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Old 25th June 2013, 10:25   #526
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Originally Posted by gomzi View Post
Thats a pet peeve of mine. Even on my way to office yesterday, it was raining heavily and I remember thinking that it looks like an early Diwali today with the hazard lights on on most cars.
I felt like giving a thumbs up to a Punto driver who was driving sensibly in the low visibility, with only parking lights on. But 10 mins of seeing hazard lights everywhere, even he succumbed to peer pressure and switched his hazard lights on.
I too was driving on the MUM-PUNE Eway a couple of days ago with extreme heavy rains. Visiblity so poor that I couldn't see the length of 2 cars ahead even with wipers at full speed and HL's on. Speeds reduced to 60kmph while the right lane had cars zipping pass at 100+kmph.

That is the time I switched ON my hazard lights for the moment, due to lack of fog lamps on my ride. I know, what I did might be wrong, but had no option to switch those ON for the fear of some one speeding at 100+ just not spotting my car and banging in.
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Old 25th June 2013, 11:04   #527
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

Hello All,

Yesterday it was raining heavily in afternoon from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm and then there were no rains in evening.

But it seems that people feared the worst & started leaving from their offices early, which lead to massive traffic jam on JVLR & Western Express Highway.

It took me almost one & half hour to cross 12 kms from JVLR to Malad West. It was literally bumper to bumper traffic all the way & I remember going on third gear only twice for 100 / 200 meters.

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Old 25th June 2013, 12:05   #528
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Originally Posted by carzone View Post
That is the time I switched ON my hazard lights for the moment, due to lack of fog lamps on my ride. I know, what I did might be wrong, but had no option to switch those ON for the fear of some one speeding at 100+ just not spotting my car and banging in.
As a standard practice, I switch on the headlights when travelling on any of our highways. So lights are on in the front and back of the car, even during daytime whenever I drive on any NH. I feel it just makes my car very visible to everyone to all times.

And if it is too heavy rains with almost no visibility as you are stating, then I normally go off the road, onto the shoulder or emergency lane, stop and then switch on hazard lights. Had to do this a couple of times recently during my drive to Karnataka and back in heavy rains.

I dont know whether this practice is correct or not, but its my SOP. If its not correct, do let me know.

Anyway this is way for this thread, so i'll stop now.
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Old 25th June 2013, 12:42   #529
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

Switching on the hazards when driving in low visibility conditions is wrong. If you think that others can see the orange hazards in low visibility, then you should know that they can also see your red tail lights. In a low visibility condition everyone is driving with their hazards on and if you suddenly spot hazard lights on at 100m distance, you can't tell whether the car has broken down or the driver is driving with the hazards on which is pretty dangerous.
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Old 25th June 2013, 13:32   #530
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Originally Posted by gomzi View Post
I felt like giving a thumbs up to a Punto driver who was driving sensibly in the low visibility, with only parking lights on. But 10 mins of seeing hazard lights everywhere, even he succumbed to peer pressure and switched his hazard lights on.
Gautam
For a moment I thought somebody spotted me. FYI - I drove through the rain for the entire stretch from office in Powai till I reached home without switching on the hazard lights.

With great power (read T-BHPian) comes greater responsibility.
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Old 25th June 2013, 14:23   #531
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Gautam
For a moment I thought somebody spotted me. FYI - I drove through the rain for the entire stretch from office in Powai till I reached home without switching on the hazard lights.

With great power (read T-BHPian) comes greater responsibility.
I wouldn't mind spotting you or any of the regular BHPians, that way atleast I'll get an acknowledgement. Most of my (our) spottings go to waste.
So much so that I dont get excited any longer when I spot a t-bhp stickered car.

Anyway, due to the pathetic state of our public transport, I've seen a lot more people driving to work. If I reach my office anytime after 11am (late na?), there's no parking to be found! BTW, my office parking has space for about 100-150 cars and similar amount of 2-wheelers.

This just adds to all the traffic chaos, since now there are more cars that are held up by bad/insufficient roads.

Last edited by gomzi : 25th June 2013 at 14:26.
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Old 25th June 2013, 15:37   #532
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

This is OT but the colour Red has the deepest penetration in the atmosphere hence it was chosen to represent Stop / Danger Signals. So if you switch on your tail lights, that is enough for someone to spot you in a heavy rain / fog situation as compared to the amber hazard lamps. Before coming on TBHP i also used to blindly follow it but have stopped.
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Old 25th June 2013, 15:50   #533
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Originally Posted by Desmosedici View Post
This is OT but the colour Red has the deepest penetration in the atmosphere hence it was chosen to represent Stop / Danger Signals. So if you switch on your tail lights, that is enough for someone to spot you in a heavy rain / fog situation as compared to the amber hazard lamps. Before coming on TBHP i also used to blindly follow it but have stopped.
Yes, I do know that. But, when we switch on the headlamps, only the tail lamps glow, i.e. not with full intensity as when we apply brakes.

I did think of stopping, but on the expressway, it is not allowed. In the city, where speeds are considerably slow, i rely only on my head and tail lamps.

Next time, I won't be switching ON the hazard lamps while driving. Thank you guys!
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Old 25th June 2013, 16:29   #534
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Originally Posted by Desmosedici View Post
So if you switch on your tail lights, that is enough for someone to spot you in a heavy rain / fog situation as compared to the amber hazard lamps.
Absolutely correct but then how would the habitual drivers stop switching on the Hazard lights or for that matter how would the vehicles with non functioning tail lamps, broken Red glass covers for the tail lamps protect themselves in heavy rains. Simple solution - turn on the hazard lamps but dont repair the damaged ones isnt it.

I have seen some of the sedans & hatchbacks have poor tail light illumination - isnt that dangerous too.
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Old 25th June 2013, 17:06   #535
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

Slightly OT:

Since last 2 weeks, I have actually started coming to office late. I start around 11:30-11:45AM from home and reach Powai office in about 20-25 minutes. The work starts from home around 9am and I finish most of my overseas calls and conf calls from home itself.

At the other end of the day, I have started leaving late from office. Now I start around 8:15-8:30pm and reach home in 30 minutes.

There is no point battling it out in the choked roads during peak traffic hours. As compared to last monsoon when on an average I was spending 2-2.5 hours on road, this monsoon I am spending 50-60 minutes on the road. So in a way, I am wasting at least one hour less every day and able to get more work done.

Not saying that everyone would have that kind of freedom or job-profile which would allow doing such a thing. Just thought of sharing my personal solution to the perennial Mumbai traffic problem.

Last edited by SDP : 25th June 2013 at 17:08.
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Old 25th June 2013, 17:11   #536
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Slightly OT:

At the other end of the day, I have started leaving late from office. Now I start around 8:15-8:30pm and reach home in 30 minutes.
@SDP you are lucky to have that option of flexibility, I leave home from Thane @ 7:15 and reach Worli by 8:05 which is OK. In the evenings I leave at 5:30 and only manage to reach home by 7:15, pre monsoons it was by 6:30. Yesterday got delayed and left at 6:20, took me full 2 hours to reach.
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Old 25th June 2013, 17:27   #537
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

Has anyone in Mumbai noticed that two-wheelers no longer follow traffic lights and drive on the wrong side of the road, even in broad daylight? Almost mowed down a moron who decided that stopping at the traffic light was not worth his time. I clearly glared hard enough that he sheepishly smiled at me. Oh, and he wasn't wearing a helmet either. Organ donors on wheels they may be, but if I hit him for no fault of mine, I'll definitely be jobless and fighting a long drawn legal battle
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Old 25th June 2013, 18:01   #538
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Originally Posted by djpeesh View Post
Has anyone in Mumbai noticed that two-wheelers no longer follow traffic lights and drive on the wrong side of the road, even in broad daylight? Almost mowed down a moron who decided that stopping at the traffic light was not worth his time. I clearly glared hard enough that he sheepishly smiled at me. Oh, and he wasn't wearing a helmet either. Organ donors on wheels they may be, but if I hit him for no fault of mine, I'll definitely be jobless and fighting a long drawn legal battle
The less said about 2 wheelers here the better. On some arterial roads they follow some sense of discipline. But on other roads they go nuts. This is precisely why I have no sympathy when they are stopped so many times at nakabandis by the cops. The worst are those guys riding 2 and 3 at a time on the bike on Marine Drive and Worli Seaface.
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Old 25th June 2013, 18:38   #539
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

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Has anyone in Mumbai noticed that two-wheelers no longer follow traffic lights
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Originally Posted by akshay1234 View Post
The less said about 2 wheelers here the better.
Hello Friends,

I am myself a biker in Mumbai, but I ride safely all the times because I always think of my family waiting for me at home.

But yes, I accept that in general bikers in Mumbai have gone bad over last couple of years & one of the reason for this is the new super bikes (150cc & above).

Having said that I sincerely feel (& have observed) that bikers in Mumbai are still much better than their counterparts in other Indian cities. If you happen to drive in Pune or Ahmedabad you will actually be dead surprised on seeing the way bikers ride there. Just to give you an example, if you are about to take a left turn & have turned on the left indicator light, still couple (yes more than one) of bikers will pass from your left side at a high speed just to overtake you & go straight.

Thanks,
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Old 25th June 2013, 18:41   #540
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Re: Mumbai Traffic

Two Wheelers have become a menace. They ride wherever they want, however they want. Moreover i have noticed this trend of most bikers keeping their headlights on highbeam, it is so blinding, the light hits you right at the eye level.

Their normal SOP is, inch ahead at every signal to see if a Traffic Police is standing, if not, just go irrespective of what the signal is or whether the traffic on the other side is coming through. and to top it all, i am more scared of these bikers as they tend to hit you or your car, break your mirrors and just zoom away into the traffic.
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