[noopster]

The same thought crossed my mind when I read the news of the tunnel pile-up. Using hazard lights for the purpose they were intended is rendered useless by all these geniuses who use it habitually every time they enter a tunnel.

But to pin the whole disaster on that one annoying habit would be kidding ourselves.

The vehicle that started it all "lost control". What the hell does that mean? Every accident on the e-way (and elsewhere) is attributed to somebody losing control. I submit that the guy never HAD control in the first place. He was probably speeding, with bad tyres and overloaded to the gills and hence went skidding all over the place. The people behind him were probably speeding as well, changing lanes at will, honking, flashing their high-beams, overtaking from the right and left, tailgating- ALL OF THE ABOVE! This is how people drive on our precious expressway. I am NOT being cynical. To find a good driver is an exception on this route. Trust me, I drive on it enough.

The authorities provide the usual lip service about breathalysers and speed guns being deployed but for the most part it's business as usual- maybe a token fining here and there. And drivers continue to believe in their own immortality and continue driving stupidly. All you can do is believe in karma and hope you've been good in this and past lives!

[khoj]

Originally Posted by magneto

I have noticed that many mumbai cars use the proper lighting , whereas most of the pune and rural cars along with the poorly educated bus and truck drivers use blinkers in the tunnel.

That is a very biased observation. On my many drives to Bombay/Poona region I must have travelled on this expressway umpteen times and I have noticed vehicles of all types registered with varied RTOs using the hazard lights in tunnels etc. The more commonly seen no. plates indulging in this include the following series MH 01/02/03/04/06/12/14/43 and more recently 46 and these includes private cars, taxis, commercial vehicles etc. All one has to do is observe the small vehicle traffic on weekends and scores of private vehicles out of Bombay/Thane can be seen indulging in the flashing.

Why just the tunnels, let the rains start and one can see hordes of these vehicles driving all the way up and down the expressway with the hazard lights flashing. I will however make a small concession here that in a gaggle of vehicles it will inadvertently be a cab/private taxi who will fire off the hazards first and almost instantly score of private vehicles behind/around will follow suit. It is strange to see educated drivers blindly following a chap whom they would otherwise not give two minutes of their time to or a second thought so to speak but here they can be seen blindly following his lead. Herd mentality? maybe.

On the truckers, if you observe intently the truckers who indulge in this practice are the short haul guys who would be ferrying local loads. The long distance trucker educated or not is a different beast all together and generally more well versed in road mannerisms (including use of lights) than their short haul counterparts.

While we are on the subject there is another annoying bit and this has everything to do with private cars only, especially those that have the rotary knob switch that controls the lights in cars especially those coming out of European manufacturers. Here inadvertently one finds that the owners/drivers are driving around with the rear fog light switched on. Worst they are not even aware that their foggers are on. Being high end cars they are equipped with very high quality fog lamps which would do their job remarkably well in foggy conditions/heavy to very heavy rains but on clear nights it is very annoying to drive behind these vehicles with the glare from the very bright right hind side tail lamp causing extreme discomfort to the driver behind and this while maintaining at least a 4-5 second gap if not more.

[magneto]

Thanks for your view , yes you cannot pinpoint the bad mannerism to a particular group , but it is important to educate drivers by putting up posters or banners highlighting these facts .
I believe that there are clubs like WIAA which are supposed to do their bit , but are not active in these activities .

I suggest that a lot of information and education can be put forward with the help of catchy slogans put up as bumper stickers .

Such safety issues can be spread with the help of such sticker , which in turn can be sponsored by corporates or organisations .

As an initiative these can also be sold or distributed by team bhp .

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by khoj

I have noticed vehicles of all types registered with varied RTOs using the hazard lights in tunnels etc.
Why just the tunnels, let the rains start and one can see hordes of these vehicles driving all the way up and down the expressway with the hazard lights flashing.
It is strange to see educated drivers blindly following a chap
Herd mentality? maybe.

@Khoj
I guess most of us do understand the issue of vehicles unneccessarily switching on the hazard lights either during the tunnel or in case of heavy rains. I had asked one such vehicle driver whom I was following on one occassion and both of us happened to stop at the food mall after Somatne toll and he opined that although he was aware that hazard lights are not to be used in tunnels he was keeping himself safe from other errant driver/morons who would not spot his vehicle inside the tunnels/during heavy rains and would continue their speeds and crash into him. Keeping the lights on in some way would prevent the rash drivers in coming in too close. It is this insecurity that made him switch on the lights. He was trying to protect his car

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Originally Posted by rxpaul

Our expressway is better than many of the european roads, but our road manners are very poor. For instance in Europe the first lane is strictly used for overtaking only. In case there are two vehicles on the fast lane and the slower driver is in front, he would dive back to the middle as soon as possible, no honking or flashing of lights is required. The way cars move back and forth on the the fast lane and back is worth watching. It is similar to the way Waves move back and forth on a beach.

But most countries have a very comprehensive set of rules of driving, with written classes, parallel parking training etc so unless the Indian RTOs introduce these here, we will always have unruly driving on our roads. We should not blame the average cab driver or bus driver, 'they simply do not know ' !!!

With Indian roads becoming better and faster, it is high time the police /govt introduce the international standards of driving. It would benefit us all be better citizens.

Hi, there is not even 1% chances of our INDIAN R.T.O. giving training,taking driving tests before a MDL is issued to them.All our so called R.T.O. are interested in is what amount of cash will be given to them for issuing a MDL.
They are not bothered about a new driver w/o any driving know how,but having a valid MDL from R.T.O.will kill someone on the road.They will say hundreds of people die on the road everyday so what's new in that.

[carwatcher]

OT
I was planning the Goa-Mumbai trip on this very day on my new T-Jet from some time. But somehow it didn't materialise and sent my family to BOM by flight same evening. If we had taken the road than we would have started early morning at 5-6 AM and would've touched expressway at around 3-4 PM. So I thanked my stars for not taking the trip.
Believe me or not, when I planned for the trip, I decided not to go over 100-110 on the expressway and NOT to use hazard signal in the tunnel.
When I saw the News, I was really kind of shocked. When informed my wife, she also felt relieved as she was more keen previous day but somehow the plans didn't materialise.
PS: I am not aware about the timing of the incident, so my assumptions may be wrong.

[aviraj]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

@Khoj
I guess most of us do understand the issue of vehicles unneccessarily switching on the hazard lights either during the tunnel or in case of heavy rains. I had asked one such vehicle driver whom I was following on one occassion and both of us happened to stop at the food mall after Somatne toll and he opined that although he was aware that hazard lights are not to be used in tunnels he was keeping himself safe from other errant driver/morons who would not spot his vehicle inside the tunnels/during heavy rains and would continue their speeds and crash into him. Keeping the lights on in some way would prevent the rash drivers in coming in too close. It is this insecurity that made him switch on the lights. He was trying to protect his car

This is precisely why many people follow this practice. Most of the cases, there are more chances of you getting into accident because of some idiot on the road rather than your own driving. Thats one of the reasons we use the horn so much in India, to alert the people that you exist on the road

[khoj]

@mallumowgli, you were looking for some posts leaning in a certain direction guess that is sorted


This is exasperating. In my books that chap is the moron. To right a perceived wrong that might happen in the future, he is doing something wrong in the present. He could have simply switched on his parking lights, they are there for a reason.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

he opined that although he was aware that hazard lights are not to be used in tunnels he was keeping himself safe from other errant driver/morons who would not spot his vehicle inside the tunnels/during heavy rains and would continue their speeds and crash into him. Keeping the lights on in some way would prevent the rash drivers in coming in too close. It is this insecurity that made him switch on the lights. He was trying to protect his car

Do alert them but by using the correct method and that is by using the parking and/or driving lights.

If another driver is acting like an idiot what is the surety that he will not, upon being honked at. In-fact no one likes to be honked at, it drives people crazy turning them in to bigger idiots.

Originally Posted by aviraj

This is precisely why many people follow this practice. Most of the cases, there are more chances of you getting into accident because of some idiot on the road rather than your own driving. Thats one of the reasons we use the horn so much in India, to alert the people that you exist on the road

[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by khoj

@mallumowgli, you were looking for some posts leaning in a certain direction guess that is sorted

Khoj sir, I was asking about well-informed members as referred in your earlier post, not ill-informed members . But frankly, education and awareness of traffic laws is not going to help in this case, since it is more of a case of having common-sense, while on the road

But the topic and the discussion thread is totally at a tangent now.

[magneto]

Originally Posted by khoj

@mallumowgli, you were looking for some posts leaning in a certain direction guess that is sorted


This is exasperating. In my books that chap is the moron. To right a perceived wrong that might happen in the future, he is doing something wrong in the present. He could have simply switched on his parking lights, they are there for a reason.




Do alert them but by using the correct method and that is by using the parking and/or driving lights.

If another driver is acting like an idiot what is the surety that he will not, upon being honked at. In-fact no one likes to be honked at, it drives people crazy turning them in to bigger idiots.

Rules have been formulated internationally , by experts who have studied every aspect of the rule before implementing it .

If people start misusing the rule to suit themselves ,by giving some lame excuse to justify their wrong action , it becomes a rule of the jungle .

Though i drive faster abroad , because their rules permit , i am not tense as i know that the other driver is going by the book and he will follow it and not leave it to chance ,like in India we always expect the other driver to cut corners , making driving into a painful exercise , and a guessing game , more like Russian roulette .

[magneto]

Originally Posted by IQBAL VEERJI

Hi, there is not even 1% chances of our INDIAN R.T.O. giving training,taking driving tests before a MDL is issued to them.All our so called R.T.O. are interested in is what amount of cash will be given to them for issuing a MDL.
They are not bothered about a new driver w/o any driving know how,but having a valid MDL from R.T.O.will kill someone on the road.They will say hundreds of people die on the road everyday so what's new in that.

Hi my question is , what are auto organisations like WIAA , doing for the car owners and multitude of members on their list .
I believe they are just doing clerical work , or in other words a glorified RTO .
I feel that they should join and read the comments on Team BHP , and learn something about the present Indian car users issues and problems and do something about it , rather than issuing and renewing licences and other routine activities.

[mayuresh]

A poposal of 8 laning of this road has been mentioned on this thread before.

Yesterday's newspaper (Maharashtra Times) carries some details. I'll quote the
last para:

"Since 2009, 370 people lost their lives and 697 seriously injured. Therefore
MSRDC is considering 8 laning of this road on high priority. An expenditure of
Rs 4800 Cr is expected which is to be done on BOT principle" ...

I was aghast with the logic ...

1. Has anyone ever cited less road capacity as the cause of deaths? In fact
speed is one major cause of death and it means the road capacity is alredy
good.

2. In fact isn't it more-of-the-same and only increase the chances of
accidents?

3. What's the use of 8 laning when entries into both cities are already
bottlenecks, which will just become more severe.

4. It is important that major cities be connected by express-ways, though when
you already have fairly good connection between these two cities by road and
rails, why don't they concentrate on other cities, small towns and village
connectivity.

Is it being done out of some petty political gains or ...?

Have couple of other examples to cite (which is slightly off topic):

A proposal for _railway track_ between Karad and Chiplun is being cleared. Is
that really necessary? Why so much expenditure and loss to environment?
Instead, with much less expenses and environmental impact, they can just
improve the road connectivity with tunnels in some stretches.

Same about Karad - Belagum railway route under consideration ...

[_raVan_]

Had a pathetic traffic experience on the ghats yesterday. We were stuck in the traffic for almost an hour. Driving at first gear through all the climbs, till the ingeniously designed bridge with the partition in between. To top it, it was raining. Long trucks were even attempting to go through the single lane (for light vehicles). It wouldnt have been this bad, had the truck and bus drivers stuck to the first two lanes instead of coming over to the 3rd lane.

[aviraj]

Originally Posted by _raVan_

Had a pathetic traffic experience on the ghats yesterday. We were stuck in the traffic for almost an hour. Driving at first gear through all the climbs, till the ingeniously designed bridge with the partition in between. To top it, it was raining. Long trucks were even attempting to go through the single lane (for light vehicles). It wouldnt have been this bad, had the truck and bus drivers stuck to the first two lanes instead of coming over to the 3rd lane.

Even I was one among the unfortunate people to get stuck. It was around 8:30-9pm. Things were almost at standstill before Amrutanjan bridge. It seems not one, but few big trucks/trailers were broken down just at the entrance of the bridge, choking the entire traffic. Even in such obvious times when the car ahead of you cannot move, some idiots still kept honking. To add to the misery people were changing lanes whenever there was a slight movement of traffic in some lane. The ghats are quite risky to drive on in the dark, especially when its raining and there is truck traffic all around you. But the real risk is not posed by the trucks, but by the over speeding cars which cut lanes at high speeds without much of a warning. Wish people have more road sense and some consideration for other people on the roads.

[ghodlur]

The Amruntanjan bridge is a perenial stumbling block in the entire e-way stretch. Inadverently wrong vehicles enter in the correct lane and block the traffic esp the tanker/trailor type trucks who cant seem to get the correct angle to turn.
The other trouble spot is the tunnel right after the Amruntanjan bridge where the vehicles try to pick up speed to make up for the loss of time before.