[Horizon81]

Originally Posted by NPV

Now I think I've seen it all ...

No, you've never seen it all. Let me share the craziest thing I've seen so far.

This is sometime mid-august. I'm on Hosur road, traveling from Electronic City to Koramangala. As usual, there's traffic at Bommanahalli. I'm on the middle lane, waiting for the signal to turn green, with about 8-10 vehicles in front of me. There's a TNSRTC bus on the right-most lane, to my right and front, and as usual, letting people alight, on to the middle lane, in front of my car. I had anticipated this and had left a small gap in front of my car. Now, after everyone had alighted, a little girl aged about 5-8 years, gets down from the bus and her mom stays on the foot-board. The girl looks back and the mother urges her. The little one pulls up her skirt, pulls down her shorts and pees on the road, right in front of my car. On the middle lane of the road. At one of the busiest and craziest junctions in Bangalore. And right at that time, the signal turns green and everyone behind me starts the manic honking ritual.

That's when I shook my head and said to myself - "I think I've seen every possible and crazy thing on the road."

[binand]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

a little girl aged about 5-8 years [...] pulls up her skirt, pulls down her shorts and pees on the road

Elsewhere in the world, they have toilets in long-distance buses.

(Not that I'm justifying the conduct of the folks accompanying the girl. But what are they to do, let the girl pee inside the bus or hold her out of the window?)

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

No, you've never seen it all.

True, what I meant really was that I've possibly seen all places where one can expect a traffic jam on these 2 routes to whitefield (regular one via KR Puram Railway Station and other one via Devasandra)
What I've realized is that even with my (quite) early start, I cannot do the 10-11Km commute in 30 minutes or less, it will be between 45 minutes to an hour or more On some days I would have done 80% of the distance in 20 minutes only to get stuck somewhere and ending with a 40 minute commute - Murphy's law of travel ?

[Horizon81]

Originally Posted by binand

Elsewhere in the world, they have toilets in long-distance buses.

(Not that I'm justifying the conduct of the folks accompanying the girl. But what are they to do, let the girl pee inside the bus or hold her out of the window?)

Well, its not like they were at a remote place. Literally, they are in the city, they could get down, and go to one of many establishments there who would let the girl use the toilet, and then carried on to their destination with a 20 minute delay at the max. Depends on what the parent(s) saw as priority. The girl was visibly uncomfortable surrounded by stares and cars and bikes honking away to glory.

Originally Posted by NPV

On some days I would have done 80% of the distance in 20 minutes only to get stuck somewhere and ending with a 40 minute commute - Murphy's law of travel ?

Amen to that.

[sbala]

Originally Posted by Horizon81

Well, its not like they were at a remote place. Literally, they are in the city, they could get down, and go to one of many establishments there who would let the girl use the toilet, and then carried on to their destination with a 20 minute delay at the max. Depends on what the parent(s) saw as priority. The girl was visibly uncomfortable surrounded by stares and cars and bikes honking away to glory.

Amen to that.

Same thing happened last Friday when i was stuck in between Electronic City and Hosa Road junction due a very bad traffic jam. A man in BMW next to me, got down, came to other side, got his son out and asked him to pee in the middle of the road.

No, i am not complaining here as it was drizzling and we were stuck close to 3 hours. Poor kid and the man, what else folks can do at these circumstances.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by NPV

Now I think I've seen it all

Originally Posted by Horizon81

No, you've never seen it all.

Bangalore, the city with its very own *terror* traffic stories round the clock. Here's what I've seen, now I usually keep a very long gap from tractors carrying building materials/rubble and tempos carrying iron rods/bamboo protruding 6-8 feet outside its collapsible trunk door. Each time I've been lucky due to such careful driving, once a tractor was literally flying on an empty stretch and I was about 30-40 feet behind it, in an instant the 'collapsible' rear trunk door literally detached completely and collapsed right on the road. Since I was a good distance away I comfortably turned right and avoided it, the driver noticed this only 100 meters later and stopped (in the middle of the road) to walk and pick it back up. Another time a knee jerk braking of a tempo shook the iron rods it was carrying, causing them to fall on the road since they were not even harnessed. Now I'm seeing men sitting on top of a 6+ foot pile of luggage behind Mahindra pickups.

The traffic laws do not spare owner driven cars when it comes to emission, sun tints, seat belts and now with the new laws of airbags.. all good and I'm happy to comply. My question is what about the commercial/load bearing vehicles which violate every law from signals, speed limits, emission, safety (to themselves & others)? If the traffic police turn a blind eye to them surely the bureaucrats are being duplicitous when they talk of all-round road safety.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

The traffic laws do not spare owner driven cars when it comes to emission, sun tints, seat belts and now with the new laws of airbags.. all good and I'm happy to comply. My question is what about the commercial/load bearing vehicles which violate every law from signals, speed limits, emission, safety (to themselves & others)? If the traffic police turn a blind eye to them surely the bureaucrats are being duplicitous when they talk of all-round road safety.

Amen to that!
Unless this hypocrisy/double standard ends, our roads will never be safe to drive.
I mean on the one side you have people not wearing seat belts and risking theirs and other road users lives and on the other you have these guys doing all kinds of crazy things with bigger vehicles and are a much bigger danger on our roads but almost always go scot-free and cops usually always turn a blind eye to them! It's like most traffic rules do not apply to them (and autorickshaws of course!)

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by NPV

Amen to that!
It's like most traffic rules do not apply to them (and autorickshaws of course!)

Most of the cops own auto rickshaws . No wonder they do not bother to take any action against them. The classic example being the bommanahalli junction. Everyday you can see autos parked on the left side immediately after the turning beneath the flyover.
They block the movement of vehicles on the already congested road. Whenever a cop comes asking them to get on, they get into argument with them. Pathetic state of affairs.

[speedmiester]

Buses and Autos are on strike tomorrow in Bangalore protesting the steep hike in fines in the National Road Safety Bill.

Buses autos to stay off roads tomorrow

Hopefully the traffic will be better tomorrow as I have a meeting in Brookefield and hate to face the regular traffic.

[werfish]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Buses and Autos are on strike tomorrow in Bangalore protesting the steep hike in fines in the National Road Safety Bill.

Buses autos to stay off roads tomorrow

Hopefully the traffic will be better tomorrow as I have a meeting in Brookefield and hate to face the regular traffic.

When there is a transport strike, expect maximum chaos in the road since all 2 & 4 wheeler will be on the road.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Buses and Autos are on strike tomorrow in Bangalore protesting the steep hike in fines in the National Road Safety Bill.

Buses autos to stay off roads tomorrow

Hopefully the traffic will be better tomorrow as I have a meeting in Brookefield and hate to face the regular traffic.

The traffic will be pathetic tomorrow as all the 2 and 4 wheelers will be out on the roads courtesy the strike. I have experienced the same before.

[chandrda]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Most of the cops own auto rickshaws . No wonder they do not bother to take any action against them. The classic example being the bommanahalli junction. Everyday you can see autos parked on the left side immediately after the turning beneath the flyover.
They block the movement of vehicles on the already congested road. Whenever a cop comes asking them to get on, they get into argument with them. Pathetic state of affairs.

I know exactly the reason for rowdy behavior of the auto driver at the bommanahalli junction. It has nothing to do with policeman owning few autos. Most of the autos don't have permit, meters and auto drivers rarely have license. They constitute a sizable vote bank to local politicians due to various factors. Even though Sathish Reddy, the current MLA resides on the same road, there is hardly any action taken. These auto drivers are the backbone of the vote bank politics and even have immense support from politicians.

Its better to keep away from them if you don't have local support or don't know the language.

Regards

[binand]

Originally Posted by chandrda

auto drivers [...] constitute a sizable vote bank to local politicians due to various factors.

Bommanahalli assembly constituency has 3.6 lakh voters. Even to form a 1% votebank there should be 720 auto drivers (assuming 5-member families). Are there so many autos there?

I agree with the other viewpoint that you express, that they are likely to be the enforcers or general thug army.

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Buses and Autos are on strike tomorrow in Bangalore protesting the steep hike in fines in the National Road Safety Bill.

What do these people mean?

Are they almost saying that they will break rules and need a discount on fines?

So soon, I will see things like:

100 Signal Jumps - Fine Rs. 10,000. 40% discount if paid upfront.
100 Zebra Crossing Parking - Fine Rs. 10,000. 60% discount if paid upfront.
100 Wrong Side Driving - Fine Rs. 10,000. 30% discount if paid upfront.

And further discounts available for Infants buses!

If so, I am going to launch an eCommerce site to sell these mouth watering deals.

In the words of a wise man. The head behind this ban:

"In foreign countries, there are six to eight-lane roads with varying speed limits and driving is not stressful. Here, we have poorly laid two-lane roads and chaotic traffic, and are forced to complete the target of 10 trips within an eight-hour shift. If the Centre wants to levy hefty fines for traffic violations, it must ensure better and wider roads first,"

If the issue is the number of trips in specified number of hours, the taxi union should fight it out with the MNC as they are indirectly causing them to break rules. Chickening out there and then endangering lives of the public on the road is not the way to go.

Now, time for a rant!

Yesterday, on Varthur Main Road, I saw this lady driving a Hyundai Getz using her phone while driving. And no, this was no urgent call or urgent WhatsApp message. This was...

Wait for it...

Candy Crush!

[john.gt]

Jam alert on BETL. I am seeing vehicles piled up till Audi showroom and beyond on the lane towards bommanahalli