[gjiyap1]

Dusting this up-again !. For the last week or two, thinking & observing some sample to support my point. And here it goes.

Sample 1 - In a quiet suburban place, at 7.00 am on weekday, a Driving school vehicle is moving slowly in a narrow lane. Occupied by 4 (age group 20 - 40) and a learner on the wheel. There was a call taxi vehicle picking up sawari in the middle. The learner honked once & slowed down the vehicle.
Instructor says 'Honk continuously. otherwise, people will not leave'.
Me standing near by giving sign to this instructur 'hold on for few minutes'.
Instructor reacts 'Velaya patthuttu poiya' (i.e. 'Mind your business') &
he honks furiously.

Sample 2 - A Proud father keeping his 5+ year old kid in the front and driving Activa. For about a km or so this father maneuvers heavy traffic & jumped 2 signals. Thanks to traffic, he couldn't go past too much.
And when i got a chance to wait in signal (the third one) - told him 'sir, no helmet, rash driving & that too with kid' (& all those sigh gesture - typical of we indians)
Response - 'Mooditu poda' [Shut ... & get lost !]

& few more interesting incidents. Now my question:

1. Bad Drivers are Born or Made ?.

2. Who influence - in creating a good or bad driver ?

3. Who takes the blame - the person doing it (or) person who thought him/her (the root-cause) !.

My simple take is - its natural that kids/adults learn from their elders (parents, relatives, cousin & in some cases - external training !).

So, if we are bad on roads - it affects us.
While, if we are bad while teaching / training / assisting others, we are making a world of difference. - yes, Roads will become less safe !!!

[AlphaKilo]

Mate, well said. But unfortunately the ground reality is what you have written. Some say, we tend to learn when somebody teaches us, but these days, we tend to learn only the bad things and filter the good ones that is being taught to us. Especially, if some third person like you and me try to inform the so called informed people, we get back real bad like your case or some piece of advice for us to understand and adjust and learn to bend!

Sorry for going OT.

[mayankjha1806]

I dare not open my mouth about Driving skills, mistakes, when my wife is at the wheels. All that i can probably ask for is "Please wear seat-belts" other than that i just shut up and enjoy the surroundings.

I get the point the thread starter is trying to make, and in my view (and these includes my wife opinion as well, as we both take turns when we drive long distances)

• Do not sleep sitting next to the driver, especially on highways.
• Do not get involved in any heated discussion, that could potentially distract the drivers attention
• Do not show things as they are passing by, if you think this might mean the driver will have to take eyes off the road for long
• Keep yourself alert and eyes on the road, only alert the driver if you are almost sure he/she is missing the oncoming danger
• Handle everything else, like kids, food etc yourself and do not ask driver's help or let kids distract drivers attention

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by gjiyap1

The learner honked once & slowed down the vehicle.
Instructor says 'Honk continuously. otherwise, people will not leave'.
...
My simple take is - its natural that kids/adults learn from their elders (parents, relatives, cousin & in some cases - external training !).

Interesting post gjiyap1 !

While you have made it sound like your words fell on deaf ears, the optimist in me would like to think otherwise.

Firstly, the person learning to drive was decent enough to only honk once and wait patiently. The instructor was the impatient one who blew the horn continuously. (I hate it when i'm driving and a passenger reaches over and blows the horn!). This probably irritated or confused the learner. I'm sure your words might have shone through like a ray of civic sense for that learner

This one is more of a long shot, but maybe you made that kid or father stop and think for a moment? Can't win em all i guess

cya
R

[sachinj12]

To add :

Do not throw plastic covers/ newspaper and (or) other waste outside the window while travelling. The cover/paper might land on someone's face and cause him/her to crash. A few months ago while I had stopped for a tea break, I witnessed a stupid woman throw the tender coconut shell on the road. Lucky there was no vehicle behind.

And most importantly, please do not spit

Cheers

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by sachinj12

Do not throw plastic covers/ newspaper and (or) other waste outside the window while travelling. The cover/paper might land on someone's face and cause him/her to crash.

In countries where is snows, the police will pull you over if you are driving a car which has a couple of inches of snow on it, for this very reason. You're supposed to scrape/rake the snow off your car before you start driving.

cya
R

[gjiyap1]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Interesting post gjiyap1 !

While you have made it sound like your words fell on deaf ears, ....

Rehaan - the sample given are edited .
Definetly, am no saint to listen and not respond to such statements.

Yes. Not starting a fight - but definetly a response warranted !.

And my intention is to provoke the thought-process.

Whoever reading these posts, whoever listen to my query or two on the road - am only hoping that - it will make them repeat the questions themselves. And initially as you said - even a handful people of change, it is good for the rest !.

The more you think of such instances on the road, you feel pity/sorry for their ignorance and wonder - who taught them such wrong things !.

[Remember having this Big argument with auto & two wheeler folks in Anna Salai - when i stopped in the signal where the board says 'No Free Left Turn'. And these guys were furious at me saying - 'you are blocking the traffic'. After few minutes of heated debate & they agreed that - yes. no free left (as per rule). But they advised me to 'go to middle of road & give way for those who want to go-left, which means breaking the rule !.]

Most of the time - people make mistakes/errors - without realising - what they are doing is wrong !.

[ghodlur]

Being in the drivers position most of the time in our cars we seldom dont heed to our co-drivers/passengers sayings coz we feel interrrupted in our driving process. Initially when I had started driving, I used to snap at anyone who interrupted me in the driving as this was upsetting my thought process. Maybe since I had started driving new, wanted to be extra careful.

Nowadays when wifey or any relative/friends sit beside me or in the rear, I do engage with them on an healthy dialogue. They at times have shown their responsibility/alertness by warning me so something unsafe on the roads. No mindless chatter, simple plain one sentence conversations just to break the silence. So if I try to get hyper, they immediately calm me down either by distracting me from the situation or with some simple doable advise.