[anurag_p80]

Originally Posted by RedMM340

I recently read in the newspaper that the Indian Supreme Court ruled that the larger vehicle always is guilty in an accident.

This thought is scary. Think about this scenario- the one way street is marked at both ends but not on a minor road turning into the one-way street (hypothetical)--whose fault is it if there is an accident? And by the letter of the law, iceman was probably speeding (what's the speed limit on that street? 20? 30?). All laws are equal- so whether you break a speed limit, or go the wrong way on a one way street you are guilty of breaking the law. Having said that, I don't think that our judiciary can be so asinine as to say larger vehicles is always guilty-that is attributing guilt before the fact, and our constitution provides for "presumed innocent until proven guilty". Guess it might not be followed in spirit, but certainly has to be followed in letter. Does anyone have more information on this?

RedMM340, I sympathise with your frustrations as a concerned citizen of a country where there is a lot of scope for improvement (understatement). However, IMO, the 'minority community' joke was in poor taste. It just does nothing positive for anyone, and is not at all relevant to the topic at hand.

[eclectix 1st]

Good on You! Iceman for keeping your cool & driving sensibly.

For a lot of people, Going on the wrong side (W/O headlights in the night) is their birth right.

On Kamaraj road, going towards frazer town is a nightmare. Looks like all the infidels in the world live there or travel there. I've lost count of how many lives I've saved (or would've killed). You'll always have idiots coming from all the by lanes into the main road & travelling in the wrong direction.

Another road I have to encounter has been Kammanahalli Main Rd, I'm just waiting for the authorities to put a divider.

[rkavthekar]

Originally Posted by rks

I second you on that. Actually my blood pressure starts to rise every day on my drive to the office from Kondhwa to Hadapsar, getting blocked by hordes of two-wheelers crawling at 30 kmph. So I adopt a fairly intimidatory style of driving, making quick overtakes and inching ever closer to the two-wheeler guys to make them give way. I have taken abuse from these guys on more than one occasion, but now I have become fairly thick-skinned.
This is very high on my list of annoying two-wheeler habits. You turn on the indicator, and find a two-wheeler guy trying to beat you to the turn. A cardinal sin, of going to the same side of a vehicle that has indicated its intention to turn into. This is especially true when taking a U-turn into a gap in the divider. You give right indicator, get into the gap, and your attention is to your left to look out for oncoming vehicles. If there are no vehicles, your inclination is to accelerate into the U-turn to get to the other side of the divider. At this juncture, you are rudely shocked by a two-wheeler moron who gets in your way, trying to squeeze to your right into the divider and beat you to the U-turn. Actually I don't mind if these guys show some judgement and pull off the turn quickly so that I don't have to brake. But no chance of that happening.

I use to boil my blood when I owned my new Indica back in 2003. The first scratch on the car was the scar on my heart. But I learnt the art of Nirvana while driving on Pune roads. Earlier I used to get in to lot of road fights with non-sense people, but over the period, I just have learnt to be a cautious driver. I do try to avoid crowded roads, even at the cost of more fuel. Sometimes I am at loss of words when I see senior citizens on two wheelers jumping red signal. Few years back, this phenomenon was attributable to only young collegians....

takecare and drive safely

[spadival]

Last sunday, on the way back to Pune, as I approached the Katraj bypass tunnel on NH4, I slowed down and was driving around 80kmph. Lucky for me (and the unknown individual), because a guy on a bike with his wife was quietly taking a U turn, I repeat, A U TURN ON A 3 lane highway on the wrong side. . In taking the He traversed from the left most lane to the right most lane .. And there I was on the right most lane, trying hard not to hit him. All this happened near the entrance to the tunnel !!

No wonder Ratan Tata got so frustrated and decided to make the Nano !!

[Technocrat]

Guys this seems to be turning out as bashing thread for two wheeler riders.

I will tell my experience. On my way to Goa on the six lane highway, I am cruising at 100 & I see an object around a Km away straight in my path i.e. on the rightmost lane. I observe that distance is actually getting shorter, Its am Amby. First he is on wrong lane then he is on wrong side, even he had to be on wrong side why didnt he take the left most lane? beats me !!!

@spadival; Have experience what you did on banglore bypass near chandini chowk, the worst part was that it was pitch dark & the guy's bike had no lights, my gut feeling saved me & my cousin that night, we were on bike & at around 100.

[amitoj]

Amit, glad to know the damage was limited to a few anxious moments only.

Today morning a white swift jumped right in front of me from a small lane, with a kid in school uniform on the front passenger seat (i have serious doubt the kid was buckled up). If i had not stood on the brakes it would have t-boned me. Thank god for the Yoko S drives too.

Near misses are routine fair.

[iceman91]

Originally Posted by eclectix 1st

Good on You! Iceman for keeping your cool & driving sensibly.

For a lot of people, Going on the wrong side (W/O headlights in the night) is their birth right.

On Kamaraj road, going towards frazer town is a nightmare. Looks like all the infidels in the world live there or travel there. I've lost count of how many lives I've saved (or would've killed). You'll always have idiots coming from all the by lanes into the main road & travelling in the wrong direction.

Lets not even go there..My near misses there are numerous. One even led to me cutting my wheel and tire ove stones strewn across the road. Luckily did not end up in some of those houses lining the street.

[ph03n!x]

It is not about cars ot two wheelers, but riders / drivers driving as if theirs is the ONLY vehicle on the roads. Am sure if each one of the road-dwellers ride / drive with a bit of consideration that there are others too out there, driving, then our roads will be a better place...

[iceman91]

Totally second you on that phoenix.

[Bigzero]

I have had far too many scratches on my rear bumper from Bikers failing to stop in tme mostly at red lights. Most of them however apologized, so things never got nasty.

I usually try to give decent gap between my car and the vehicle in front our at lights as well as on the move. But more often than not, you have enterprising scooterists squeezing into the gap provided, not one of them but 3-4 of them sometimes. And many of them pass far too close to your front fender for comfort.

I used to worry and fret a lot during my initial years of driving, but nowadays I have adopted a fairly defensive approach and decided that I am not going to add to the confusion by pushing and nudging and bullying. I end up getting to the destination 5-10 min late, but no complaints.

And as you gain experience, you mostly know what to expect from the traffic in front of you and behind you.

Even with all this, it is impossible to avoid the odd nick in Hyderabad. People dont have any concept for right of way - In most cases they want to race past you ( most of them accelerate ) even when you are half way into your turn. And forget about people stopping while getting into main roads from side roads.

Anothe major problem I observe is that most drivers just dont know how to stay on to one's lane while taking a turn into a side road.( or from one ). Quite often they block the turn and create a jam at all sides. My apartment is right next to such a junction and I see this happening all the time.

[Rehaan]

Iceman,

I can't tell you how many times i have practised self-restraint on the road late at night - only to turn the corner and think **THANK GOD!!!**

When i was learning driving i was told the line from the Gumball move - "The first rule of Italian driving, whats behind you is not important".

But thats Italian driving. The first rule of Indian driving is - drive only as fast as you can see the road ahead.

cya
R

ps - also remember, there are no one-ways in India.

[VJ_MAVRICK]

In my opinion most of the folks in their 4 wheelers should get their DL's changed to Indian Steering License and autowallah's and 2 wheeler riders who zoom in vaguely and haphazardly in the driving lines should be given Indian Handle Bar License.Phew! these guys dont bother about other vehicles and put other lives @ stake.

This happened many a time in particular the 2 wheeler guys cut across you from the left and come directly into your driving line obliquely without any indication . Wish i could thrash such morons

[madan80]

just yesterday- i was waiting outside the shop for my wife to bring some stuff- i noticed two kids ona scooty. without warning/ indication nothing- they just took a "U" turn. I was SHOCKEd. there was a car coming and that guy slammed his brakes- and stopped just as they passed him.
He just changed gear and drove off- because it was to girls on a scooty- no helmet nothing.
Wonder what would have happend if he was NOT able to stop on time! :(

[aaggoswami]

Just what happened today at 9:20 pm.
Today is my mom's birthday. So decided to celebrate with family. We went to a resturant called " Ony Parathas " on Jetelpur road in Vadodara.
While returning near Race Cource circle, we were to go straight. A man drivnig Maruti 800 with family came out of left side. We continued on using the left of the road as we were slow.

As we neared that car, we slowed down, and that man also slowed down and came to left of the raod. My dad could easily see from his car's rear window that he had his head out of the window as was looking back and it seemed he was trying to glance wheather someone of his frined is following him or not.
My dad was sitting on the co-driver's seat and I was driving.

In the process, I went to litte left and now our Maruti 800's left side wheels were not on the road. But then he somehow managed to scrap his front left portion with our right rear portion of our car.


He never showed any indicators and suddenly started coming in the left lane. I did all my best to avoid him, but could not do so.
So in the end a person who doesnt even know what is indicators can see through his window only after taking his head out of the car. Why not use ORVM, and this road has excellent streetlights, so he can identify if his friend/relative is following him or not.

Our Maruti 800's rear bumper is now making wierd noise and the rear right door has a scratch.

[jassi]

Its getting absolutely crazy in bangy, the more I try to drive calmly the more moronic the bikers (sometimes cars/cabs) tend to get. So I was headed on old airport road (from trinity circle towards old airport) and just after I pass the turn which takes towards ulsoor, I see this idiot biker boxed behind a slow sumo cab which I am overtaking. The biker seemed like a stable man (not some college kid) and he suddenly decides to pull a overtaking move from hell. Its amazing how these jokers feel they can get into gaps and the legitimate right side overtaking vehicle will slow down for them. Infact I didn't even see him suddenly spring from the left, given that I was already 1/4th past the sumo. So he hits my front left alloy and peels some paint of the bumper and causes a deep scratch/cut in one spoke on my alloy I almost went over him cause it seems his foot rest got stuck in the alloy spokes. I was shocked and by now this guy had recovered and was pulling to the left to stop and argue. I felt like stopping and checking if he is ok and giving him a piece of my mind, but was getting late for a dentist appointment so went on. Have been feeling scared of these left side gap finding maniacs ever since because of the what-if-i-couldn't-save-him factor.
I used to have a simple principle, if someone overtakes from the right, give them way, if someone is trying a stunt on the left, not my problem. I don't think thats possible these days, if you value lives of these morons around you