[kmadhok]

Originally Posted by Waggy

lol... Me and my TN reg Waggie in Bangalore! I won't attempt to engage on a rage unless I have a co-passenger sitting with me (preferebly of same gender). One reason is that I don't know Kannada. But I've had enough experience of horrible buses on Mangalore/Udipi strech and I gave up driving there!

On the contrary I would never engage in rage when I have a co-passenger. As the driver I am responsible for the lives of the passengers in my vehicle. Before you engage in rage, put yourselves in the other person's shoe and think 'Did I ever do this? Would I ever do this? Possibly he is in an emergency and is not meaning any harm to me.'
I read the first few posts with which the thread started and the last few. IMO pullover at the earliest possible point and let the tailgater through.

[VM1]

Very apt topic for discussion. Tailgating is quite common across the country and I encounter it so regularly on the Delhi - Gurgaon NH8 stretch.

To a great extent, proper lane discipline can greatly bring down this menace. But, the concept of "lanes" seems alien to most on Indian roads - this is what happens when you have so many uneducated and "educated illiterates" out on the road.

Most of the times, I prefer to let such idiots pass as soon as safely possible for me. Trying to deter them only increases my BP.

[joshuakeys]

The drivers who is tailgating other top speed cars, or cars tailgating the bikers etc. Should be punished right.

Here it goes like this, at a busy signal, you hear an ambulance siren, you find most of them giving way so that the ambulance can pass through the traffic easily. That's the normal procedure, or that's the way it is.

Its not the way here in Hyderabad, An ambulance is like an escort for the tailgaters, you find few bikes & cars tailgating an ambulance just to jump or avoid the signal. How do you want to fine or punish these guys???

Solution: For people like these, License should be seized for few years.

[k_nitin_r]

I've always experienced tail gating when someone wants to overtake. If there's no way I can let them pass i.e. I'm keeping up with the traffic and the other lane is moving far too slow, I just use my indicator to show that I'm not going to budge - that at least stops the honking and flashing of headlamps.

I downshift while overtaking to 3rd or 4th gear (58 hp Esteem Di) and that loud engine roar can sometimes give the feeling that I'm going faster than I really am so I keep an eye on the speedometer - if the needle ain't going higher, all I'm doing is getting louder and not faster.

I always give way to faster vehicles - I know that even when I'm doing the best I can to accelerate, my 58 horses would seem far too slow for someone with 90 horses power. I never follow overtaking vehicles unless I can clearly see the road ahead, or if the vehicle is overtaking 2-3 other vehicles at once - I can fit between the first and second vehicles while the other vehicle takes a spot between the second and third when avoiding oncoming traffic.

[Freebird82]

Well, had an unsettling experience about 5 months back. Me and a friend decided to go for a cup of coffee at SH17 (or some name like that), a cafe on Mysore road abt 30 kms from NICE junction. We took the NICE road from Bannerghatta and just after crossing Kanakapura, a qualis started following normally. However, after coming onto Mysore road the dude totally changed character and started tailgating to the extent of being hardly a feet from my tail lights. I thought the guy was in a hurry and was looking for space to let him go. There was a bit of traffic being friday night so it took sometime.

To my surprise every time I would give him space he wouldnt overtake. Just sit there and keep flashing lights. Few times i accelerated and managed to get a reasoble distance between us. However, the moment I would settle back to my normal speed (abt 90) there he would be again. This happened for abt 10 mins by when we reached the cafe. So i pull in to the parking, stopped the car, check the RVM and there is the dude again, his qualis at an angle, half into the parking area and half onto the shoulder as if unsure what to do.

I got thoroughly pissed, came out and walked upto him. Reaching close i realised the guy was sloshed, to the extent he couldnt keep his eyes open even for 10 seconds at a stretch. After a few minutes of broken conversation (me in english, he in kannada) where i was asking him politely but firmly that what is the matter with him (the guy was blurbing something abt kanakapura junction), he finally says I Police. I just replied with a smile oh you police, me media, press.

With that i just walked off to the cafe. The guy sat there for a couple of minutes and then drove off. I had no clue why or what was the matter with him. I remembered later that I had noticed the no. plate and it was a white background with green stripes top and below. Some local friends suggested later he might belong to some rakshika vedike which are infamous for brewing trouble.

A totally drunk random guy tailgating at high speed at 11 in the night on a not so safe highway. I think i got off lightly.

[Dieseldunk]

@clevermax
True to your name buddy.
Well wonders never cease. Personally I never trust honkers since they seem to possessed by some manic ghost and they are taken in by ego and not logic.

[hrman]

Originally Posted by Freebird82

Well, had an unsettling experience about 5 months back. Me and a friend decided to go for a cup of coffee at SH17

To my surprise every time I would give him space he wouldnt overtake. Just sit there and keep flashing lights. .

This reminds me of the movie "Duel" by Steven Spielberg. The villian has a different and definite ending though.

[thumpingheart]

This happened today in a crowded area of Pune. Punekars will know - Ravivar Peth. Extremely tight roads and extremely stupid brainless drivers. I was on my Thunderbird and a guy behind me on an Activa. He kept flashing and honking and then suddenly tried to overtake me with barely any space. Avoided banging into me by an inch and somehow got behind me. He repeated this same thing 3 times. I got really irritated! And then he did it again but this time came exactly parallel to me when again the traffic prevented him from overtaking! He swerved and i had no space to budge!! That idiot sitting on a plastic Honda hits my thick 50 kg thick metal front guard all on his own and almost looses balance! I don't even feel a thing on my 200 kg bull!

His ego is hurt! He starts swearing in hindi and arguing how it is my mistake. He tries to drive into me again with the same result. I swerve away and accelerate when I get a little space. He tries to keep up but obviously can't! His ego is hurt even more!!

He keeps honking and swearing! I take a left towards my destination calmly not reacting. He didn't follow me, but slowed down and kept shouting abuses. Oh I know how many times during the whole incident I felt like stopping, blocking his way, getting him off his plastic utensil and punching him in his face! But living in Pune you learn to control yourself and ignoring such garbage. I pray to God my patience stays and I don't loose it someday!

I think more than anything, this mentality is associated with frustration, inferiority complex and general unhappiness in life. They need to get away from their real problems and sort of run away from them by troubling somebody, picking a fight or by bullying someone. Possible they get some sadistic pleasure or feel superior by scaring or physically hurting someone. I don't think this or any sort of road rage is a traffic issue. I think its roots are embedded in the psychology of that person. I think these same people are the ones who are drunkards and beat their wife or children.

[acatgain]

I hate when people do tailgating behind my car. Mostly the Limited stop Buses in Kerala do it often. They come up so near that i can clearly see the rust on their front grill in my rear view mirror. I always give way for such rash drivers as i belive in defensive driving than offensive driving.

I feel people get inspired by the F1 races where they tailgate the cars with inches to spare. Aggression is best to be shown only in races rather than on public roads.

The point in day to day driving is to reach from A to B in a safe manner. It can be illustrated in the short calculation below..

Normaly most people will travel for an average of 20kms in a strech..
So if the person is going at a bit unsafe average speed of 80kmph he will reach in 15 minute. But if the person is going at a safer speed of 50kmph he will reach in 24 minutes.

So the time saved after risking the lives of many is just 9 minutes.. Is that 9 minutes worth that risk of loosing a life ?? If time is a big issue can't we just start 9 minutes earlier to avoid this ??
Think before you race for the next time.. Just a chewing gum for your brain !!

[1self]

Guys,

The main reason for road rage is that people are angry at something else in their lives & it spills onto the road & some hapless road user.

If someone keeps honking at you & blinking their lights, it simply means they want to pass you....in a HURRY. Let them go. Brake if you have to & let them pass. This action alone will take the 'wind out their sails' as it were. They can concentrate their rage elsewhere. If you try to stall them or compete, it only makes them more combative.

Road rage is a universal phenomenon. In India, especially, there are more cars than roads to drive them on. So, stuck in traffic jams combined with having had a bad day, generally tends to exacerbate such situations.

We are only 'Human' after all.

[dr.faramroze]

Driving is no longer a toss of ego nowadays. It's safe and best to avoid motorists bearing such rage. It is a common sight to witness others pulling out their locked frustration on innocent drivers. There is a city of Gujarat where bike riders will brush, dent our car/bike and wait for our response, if we wait, shout or challenge them, they will get instantly fisty. I got my new Dio's rear bashed properly last month, while standing at a main signal in my city. I pretended I have missed to observe the culprit, because I had better things to do. Replaced the damaged parts and prayed to God for protecting me.

[yo222]

Originally Posted by joshuakeys

An ambulance is like an escort for the tailgaters, you find few bikes & cars tailgating an ambulance just to jump or avoid the signal. How do you want to fine or punish these guys???

Solution: For people like these, License should be seized for few years.

I had observed a similar thing like this and happened to share it with one of my elderly uncles who has been an avid driver himself. He mentioned very calmly that while these may be the real TAILGATERS but then the possibility is that these vehicles are carrying some near and dear ones of the ones that are being whisked away in the Ambulance.

As per him, to which i agree 100%, in India, where there is dearth of facilities and urbanization has been so very rapid, these things does not come to one's notice very quickly and its always better to give a benefit of doubt to all such tailgaters (including those who honk you incessantly or those who blindly use an ambulance to squeeze past)... he ended his experience sharing with a very moving thought... Beta, there could be only 1 out of 100 genuine cases but then you would never ever want to live with a guilt of hampering an emergency situation in your zest to teach a lesson to other 99 mindless and so called smarty drivers.

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by dr.faramroze

Driving is no longer a toss of ego nowadays. It's safe and best to avoid motorists bearing such rage. It is a common sight to witness others pulling out their locked frustration on innocent drivers. There is a city of Gujarat where bike riders will brush, dent our car/bike and wait for our response, if we wait, shout or challenge them, they will get instantly fisty. I got my new Dio's rear bashed properly last month, while standing at a main signal in my city. I pretended I have missed to observe the culprit, because I had better things to do. Replaced the damaged parts and prayed to God for protecting me.

Well there is a better way through which i got the better out of one such guy.

While driving on himachal roads during night i encountered a santro which had some drunkards in it on a night stroll, i overtook them which they didn't like who then started following us in a dangerous manner and i let them overtake me, still they kept on playing around by letting me overtake and then some dangerous overtaking stunts, on one such maneouvers they scratched my rear bumper, i did nothing other than driving to the nearest police station, filed an FIR and gave the vehicle number which my wife had noted down, gave them my telephone no and proceeded further to Delhi. After a month i tried to enquire about the status of the FIR on which the policemen were not very forthcoming with information. Then in a weeks time i filed an RTI application for knowing the status of the case. Another week passed and then phone calls started flowing in, first from SHO stating they will take strict action with offenders and revert back in a weeks time. After a week i received a phone call from the vehicle owner that he is sorry about the incident and he was not driving the vehicle but some of his relatives. He said he is ready to compensate for the vehicle damage, i said there is nothing to compensate for the mental harrassment and that i need to talk to the guy who was driving the vehicle along with the owner over phone. Within an hour i received a call from the young guy at the wheel on that day. Though he was apologetic i used the choicest of expletives for the next 5 minutes and he just continued apologising and offered money to get the repair done. I dropped the phone and later on told the SHO that i want his vehicle to be impounded for a day as punishment after which i will withdraw the complaint. I just forgot about it and a week later got the call from the owner of the vehicle thanking me for withdrawing the complaint. As per him his vehicle was parked in the police station for 2 days and had to pay Rs 2000 to police personnel as expenses.
I believe those guys would never harass another road traveller. It is always better to get out of a situation and then pursue those idiots psychologically at your leisure, with the current means of communication available this should not be a difficult proposition, though i agree it might not work the same way each time but there is nothing wrong in trying.

[srishiva]

Either drive away from tailgating vehicles or let them pass you. You would never know, they could hit you from behind or get you trouble.

[rajeshchand]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Either drive away from tailgating vehicles or let them pass you. You would never know, they could hit you from behind or get you trouble.

Pretty much on point, however if someone wants to get you into trouble i doubt you have much options left.