[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by haria

I was stuck by the mature and humane behaviour of my friend. May this kind of people increase!

"Plus One," as they say on the internet, to that

A superb story of a calm head and a good heart. Let us hope that the biker remembers the lesson.

[haria]

Originally Posted by vigneshjairaj

When I got to know of the situation, I got out of the car and helped him onto his tricycle, he got his hands together as a sign of gratitude and he rolled away. Though I felt good about myself, I was ashamed of the fact that none of the people in the other cars actually came to help him.

Good of you. Probably your action will have made people around realize this and maybe they will act differently in another situation. Many times, people hesitate to do a good deed either because of inertia or waiting for someone else to start or initiate!

Originally Posted by vigneshjairaj

2) I had just picked up some speed of about 80 kph when I noticed a disturbance in the divider that was in the middle of the lane. In just a second a mommy dog with three or four pups were bang ahead of me, not more than a hundred feet away. I did what any other driver would do, jammed the brakes and i stopped just a few feet away from the family.

While this (breaking suddenly) is the instinctive reaction of most of the people, this can also be dangerous. Do this sudden breaking only if ABS is present in your car AND there are no vehicles behind you. Otherwise, while your intentions maybe noble, you might end up causing more damage/injury to yourself and others around you. During one discussion in our office about a similar topic after one of my colleague broke his arm after a fall trying to avoid a dog which ran across his bike suddenly. Incidentally, the dog ran back and escaped unscathed. One guy, whose relative was a retired forest range officer, had this advice to give. The best thing according to him is honk loudly, with bursts and maintain a straight line (no swerving) and do controlled breaking. Animals have a far higher response/reflexes and mostly they will move out of line . In the worst case, even if you have a hit, you will be able to better control your vehicle. This was a tip for two wheelers, but I guess a similar one is applicable for cars also.

[vigneshjairaj]

Originally Posted by haria

Good of you. Probably your action will have made people around realize this and maybe they will act differently in another situation. Many times, people hesitate to do a good deed either because of inertia or waiting for someone else to start or initiate!

ABS is present in my car and the first thing noticed was all the vehicles were at a safe distance from. I always glance at the RVM before sudden braking, which a lot of people ignore. That is very logical by the forest ranger actually, especially when it is in a two wheeler. Thank you mate!!

Originally Posted by DragonHawk

This incident happened yesterday night while I was coming back to home after dinner. Approach to my apartment in J PNagar is more like a single road but two cars can pass easily.

This exactly happened to me a while ago too. I was driving to the airport to drop off my uncle late in the night when this Merc comes in front of me with glaring headlights. I flash my high beam a couple of times but he didn't change. I was like who is this arrogant guy and I bang the stalk to high beam as though I did something super cool. And he did the exact same thing which made me blinded for a couple of minutes. I slowed down and let him pass.

[sooraj.naik]

Originally Posted by Mistakenguy

I had a similar experience a few months back when I was waiting for my wife near an ATM in Rajarajeshwari Nagar. A lady came and tried to open the rear left door but failed because I always keep the doors locked. Opened the window and asked her if I could help her. She realized her mistake only when I pointed to a cab parked nearby and said " I guess he is the one waiting for you". Totally embarrassed, she left without a sorry.

It happened to me in Dubai, while it was too scary. A girl in Abhaya rushes to my car at 1AM and opens the rear door and sits. I couldn't utter a word, I was shocked, she realised she got into the wrong car and rushed out.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by sooraj.naik

It happened to me in Dubai, while it was too scary. A girl in Abhaya rushes to my car at 1AM and opens the rear door and sits. I couldn't utter a word, I was shocked, she realised she got into the wrong car and rushed out.

I have almost done this. I got as far as opening the driver's door, looking inside and wondering why the interior looked neat, tidy and unfamiliar and how my wife, in the passenger seat had halved her age while I was in the shop. Was this a fairy story?

I muttered, "Oh. sorry... wrong car." My car, and wife, were next to it.

[SachinMK]

This happened a couple of months back while riding my bike, i picked one of my friend from Andheri Kurla road, Sakinaka where the concrete roads are uneven, i fell when the front tire couldn't cross, due to the concrete slab joints which was 3 or 4 inches height, i din't even realize what went wrong & i was lying in middle of road, all of a sudden few people came, took me & my friend away from the road gave some water, they saw my bike handle was twisted, they even straightened, all this happened in just 10 minutes, i couldn't even say thank you to any of them before they disappeared, people are really helpful when they see somebody gets hurt. All I could say, there is still FAITH in humanity.

[vnidta]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I got as far as opening the driver's door, looking inside and wondering why the interior looked neat, tidy and unfamiliar

Keep your car unique. That's my policy. There wouldn't be any confusion at all. For example, I have two photos and one idol at the center of the dash. The steering cover is dual-tone close-to-showroom-fit - thanks to one Devaraj (there's a separate thread on his leather work in team-bhp. But he's still not recovered from his accident though - different story). Team-BHP stickers of course. Car's color is real-earth.., which is neither silver nor gold kind - which you don't find usually. And how many Getz CRDi's are there anyway?

[TorqueyTechie]

Being on the topic of confused car syndrome, would like to mention about the incident where I was the confused person. This was in the year 2012 I think. We had a silver Alto (which is dime a dozen on the roads) and I along with my mom had went out for shopping in it. I had parked it a little further than the shop where I was shopping. After completing shopping my mother said to get the car while she finishes billing. Me lost in my own thoughts came to the car and started unlocking it manually (Auto cop was busted in my car). Tried multiple times but still the lock would not come through. Now I was little surprised. Thought of trying to unlock from the passenger side door. As soon as I went to the passenger side to unlock , I see a little stout man running and coming near to me. In his half angry, half panting state he asks me as to why I am trying to steal his car. Now I was already mad that I am unable to unlock my car and also it was hot outside. I replied back to him in a terse tone that I am not stealing anybody's car but trying to open mine and asked him to mind his language. He then told me that it is his car and to prove it he opened it with this key. He was in full angry mood now and was accusing me of trying to steal. I didn't know what to do now and crowd was also building up . At this time my mother comes and asks me what I am doing still without getting the car. I told her the story and she busts out laughing pointing to our car parked just a car away. I did not know what to say now but apologized to the owner for mistaking his car as mine. I took him near my car and unlocked it to prove that I was genuinely mistaken. Luckily now he too understood my mistake and laughed it off and the crowd dispersed off having gotten their fun of the day! As to me, I had to endure the laughs of my mother all the way home and then for some more time from my family.

[audioholic]

If you guys had a confusion with the car, I had a confusion with the passenger!

I pick my friend from a nearby office while going home since we come from the same area. There is a designated spot a few meters after a bus stop where I get to stop and she gets into the car everyday. Since the bus will block the lane behind me, I get a few seconds of time window for her to get inside. The first day I took my Celerio to work, my friend was not aware of the new car and she was on the lookout for my SX4.

I spotted her from a distance at the usual point and there was a bus ahead of me. I did not want to do a last minute overtake and cut back into the bus lane so I just followed the bus and came to a stop at the usual location. I unlocked the door and was glancing down into my phone to check Google maps. After a few seconds I dont see the door opening, but a girl standing near it. Without looking, I told 'Yen madtidya alli hattu bega(In kannada accent - What on earth are you doing get in fast)' and as I completed this, I looked out to see her, and it was someone else.

She was quite puzzled at what happened so I didnt get yelled at . My friend who was standing a few feet away from the car was expecting my SX4 to arrive, since it didnt she was busy checking her phone. In the meanwhile, I realised the mistake, and I apologised to this girl and requested her to call my friend. She did, and then she understood the goof up and was smiling. After my friend got in I told another sorry to the other girl and explained what happened to my friend. Thats how my first day at work in the new car ended!

And confused car syndrome will never happen to me, at least with my Celerio. Its one in a million.

[KiloAlpha]

Along the lines of "wrong person getting into the car", here is my experience with it. Happened in the UK, back in 2008. Just for context - the stereotypical minicabs (private hire radio taxis, no livery or markings) were previous generation Japanese C/D segment cars driven by men of South Asian origin.

Unfortunately, me and my car fit the stereotype. I drove a previous generation white Nissan Primera!

So, one evening, I drive home from work, a little late, get into the "close" (dead-end road) where my apartment building is, spot a parking space near the entrance of the building, and stop the car to parallel park. As soon as the car comes to a stop (I am still putting the car into reverse), a lady gets into the passenger seat and says "OK, let's go".
It took me a few seconds to pick my jaw up from the floor mat and take the situation in. I sat looking at her for a while, agape and incredulous, completely speechless. I soon realised she was tipsy.

I tried asking her why she is sitting in my car, and she immediately started arguing that she had called for me, and that I should start driving! I looked in the rear view mirror to see a 10-year-old Toyota Camry driven by a man of South Asian origin, and the penny dropped. She had called for a minicab, and she thought (nay, was convinced) I was it.

So now started the circus of trying to convince her that
a) I live in that apartment building
b) I am not a cab
c) Her cab is behind us
It took me a full five minutes to do it. Her not being in her full senses made the whole conversation hilarious (in hindsight). The cab driver came to my window to ask me why I was blocking the road, and then joined in the conversation as well.

Eventually, the lady agreed to get into the cab and go home. She was grumbling when she got into the cab, and me in my foul mood did not bother listening to her ranting.

My wife, to date, is convinced that this incident is the only reason I did not like the car.

[Thad E Ginathom]

These are wonderful stories of driver/car/passenger confusion!

Here are a couple more.

London, 1970-something, a freezing cold winter's night... A couple of us are getting lifts home from a friend after a late-finishing function. We walk to his car, parked in a dimly-lit street. He puts the key in the lock, and it does not turn. Frozen locks was not unusual back then, and he perseveres pushing, pulling and jiggling the key, while we jump and down to stay warm. Eventually, persistence pays off, the doors are open and we all jump in.

"There's just one problem... It isn't my car!"

Moving on a decade or so, I have finally passed my British licence, and have the one thing that is better than one's own car: a company car! A friend and I are going on a trip. He arrives at my house, and I give him the key and ask him to start packing the car. Always the late one, eventually I'm ready, and go out to the car myself. I'm puzzled to find it empty. My friend says, "I thought that was you car over there!"

These days, we worry about remote locking being hacked. Back then, car security was so bad that there was a fair chance that a key from the same model/make would open another vehicle!

(Car 'a' was a Mini. Car 'b' was a Ford Fiesta)

[sukhoi30]

Since the confused car subject is trending... let me cite one such incident that happened to me a few years back.

This happened some time in 2010 or 2011. Then I was having my earlier car Chevy UVA. I had plans to meet a friend of mine somewhere in Chandivali, Mumbai. We decided the rendezvous point and the time was around 8.00 pm.
I, in my car, reached the rendezvous point a bit early. Since I just had to pick up my friend there, I just stopped my car beside the kerb under a large tree. Because of the tree, the street light was not falling on my car and hence the visibility was a bit low.

A couple of minutes later, another hatch back happened to come and stop a bit ahead of me.

I was just dialing my phone to call my friend when the rear left side door opened and a young girl got in and sat down. She was also trying to dial or text (those were days when SMS was like whatsapp of today) someone on the phone while she got in. For a while I didn't know what to say or how to react. Then I turned on the light and looked back. The girl was equally flummoxed and probably got scared too. She simply opened the door again, got off and went to the vehicle in front, opened the door and got in. No words exchanged. No sorry, nothing. I just watched her coming in and go out. All happened so fast, just couldn't think of saying anything.

Later me and my friend had a very good laugh about it.

[greenhorn]

This happened while i was doing my MBA. I was called in the middle of the night to pick up two lady classmates who got punch drunk, broke their drinks glasses, stepped on them while dancing, and were in no condition to walk to 500 or so meters back to our institute. (I was one of the few people with cars in the college then)
So I escape from a meeting (we have meetings that used go go into the wee morning hours), and go to the front of the pub seeing my friend having a hard time convincing the ladies to come back. I join, only for them to start shouting and screaming and inviting unwelcome attention. People nearby have already started to look at us as if we are some sort of potential rapists.

Anyway after a lot of cajoling, we manage to get them to the footpath, but they absolutely will not get into the car. We are sitting with them pleading them to get in. The night moves on, and people start leaving, and the place begins to look deserted except for us.

A police jeep pulls up and our hearts sink. The cops come over and ask the ladies if there is any problem. They babble incoherently. They turn to us and ask us what we were up to. We explain the story to them, and hope for the best.

Somewhere along the story, we mention that we are studying in X institute. Now X institute is somewhat world famous in the city, and miraculously, the cops became super helpful. They helped us get the ladies into the car, escorted us till campus, and forced security to open the gates ( we were way, way , WAY past curfew)

The day was saved, and we did not have to endure an involuntary visit to the police station. After a few more (non road related) incidents, i ended up burying what was left of my chivalry, because it was an acceptable cost for not being accused of rape and sexual harrassment & what not. And my opinion of Cops went up several notches.

[jphukan]

Life takes a lot of turns and one of the most crucial moments of my life took place in a car pool.
In our company, we had a portal where we could book car pools - one fateful evening back in 2013 I booked one, was sitting in the 2nd row with 2 other ladies. 5 minutes into the journey I come to know that the lady in the middle is fast asleep - time went on.

About 25 minutes later, we were reaching the end of our journey and we just had 2 or maybe 3 stops before the guy with the car reached his destination. Since the person in the front seat had to get down, the car stopped - the lady beside me was still fast asleep. As a reasonable man, I thought that I should wake her up or otherwise she might miss her apartment / stop. I just said “Excuse Me” very softly couple of times - she suddenly woke up, started thanking me, paid her share to the car pool guy and got down, all within seconds.

Few seconds after that, I hear someone yelling at me “This is not my stop” and the lady in question now gets in the front seat vacated by the other person. I keep thinking, when did I tell her that she had reached her destination. I try to explain to her that I did not know her exact stop and was just waking her up. She did not say much, but I could tell that she was fuming with anger.

Few other encounters / coincidences later and couple of years down the line, the aforementioned lady / girl is now my wife

[SDP]

Originally Posted by jphukan

...
Few other encounters / coincidences later and couple of years down the line, the aforementioned lady / girl is now my wife

On a lighter note: Let me guess what went through your mind -
"I just helped this girl. Instead of appreciating the kind gesture she is angry because I didn't know her exact stop and she somehow blames me for getting off at a wrong stop. I don't understand this. This is so confusing!"

Neurons go into Turbo mode to process this.
<Short-Circuit>

A few moments later:
"I like this girl. She is perfect as my future wife."