[am1m]

Originally Posted by binand

For a lot of drivers fines aren't deterrent enough because they can avoid payment for as long as they wish

Yes true. In most cases I see cops target either bikers or transport vehicles. Some of the biggest offenders- autos, BMTC buses, and cabs do whatever they want because cops don't take them on.

Zero-tolerance enforcement has already worked well for one serious offense in Bangalore, drunken driving. Yes, it is certainly not down to zero, but I can see the difference over the past 10-15 years. The chances of getting caught and not being able to bribe your way out of a drunken driving offense has certainly gone up. I am ashamed to say I used to ride back home after getting a drink post-work in the early 2000s. And never got stopped for checks. Now I certainly won't dare take that chance.

Similar strict enforcement and widespread drives for 3 serious offenses are required now: wrong side driving, riding on footpaths, and parking on the road/footpath. Seize the vehicle and have it towed away. Watch how traffic improves then.

I recently went on a road that I hadn't been on in months. It was always a bottleneck mainly because it was perpetually dug up and with vehicles parked on both sides. Now it was fully tarred and parking had been removed and we realized that it was actually a really wide road!

[allinbalance]

Originally Posted by binand

If you take this road on a normal day you will find a steady stream of vehicles coming in the opposite direction - to the best of my recollection, the only category of vehicle I have not seen doing this is the BMTC bus. Why?

* Obviously all those drivers are selfish idiots who couldn't be bothered about the risk they are creating for all road users.

Completely agree with you and @mvadg. One more thing, this "driving on the wrong side of the road", I have not observed in Kolkata (except cyclerickshaws), New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and certainly not Mumbai. I mean I wonder where does this behavior come from for these denizens of Bengaluru - knowing fully well that its insanely dangerous?

I wonder if any of the members on this topic has seen such behavior in another major city in India? Old Delhi? I think in Dhaka this kind of nutty attitude exists.

The other nutty behavior is what I call "Iron Man hand" - walk into the middle of running traffic and show your hand; traffic has to stop - well, because you are Iron Man!!

[anandhsub]

Originally Posted by allinbalance

, this "driving on the wrong side of the road", I have not observed in Kolkata (except cyclerickshaws), New Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and certainly not Mumbai.

Cannot speak for the other cities, but in the part of Chennai I frequent there are certainly no ill planned oneways and u turns more than 2 kms apart in a dense city.

The only one ways have come across in Chennai are where there is an easy parallel road and there are several interconnecting roads to cross between the 2 one ways.

Even in an area as congested as T Nagar with so many large shops I have never really seen people being forced to travel on the wrong side for even 100m since there is an easy loop available.

Now take the case of the ORR service roads in BLR which have been made one way. It is really impossible to get on to the other side of the ORR if you follow the one way restrictions since you have to take a 2-3km longer route, and sometimes forced to take inner roads as well as the service road itself is blocked.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Even in an area as congested as T Nagar with so many large shops I have never really seen people being forced to travel on the wrong side for even 100m since there is an easy loop available.

I'm sorry but no one is 'forced' to drive/ride on the wrong side of the road. They do it knowing it's the wrong thing to do and because they know they will most probably get away with it!

Yes, routes are not planned/badly planned in Bangalore, but whatever the justification, unless it's an emergency vehicle responding to an accident or something, it's dangerous and illegal to drive on the wrong side of the road. In several places, if you miss an exit on a highway, you'll have to drive for a really long time to get to the next U-turn. Would that be a good reason to just turn around and drive on the wrong side of the road?

Was waiting on the road yesterday evening in front of a restaurant. An elderly gent happily parked his car on the wrong side of the road because it was just in front of a supermarket, even though there was more than enough space to park on the opposite side of the road. Was very aware of the trouble he was causing, but chose to ignore it, and it was a real hassle with cars having to avoid his, bikes having to swerve because of the blind spot he created at the turn. When he had to take off, he calmly drove along the wrong side for some time again causing vehicles to go around him before merging into the correct side. I'm sure he would say he was 'forced' to do that because he was elderly and had to shop there only!

This is a wide-spread disease in Bangalore, as bad as drunken driving, and only strict action can eliminate it before it gets worse and becomes the new normal.

Originally Posted by anandhsub

But to take this i need to travel wrong side on this service road. ( The google maps shows the oneway as legal but it isnt.

This is nothing compared to what we usually see on a daily basis on the roads! What I'm mostly referring to is far more blatant- full-on driving on the wrong side of a divider even! And not just bikes, cabs and cars. Surely no one can justify something like that.

[anandhsub]

To show how ridiculous how the oneways can be, this is the distance between my home and where i usually give my bike for service. But to take this i need to travel wrong side on this service road. ( The google maps shows the oneway as legal but it isnt.)



This is how much I have to ride if I were to actually follow the legal route

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

To show how ridiculous how the oneways can be, this is the distance between my home and where i usually give my bike for service. But to take this i need to travel wrong side on this service road. ( The google maps shows the oneway as legal but it isnt.)

While I agree it is ridiculous, it still is not justifiable to break the rule. It is the same behavior which we all collectively diss in the accidents thread or bad driver thread. Think of the extra ride/drive as a way to find out any issues in your vehicle before service.

[binand]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

Cannot speak for the other cities, but in the part of Chennai I frequent there are certainly no ill planned oneways and u turns more than 2 kms apart in a dense city.

I totally oppose U-turns on arterial roads. They create unnecessary bottlenecks and many are dangerous. What we need is a network of bylanes so that a U-turn can be achieved by a sequence like left-left-left-signalled right through them.

While these bylanes in Chennai and Bangalore outwardly look similar in many aspects, the latter loses the plot due to rampant encroachment, dug-up roads and haphazard parking.

[am1m]

Put my money where my mouth is - just accepted an offer to switch jobs to a location that's significantly closer to home and more importantly out of the infernal ORR-IT corridor! Taking a 20% pay cut, but feeling relieved, no more traffic jams at 8am and 8pm. And no more waiting 20mins just to enter or exit that damn IT park!

After working from home for the past year and a half, realized that that pointless commute was the biggest cause of stress in my life. Now, even if the new workplace insists on us returning physically to work, it won't be on that accursed Outer Ring Road! Goodbye Bellandur, I certainly hope I never have to see you again!

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by am1m

Goodbye Bellandur, I certainly hope I never have to see you again!

Been doing some planning and for us it just might be Bangalore instead of Bellandur in the above sentence.

It hurts to say that being a quintessential CBD Bangalorean who grew up knowing only Cubbon Park, Lakeview Ice Cream and Brigade Road as the coolest places to be but that Bangalore has long gone past, buried in the annals of the 90s.

Today I guess we're too tired to even talk about the endless "infrastructure" works done by the world's greatest digging agency called BBMP, Lord knows even many Bhpians have lost their calm when describing this civic destruction agency, who're still doing "drainage" works, 116 years after Bangalore got the first street-light, I mean if those aren't messed up priorities then what is. The greatest parallel of tragedy that I can draw with what happened to this city would be a hypothetical scenario - imagine one has moved into a new unfinished home, now imagine the contractor saying that the home isn't ready and he will tear down the walls, floor, ceiling and plumbing, all while the owner still lives in it! Swalpa adjesht maadi saar.

No more, I will miss the urban scene here should the blessed day come, but it isn't worth the cost of intense harassment, day in and day out. To a real Bangalorean, watching this symphony of destruction (due credit to Megadeth) is nothing short of painful.

The rest can enjoy the front row view of the city's destruction, we can't take it anymore.

[tilt]

Originally Posted by anandhsub

*SNIP* ( The google maps shows the oneway as legal but it isnt.)*SNIP*

I think the reason for that is that Google uses a lot of crowd-sourced information; and since two-wheelers constantly ignore one-ways (even three- and four-wheelers do, but two-wheelers are more prone to this since it is easy to do so); Google believes that it is indeed a valid route and shows it so.

This is just my thinking, I may be wrong.

Cheers

[wildsdi5530]

One really annoying thing about Bangalore traffic signals are the underprivileged and sexually neutral persons asking for alms. They bang at the windows with heavy finger rings causing minute scratches in the windscreen and windows.

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by wildsdi5530

One really annoying thing about Bangalore traffic signals ..... minute scratches in the windscreen and windows.

This particular one I find comparatively less in Bangalore. They are there in certain areas but not as widespread as, for example, Mumbai. One of the lesser irritants in bangalore, IMHO

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by gtonsing

This particular one I find comparatively less in Bangalore. They are there in certain areas but not as widespread as, for example, Mumbai. One of the lesser irritants in bangalore, IMHO

Glad to say there are still some things to look forward to (comparatively) in BLR:

1. Less stealing of logos
2. Less malicious scratches on body panels when parked in lonely places
3. Almost no deliberate scraping and hitting other vehicles just because the perpetrator can, and get away with the same.

Open to more (positive!) inputs.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Almost no deliberate scraping and hitting other vehicles just because the perpetrator can, and get away with the same.

Wow, this is the second time I'm hearing about this during the week. In which cities does this happen often/regularly? I was told Delhi, but I'm guessing that's just stereotyping? But does this happen often enough in other places to be a trend?

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by am1m

But does this happen often enough in other places to be a trend?

Definitely in the crowded older or business area / parts of Kolkata frequented by Ambassador / Swift dZire taxis. No one seems to care much