people driving badly on swiss highways n i have also seen people driving elegantly on dusty village pathways in Portugal. It is about the people's regard for rules, attitude n repect for others right not about the road conditions.

[thedreamcatcher]

Some points from my side.

1. Where is it written that educated people are meant to drive safe / sane and properly
2. How does one determine if a person in a car is educated or not
3. Education alone has nothing to do with road sense. It is to do with upbringing, self discipline, common sense and so on.
4. Even If I am educated, my driver may not hold the same views or values I have when driving. For him it is a job he wants to finish and go home.

Same reason why cab drivers, auto drivers, bus drivers, lorry, cargo vans and so on, drive and violate all that has been mentioned. So, are educated people supposed to sit and train them (Sorry, but actually in this case, I dont think it is apt to use the word educated, but I am using it since it is referred to in this post. Else for me it is ones common sense and self discipline)

5. Several times, we see people sitting in the car, their driver driving like the Jason Statham, but they are oblivious to they way he is driving. See the point, educated but lack of civic and common sense. Then there are people who prod their driver to go faster, honk and so on.
6. And dont forget the drivers of government cars, MPs, politicians and police officials. They feel they rule the road and hold a right of passage wherever they go.

This is one topic that has been discussed for ages, and is basically something that lacks fundamentals. Who is to educate them??? Well for a start, the RTO who gives out licenses even despite a person failing a driving test, not even taking the test, no proper written test at all and so on (When I got my DL several years ago, there was another lady with me, who stalled the car on several instances and at times didnt even realize the car was off, she almost crashed into a ditch, flew over a speed breaker and at the end we were both standing at the videograph counter to take our photos for the DL ;-) ). Then, lack of enforcement of road rules by the Traffic Police.

All in all, asking educated people to teach their drivers road ettiquette is like one blind person telling another blind person how to reach destination X with a road map

[Suess]

I completely agree with thedreamcatcher. RTOs need to be free agents n corruption like whole system in india. Also there is a need to good driving schools without attending those no DL should be issued.
I got my DL in 2nd attempt here in india! first time i was trying through legal means.
2nd time i didn't even go to RTO n got my DL.
To get my DL in germany i had to go through about 40 hours of driving lessons n 15 hours of theory lessons in a proper driving school...n of course had to pass both exams.

[DieselFan]

Funny part is even the educated people behave like uneducated folks. Just day before I was near Udupi garden in BTM. It was peak traffic hour around 7 pm. I saw a hyundai i10 on the wrong side of the road driven by a driver (to jump the long queue at the crossing the car had come on the wrong side of the road and blocked the road) and a passenger seemed to be an educated GENTLEMAN. When I gave my two cents of not coming on the wrong side to the driver the educated GENTLEMAN (Read FOOL) shouted back at me. I was really shocked at this behaviour. By the way driver said nothing.

[mitrajdeep]

Originally Posted by JustCause

And I've seen some Illiterate people employing drivers for their BMWs & Audis.

@OP
We must also try to look from a driver's(chauffeur's) point of view. Long working hours + waiting in the car + endless driving takes a toll on their mind as well as body.They sometimes engage in side jobs to make some extra cash which further lengthens their working hours.

The driver's job is a severely underpaid one too. Rs 5000 a month is even less than what rickshaw pullers/ domestic helps make these days.

Driver jumps signals & drives rashly because the 'maalik' tells him to hurry. He stops abruptly blocking traffic because the 'maalik' tells him to get some trinklets from the small shop on the side.

Technically, the maalik in the back seat is responsible for most if not all of his driver's actions. Yet, in the MACT (Motor Accident Claims Tribunal) almost ALL of the accused are drivers(Chauffeurs).

Bring the 'Backseat driver' to book & all of this stops.

I totally with the points made here. I believe the paid drivers have a thankless job, where they have to drive around all day in a hot and dusty environment.

I sometimes wonder how the bus or truck drivers do their job. Sitting beside a growling, noisy engine all day on a hot summer day. I think their driving will improve if they do not have to maintain time schedules and the cabins are air-conditioned.

[nithin_86]

More than education playing a factor, COMMON SENSE and COMMON COURTESY is what people should have while driving.

1.High Beams. This can be mentioned a million times. Especially when SUMOs and the sort are using the high beam, the beam directly hits the eye. You cant do anything about it and the cab drivers definitely has no intention of changing it.

2.I have been honked at relentlessly by people to move my car when the signal is RED just because the other side traffic has come down. I never pay heed to any of the insults or honks that is supposed to make me move my vehicle when the signal is RED unless its an ambulance wherein i move my car to the side to make way for it. The buggers who keep honking to jump a RED signal - Ignorance is my motto. And I have to say it actually works and doesn't bother me now. They keep honking and I keep ignoring.

[headers]

Originally Posted by nithin_86

2.I have been honked at relentlessly by people to move my car when the signal is RED just because the other side traffic has come down.

Especially that 2 way hi-lo-hi-lo horn, bloody irritates me no end, especially when there is no place to move.

Also, a recent feature observed is that the guys just stop in the middle of the road and talk on their cellphones..IDIOTS or %^&**(

[Suess]

3 more things coming to my mind:

1. Stopping on the corners/bends: this is highly dangerous thing to do especially on Highways.

2. Overtaking where overtaking is forbidden like on sharp highway bends/zig-zags. Solid lines are drawn there to tell not to overtake, sign boards are put there to tell you the same but still people keep doing that.

3. Not looking back (in blind spots) before moving away from parking, turning, changing lanes and overtaking.