[manojas]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Both the drivers were at least civil in a way that they never picked up a fight for the collision and rather came to the cops.

Recently, in ORR opposite to Manyata tech park, a taxi guy came and hit me from behind. I was on the left lane and was going really slow. But the taxi driver picked up a fight with me and even threatened to break my windshield with a stone unless I pay for his damage. There was no damage and he was trying to take advantage.

This happens only in our country. As per law, if some one come and hits you from behind, its solely his mistake as he is not keeping enough distance.

But with taxi drivers, either you hit him or he hits you, it is always your mistake as he will make it like that.

I hate all the boors driving the taxis.

Edit: I was driving my wife's A-star, not the beast in the pic

[benbsb29]

@Manoj, how did it end finally? Did you pay him, and if so how much?
The sad thing in this country is that except for the so-called middle class who works day-in and day-out to make a living, everyone else is united to ensure they eat off this golden goose. Pitiable state of affairs.

[speedmiester]

Though it's late, let me post my experience in dealing with taxi and cab drivers.

About a month back, while leaving for home from work, I was involved in an accident with a cab. He hit my stationary car from behind at a traffic signal and got his headlamp damaged in the accident. My car suffered a minor scuff and a dented bumper. He immediately started shouting and demanding money as usual even though it was his fault.

I was on my way to a relative's wedding and I did not want to spoil my mood, so I told him I do not have the cash and I am on my way to an important meeting, I will give you my contact details. You can call me in the morning and I will pay you. He did not agree at first and continued his shouting which created a minor jam behind us. I kept my calm and asked there is no point in delaying matters. i am accepting my mistake, why don't you call me back in the morning and we can settle the issue. Since I was calm and the growing honks from behind made him agree to my solution and he left after confirming my mobile number by giving me a call from his mobile and taking my business card.

The next day, he promptly called me and demanded 4000Rs. I told him fine, I have spoken to my insurance company, they will reimburse you. But before that they have asked to get a FIR registered in the police station and you need to get your car to the police station for damage verification. He immediately started shouting and I am busy, I cannot come, pay me now or else and other nonsense. I still kept my calm and told him I am not saying I am not going to pay you, just that you need to get your vehicle to the police station. He again started shouting and so I said until you talk properly I am not talking to you and hung up the call. He immediately called back; I stuck to my stance and again hung up the call once he started shouting. This went on for 2 more calls. After an hour I got another call, this time from the owner of the cab. He said the same thing, pay him or else. I told him clearly, I am not paying my insurance premium for nothing, if you want to get compensated, get your car to the police station and get it verified by my insurance surveyor. He said he cannot get the car, as it on hire. I told him to call me when he can get the cab to the police station then we can talk and hung up.

The calls continued for 2 more days and I stuck to my stand. Finally he realized he cannot extract anything from me and stopped calling.
I got my car repaired from my FNG in Mysore.

Lessons learnt.
Always stay calm. The crowd gathered at the accident site were on my side because I was calm and accepted my mistake and shared my contact details. The crowd also played a part in convincing the cab driver to leave by taking my contact info. If even I had raised my voice, the scene could have turned ugly and I may had to end up paying for his mistake.

Always insist on taking things to the police station, this will scare most cab drivers as most of them drive without proper documents. That is the reason they insist on spot settlement.

[bkishore_77]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

I was involved in an accident with a cab. He hit my stationary car from behind at a traffic signal and got his headlamp damaged in the accident.

I'm appalled at the temerity of the cab driver to blame you when the mistake was clearly his. I don't understand why you owned up the mistake when the law states the vehicles that bangs from the back is at fault.

I have faced couple of instances in my decade of stay in Bangalore. In One instance which was way back in 2004, a qualis rear ended my esteem at airport signal and tried to flee. I blocked his path, seized the keys inspected the bumper and saw that it was just a paint chipped off bang at the centre. He was apologising and trying to comfort me that it was just a minor issue. I agreed and let him off only to find that the bumper had cracked at the side due to broken bracket inside.

The second instance was in Agara lake road where a a yellow board Sumo rear ended my Safari. It was a long queue of vehicles that had stopped for some sudden obstacle and I could see from my rear view mirror that the Sumo had not yet realised since he was watching elsewhere and by then it was too late. Since it was a low speed impact the damage was just a couple of scratches on the spare wheel cover. The driver got down and started apologising profusely.. I asked him to be careful next time and moved on.

But what you are narrating is a new trend where they bang from the back and blame the victim drivers.

[Added_flavor]

But why did you have to agree that it's your mistake when it wasn't?

You clearly say he rear ended your stationary car. Why the defensive stance then?

[speedmiester]

Have you tried arguing with the unruly cab drivers in Bangalore during peak hours, it doesn't matter whose fault it is. The crowd will always side with the cab drivers. If I had not done that, he would have called couple of his rogue cab drivers and they would have ganged upon me.
In the end, I still didn't have to pay him and I did that without creating a scene or putting myself in the harm's way.

I had an instance when a traffic cop told me to pay for an auto driver for hitting my car from behind. His logic was I earn more than the auto driver so I need to pay him even though it was his fault.
You cannot argue logically with these idiots. So it is always better to get away from the scene as soon as possible.

[srishiva]

Please call the police if someone hits you from behind. Tell them you will register hit and run case against them if they try to flee. Call 100 and they will give you the number of the nearest police station.

Crowd always wants one to adjust. They don't like to see people fighting, honestly (I dont think we do either). You dont have to take them seriously.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Please call the police if someone hits you from behind. Tell them you will register hit and run case against them if they try to flee. Call 100 and they will give you the number of the nearest police station.

As soon as you mention police to these cab drivers, they will never listen, because most of the times they will not be having proper documents. That's when they start behaving rudely and try to intimidate you.

When my brother was involved in an accident, we had the cab regn number. We filed a complaint, even though they had an address it was an old address and they were not able to trace the owner. Hence police are also sometimes helpless when it comes to cabs and autos.

[benbsb29]

Speedmeister, i can understand the approach you took, having had to deal with some of these yellow board characters at times myself. It's an illusion to think that calling the cops will help keep you out of harm's way - that's so not true!

The cops will ask you to park your vehicle at the police station as well, and from then on its a rigmarole trying to get a fitness inspector to ascertain that your vehicle is road worthy, not to mention the amount of money you will have to pay as bribe as well. Either ways, you stand to lose out. The approach you have taken is the way out in my opinion.

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Speedmeister, i can understand the approach you took, having had to deal with some of these yellow board characters at times myself. It's an illusion to think that calling the cops will help keep you out of harm's way - that's so not true!

The cops will ask you to park your vehicle at the police station as well, and from then on its a rigmarole trying to get a fitness inspector to ascertain that your vehicle is road worthy, not to mention the amount of money you will have to pay as bribe as well. Either ways, you stand to lose out. The approach you have taken is the way out in my opinion.

Fitness inspection comes into picture only if you file a FIR and press charges. If hit from behind, the police will not charge you. There is nothing on this earth that can proclaim you guilty even under our laws if hit from behind.

We need to be brave when we know we are 100% right. Else we should stop blaming the law and everyone else. We should not assume that somehow it will create a problem on us when it cant.

In this case, the cab driver would be pleading with you once the police challan him and tell him its his fault. (this is all from my experience). The Police might ask you to drop the charges and claim through your insurance if you had any damage if they feel like helping the driver on humanitarian grounds (they will deal with the cab driver, a wink here )

[benbsb29]

Srishiva, i understand the point you are trying to make. However i recount from my own personal experience. The way things work out there on the street is definitely unpredictable, and that goes for the cops as well. It all depends on how much they plan on making out of this episode.

Even if the cops were to help you out, as you mentioned in the last para, you still need to deal with the chai-paani bit when settling.

Once again, what the OP did was the best way to get out of the situation with no harm to himself or his family (if present). Also, he didnt pay a single rupee from his pocket, which is a bonus. Compare the same with the case of manoj mentioned earlier on this page.

[gtonsing]

I want to share my story as well. I have been living in Bangalore for a long time and this happened more than 5 years ago. Let me get the background straight. I am what someone would call "chinky" being from Manipur and all that. I used to have a white British girl friend. We decided one day to go to Mysore. Through a shady contact, we rented a paperless maruti zen and went to Mysore. On the way back, a lazy sunday afternoon, on the straight stretch between mysore and Mandya, my GF wanted to drive (argument was she has a valid UK Drivers' license and if UK and India drive on the same traffic rules, she should be able to drive safely here) so I gave the wheels to her. We were driving along sedately and having a lively chat as well. Running short of petrol we decided to fill petrol on the right hand side of the road. She put on the right turn blinker, checked on her OVRM and RVM and I did the same checks by looking out through the rear windscreen. Then we turned. We were almost at the petrol bunk gate/entrance when we hear a loud screech and a big THUD! Some freak in a CD100 had slammed on the drivers' side of the car and the pillion rider is unconscious.
Please bear in mind this is a deserted section of the road at that time. In 5 mins, a huge crowd had gathered. I spoke to the rider in hindi initially and he responded saying that his friend needs to be taken to the hospital etc. I said we will. In the meantime, a crowd had gathered and the rider has completely lost his hindi speaking ability. So here I was, standing in the middle of crowd that became increasingly hostile, not speaking a word, looking like an alien and with a white women.
To cut a long story short, we managed to escape by paying the bikers 500 INR (My (ex)GF thought they were going to pay us and was really happy since obviously they were at fault.
But what a harassing and scary minutes we spent there. Everytime I pass by that section on Mysore road, it still gives me the shivers.

Sorry little OT

[Mad Max]

Originally Posted by A350XWB

Tell me about it! I used to drive from 1997 to 2002 (5 years) in Kerala and from 2002 upto now (10 years) in Bangalore. I feel comfortable driving in Bangalore than in Kerala (especially the North),

My elder brother (who taught me driving) has the exact opposite reaction. He drives across TamilNadu and Kerala for work extensively. But he'll drive up to Silk Board, call me and I have to drive the car from then on. When he leaves, I drive upto Bommanahalli and then he'll take over. Yeah, he's that scared.

[AltoLXI]

It is really irritating when the autodrivers are "assisting" their folks on the road. An auto runs out of fuel on the road and another autodriver is driving with his right foot pushing the first auto from behind. A few days back it was worse - I saw a two wheeler guy doing the same - pushing the auto while riding behind it.

Today I had an altercation with a few auto drivers on this. For more than 200 meters I was following them with no chance of overtaking. Honking did not yield any results - instead the driver in the rear auto gestured me to "adjust". Finally when I arrived at a T junction, a two wheeler emerged and just missed hitting my car as he could not see my car because of these morons blocking the sight. This was when I overtook the front auto and stopped in front of him - when these auto drivers surrounded my car.

I promise my wife and myself every time not to argue with these scums but they really get on my nerves often times.

Here is the scene:

Me : "Yenu roadalli circus madtha iddira?. Two wheelernavanu bididre yenagirodu?" (What circus are you doing on the road. What would have happened to the two wheeler if he had fallen down)

Rear auto driver shouting at me - "Gas kali agide, gotthagolva" (There is no gas. Don't you understand).

I rolled down my passenger side window and told him - "Gas kali agidhre, pakkakke nilsi. Gas thandu hakolli" (If the gas is empty, stop the by the side. Get the gas and fill the auto). The gas station which sells gas auto is barely one kilometer from there.

Front auto driver - "Yeniga. Navu hinge hogodu" (What now? We drive like this only)

Rear auto driver - "Aye, door thegiyo" (Open the door). Then he tried putting his hand in the window and tried opening the passenger side of door. I grabbed his hand and pushed him away. My kid who was sitting behind really got scared now.

Then two other drivers joined these scums.

"Gas ilde idre yen madodu. Hogta iru" (If gas is over, what to do. Keep going)

Shouted the choicest expletives they can understand, rolled down the windows and drove away - till next time...

All the while the people on the road just watched the scene. As expected none of them told the drivers they were wrong. It was as if I was wrong because I obstructed one driver "helping" the other or I did not have "pity" on the auto driver as he was "helpless".

Maybe when I run out of petrol, I should ask another car driver to push me from behind till the gas station. Maybe I will be excused for my helplessness.

[aqualeo2040]

Ok.
The Autos that run on Gas, do they run on dual fuel like the kit converted cars or they run on gas only?
Is there a option to fill petrol and run these autos?

If not, I do not think that we can fill gas in the middle of the road like we do for petrol/diesel. In that case, the only option for them is to push the ride to the gas station doing all that circus/kirik that they do.

AltoLXI: No offence meant to what you did. Even it gets my goat. However, I guess I need my doubt clarified