[diabloo]

Thats true - overtaking procedure must be completed as quickly as possible.

My point was, if the speed difference between your car and other vehicle is high, you don't have to downshift - you have to just time it.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

^^You are essentially spending a longer duration of time on the wrong side of the highway if you don't downshift. Its dangerous for you and oncoming traffic.

[Surprise]

This morning I was traveling behind couple of lorries followed by a milk van. All these were on the right lane of a divided road with median in between. Attempted to overtake the milk man from left, but came back to the right lane as the people in the bus stand were occupying half of the road on left lane.

Waiting for my chance to overtake, I was traveled behind the van with a decent distance in between. All the vehicles in front applied sudden brakes, with me too applied the brakes on noticing the scene.

There seems to be no effect for the first few inches movement on brake pedal & effect came only after this few inches initial movement. But that was too late & my front rear ended the horizontal bar at the rear of the van. Till the last moment it appeared as if the vehicle is going to stop, but my bad, it didn't.

I still doubt whether the van driver felt that someone rear ended (though very lightly).

I was completely upset & do not want to get down to see the damages. My mind ran through the possible damages- right head lights, right bumper, right fender, right bonnet,......

In next signal, I saw a black accord waiting on the left lane. I eagerly went pass squeezing in the gap past few auto's to park behind this car. Bit of relief as both my headlights worked and accord does not threaten me with some serious damages.

When I parked the car, the right fender was slightly bent & the gap between the fender and the bonnet was unusual. Temporarily got that fixed from a nearby shop.
----

Later I observed that play in the pedal was bit higher & it was not felt during normal circumstances, but during emergency braking, it showed up.

PS: Hope that driver is not a member here in our forum, else he wil start a thread " MY VAN GOT REAR ENDED BY A FOOL"

[Blur]

Originally Posted by sonirohit

When somebody tailgates & irritates me by honking/flashing HLs I normally do one of the two things.

a - Downshift to a lower gear, make sure that car can accelerate quickly for what I am going to do next. make sure the fellow is still tailgating. Hold my breath, hit the breaks for 1 (safe) or 2 (Risky) seconds - remember the 2 second rule for tailgating. Then quickly hit the gas and race away. This usually scares the living & dead s*** out of the tailgater.

b - don't give way till there is a cow/auto/other slow moving mass of matter on the right most lane, when I spot one - I give way and take a left. This works only if the fellow is not able to spot the auto/cattle/other traffic...

Option A is going to get you tailgated, my friend. I'm sure there are many on the Indian roads who would fail the 2-second exam miserably.

Option B is plain downright cruel. Someone else will have to pay with their life, for no fault of their own.

Originally Posted by finneyp

And if it is a two-way road, after you take the right you need to check for any oncoming vehicles too.

Don't you mean check for oncoming vehicles BEFORE swinging out into the right lane?

Originally Posted by diabloo

you have to just time it.

SPOT ON!

[joshguy]

These kinds of things are common in chennai.Where if YOU drive correctly you are looked as if you are from a alien planet.

I may be off topic but it is related to the dumb drivers..

Especially the call center cab drivers ,all they know if shift gears and honk when some object stops in front of them ,be it a lamp post a human,cop, or even a buffalo.

the problem is that nobody educates them how to drive and they think it is the way to drive.people for that word ROAD SENSE.

We as a team BHPians should atleast drive with sense what ever be the situation.

Ya i can hear what the CHENNAI BHPians are shouting "what to do with these senseless share auto buggers???"

Sorry you got to live with them

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by rippergeo

Now if I have to hear that the Palio 1.2 is faster on the highway than the diesel qualis....

At least I'm never gonna say that. I had a very similar experience like you had, between Palakkad and Thrissur one day, with a diesel Qualis. A non-turbo Indica with a spirited driver can be beaten with a 1.2, you have to keep her above 4.5K rpm that's all - it is not peppy in the lower rpms. I always tend to keep the engine revved up, because I learnt driving mostly on a '98 Zen diesel (with the very initial Bosch pump, those were recalled by Maruti later), and that habit is still with me.

Originally Posted by clevermax

A non-turbo Indica with a spirited driver can be beaten with a 1.2, you have to keep her above 4.5K rpm that's all

True. The 1.2 does pretty well for its weight and engine capacity at higher rpms.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by clevermax

A non-turbo Indica with a spirited driver can be beaten with a 1.2

Only the diesel, not the petrol.

[cpyder]

A sort of 'cruel' thread I guess. But highly important nonetheless. Started with horrific accident and finally ending up with how to overtake and how to deal with tailgaters.

And educative stuff. Just what I follow is, drive with my right wheel to the right of traffic in front. This does not expose me too much to the opposite lane, at the same time gives me just the sufficient visibility to keep an eye on oncoming traffic. Which is really handy to 'time' your overtake.

Since you are not too much out of your lane, just about a foot or so, it is easy to drop back into right place. Secondly, you are always in the RVM of the traffic in front. It is likely that he will let you pass on his own without you even needing to honk (usually works with long distance trucks. Cabs, buses and many personal cars usually make it a ego problem though.)

While in not so good mood i would probable turn towards option B of sonirohit, I agree with Blur on the point. No use making someone else pay for other's mistake. Dont worry, such drivers definitely find what they deserve - sometime in their life.

[shk_24]

I agree Cspyder on keeping slightly to the right to sense the road ahead. This is how it should work. But then world is full of bully cab drivers who quickly squeeze in to your left space the moment you shift slightly towards right And then if the situation does not warrant an overtake, you have slow down and let them pass as you cant go back to left lane

[aerohit]

99% of the cars on the roads are underpowered and drivers think that they can look cool by overtaking.

You do not look cool if it takes more than 5 seconds to pass another fast moving vehicle. You look like a loser.

[bond_bhai]

Overtaking is a huge thing on our highways. Everybody wants to drive at the speed of light, slow/rational drivers get irritating honks/high beam flashes from behind. If i encounter such fellows, i normally let them through rather have them behind me. By having them follow me i would be forced to drive faster and make stupid decisions. Better reach the destination litte bit later than not reaching at all.

[vrprabhu]

Originally Posted by bond_bhai

Overtaking is a huge thing on our highways. Everybody wants to drive at the speed of light, slow/rational drivers get irritating honks/high beam flashes from behind. If i encounter such fellows, i normally let them through rather have them behind me. By having them follow me i would be forced to drive faster and make stupid decisions. Better reach the destination litte bit later than not reaching at all.

Well said

Just did two back-to-back trips on the Mumbai-Pune express-way upto Panvel. The first one on a weekday and in day time. No problems - just a few demonic drivers showing off their driving! The second in heavy rain (yesterday was Sunday and people returning after the weekend) in the night at about 10.00pm. Heavy rain and very little visibility - even clouds rolling in at Khandala / Lonavala. What do I see - real maniacs trying to beat the rain by driving fast!! (I kept to 60 - 70 kmph) - all sorts of cars trying to go faster - Alto's to BMW's. I only uttered a silent prayer for all these assorted idiots - just imagine pay Rs. 10+ lakh for a high end car, pack it with family / friends and then drive foolishly to go get yourself injured / miamed / killed!! Got home in 2hrs 30min compared to the regular journey time of 2hrs. - both the car and me safe and sound!!

[VarunM]

Originally Posted by vrprabhu

Well said
Got home in 2hrs 30min compared to the regular journey time of 2hrs. - both the car and me safe and sound!!

Actually when you see the time that you were delayed by (30mins), you realize that its not worth the risk involved!!!

Pity, not everyone seems to get the point

[aargee]

Adding my 2 cents of experience with tailgating.
I consider myself good at tailgating (with all the lessons learned). So this incident happend on NH46 between Vellore & Krishnagiri during Aug 2009 when it was raining like hell. I was tailgating an Octavia in my WagonR (safely ofcourse!!!) at the right most lane. I've this bad driving habbit that I keep driving, as long as I'm comfortable & fully in control & do not look into the speedo.

All of a sudden I felt my car was simply floating in water & my car is moving diagonally, fortunately my reflex was quick enough to analyze the situation of excess water in the tyres to lift the car. Hence didn't do a hard braking, instead, I steered the car carefully not hitting the median, keeping my eyes on the road & applying brakes carefully to bring the car under control. Later when my car was back to control I realized that I must've been tailgated at 80!!!

Lesson learnt
1. Even if you keep a safe distance of tailgating, you still need to be in control which is as good as not tailgating
2. Never underestimate the forces of nature, no matter how much thin the layer of water is, have a full control of the car.

[Sunilrj]

WHAT IS TAILGATING ? Tailgating is the practice of driving on a road too close to the vehicle in front, at a distance which does not guarantee that stopping to avoid collision is possible. Approximately one third of rear-end collisions involve tailgating

WIKIPEDIA DEFINES TAILGATING AS (Portion relevant to Indian Context) : A particularly violent form of road rage and a form of intimidation. An example would be where the tailgating driver (the driver in the following vehicle) threatens damage to the leading vehicle and its occupants by driving aggressively — perhaps also with use of headlights and horn — to bully the leading vehicle's driver to get out of the way.

Very Often on Indian Roads we notice that the smaller vehicles ( The term is relative to the Vehicle bullying the vehicle Ahead - a Biker may be Tailgated by a Car, a Car by a Bus) are intimidated so badly that we tend to scramble out of the way of the Vehicle Behind and in the melee end up with fatal accidents.

we also notice that when there is a female driver be it in a car or a two wheeler, a male driver following her tends to tail gate. imagine the damage if the biker loses balance ?

In Cities where the Public Transport is Privatised, like in Mangalore, Tailgating is common and takes place on a day to day basis. use of shrill, rough and noisy vaccum horns and driving periliously close to the vehicle in front, intimidating the driver and ultimately forcing him to give way is common that people have accepted it as their day to day routine.

isnt it time that someone put an end to this practise and impressed upon the Government to make this a punishable offence under the MV Act ?

Mods: i have browsed through the entire MV Act to find if there is a fine for tailgating and couldnt find one. if this post is repeated please merge this into the original post