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Old 16th August 2014, 05:50   #1
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I have a very peculiar experience to share. I am in Mysore for the weekend, and I and a couple of friends decided to go for a late night ride to Chamundi hills to have a cup of tea and enjoy the view of the city lights.

It was 10pm and while driving up, I saw a very peculiar behavior. I saw a guy riding a two wheeler downhill without lights and In neutral. I told my friends he was a moron, and one of my friends said "wait and see". I have no words to describe what followed.

Almost all the two wheelers (bikes, tvs 50s, scooterettes) that were coming downhill had their lights turned off. Some had their lights and engines turned off, some had their engines running but lights turned off and some had one of the indicators flashing and lights and engine turned off. Many of the two wheelers had three occupants.

To me this was the most dangerous thing to do. It was pitch dark in most of the sections, and I saw a couple of guys on a bike almost got hit by a reversing car.

I asked my friend what makes all these people do this and he did not have a solid answer. He said some believe this saves fuel (the ones driving in neutral and lights turned off) and some do this, quoting him, "for the kick".

Whatever the reason, I think this is just stupid. This is accidents waiting to happen!

Any TBHPians from Mysore who can throw some light on this behavior?

Last edited by graaja : 16th August 2014 at 06:02.
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Old 16th August 2014, 06:45   #2
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

There has to be some spooky story associated with this road. A devil may catch them if they turn on the headlights :P
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Old 16th August 2014, 07:29   #3
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Quote:
Originally Posted by graaja View Post
To me this was the most dangerous thing to do. It was pitch dark in most of the sections, and I saw a couple of guys on a bike almost got hit by a reversing car.

I asked my friend what makes all these people do this and he did not have a solid answer. He said some believe this saves fuel (the ones driving in neutral and lights turned off) and some do this, quoting him, "for the kick".

Whatever the reason, I think this is just stupid. This is accidents waiting to happen!

Any TBHPians from Mysore who can throw some light on this behavior?
This is very "normal" behaviour, have been seeing this since ages.
It's not for any kicks, it's just to save around 10Rs or 20Rs worth of fuel.

That's the reason I take the less traveled road which joins the Ooty road, although I don't recommend taking this road after dusk.
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Old 16th August 2014, 09:24   #4
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Come on, there are 2 simple reasons - save on fuel by keeping engine switched off, save on electricity (battery) by keeping lights off - these guys are our energy saving ambassadors and they're on a Save the Earth campaign
And in their memory we may get another signboard that says Accident Prone area!

Last edited by NPV : 16th August 2014 at 09:25.
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Old 16th August 2014, 09:50   #5
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

While I can understand their suicidal tendency to switch off engine to save fuel, I am not sure what they save by switching off headlights (while engine is running).

Unrelated to this, there were instances of mugging reported in TBHP on this route couple of years back.
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Old 16th August 2014, 09:57   #6
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Quote:
Originally Posted by NPV View Post
Come on, there are 2 simple reasons - save on fuel by keeping engine switched off, save on electricity (battery) by keeping lights off - these guys are our energy saving ambassadors and they're on a Save the Earth campaign
And in their memory we may get another signboard that says Accident Prone area!
Theyre also cleaning the gene pool.
If only they signed a no liability before starting down the hill, the rest of the guys can drive in peace.

But, I do remember back in 91-92, when we first got a Premier Padmini, everyone used to do this climbing down flyovers.

Last edited by mayankk : 16th August 2014 at 09:58.
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Old 16th August 2014, 11:01   #7
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Back in 95/97 , two of my friends alongwith their school mates went to ooty on a new year night.

while coming down hill, they switched off the engines of their bike. result was they plunged 250 ft into the valley. both have survived to tell the story with one living a normal life while the other has ir-reversible damages. Speech and mobility is highly restricted. To top it all , this friend had a potentially great career.

All this for the sake of saving fuel.
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Old 16th August 2014, 11:44   #8
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Never heard of or seen such a thing as driving down ghat roads at night without a headlight. All I can say is that these people really have to be nuts because this is clearly dangerous and yet so many of them indulge in it. If they want to save fuel, why turn off the headlight? That doesn't make a lot of sense. These people don't realize that their stupidity doesn't just affect them but others on the road as well. It's not like they are only putting themselves in danger by doing this. Like I said, they're just NUTS.
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Old 16th August 2014, 12:38   #9
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Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

During my early driving days- I did this stupid mistake in a Maruti 800, albeit another place and in broad daylight. I thought I was saving precious fuel. It didn't have power steering or booster assisted brakes anyways!

Ten minutes later, our vehicle wheel cap decided to try this stunt on its own, overtook us and went!

Perplexed and defeated in a race by my own wheel cap, got out and to my horror- the brakes were red, yes RED, like we see in race cars. The plastic wheel caps just melted off!

Needless to say- I learnt a big lesson. Oh yes, and spent 100x the fuel amount I saved on brake pad and disk replacement.


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Old 16th August 2014, 13:04   #10
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

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Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR View Post
Perplexed and defeated in a race by my own wheel cap, got out and to my horror- the brakes were red, yes RED, like we see in race cars. The plastic wheel caps just melted off!
The same thing happened to my friends about 2005 they were returning from Ooty in a M 800 and they did not switch off the engine but drove in normal gears and by the time they covered a few hair pins the brake pedal touched the floor and by sheer luck they managed to stop the car by downshifting and engine cut off , the disk had become orange like the sun and we saw the car after it came back here , all his disks were black. Very lucky they were.
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Old 16th August 2014, 18:00   #11
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

First thing that struck me after reading this topic is this bizzare accident i came across few years back while riding downhill from Yercaud. We were riding three bikes and it was around 1-2pm, there was this gathering of locals at a hairpin bend and we being the curious junta parked the bikes and went in to witness what is going on. And what an awful sight it was to see a brand new car like this .( I leave it to the bhpians to guess the car)
Name:  Capture.PNG
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Everyone was confused and guessing how the hell one can end up like this and i still dont know how exactly this happend. Sure the car is going downhill, but how could it be sandwitched between rocks still baffles me.

Last edited by RYP : 16th August 2014 at 18:02. Reason: Grammatical correction
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Old 16th August 2014, 18:30   #12
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Reading this makes me remember a similar situation with a Black Bolero in the Sigur Ghat.
Apparently the fellow was doing something similar and came a cropper.
I saw the remains of the vehicle in the Mahindra garage in Bannerghatta Road some time later and it was frightening.

Long years ago - around 1991 or so, an RX100 rider from Coimbatore tried doing more or less the same thing on the Ooty Ghats. He paid for his misguided practice with his life and limb.
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Old 16th August 2014, 22:20   #13
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

It is not only the less rich or two wheeler owners who try to save this fuel. Its about the mentality which people carry.

I came to know about a person who during his abroad stay had a good car and around 5 people went for a trip up the hills. While coming down the person had switched off the car and was in a big fix when he came to know that neither his brakes nor the car's steering was working as desired.

He learnt the lesson and thanks god no one was hurt or had a crash.
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Old 16th August 2014, 22:49   #14
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

Its common. Either no lights or they turn on their right indicator while they are cruising downwards. One has to be extra cautious driving up or down the hill in late evenings/nights.

I have been guilty of doing the same when I was in college hehe. Thankfully rectified it before anything bad happened. We used to have sort of downhill race to see whose bike rolls down farthest after coasting down the hill. My benchmark was the last bridge before Jockey Quarters
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Old 17th August 2014, 15:45   #15
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Re: Driving down Chamundi hills - no lights and in neutral

It's nothing but natural selection at its best. I had narrated a similar experience on another thread involving my relatives, thankfully, no casualties.

Last edited by createrkid : 17th August 2014 at 15:47. Reason: Simply.
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