[TorqueyTechie]

According to stats from rto, it seems that there are close to 1.08 crore vehicles on Bengaluru roads as of Feb 2023.

Source link here. Article is in Kannada.

[udzgodfather]

Went through Bangalore 360 recently, its really saddening to see how road rages are turning more uglier than before, only if people could find amiable ways to resolve situations, looks a lot like cases of venting frustrations from other places on road. It really pops out the question, why people are becoming so short fused and frustrated that they are losing there cool.

[SoumenD]

A dash of rain Friday evening resulted in this on ORR. Monsoon is yet to start

Source: twitter

[airguitar]

Quite a lot of the educated, high-flying crowd have increasingly become unruly. Just the other day, I stopped at a signal that had just turned red and another car stopped next to me, but 3 reasonably expensive cars next to us zoomed through risking vehicles starting from other directions. Impunity. It's not just the transgressions - it's also on transgressing the smallest of things. Can't wait 120 seconds. It's also about justifying or not even acknowledging or not even knowing if something is right. As adults do this, kids are watching and I only shudder at the thought of what they are learning. Expect to witness a whole new generation of motorons ( motor + moron ) before you pass on to the next world.

It's also about so many people that drink and drive, with Bangalore suddenly acquiring a drinking culture ( well it's not sudden, I know that 40 years ago too, it was called the pub capital of India, it's the number of people that have taken to drinking and the quantity and the timing of it - all through the week now as opposed to weekends or Fridays earlier ). A lot of people drive around after drinking. Their primary concern is to figure how to avoid cops. Not an iota of guilt or concern that they might be drinking and driving and potentially could cause injury to themselves or the public. When asked they would say "they know their limits for safe driving". These are people that would most likely be preaching all sorts of work-ethics at their workplace. Credit to all those that hail a cab after drinking. Perhaps the police could issue some sort of order to the breweries that tips them off on people getting into driving seats post drinking?

And the mobile phone menace, a lot of people have redoubled on their mobile phone use. There was a tough slot that I was aiming to park; there were 2 cars next to that spot, those two must have also struggled to get to their slots. In addition, now there was a scooter, locked and parked in front of the slots incorrectly - causing further difficulties to park. The owner of the scooter was seated on a bench a few feet away watching stuff on his mobile phone. Not once did he look up or try to move the scooter around as I managed parking into the tight spot. I had to wait in the car for a while for something and as I waited, another car that was parked next to me tried to get out and struggled too and in the end somehow managed. The scooter guy again didn't bother. It's the same attitude exhibited by people that park at U-turns and don't bother when vehicles struggle to make the U turn. I have also previously spoken of how people drive around with big headphones and/or scrolling through their social media timelines like it's the most important thing to do during driving. My blood boils looking at all those offenders that don't seem to bat an eyelid before risking the common public on the roads.

And unnecessary aggression continues to increase on the road ( e.g., wanting to have their slot even when it's not possible to overtake, wanting priority during merging even if they don't have the right of the way and yelling out abuses and finger-wagging and honking if they don't have their way - literally and figuratively). While I'm perfectly capable of return-aggression or even being the first-aggressor, I don't do it. But it's a matter of time before well-mannered people too throw their restraint to the wind and it will only further worsen the road manners situation.

Thanks for listening to an old man's rants.

[jaganm]

On the drinking culture, I recently heard a podcast from the Ken, called Cost to Company where a person from a startup essentially said something like we are a frugal company but spend all the savings on alchohol in our office party. That explains the large number of these pubs and micro-breweries that have sprung up all over.

I am fairly sure that the drinking doesn't stop there, it does extend to a large amount of drinking and driving, which makes the roads a lot more dangerous.

[binand]

Drinking is a lifestyle choice. Like many other such choices, there are positive and negative consequences associated to it. It should be up to each individual (who is assumed to have agency) to do the risk-reward calculation and make that choice.

Drinking and driving is a crime. Like any other crime, the perpetrator must be held culpable and all those who facilitated or turned the other way must be treated as accessories or even co-conspirators. Once the latter part is legislated I'm certain DUI cases will go down, but the political will has to be there.

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by binand

Drinking is a lifestyle choice. Like many other such choices, there are positive and negative consequences associated to it. It should be up to each individual (who is assumed to have agency) to do the risk-reward calculation and make that choice.

Drinking and driving is a crime. Like any other crime, the perpetrator must be held culpable and all those who facilitated or turned the other way must be treated as accessories or even co-conspirators. Once the latter part is legislated I'm certain DUI cases will go down, but the political will has to be there.

Guilty before I was a young person once and while my girlfriend was away in her home country, I went to a party in Indira Nagar on my RE. The next day, when we had our normal daily call, I mentioned that I was so drunk on the way back I didnt even know how I reached home. She was so angry (we almost broke up because of this incident. She said how can you be so selfish, didnt you think you could have got hurt and by that, hurt me? Didnt you think you could have hurt others? You know in India many people sleep on footpaths, walk on the roads. Didnt you think about them, even if you didnt think about yourself... and so on. Only then did I realise the danger and the potential of hurting others and self and your loved ones, it really sunk in then. I needed someone I love to tell me or make me aware of that. From that day on, if alcohol touches my lips, I am off bikes or away from the steering wheel - if I know I am going to drink, I use taxi or car pool with someone I know is not going to drink.
I cannot stress on the importance of not driving when drinking more.

[shankar.balan]

Was driving home today. Traffic light was green. Two lights in succession actually.
I was right there at the second traffic light having breezed through the first and the traffic was free flowing. Just as I crossed the stop line and the point of no return at 40odd kmph, because of the momentum I was anyway carrying, the lights turned amber, but I was well past the point of no return and well into no mans land so I went buzzing through without incident.
A chap who was a little behind me braked really hard and stopped with a good deal of nose diving just at the same moment, as the lights turned yellow.
Now, in a situation like this, considering the above facts, was I right or wrong?

[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

<<Snipped>>.
A chap who was a little behind me braked really hard and stopped with a good deal of nose diving just at the same moment, as the lights turned yellow.
Now, in a situation like this, considering the above facts, was I right or wrong?

Dont know about right or wrong - but I think the yellow light is to give time for vehicles who are caught "mid-flow" to complete crossing and even if you managed to stop, you would have almost certainly be rear-ended by the fellow behind you.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Just as I crossed the stop line and the point of no return at 40odd kmph, because of the momentum I was anyway carrying, the lights turned amber, but I was well past the point of no return and well into no mans land so I went buzzing through without incident.

I believe you were right based purely on what you have mentioned (bolded). If you have crossed the stop line on green then you are in all clear to clear the junction. If the junction was not clear, then you would have to stop and wait behind the stop line no matter what the traffic signal was. This rule is what I follow always.

[srvm]

Yesterday, around 4.30pm, I was driving on Tumkur road near Nelamangala towards Dabaspet. I was in the middle lane when I suddenly found a car reversing in the left lane at reasonable speeds (~20kmph) surprising folks in that lane.

Looked like he/she missed the left exit towards Hassan highway and had overshot the exit by quite a distance (> 100 meters). He/she must have caused heart-in-mouth moments for several folks in the left lane.

Its infuriating to see people put themselves and others in danger instead of going for little more distance for a U-turn.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by gtonsing

Dont know about right or wrong - but I think the yellow light is to give time for vehicles who are caught "mid-flow" to complete crossing and even if you managed to stop, you would have almost certainly be rear-ended by the fellow behind you.

You see, this sudden arrival in no-mans land issue is accentuated in scenarios where there is no countdown meter.
All traffic lights ideally should be mandatorily equipped with countdown meters.

On another note this morning at 9 am on the One Way Ganapathi Temple road just after the JNC College left turn and just before the next left turn which leads to Truffles in Koramangala, there was a drinking water tanker blocking the whole right side while pumping water into some restaurants tank. And behind him, hidden from view was an idiot Creta trying to edge around the tanker and come directly head on along the wrong way so that he could make the right turn onto the JNC lane. This creta was driven by a normal educated looking working man and there was a wiman in the passenger seat.
I stopped right there and asked him why he wasnt following the one way rule considering he looked ‘educated’. He said that he ‘just wanted to go just here and take the next right turn to JNC.’
I told him it is a one way. And asked him sarcastically - ‘youve bought a 20 lac rupee car, can you not expend another 30-40 rupees and take the round around the block and then approach your turn off? Is it that hard? There was no reply from him. Predictably so.
If even educated people behave this way then what is the hope left to set things right here in Bangalore?

[airguitar]

Originally Posted by binand

Drinking is a lifestyle choice

Drinking and driving is a crime. Like any other crime, the perpetrator must be held culpable and all those who facilitated or turned the other way must be treated as accessories or even co-conspirators. Once the latter part is legislated I'm certain DUI cases will go down, but the political will has to be there.

Totally agree, no two words about it. My problem is not with the drinking bit, but with the driving bit after drinking and when people do it unapologetically or without realizing the potential consequences. I really wish all such people were more responsible or that the police had a way of catching them all (rather than spot checking).

[am1m]

Originally Posted by airguitar

I really wish all such people were more responsible or that the police had a way of catching them all (rather than spot checking).

I thought this was the one thing that is effectively enforced in Bangalore. I've posted about this before on this thread, but again, from personal experience- I was an idiot in my early 20s- getting a drink (or 2 or 3!) after work was a regular in the early 2000s. We used to ride home without any fear of ever getting caught. By the early 2010s, there was a very high chance of getting flagged down, especially on weekends. And the cops would not budge about leaving the bike/car there and paying the fine the next day.

Of course no police force can catch every single instance of the offense, but I think they have done a creditable job of cracking down on drinking and driving in Bangalore. I'd give BTP full credit for that. Also waiting for the day when they go after wrong-side driving and riding on footpaths with the same zeal!

[binand]

Originally Posted by am1m

I think they have done a creditable job of cracking down on drinking and driving in Bangalore.

BTP sets up DUI spot checking about 30 mins before bar closure time (around 10.30 pm on weekdays) and these last till about 30 mins after bar closure time. That hardly catches even 10% of the cases. All it has managed to do is to shift the DUI habit to a bit earlier than it used to be.

Originally Posted by airguitar

I really wish [...] the police had a way of catching them all

Make the people facilitating DUI culpable. That means the bar owners, party hosts... If anyone is caught drinking & driving, put a comparable fine on those who allowed them to drive after drinking (or did not flag to the police that so-and-so is driving inebriated). And if someone is involved in an accident, charge the facilitators also with IPC sections that have massive fines and jail time.