SCARY - Lunatic Meru driver??

cnaganathan · 22nd October 2008, 15:00

Arrived at BIAL on Monday morning with 3 of my colleagues. Since all of us were heading to the same facility of ours in Koramangala, we decided to ride the same cab and got into a Meru Cab. I was in the front and my 3 colleagues were in the rear seat. Just outside the airport after the 2nd roundabout, the road was quite clear and the car was cruising at around 70 kmph. Suddenly the car slowed down to 50 and I noticed that the driver was shaking both his legs in a rapid manner. He would bring his knees together and then move them as far apart as possible - doing it as though he was sitting in his rocking chair in his garden.
After the bridge over NH, he accelerated but then decided to take a toffee. He took of his hands from the wheel, picked up one and started unwrapping it not bothering to look at the road. Now this was something unusual if the knee shake wasn't. A liitle later there was a slow moving truck in the middle lane and the other 2 were empty. But our friend decided to tag the truck for half a kilometer only to pull out suddenly without any warning - fortunately there was no other vehicle when he did that.
The knee shake continued and every now and then he would also blink his eyes shut. His erratic behavior continued till he reached the ring road jn. since it was close to 9.45 AM there was considerable traffic and our friens was undecided on which way he would go. In the last minute ignoring all the honks, he pulled to the left and entered the ring road. The entire stretch of the ramp was empty except for a road roller ambling along at the far end. Now our fried aimed right at its rear and did not take his leg off the pedal. He did not show any sign of either braking or changing lanes till I asked him what he was upto. He braked harshly replied back that there were speding vehicles behind him and he was letting them pass - while there were none in sight for a full minute after he braked

.
By now all of us were jiitery, I had my heart almost at my throat. We asked him to pull over - our intent was to get out of the car and complain. We did not want to risk doing it sitting inside the car lest this character loses c ontrol totally. We managed to force him to pullover at Hennur junction under the pretext of looking for a restaurent for breakfast. He drove us to somewhere near the Jal Vayu Vihar in HRBR layout and let us off.
Before we got off, I took down his name and Driver ID and made it a point to lodge a complaint with Meru Customer Care. I am not giving the name and the ID of this driver here as I do not want Meru or its lawyers coming after me. But if any of you want to have the details to avoid his services, PM me.

hemanthisgreat · 22nd October 2008, 15:09

That was indeed very scary. I am surprised you did not ask him to pull over much before.

amitoj · 22nd October 2008, 16:21

Scary indeed but on a lighter note..

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

he accelerated but then decided to take a toffee. ....
But our friend decided to tag the truck for half a kilometer only to pull out suddenly without any warning - fortunately there was no other vehicle when he did that.
....
He braked harshly replied back that there were speding vehicles behind him and he was letting them pass - while there were none in sight for a full minute after he braked

Wonder what sort of toffee it was!!

svsantosh · 22nd October 2008, 16:27

very clear he was on grass!!! pity a few souls who drive more than 18-20 hours a day to make a living, but also damn scary to be driven in one!!

mobike008 · 22nd October 2008, 16:38

Most of these drivers they develop this weirdness due to long hours of driving in addition to maintaining strict timings et. all. Your driver may either have not come out of his last night drinks or was indeed on grass.

Whatever it is, he should not be driving people around, he is putting his life and other's life at great risk.

On a lighter note, your description did make me smile though

Tejas@perioimpl · 22nd October 2008, 16:56

DUH!

This is a classic case of the driver being diabetic. His blood sugar went low and that caused him to get the shivers. Shivers are more pronounced in load bearing joints (in this case the legs because of clutch and brake).
Eating of toffee just stabilized the sugar levels and he started driving properly.
Low blood sugar, will also make the patient feel cold and thus his movements to increase body heat.
As sugar levels go lower, he would have passed out in a couple of hours.
Toffee saved your day and was good thinking of the driver to carry them. His doctor must have advised him to do.
May be he was on a long shift and since not close to his dose of insulin, avoided eating for a long time causing his sugar level to drop or he took his insulin and didn't eat properly.
Lack of sugar does affect reflex and therefore his weird braking habits.
As soon as the sugar kicks in, he speeds up!
There's nothing wrong with the poor chap, he's just doing his job. He should just be more careful.

greenhorn · 22nd October 2008, 17:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by amitoj

Wonder what sort of toffee it was!!

Chlormint probably ....... Dobara Mat Poochna

muke31 · 22nd October 2008, 17:19

Hi,
I wanted to share similar experience with Meru while coming back from BIAL,The driver seems to be shaking his head left and right very often and blinking his eyes much more than normal human does.

looks like it is because these guys are getting strange habits due to long / odd working hours.

Even this driver got the habit of Gutka and it smelled bad with AC. Meru should audit the drivers of such habits and also check their health, it pose serious threat to passenger.

-MUKE

Lukeskywalker · 22nd October 2008, 17:22

Quote:

pity a few souls who drive more than 18-20 hours a day to make a living

Quote:

Most of these drivers they develop this weirdness due to long hours of driving in addition to maintaining strict timings et. all.

According to a few Meru and Easycab drivers I've spoken to, they hardly have enough trips to make a living, so no question of them driving for extended durations unlike our BPO cabs Brethren. The airport taxis which numbered around 900 when the airport opened are far higher than the passenger traffic which actually hire them.

IMHO, Tejas's explanation seems far more likely than any other reason.

safari_lover · 22nd October 2008, 17:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

DUH!

This is a classic case of the driver being diabetic. His blood sugar went low and that caused him to get the shivers. Shivers are more pronounced in load bearing joints (in this case the legs because of clutch and brake).
Eating of toffee just stabilized the sugar levels and he started driving properly.
Low blood sugar, will also make the patient feel cold and thus his movements to increase body heat.
As sugar levels go lower, he would have passed out in a couple of hours.
Toffee saved your day and was good thinking of the driver to carry them. His doctor must have advised him to do.
May be he was on a long shift and since not close to his dose of insulin, avoided eating for a long time causing his sugar level to drop or he took his insulin and didn't eat properly.
Lack of sugar does affect reflex and therefore his weird braking habits.
As soon as the sugar kicks in, he speeds up!
There's nothing wrong with the poor chap, he's just doing his job. He should just be more careful.

If that indeed is the case then I pity the poor guy. But he got to be more careful nonetheless.

thirst4torque · 23rd October 2008, 00:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

Suddenly the car slowed down to 50 and I noticed that the driver was shaking both his legs in a rapid manner. He would bring his knees together and then move them as far apart as possible - doing it as though he was sitting in his rocking chair in his garden.

The knee shake continued and every now and then he would also blink his eyes shut. His erratic behavior continued till he reached the ring road jn.

He braked harshly replied back that there were speding vehicles behind him and he was letting them pass - while there were none in sight for a full minute after he braked

Quote:

Originally Posted by svsantosh

very clear he was on grass!!! pity a few souls who drive more than 18-20 hours a day to make a living, but also damn scary to be driven in one!!

100% on grass!have also met a few auto drivers freaking out in a similar manner.

Sowmya · 23rd October 2008, 00:05

This is basically our own mistake. What cnaganathan has done that we should actually follow. When ever you are a passenger of a cab you should ask them to drive sensibly. Ultimately you are into car and if any thing happen you will be in soup. We all are just putting our life into risk. I have seen people in Bangalore they just enjoy the drive or will be in hurry to reach the destination. they will not bother to warn the driver. This rash driving may effect you or your family indirectly.
Once my wife asked her Cab driver to drive safely. 2 Days he was fine but next day again he started rash driving. She maid a complain to her office. Within 2 days his cab was fired...

Quote:

Originally Posted by thirst4torque

100% on grass!have also met a few auto drivers freaking out in a similar manner.

To avoid police they have started this grass. No smell no detector !!!

cnaganathan · 23rd October 2008, 15:58

greenhorn, It was some sort of a mint toffee - from the type of packaging and the smell when he opened it.

My complaint to Meru was more a note of caution. I told the lady that they should check if the driver was fit enough to drive the cab. I did not want to get him into trouble of any sorts - normally I come down heavily on such behavior but in his case I thought there must be a health angle to it too.

reignofchaos · 23rd October 2008, 16:30

The guy was diabetic as someone else pointed out and his sugar levels reached real low causing him to act weird. Being in a family of diabetics, this wasn't hard to figure out. Poor guy I guess he didn't take his medicines or insulin.

amitoj · 23rd October 2008, 16:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by cnaganathan

He braked harshly replied back that there were speding vehicles behind him and he was letting them pass - while there were none in sight for a full minute after he braked

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tejas@perioimpl

This is a classic case of the driver being diabetic.

Do diabetics suffer from such hallucinations of speeding vehicles also? I am asking simply because i dont have much information about diabetics.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenhorn

Chlormint probably ....... Dobara Mat Poochna

that had me in splits!!

22nd October 2008, 15:00	#1
cnaganathan BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Chennai Posts: 281 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	SCARY - Lunatic Meru driver?? Arrived at BIAL on Monday morning with 3 of my colleagues. Since all of us were heading to the same facility of ours in Koramangala, we decided to ride the same cab and got into a Meru Cab. I was in the front and my 3 colleagues were in the rear seat. Just outside the airport after the 2nd roundabout, the road was quite clear and the car was cruising at around 70 kmph. Suddenly the car slowed down to 50 and I noticed that the driver was shaking both his legs in a rapid manner. He would bring his knees together and then move them as far apart as possible - doing it as though he was sitting in his rocking chair in his garden. After the bridge over NH, he accelerated but then decided to take a toffee. He took of his hands from the wheel, picked up one and started unwrapping it not bothering to look at the road. Now this was something unusual if the knee shake wasn't. A liitle later there was a slow moving truck in the middle lane and the other 2 were empty. But our friend decided to tag the truck for half a kilometer only to pull out suddenly without any warning - fortunately there was no other vehicle when he did that. The knee shake continued and every now and then he would also blink his eyes shut. His erratic behavior continued till he reached the ring road jn. since it was close to 9.45 AM there was considerable traffic and our friens was undecided on which way he would go. In the last minute ignoring all the honks, he pulled to the left and entered the ring road. The entire stretch of the ramp was empty except for a road roller ambling along at the far end. Now our fried aimed right at its rear and did not take his leg off the pedal. He did not show any sign of either braking or changing lanes till I asked him what he was upto. He braked harshly replied back that there were speding vehicles behind him and he was letting them pass - while there were none in sight for a full minute after he braked. By now all of us were jiitery, I had my heart almost at my throat. We asked him to pull over - our intent was to get out of the car and complain. We did not want to risk doing it sitting inside the car lest this character loses c ontrol totally. We managed to force him to pullover at Hennur junction under the pretext of looking for a restaurent for breakfast. He drove us to somewhere near the Jal Vayu Vihar in HRBR layout and let us off. Before we got off, I took down his name and Driver ID and made it a point to lodge a complaint with Meru Customer Care. I am not giving the name and the ID of this driver here as I do not want Meru or its lawyers coming after me. But if any of you want to have the details to avoid his services, PM me.
	() Thanks

22nd October 2008, 15:09	#2
hemanthisgreat BHPian Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 594 Thanked: 50 Times View My Garage	That was indeed very scary. I am surprised you did not ask him to pull over much before.
	() Thanks

22nd October 2008, 16:27	#4
svsantosh Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Dubai Posts: 3,990 Thanked: 6,175 Times View My Garage	very clear he was on grass!!! pity a few souls who drive more than 18-20 hours a day to make a living, but also damn scary to be driven in one!!
	() Thanks

22nd October 2008, 16:38	#5
mobike008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 11,695 Thanked: 14,783 Times View My Garage	Most of these drivers they develop this weirdness due to long hours of driving in addition to maintaining strict timings et. all. Your driver may either have not come out of his last night drinks or was indeed on grass. Whatever it is, he should not be driving people around, he is putting his life and other's life at great risk. On a lighter note, your description did make me smile though
	() Thanks

22nd October 2008, 16:56	#6
Tejas@perioimpl Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Bombay Posts: 4,423 Thanked: 9,581 Times View My Garage	DUH! This is a classic case of the driver being diabetic. His blood sugar went low and that caused him to get the shivers. Shivers are more pronounced in load bearing joints (in this case the legs because of clutch and brake). Eating of toffee just stabilized the sugar levels and he started driving properly. Low blood sugar, will also make the patient feel cold and thus his movements to increase body heat. As sugar levels go lower, he would have passed out in a couple of hours. Toffee saved your day and was good thinking of the driver to carry them. His doctor must have advised him to do. May be he was on a long shift and since not close to his dose of insulin, avoided eating for a long time causing his sugar level to drop or he took his insulin and didn't eat properly. Lack of sugar does affect reflex and therefore his weird braking habits. As soon as the sugar kicks in, he speeds up! There's nothing wrong with the poor chap, he's just doing his job. He should just be more careful. Last edited by Tejas@perioimpl : 22nd October 2008 at 17:08.
	() Thanks

22nd October 2008, 17:19	#8
muke31 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 191 Thanked: 21 Times	Hi, I wanted to share similar experience with Meru while coming back from BIAL,The driver seems to be shaking his head left and right very often and blinking his eyes much more than normal human does. looks like it is because these guys are getting strange habits due to long / odd working hours. Even this driver got the habit of Gutka and it smelled bad with AC. Meru should audit the drivers of such habits and also check their health, it pose serious threat to passenger. -MUKE
	() Thanks

23rd October 2008, 15:58	#13
cnaganathan BHPian Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Chennai Posts: 281 Thanked: 48 Times View My Garage	greenhorn, It was some sort of a mint toffee - from the type of packaging and the smell when he opened it. My complaint to Meru was more a note of caution. I told the lady that they should check if the driver was fit enough to drive the cab. I did not want to get him into trouble of any sorts - normally I come down heavily on such behavior but in his case I thought there must be a health angle to it too.
	() Thanks

23rd October 2008, 16:30	#14
reignofchaos Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,542 Thanked: 2,450 Times View My Garage	The guy was diabetic as someone else pointed out and his sugar levels reached real low causing him to act weird. Being in a family of diabetics, this wasn't hard to figure out. Poor guy I guess he didn't take his medicines or insulin.
	() Thanks