[appuchan]

Originally Posted by condor

... than that of a biker who cuts from extreme left to extreme right expecting his puny almost-invisible-in-the-day indicator flashes to give him complete right-of-way for his ant-brained manouvre.

To be frank, even I have similar regard for bikers, especially in Bangalore. I hope guys in other cities know that Bangalore has about 2 million 2-wheelers plying in its roads ( the highest, if not in the world). And out of this, atleast 75% are in the roads on any given day. So you can easily imagine the chaos.

I always used to think of them as mosquitos, as in look (most of them puny 100cc bikes or mopeds), attitude(persistent, teaming, noisy and bites) and abundance(alongwith stray dogs), they relate quite well

PS. No offence meant for bikers here.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by appuchan

So I dont think its a good idea to use same signal for different conflicting purpose. And we have no way to know whats in the mind of those truckers.

If there is an approaching junction or simply a right turn, common sense should tell you that he is going to turn. if there is none & you are in the open highway, the same common sense will let you know that you can overtake. If your friend had seen the approaching right turn, he would not have been in that position.

[appuchan]

EL, as I said it was an open highway between Bangalore and Mysore, there are many gaps in the road-median on the way. The truck, with a HR registration, was fully laden and he apparently turned right to take a U turn through one of them as he missed some earlier turns. There was no junction or even a village anywhere near. I have been to the spot and I could easily see what happened.

And let me tell you, its simply not possible to assess the full situation, read truckers mind and take decision, when there is absolutely no hint that such things wil happen.

[esteem_lover]

Did your friend use the horn aggressively ????

[appuchan]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Did your friend use the horn aggressively ????

He did, he is not like me

But it was too late as he was already half way through the length of the truck. Since he is a very sedate driver - he never goes above 80 - he could save his life. After the accident, the truck axle and related paraphernalia crashing through the windshield, was right in front of his head, just a few cms away and he was drenched in diesel ! Just imagine if it had caught fire

[esteem_lover]

Dont really want to think about it, thank god he is safe & well. Goes to show that you just cant trust anyone on the road. Drive safe & not necessarily quiet.

[diwa]

The Truckers usually give 3 to 4 blinks and turn the indicator off as a signal for you to overtake and when turning right it will be continous blinks till they complete the turn. So just wait for a few secs observe before overtaking.

But there are even eratic people out there on highways. Once was getting back from Pondy to Chennai on ECR. There was this Tavera ahead of me and another car in front of him. It was late in the evening around 7 PM and I flashed my headlight and honked twice to let him know that am going to overtake him. This guy puts his right indicator and there was no road to the right for him to turn and I thought he was letting me pass by and suddenly he svered to the right and started overtaking the other vechile in front. He would have nearly hit me and I have to take evasive action by braking and moving to the right so that not get hit.

I just caught up with him at a Highway restaurent a few Kms away and questioned him about this. He simply said that "The right indicator was used for me to know that he was going to overtake". He is new driver for the tourist company and have been only driving in the city.

[mclaren1885]

Well , at times we use the hazard lights too on highway runs .. We use it to indicate danger ahead , like police barricades , uprooted trees , stationary vehicles , huge potholes etc .. Specially at night .. A protocol we bangy Bhpian's use all the time .. This helps the person behind to be aware of the danger ahead ..

[shyamhegde]

Today I was at Indiranagar (Bangalore) and had parked my car near 100ft road traffic signal on CMH Road. Here I saw a BLIND girl coming from some cross road and crossing CMH Road. She was pretty accurate with her walking stick while walking on the footpath, avoiding a tree there and getting down the footpath. She chose a time to start crossing when there were no vehicles on the road but when she had crossed 1/4 of the road, suddenly the traffic started. She was crossing the road slowly, and finally managed to cross the road. But while she was in middle of the road I saw most of the drivers never bothered (of anything) and passed by her honking, zooming past and she was not able to make out which side of her the bike/cars were passing. I was touched by her courage to cross the road (where probably I can't even think of closing my eye for a moment while crossing road) but sad on drivers who were showing the worst of road manners. She was found worried a bit only when a Bajaj pulsar guy went blowing a pair of extra fitted horns on full stream right infront of her almost touching her walking stick. Otherwise she treated everything else as if it is an everyday task for her (I guess that is true too).
In our cities 2wheeler and 4wheelers (including buses and heavy vehicles) never give any respect to lives of those who are walking. Pedestrians are treated af 'if you want, you save your life, i'm gonna drive ...'

[Godfather]

Originally Posted by vid6639

Condor, for you godfather and all truck owners I doubt this happens as the 2 wheelers must be fearing for life seeing the trucks on their side.

Yep..I dont face such issues..

Originally Posted by theMAG

start a new thread if you like abt techniques you use to mow down those "pesky" bikes, ricks and anything under 1 ton. We'll benefit from it

Nothing.. Just ingore them... when they try stunts like trying to overtake from left and cut to right.. accelerate a little... and cut him off instead..
In either case you will hear the following
1. Screeeeeecccchhhhhh -- aaahhh he braked
2. Thud -- he hit the truck.. (solution -- back into him again and finish the job)
3. Scream-- This is result of solution 2.. Then you get down..and scream at them... threaten to take them to the police station(90% dont want this) ..ask for damage money to the truck. which will be minimal..Go to Tavern.. Call for a miniTBHP meet.. have a couple of drinks..and go home

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

Well , at times we use the hazard lights too on highway runs .. A protocol we bangy Bhpian's use all the time .. This helps the person behind to be aware of the danger ahead ..

Yep.. I use this all the time...

Godfather

[condor]

Originally Posted by appuchan

I always used to think of them as mosquitos ...

That's the right word. And they'll do 10 kmph even with a mile of free road in front of them.

Originally Posted by diwa

The Truckers usually give 3 to 4 blinks and turn the indicator off as a signal for you to overtake and when turning right it will be continous blinks till they complete the turn. So just wait for a few secs observe before overtaking.

I often feel the older method of using one's hand was better - one could indicate whether he is allowing an over-take or asking us to wait.

Originally Posted by Godfather

Yep..I dont face such issues..

Nothing.. Just ingore them... when they try stunts like trying to overtake from left and cut to right.. accelerate a little... and cut him off instead..
In either case you will hear the following
1. Screeeeeecccchhhhhh -- aaahhh he braked
2. Thud -- he hit the truck.. (solution -- back into him again and finish the job)
3. Scream-- This is result of solution 2.. Then you get down..and scream at them... ..Go to Tavern.. Call for a miniTBHP meet.. have a couple of drinks..and go home

That, my friends, is the simple 3-step guide to easy driving in BLR city traffic.

[theMAG]

Its heart warming to know that the Bangalore lorry drivers above are on our side. Lets keep them happy by smashing a few blessed coconuts on their windshields- the only part that is susceptible on their lorries.

[Jaggu]

saw a red octi with scratches on fender, driven by ciggie in one hand and mobile on the other at egipura signal, thats what i call multi tasking

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

thats what i call multi tasking

Tell me that
Saw this last week, when our local road was getting tarred. There was a small gathering watching the whole proceedings and some seniors were diverting traffic, wielding sticks.

As I was carefully making my way through the crowd, I saw a Santro approaching at good speed, driven by a man with his head tilted to one side, speaking on his mobile. His one hand is hanging out of the window, holding a ciggie.

The elders were showing hands to stop the car, and the whole crowd was shouting the same. As I watched, nothing happend, he just drove through the freshly laid tar. No braking, no horn, I am sure he didn't know what is going around him. One man even tried to beat the car with the stick, but missed!!

Sure this guy got puncture-proof tyres now

[kvish]

Today I saw a lady in a two wheeler, speeding down the exit of a flyover, with one hand on accelarator (only front brakes in case of panic !!)...and on the other hand she was trying to text an sms message on a touchscreen phone, she could barely see the screen which made it even more interesting....She was hardly looking at the road....thought of yelling out...but what if I get back a 'mind your own bl***y business' back :-)

What has happened to the Junta?? Risking a life for an SMS??