[headers]

Originally Posted by wartikars

And while driving a rear wheel drive, the driver should be careful about the speeds double than the driver driving a front wheel drive or a 4X4.

Oops, I did not get it, how does the speed double in RWD than a FWD or AWD

Or did you mean a RWD is far less forgiving than a AWD or FWD?

[RGK]

Getting a legal driving license is not an easy task in developed countries, but it is very very easy in India. Driving is very easy in developed countries, whereas here it is a nightmare.

In India, we mostly find/blame human error is the root cause of the accidents, whereas developed countries go far ahead and think "how to prevent human error to a max extent" - the solution is the tough driving classes and regular practical training.

Generally the experience in highway driving are more (due to more no of freeways available in all parts of the country) for foreigners compared to Indians. In India still the signage's are not common even in highways.

But anywhere, driving improves and matures over experience.

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by headers

Oops, I did not get it, how does the speed double in RWD than a FWD or AWD

Or did you mean a RWD is far less forgiving than a AWD or FWD?

I think he meant the carefulness needs to be doubled in a RWD.You know, you might accidentally end up doing a wheelie and al

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by wartikars

An E in Germany is far more different than the E in India. Right from quality to the size.

You are right we practice hard on our own to learn the correct way. But learning in a methodolgical way is way better. Its like the difference of getting an MBA from Harvards or MIT (US) and getting it from some other institute/university. Well there is a difference between you learning on your own and getting a training with sound technical & other guidance from an experienced trainer is different (we Indians never understand because we are always short of money and time as we want everythign quick and cheap due to the rat race here). When you are learning on your own you are learing by trial and error method which is more dangerous. Well there is a whole lot of difference between the quality of a driver in Germany & US and US & Germany & India.

Samurai! I don't wish to take this arguement further as you have your views and I have mine. Let us not litter this forum with spaming.
Thanks for your valuable input.

Do enlighten, about the quality, and size.
Kind of understand about the quality front(although not agree completely), but size?

Rest of your statements are again generalistic, and i'd rather not comment.

There is a difference in the a driver in us/EU and india, period.
quality?
unsure, as circumstances maketh a man....

[Samurai]

Indians who go abroad, get used to driving in fast highways very quickly. Same can't be said about the people who come to India and try to drive. Even Indians returning to India take years to get used to Indian driving.

[headers]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Indians who go abroad, get used to driving in fast highways very quickly. Same can't be said about the people who come to India and try to drive. Even Indians returning to India take years to get used to Indian driving.

Very true, in fact we are much better drivers than ROW.

We anticipate and react well for unexpected friends who get in the way.

If only our systems were better and the politicos stay out and we have funding, we make the worlds best drivers

India s entry to formula 1 in spite of all the above not happening is awesome.

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by headers

Oops, I did not get it, how does the speed double in RWD than a FWD or AWD

Or did you mean a RWD is far less forgiving than a AWD or FWD?

Yes the RWD do skid when you are at high speeds on bends or while braking. thats the reason why most of the SUVs like the BMW X5 ceome with technology to prevent this.

FWD & AWD are less prone to such problems.

Automobile layout - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Suess]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Do enlighten, about the quality, and size.
Kind of understand about the quality front(although not agree completely), but size?

Rest of your statements are again generalistic, and i'd rather not comment.

There is a difference in the a driver in us/EU and india, period.
quality?
unsure, as circumstances maketh a man....

i think from size he meant that in Germany people generally use small cars for city driving and cars with large crumple zone on highways...at least that's recommanded. in India, obviously that's not the case. people are driving their Altos/Zens/indicas (which also makes largest part of car population in india) like they got some Volvo!

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Well, I learnt driving in USA and drove there for a decade. Does it help my argument?

Spamming? This is not spamming. You made a blanket statement combing all Indian drivers into one category. There is a difference between traffic rules ignorant Indian drivers and traffic rule aware and complying Indian drivers. Most BHPians fall into the latter category. Therefore, we have the right to dispute your statement.

Define we! We can debate on this endlessly but I have no intention.

Originally Posted by amitoj

I think he meant the carefulness needs to be doubled in a RWD.You know, you might accidentally end up doing a wheelie and al

Yes you excatly got what I wanted to say.

Originally Posted by mayankk

Do enlighten, about the quality, and size.
Kind of understand about the quality front(although not agree completely), but size?

Rest of your statements are again generalistic, and i'd rather not comment.

There is a difference in the a driver in us/EU and india, period.
quality?
unsure, as circumstances maketh a man....

Size here means that we have just 6 lane E-ways and in the west there are 8 lanes and there are also separate entry and exit lanes on the E-way which is missing in India. Do you have a seprate exit lane on E-way between Mumbai & Pune? Even at Food Malls we have a small entry into a small road to take us to the Food Mall and also to take us from the Food Mall into the high way. You can easily be bumped into by the vehicles moving on the E-way. And the quality of road is also different. Mumbai-Pune E-way quality was in news few years ago ridden with potholes.

I have been a passenger in vehicles driven by a German, a Dutch, a Mexican, a Singaporean, an American & an Indian. So could make out the difference. When I am being driven around I also watch the driver, how he drives, even in an auto rickshaw.

But I completely agree with you "circumstances maketh a man".

Originally Posted by Samurai

Indians who go abroad, get used to driving in fast highways very quickly. Same can't be said about the people who come to India and try to drive. Even Indians returning to India take years to get used to Indian driving.

I agree with you completely on this point Samurai! Anyone can drive easily on a disciplined road but in places of chaos, disciplined people become confused and find it difficult to drive. One of my colleague who came to Pune found it hard to even cross a road. But we Indians shuold not take pride of this.

Even when I returned from US & SA, for first 6 months I was not able to drive. I was scared and would be annoyed for honking. But now I am again back to normal. Indians can survive in all conditions due to our culture and up-bringing.

Originally Posted by headers

Very true, in fact we are much better drivers than ROW.

We anticipate and react well for unexpected friends who get in the way.

If only our systems were better and the politicos stay out and we have funding, we make the worlds best drivers

India s entry to formula 1 in spite of all the above not happening is awesome.

Well in a rally we can be the best drivers but on roads please don't have this false pride. Yes, we do have good drivers no doubt about this but it can't be a generic statement.

We react to people getting in our way becuase we are used to this indiscipline & chaos on the road.

But agree on your statement for ways of improving the system.

Life is India, not many know the importance of safety, but the people who have been abroad, will surely know it.

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by Suess

i think from size he meant that in Germany people generally use small cars for city driving and cars with large crumple zone on highways...at least that's recommanded. in India, obviously that's not the case. people are driving their Altos/Zens/indicas (which also makes largest part of car population in india) like they got some Volvo!

Yes you are right. In India a person will even zoom a Nano or a Maruti Van on E-way. Which is a height! Even Wagon-Rs and Santros are not an exception. Most of the cars in India are not for those free willy Autobhan type road speeding. Light cars are more likely to spin at high speeds on a turn or on sudden braking. Hence most of the small cars are FWD. Even the VW Polo we dive in India is lighter than that which you will have in Germany. This is because when we buy a car in India we ask only one question other than the price is "Whats the fuel efficiency" or "Kitna deyti hai" on which the Maruti advertisement is based upon.

Yesterday on a news channel I also heard a senior person from Mini Cooper talking of selling Indianized Mini.

(Moderator: Sorry for the Hindi words ""Kitna deyti hai")

[mayankk]

oh, so by E you meant the "E-way" (quality, size, ok...weight??? )
in that case, i concede a 100%.
all this while you and i were talking at cross purposes, where i thought its the "E-class" MB you referred to.

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by mayankk

oh, so by E you meant the "E-way" (quality, size, ok...weight??? )
in that case, i concede a 100%.
all this while you and i were talking at cross purposes, where i thought its the "E-class" MB you referred to.

Oh! No! I am sorry! I was talking about the driving infrastructure!

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by wartikars

Define we!

BHPians.

Originally Posted by wartikars

Life is India, not many know the importance of safety, but the people who have been abroad, will surely know it.

Finally you have started to differentiate. They are many who have never left India and still drive safely, but are in the minority. But Team-BHP has a high concentration of good drivers, simply because we constantly learn from each other on this forum.

[wartikars]

Originally Posted by Samurai

BHPians.

Finally you have started to differentiate. They are many who have never left India and still drive safely, but are in the minority. But Team-BHP has a high concentration of good drivers, simply because we constantly learn from each other on this forum.

I was differentiating right from beginning.

Mr. Samurai, I am not talking of the BHPian drivers. BHPian drivers are exceptions on the Indian roads. I also confidently knew that the vehicle driver in the accident of the Captiva is also not a BHPian. I know all of us are very responsible drivers and also people on the road. BHPian drivers are global drivers. Being a BHPian comes with a lot of responsibility.

And thats what I was trying to say we learn more better from other people's expeience, which makes the driving schools in India to have a good driving learning program. Because driving is not just how but also why, when, what & where. Along with driving sense everyone needs to have a road & civic sense.

[nd81]

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

During day time, when the visibility is very good, I normally drive between 120 kmph and 150 kmph, regularly on the Madras - Bangalore or the Salem - Bangalore route; some times at about 125 kmph for over an hour constantly.

My concentration level (as a policy I drive only between 0500 to 1400 hours), condition of my car (always goes for a general check-up before a long drive), road traffic, visibility, how well I know the road, are some of the things that decide my speed.

Yeah..better to decide speed based on road condition and traffic. I have seen
cases where high speed drivers have knocked out people,cows,dogs etc.