[finneyp]

Night driving on City roads is very scary, after 9PM most of the signals are switched to yellow blinkers and all traffic rules are thrown by the way side, and though the roads look deserted and tempting to speed, better to drive moderatly & safely, expecting the unexpected!

[iceman91]

Originally Posted by rks

Naturally....
iceman, it seems you have not yet made the transition from Melbourne to Bangalore. Actually you should expect 4 on a scooter coming down the wrong way on the wrong side of the road if you are in Bangalore (or Pune, where I stay). Annoying habit that two-wheeler guys have, of taking turns on the wrong side of the road.

Its good I have not made the transition yet, hence the slow speed. If I was driving, how I used to rip the baleno before I left for Melbourne it would have been a different story.

Am glad I like to listen to music and enjoy the drive rather than test my car's potential everytime I sit in it.!

For me the main concern was how could someone be so irresponsible about his family. I agree people dont follow traffic rules, but in Bangalroe at night when there are crazy freaks on the road driving like its Track night!! one should be more careful

[sudev]

@Iceman91....think if that happened on way back after meeting friends and partying...

As other have said "Mera bharat mahan..bhartiya log aur bhi mahan..."

[Torqy]

[quote=Chevy_lover;896265.....stopped in the middle of the road, near the median, to attend a call on his mobile!!! [/quote]

Those are usually their last calls.
Wonder how the brain is switched off when the mobile is switched on.

[dadu]

Good that you got out of it Iceman, otherwise it could have turned ugly for both of you.

I always keep a special note of this while taking a turn since they always try to squeeze into the safe turning radius left out.

Instead of the dents I am more worried about them touching a 2 tonner(harming themselves) and then the unnecessary arguments.

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Just yesterday, driving my New Palio, I took a right. A two wheeler took a right as well after me. He wants to overtake me during the turn for an immediate left. . He looses control. Thankfully, I applied the brakes on time, else my new possession would have been Dented on the front right side.

[greenhorn]

some biker was following me on a narrow road , and at one point , decided to overtake. He gave a sudden blast of of his airhorn and suddenly disappeared from view of my rear view mirror. I had an impulse to swerve left to give way, but thankfully his sudden disappearance stopped me. Then suddenly I saw him overtaking me from the left. If I'd swerved left, He'd have gone under for sure. Sometimes people like this make me feel like creating a few nominations for the darwin awards

[rjstyles69]

Mate take it easy, this is India and above all Bangalore . Last sunday morning was on my way to Koshy's for breakfast and near Sankey lake an old man and his wife riding pillion comes out of nowhere on the right side of the road.

This happened exactly at the curve opp' the lake when you take the road towards Bashyam Circle.

I braked real hard and yes there was a screech. Scared the $hit out of the 2 people. I thanked my stars for not having rammed into them.Old takes the opportunity to hurl abuses at me.
I let my wifey do the talking with the expletives and learnt that with a lady around who knows the local language sometimes is a blessing in disguise .

[suren181]

iceman, just two things from my end:

1) Was the scooters headlight on?
2) Even if it was on, what if it was a kid crossing the street.

I somehow feel that we need to take more care especially while turing into a smaller street or so for if you don't know what lies ahead don't rush in.

Sorry but I do not mean to offend you, to let this pass if you think I am wrong.

[himanshugoswami]

I had a similar experiece today.... I had gone with my wife and kid at around 7PM to Kondapur. Those familiar with this part of Hyderabad would know that this erstwhile village, now turning into a bustling area has really pathetic traffic sense. I was standing at the red light waiting for it to turn gree so that I could join the main road. When my light turned green, I started to inch forward, to give way to those vehicles that crossed when their light had just turned red.....normally i giv ethe benefit of doubt to such people since they are in no mans land as the light has turned red as soon as they start to cross.

But, my light had been green for about 10 seconds, and these 2 two wheelers, one a scooter with a family and one a bike with 2 youngsters were also wanting to jump the red light. By now, I was halfway down the road , inching forward. This guy on the bike has to screech to a halt to avoid hitting my car, and started to yell at me. At that point, I was opening my door to get down and bash some sense into him, when he suddenly got scared and tried to take off, stalling his bike. Since my wife shouted at me to get back in the car, I did () and gunned the Safari towards this guys bike.....THAT scared the living daylights out of him to see that 2 ton monster accelerating towards his bike..... all this while the family on the scooter was looking in amazement and quietly slipped away.

what i dont understand is that why do people in India have to be told not to put their own lives in danger???? PATHETIC!

[iceman91]

Not at all.. Suren181.

Its just my epxerience alot of people might find me at fault too. There is nothign wrong in that.
Like dadu said lucky that nothing happened cos it would have turned ugly for both.

[rks]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Anyone from Pune would know the torture on the four wheel drivers from the Two Wheel drivers. It is HELL here.

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.

Just yesterday, driving my New Palio, I took a right. A two wheeler took a right as well after me. He wants to overtake me during the turn for an immediate left. .

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.

[aaggoswami]

I am not here to offend any car users. I drive Maruti 800 14-15 days a month and Baleno once in two months. My regular vehicle is two wheeler.

From my observations, I have noted that indisciplined road user come on all formats, ranging from casual road crossers to those driving heavy vehicles like trucks, buses.


Daily I encounter a lot of car drivers who wont move left when I want to overtake in 4 lane roads. They just wont move, so I have to Undertake them.
When a car joins a main roads, they dont have any consideration that a two wheeler on the main road is doing 50-55kmph.

The same applies to other two wheeler riders also and they are even more bad. Just go where ever there is a gap. Just get into that. These road users also trouble disciplined two wheeler riders.

Generally they change lanes and start showing indicators just one second before they shift.


P.S.: I am not offending any two wheeler rider /four wheeler driver. Its just my observation.

[vinit.merchant]

You are right. Indisciplined Drivers can be behind any wheels.

But the reason we see so many on two wheelers is because of the ease at which these can be bought.

[RedMM340]

Originally Posted by iceman91

Friday Night, sitting at home with family enjoying dinner. Keep getting harassed by friends who are out partying to join them.
Finally decide to leave and am driving to the club around 10.30. Not going fast averaging 50-60 in my Baleno. There is a left ahead followed by a quick right and the right is a one way, so I am going the right direction..get tempted to push the car through the turns quickly but refrain as my suspension is not upto the mark nor are my brakes. Continue at the cruising speed. Take the left no issues whatsoever.

As I take the right there is a guy on the scooter with his wife and two daughters coming down the one way on the centre of the road!! Brake the car..stop about an inch from the guys leg. I am scared out of my pants..a FAMILY!!!!! The Girl starts crying out of shock..I am furious I just keep yelling at him One way !One Way! he too is shocked to reply and just moves away...
I sit there for a minute calming my nerves...thinking about all the ifs.

I pray silently and continue..thinking what sense of responsibilty did the person have who takes his family's lives so lightly. If I was faster or did not brake in time, if the car did not stop..etc. etc. the list goes on.

Firstly its 4 on a scooter! then going down the wrong way on the center of the road at 10.30 in the night.

So here is the real kicker: If the idiot was speeding/drunk/stupid in his scooter in addition to going the wrong way, and there was a collision that results in all scooter borne passengers dead, you are at fault. (not that I want this to happen to anyone under any circumstance). You go to jail, and the media will have a shark-like feeding frenzy about a rich dude in a car that kills some poor family on a small scooter obviously due to rash , negligent driving and most likely over-speeding. The police would thrash you till you admit it, and the case is closed.

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

Of course if the scooter folks were of a 'minority community' you would probably get the death penalty.

Ah, the pleasures of driving in India!!!!!

[hrag]

Last evening in Bengaluru around 8 pm:

Driving from Mekhri Circle towards the Hebbal flyover. Traffic is crawling. The traffic signal at the intersection of Bellary Road and D Rajagopal Road has been switched off with policemen regulating the traffic.

The policeman signals us to halt and a blue Wagon R in front stops. A dark green Ford Ikon behind the Wagon R and in front of me goes straight into the Wagon R! Both of them come out of their cars and the cop asks them to park beyond the signal. We get the go-ahead and the Wagon R parks on the LHS for the cop. What does the Ikon guy do - he drives away as if nothing happened! Shame on you - KA 04 MC 369.