[ike]

Originally Posted by nithi

1. As per SP Radhakrishnan's direction, police investigated the case in Vikiravandi.

3. He ensures the presence of High way Police 24 / 7 on the High way.

I was on this route on Christmas eve, drove from Chennai to Thrissur overnight. The first cop I saw on the highway was on the Salem bypass, a good 350KM after I began my drive and then on the Coimbatore L&T bypass. The stretch from Vikkravandi to Salem is the most isolated and there was no cop in sight in that stretch and this is how it has always been. I'm a regular on this route and I have observed no effort to ramp the police presence in the past couple of years. If mugging incidents are on the rise, at least a part of it can be attributed to poor patrolling, both by the police and the NHAI.

[camitesh]

Originally Posted by drrajasaravanan

Hi,
Having said that if we are cornered in an open road by goons and your family is with you will u still take a chance in walking away or will you try driving aggressively to evade them and reach a safe zone.

It really depends on the specific situation and lot of variables therein. But instinctively first action would be try and evade the spot as fast as possible, even if it means damage to the goons. What the guy did in the video posted by Bone collector in previous page is an excellent demonstration of taking the escape route.

[Torque-ative]

Originally Posted by gasinveins

I can share a similar experience 10 kms before Vikravandi toll plaza en route to Chennai just before Diwali. A craze car flashing it's headlights behind me, But I wasn't able to give them way as there was bridge works going on and only lane was available. In the single lane the car in front applied brakes due to speed breaker so did I. The ciaz who was tailgating me closely slammed into my back.

I parked the vehicle aside and those guys raised the voice immediately threading us with murder and knocking car with a lorry and bla bla. I had a few scratches on my rear bumper but his bonnet and front bumpers got some bad dents. My friend who was with me couldn't bear it and paid the 1500 they were asking for even though it was not our mistake. All the five guys looked so rowdy'ish and we didn't have time to go for police station or so. They chased us again and after an hour they were waiting on side of road smoking and shouting. Their car had numerous scratches and dents and it looked like they are in business of robbing people. I took their license and number plate photos and proceeded towards Chennai.

Exact same thing happened to me in NH8 from Gurgaon to South Delhi at about 12 midnight. I was with family, and saw these two cars trying to box me in. The car in front had a wrecked rear end (Perhaps from pulling off this stunt with other unsuspecting motorists), They actually braked so hard that I barely saved my Scorpio (Then back in 2012) from ramming into the Elantra. I swerved to the right and sped off, and my next stop was the Police Checkpost in Panchsheel (I knew the neighborhood), seeing me stop at the police check post, they made a run for it............! Scariest motoring experience of my life. My wife and two young kids were in the car with me.

[sunsetorange]

Originally Posted by nithi

I got the following message from my friend, from Madurai today.

2. As per the first round of investigation, this is a false information (as per police) and such event never took place, no one was affected and also no one filed any complaint in the Vikiravandi Police Station.
3. He ensures the presence of High way Police 24 / 7 on the High way.

I was travelling from Pondicherry to Trichy on the night of 25th december and traversed the stretch from Villupuram to Trichy at about 10PM - 12:30 AM. I found 2 highway patrol vehicles ( easily identified by their flashing lights) on the entire stretch.

My brother uses a professional driver who said that the stretch between Vikravandi and Ulundurpet is one of the most dangerous stretches to drive between 12-3 AM. He was driving a family's Innova when he saw logs being rolled across the road and he hit one which resulted in a tyre blow out! Luckily, they were travelling as a convoy of 3 cars and the others stopped too. The highway patrol too stopped by when he was changing the tyre and stayed till he finished.

While on the topic of night driving, there were small boulders on the highway which could result in a serious crash/ toppling/ tyre blow out ! I hit one as I couldn't avoid it due to cars following me quite closely. I then slowed down near a tea shop to check the tyre and wheel. I noticed a tyre puncture shop doing brisk business next to the tea shop! Is this a new business tactic?

[Lowflyer23]

Originally Posted by hardilip

He came near my car asked me to lower the window when I put it a bit down. He was asking me to come down. I was asking why he didn't tell me anything. He was drunk I could sense him.

At least 2 - 3 minutes he was just asking me to come down / lower the window fully. In all the 2 - 3 minutes, his eyes were everywhere. I had my wallet on the seat next to me (as I filled in diesel), credit card was outside and my phone was also on the seat.

He wasn't raising his voice or saying anything other than asking me to come out. It was quite surprising for me. I was trying to remove my seat belt he then moved on to the pavement to wait for me thinking I am getting down, for a moment I thought why should I get down rather I drove the car (luckily I kept the car running). I didn't seem him following me but I stay close to phoenix mall so I reached home in another couple of minutes.

No offense man but lowering your window to a drunkard and even thinking of getting down and talking to him is one of the stupid things to do on our roads if not the most stupid. Again I would say no offense but lowering your window to someone unknown can invite any actions such as him putting a gun to your head and demanding your vehicle to spare your life.

All this apart, following are the rules we follow when driving on the highways:
1. Avoid long breaks as much as possible. These breaks make it easier for someone to track your progress and do what they want.
2. Avoid roadside breaks, stop at big pumps or family friendly dhabas only.
3. If someone is tailgating you for long, monitor them closely if it seems like a family or an innocent person then it's fine. Again most of us I guess would be able to determine if it's the thieves or some family by monitoring their driving behaviour.
4. If someone blocks your way like that idiot flashlight guy, my recommendation would be to floor it. That's what I would do, I value my family's and my Life certainly more than some thief. Even if someone who blocks your way gets killed, you can prove it in the court that what you did was a self defense procedure.

[Akash86M]

So, stopped at kamini dhabha, located between mathura-delhi. I was travelling with my wife, 2yr old girl and 70+ parents. As I parked the car, this creta which was parked farther in towards the wall was coming out of parking and kept on honking at me. I had just stepped out of my car and was assisting my dad to dis embark. I signalled him to wait but he kept on honking. I noticed he was on call and the guy sitting next to him was telling tos wait. Being a jerk, he stepped out of car and started asking me to move my car. After I told him (politely) 'can't you see there are elderly ppl getting out of car' he calmed down. Its moments like these that I wish I had one of those death race cars

[invincii]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

This incidence happened in Bangalore outskirts as per the details in the Tweet. Everyone must exercise caution. With so many thugs, driving with people also would not be safe.

These incidents somehow reminded me of the movie 'NH10'; Such deserted highways are perfect for miscreants to take the advantage of the travellers passing by.

Is it too much to ask for a well-integrated front and rear dashcam from the automobile manufacturers? I am sure there would be a lot of takers for such a valuable safety feature if it comes factory-fitted depending upon the variant/version of the model.

Even if one mainstream (in economy class) automotive company starts rolling dashcams as built-in with their models, a good trend would be followed by other manufacturers. A win-win situation for car owners, insurance companies and law authorities in India.

[narayans80]

The video doesn't look like Madras-Trichy highway at all and the last stretch beyond 3:xx is an RHD highway. Back in the late 80s and early 90s buses and trucks were sent in convoy between Villupuram and Thozhudur, but haven't seen it happening since 1995. I've personally driven this stretch multiple times at night, mostly 9 or 10 pm start from Trichy and never seen this. I've been doing Madras-Trichy and Madras-Madurai for the last 3 decades and change, and its always been too busy a highway for brazen mugging incidents.

There only an one off incident where 3 bikes were driving across the highway at 5 am, but this was more of a smartass riding than a mugging incident. I gunned past them and drove 120 for the next 15 kms. Never saw them again.

As a norm I never stop for refuelling or food even in familiar stops past 10 pm. Its always a non-stop run past that hour.

Originally Posted by hardilip

Similar instance near Villupuram where a group of people flashes high-power torch on cars in the areas on the highway (where drivers slow down) to take control of the car. There has been a video but not sure of its authenticity as police themself claim that no such incident had taken place.

The original video came with the location as as Jajpur, Odisha. The video you are referring to is a 2-lane highway, where the roads were empty enough to reverse at speed.

[giri1.8]

Lots of such stories are emerging post lockdown, thinking about having a pepper spray with me just in case things take a bad turn!

P.S : thumbnail for this in the "Hot Threads" seems to be two guys with protective gears, on premium bikes, can this be changed?

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by invincii

These incidents somehow reminded me of the movie 'NH10'; Such deserted highways are perfect for miscreants to take the advantage of the travellers passing by.

Is it too much to ask for a well-integrated front and rear dashcam from the automobile manufacturers? I am sure there would be a lot of takers for such a valuable safety feature if it comes factory-fitted depending upon the variant/version of the model.

Even if one mainstream (in economy class) automotive company starts rolling dashcams as built-in with their models, a good trend would be followed by other manufacturers. A win-win situation for car owners, insurance companies and law authorities in India.

Of the upcoming launch schedule, C5 aircross sells with integrated dash cam for front atleast in few countries, hopefully it is given in Indian model also. Few car manufacturers have started to give usb port on the rear view camera to easily connect dash cam.

https://youtu.be/CVTchvBpokg

That said for own safety people should invest in this accessory, if not company fitted they are not too expensive and easily available.