[Lobogris]

Originally Posted by Mortis

Just curious since it seems a common theme of rowdy bikers stopping in front of cars and what not.
Suppose when one of these fellows comes and stops suddenly and you do not, either because you cannot stop in time time or you know the guy is upto no good. You hit the bike either lightly/medium/hard and the guy gets injured slightly/severely/killed. You have a dashcam which is recording. Forget about our usual jobless crowd/mob justice whatever, you manage to diffuse the situation to a point where no one is trying to lynch you and you call up the cops. What happens next at the Police station and in the courts ? You have video evidence that the guy has come and stopped in front of your moving car basically.

In the scenario you have outlined, you- the vehicle hitting from behind- will be at fault regardless of any dashcam evidence. In a rear end collision, the vehicle impacting from behind is almost always at fault. You are supposed to maintain proper distance from the vehicle in front and not follow too closely. If a vehicle comes from around you and cuts in to your lane, you are supposed to brake or at least slow down so that you again have sufficient space between you and this newly arrived vehicle. If that vehicle is able to overtake you at a higher speed and then come in to your lane and stop, you should also be able to stop in the same time unless you are driving a very large vehicle like a semi trailer truck.

A lot of people in India have this misconception. Even though the person stopping in the middle of the road without proper cause is wrong and can be cited for that, the person rear ending will be at the fault for the collision. Imagine this scenario: a vehicle cuts in to your lane and then the traffic happens to stop in the front or an animal cuts across and this vehicle slams the brakes. If you rear end it, would you say that it was the fault of the vehicle in the front for stopping? It is always your responsibility to maintain sufficient stopping distance from the vehicle in the front. If someone cuts in front of you, right or wrong, slow down a bit so that you are not tailgating him. This sufficient braking distance depends on the speed of travel. In a busy city street where you are moving a 10 kmph, a few feet might be enough but on a fast highway, much more distance has to be provided. I realise that if you leave a large gap, many other vehicles will cut in but for your safety, you have to try and leave as much gap as as possible. Following the vehicle in front too closely is one of the main causes of accidents on highways where multiple vehicles pile up as they did not maintain proper distance and were unable to stop in time.

[Mortis]

Good points. Its quite unfortunate. I guess its similar to the bigger vehicle is at fault rule

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by turbodude

I was dashed by an errant biker in Feb 2016. Lodged the complaint with Shil Phata Police Station on Kalyan-Navi Mumbai road but still no word from them.

For traffic offenses such as a bike hitting you or the other way round, I doubt if the police will be willing to invest time in the case.

They would be more likely to intervene if there was criminal intimidation or threats or bodily harm or if the other person intentionally damaged your vehicle.

[turbodude]

Originally Posted by honeybee

For traffic offenses such as a bike hitting you or the other way round, I doubt if the police will be willing to invest time in the case.

They would be more likely to intervene if there was criminal intimidation or threats or bodily harm or if the other person intentionally damaged your vehicle.

Probably you are right sir. That was a minor incident. However, today I saw another example of undisciplined youth right in middle of Pune city. I was driving our car on Karve road towards Deccan and started crossing junction after signal turned Green. 3 youngsters on a bike crossed suddenly from right and then they were waving at us as if nothing has happened. Wife promptly took their photo and uploaded on pune police facebook page. They also took our photo . Then they were following us for about 100 meters and disappeared.



Had I hit them by mistake, people would have beaten me (remember the big vehicle at fault rule ).

Note for Mods: please remove this post if it is deviating from the subject line.

[honeybee]

Pune isn't known for traffic discipline IMHO. Couple of weeks back when I was driving out of Pune from the University road, I came across a pedestrian crossing with a traffic light. The light was red and there were people crossing, so the logical thing was to stop. And then a VIP Punekar in an old, souped up car started honking. As I moved away on the light changing, he kept pointing at me as if to reinforce that he was honking at me.

Had my wife and daughter not been on board, there is a good enough chance my photo would be splashed on the Pune traffic police's FB as road rage offender. I had a mind to drag that idiot out and thrash him.

Such people need not be fined, they need to be caned in broad daylight. Sorry for the extreme reaction.

[luvDriving]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Such people need not be fined, they need to be caned in broad daylight. Sorry for the extreme reaction.

+1 to that - bullying a law abiding citizen and provoking him to break the law plus harassing in public - this surely deserves a strict punishment.

On many occasions I have had hurried "conversations" with such people and almost all of them offer same reasoning - everyone else is going then why are you stopping me ! Everyone else here usually means the front row of two wheeler riders and rickshaws who care a damn about traffic signals.

Anyhow, back to the topic - road rowdies in my opinion are just looking for a chance to start an argument and show their supposed might because the common decent road user will say a few words at the most and then go his way. But these people have ample time and stupidity hence its better to approach the authorities rather than keep arguing with these morons.

[rajivrt]

Can something be done for all the rowdiness we see on the roads? Lane jumping, red light jumping, cutting in front, braking and swerving dangerously when someone wants to take that particular turn he/she missed, etc etc. And the motorcyclists are the worst offenders. Will any kind of education forum work in India on these rowdy motorists? Can we bhpians start any initiative?

[rajshenoy]

Most of the times, its the Ego that causes road rage. It is so unfortunate that we dont have any shortage of these on our roads.

Every day i notice people breaking rules and driving rash, but what gives me hope is that for every one person acting like an idiot there 100 others who are following traffic rules(I see more educated IT folks breaking rules than the Cabbies)

It is not about non KA cars. It is about those breaking the rules !!

[pai.pradeep]

Hats off to your courage and presence of mind in such a situation. Also, it's hard to be calm and think in such situations and that deserves special mention.

It's great that the Police intervention and action happened immediately.

As cliched as it may sound - another testimony to the age old "truth/right always prevails over wrong"

Here's hoping that everyone learns the appropriate lesson from this incident.

[ads1485]

Wow, this is a first! You handled that really well, Lobogris

Usually, this would have ended with a fight, or the driver of the car wouldn't have bothered to lodge a complaint.

I'm pleasantly surprised that the police also took prompt and positive action. I guess a lifetime of seeing lazy, corrupt cops on hindi movies has taken it's toll on our collective mentality.

On a side note, how come Bangalore is always in the news for rude, unruly motorists??

[Living2Drive]

Nitin, for me at times body spray comes handy. I've been abused for stopping in Red many times. These call center taxi drivers keep honking till i move, which i don't until green. Some get down and knock or hit the door and abuse with everything, one or two really go beyond tolerable limit. In such cases i wait for the green, give a generous spray on his face and just proceed. It is not right on my part, but such in-disciplined ones should be taught a lesson. Cops in Chennai normally focus in clearing congestion and they don't listen if we go to them. More over if there's political party flag post on the crash bar (which even autos have), no matter how right you are, you cannot win/ prove you are not at fault. Then the opponent gets more aggressive and goes physical. I've had couple of bad experiences.

[centaur]

Just posted my experience in Pune here. Unfortunately these rowdies are all over.

Originally Posted by Living2Drive

the opponent gets more aggressive and goes physical. I've had couple of bad experiences.

Ditto. I have had one such experience last year when I too faced the brunt of a local for no fault of mine but being the typical office goer middle class, did not go in for a police complaint and stuff.

Unfortunately I was a victim of the law as well to a certain extend where in the vehicle in front reversed at the signal with other vehicles behind it and hit my vehicle but if you actually see it, it was still a rear impact and as per law I was at fault, though in reality that wasnt the case.

The cops at the junction realized this and helped to some extent and the other party was trying to throw around attitude on them too. The cops finally asked me to go after giving my address and phone number just incase the other party decides to file a police complaint. The other party even warned me that they will surely nab me in the evening and show me the strength of localities

[turbodude]

Hardly a month has passed and today I faced another road rage. Only difference is that I was on 2 wheeler and rowdies were in four wheeler.

I was coming from Pune via grade separator highway and stopped at Chinchwad station signal to turn left. This is my regular road and after crossing over the railway flyover, I drive straight to main bus stand of Chinchwad.

When I had stopped at signal, a brand new Red Polo was continuously honking hence asked him to go by left side (there was enough space) and I turned my scooter slightly right to give him way. Unfortunately there were a lot of vehicles which were going wrong way from Chinchwad signal to Premier mall and hence he could not pass so he honked honked and honked.

After the signal turned green, I turned left. He was behind and continuously honked and then stopped his car in front of me and started hurling abuses.

Our actual conversation was as below:
Rowdy: Ae tuzya bapacha rasta aahe ka re !!! (Is this your father's road?)
Myself: Arre me jaga dilee hotee jaayla (I had given you road to pass)
Rowdy: Ae jast shahana zala ka tu !@#$ (Are you trying to be smart & some abuses)
Myself: Arre hya doghani pan pahila na me jaga dilee te, Red signal cross karun kasa jau me(See your 2 friends also saw I gave you way, I cannot cross red signal)

Then he came out of car and pushed my helmet. My 6 year old son was with me and watching all this. He was also wearing a helmet. Surprisingly he didn't cry. By that time a bus stopped behind that Red polo and started honking. People gathered and so that rowdy finally sat in his car and went away, only to get in line of vehicles at next signal.

That red polo was brand new and had MH 14 TC sticker (no standard number plate). He again crossed me by near Darshan Hall (on PCMC link road) but I ignored him because I always try to avoid conflicts and road rage.

This is my 2nd incident at chinchwad signal where people think that turning left is always without signal so all fellow bhpians please beware of rowdies at chinchwad signal (above railway station). Pune is full of such rowdies.

[Majumdarda]

Originally Posted by turbodude

..

Shocked to hear such an incident and that too from Pune. Guessing by the verbiage I wonder which category of individuals they are and how come a Polo was being driven by them. Off late, I have observed many heroes on road with thick gold chains around necks as if it's a dog's leash and who has little idea about talking or anything. And if a situation ever crops up, the available constables are of no use. I wonder which way we are heading. Abiding to traffic law is everybody's responsibilities but these so called localiltes are above these laws and basically a pain to deal with. Anytime any interaction with these idiots, is bound to be useless with a risk to ones life and resources.

[mathuranuj]

Wow! This is very scary but with a happy ending. Good on the police's and ACP's part to nab the culprits so quickly and bring them to justice. I would also appreciate your efforts in teaching these vandals a lesson. Hope our streets are saved from such people.

A similar incident happened to me in Noida when a motorcyclist banged against my stationary car. I was parked at the side, but this guy came from behind and banged in my car. Naturally, I got out to see the damage and he started to abuse me and accusing me to stopping the car. I dialed 100 and engaged him in talks and damage calculations till the time the cops came. Pretty soon a PCR came to my location and seeing the situation immediately understood what had happened. The biker started to accuse me of stopping the car suddenly. But the policeman gave a slap like I have not seen before. The slap was so hard that he took 2 steps back and fell over. The policeman then narrated what had actually happened and told him not to give false statements.

Turns out, after receiving the slap, that guy started to speak the truth and pleaded not to press charges. He told that he was a collection agent and had a wife & kids to look after. The damage to my car was not too noticeable and seeing that he had received his punishment, I requested the policeman to let him go. I then thanked the police for their prompt help.