[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha

See attached map. I had a heart-in-mouth moment driving on this stretch this morning.

Oh yeah. This is the same stretch I was referring to. That part of road has been OTR terrain since almost Jan-Feb time. I used to travel on this road almost everyday until recently, since I found the traffic flow to be much smoother here than BTM - silk board flow. Unfortunately the roads ruin it now.

This and another terrifying set of potholes near Jakkasandra Barbeque nation are part of the reason why I reverted from Koramangala to BTM route. I used to earlier take a right at Jakkasandra Lemon grass signal and rejoin ORR at HSR. That used to save me 15-20 mins compared to the usual BTM ORR route.

Another OTR stretch - go along Jakkasandra - Agara lake and rejoin ORR near the Hanuman statue. That area below the flyover is amazing. It will actually beat the St. Johns stretch. Nice training place for ladakh road trip enthusiasts.

[deadguy25]

Originally Posted by saket77

Deadguy, it happens often that we get surprised by speed breakers on roads which we don't frequent, but how would you explain that after 'being surprised' the giant jumps over the median to the other side and further goes on to the footpath and then kills many? The guy cannot be defended saying that there was no signage. At the speed, he was cruising at, I doubt he would have even noticed the people around, let alone the sign boards!

Though agreed that signboards are welcome, but without them such an incident happening is not acceptable. They are two different matters.


Point noted Sir!

Yup these are two different things. Like I had responded earlier, I took the wrong example to point-out something else .

[rohanjf]

Rain has been heavy this evening, and I was stuck in a lengthy traffic jam on Varthur road. The jam had gone for over a kilometre. And I was behind an Innova when the rain got even heavier. So he switched on the hazard lights. It was very irritating, but I waited for a few minutes. Since the traffic was not moving at all, I got out of the car and went to him and told him how irritating it is. Nice guy, obliged. He switched off his hazard lights.

I hope he never uses hazard lights when it rains heavily and there is traffic jam!

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Rain has been heavy this evening, and I was stuck in a lengthy traffic jam on Varthur road. The jam had gone for over a kilometre.

I was in the same place probably a little later than you, since the jam for me was just ~200-300 metres at around ~7 pm. The reason for this jam was stupid. There are some new craters created on the long straight next to the lake, just near Varthur town. All the vehicles were going dead slow in that crater area, causing a major buildup of traffic on that single lane stretch.

Of course, some morons were trying to go on the opposite lane until they were confronted by opposite traffic, and did the usual squeezing back into the correct lane . This was holding up both sides of traffic.

I deliberately blocked one such squeezing Indicab and forced him to get stuck on the right lane with oncoming traffic. He got a royal blasting by the opposite lane truck guy *rofl*. I had a stupid satisfied grin plastered on my face for the next 15 minutes after that.

[Soumyajit9]

Note: Unsure if this rant should be posted here or somewhere else. Mods, please decide.

So my midnight ride to the B'lore Int'l Airport was quite adventurous. I am typing thing sitting in the airport lounge, still nauseating from the roller coaster ride.

It all started from BTM bus stop. The so called scientific speed breakers are pathetic to say the least. The bus would go over it and then land with a thud. Add to that, since this was the last service from BTM, the driver was hoping to reach the airport early and take a good sleep/rest. He was easily doing speeds of around 90km/hr. There were 2 major bus stops enroute - Jayanagar and Shantinagar, where the conductor took a print out of something and handed over at the counter at these TTMC. Once that was done, the driver switched off the lights and took the 14 hapless souls in the bus for a super ride.
I felt pity for the bus. It was all moaning and squeaking and crying and what not. I wonder how much does BMTC spend of the maintenance of Volvos.

I tried to sleep bus was continuously tossing in my seat. So I chose to be wide awake and keep an eye on the road. There were heavy brakings and sudden accelerations. Once he reached the NH, the lane changing started happening as if it was a bike !!
I saw some more suicidal acts, but not the driver, but bikers. One fellow was riding his pulsar at a very decent speed of max 50km/hr in the middle of the road at 1am, in pitch darkness !! The honks of the bus went unnoticed until the point where the bus driver squeezed through the biker's side. The biker looked around in shock and continued, still in the same pace in the middle lane (if you can at all count lanes on the NH.

I'm not sure if this should be posted here, but I am absolutely shocked at the driving skills of these Vayu Vajra buses + Bikers (they are a species all together). Come 12am midnight and everyone is a king on the road, until he/she is dead.

[rohanjf]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I was in the same place probably a little later than you, since the jam for me was just ~200-300 metres at around ~7 pm. The reason for this jam was stupid. There are some new craters created on the long straight next to the lake, just near Varthur town...

When I was there at around 5 or so, there was a broken down lorry on the Varthur road. This was the reason for long jam. Two police constables, one with an old umbrella and another in a yellow raincoat, were trying to fight the heavy rain and still manage the traffic.

You were lucky, the lorry was moved quickly! These days I see at least one broken down lorry on that narrow road every week. It gets much worse on Sundays, when there is weekly market in Varthur (luckily, you don't have to go that way on weekends). Sadly, there are no alternate roads also.

By the way, when I had to stop on Varthur lake bridge, I realised that it shakes so much whenever a heavy vehicle goes over it. Is this the way it is designed? Or is the bridge going to collapse soon? My wife says I should bring this to authorities' notice. Who do I complain to?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

By the way, when I had to stop on Varthur lake bridge, I realised that it shakes so much whenever a heavy vehicle goes over it. Is this the way it is designed? Or is the bridge going to collapse soon? My wife says I should bring this to authorities' notice. Who do I complain to?

It happens on that small bridge next to Varthur town?? I think some amount of minor shaking is normal when heavy vehicles move in the opposite direction. It happens on all suspended roads and bridges. You will find this happening even if you stop on flyovers. But if it was very noticeable or something you spotted happening only recently, probably you could post on the BTP facebook page and let them take it forward from there.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

By the way, when I had to stop on Varthur lake bridge, I realised that it shakes so much whenever a heavy vehicle goes over it. Is this the way it is designed? Or is the bridge going to collapse soon? My wife says I should bring this to authorities' notice. Who do I complain to?

Bridges and Flyovers are designed and built to expand and move to some degree so that it does not crack and fall apart. When a heavy vehicle passes, it would be more noticeable.

Regards

[rohanjf]

I have been driving on that bridge almost every Monday to Friday since last 4 years or so, but have observed the shaking only recently.

The bridge is made from 3 or 4 concrete blocks. There are thin metal strips where the blocks join each other (where they are supported by the pillars below). There was enough gap between the concrete blocks, so the lateral vibrations wouldn't get transferred from one block to the next. Over the years, the asphalt around these strips started coming off. This created small potholes, which, just like any living being, fed on vehicles' movements and grew over time. Last year, the great PWD brought its great engineers, and they filled up these gaps while fixing the potholes.

I believe this quick fix is the reason for the bridge shaking so much.

It could also be that I never observed the bridge shaking so much all these years because I never got stuck on the bridge. There rarely were traffic jams on that stretch before.

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

So my midnight ride to the B'lore Int'l Airport was quite adventurous. I am typing thing sitting in the airport lounge, still nauseating from the roller coaster ride.

Soumyajit, I dread to take this road due to the way cabs and buses are driven on this road. However I should say I am anytime happier to be in BMTC Vajra than a cab on airport road in night. 3 different cab drivers had slept off while driving on this route ( 2 times while returning from airport and once on way) . I usually keep checking in between if drivers are dozing off so was able to make out two times and wake them up. Once I didn't notice since me and wife was discussing something. Driver dozed off and luckily left his foot off accelerator ie when I made out something was amiss.

Now day's I sit in front passenger seat just to keep an eye on driver.

[ashwin.terminat]

Not a rant exactly, but just something I thought about, I even posted this on BTP's Facebook page,
https://www.facebook.com/BangaloreTr...f&notif_t=like

This is to further justify why I believe that the orange light needs to be on for longer than 2 seconds, moreso in signals with no countdown timer for the green light.

These are a few simple Physics formulae:
v^2-u^2=2aS
Where v is final velocity, u is initial velocity, a is acceleration and S is distance.
v=u+at
Where t is the time taken.

Consider the case of the Pulsar 200NS, dual disks brakes, it takes 16.33 meters to come from 60kmph(or 16.67meters per second)-0 with an experienced, professional rider.
Consider the first equation,
v(final velocity=0(since the bike comes to a stop)
u(initial velocity)=16.67
S(distance taken to stop)=16.33 meters
The equation becomes (0*0)-(16.67*16.67)=(2*a*16.33)
Solving for a,
a=8.5m/s^2
Use this value of a in v=u+at,
v is still 0.
u is still 16.67
a was found to be 8.5
0=16.67+(8.5*a)
Finding t from the equation, that equates to 1.9s

That means, the Pulsar takes 1.9s to come to a standstill from 60kmph. Your orange light gives everyone, right from a TVS 50 to an Activa to a Superbike the same 2 seconds to come to a standstill.

The Pulsar 200NS has Dual Disk Brakes, meaning disk brakes up front and at the back, disk brakes of course are far superior to drum brakes, how many bikes do we have on the road that have this feature? A majority of the bikes have drum brakes on Splendors, Discovers etc. and cannot stop as quickly as the Pulsar 200NS. Also, most of us will not be near as good as the professional rider probably employed by Bajaj for their tests.

I hope you take my request for longer durations for the orange light more seriously atleast now because the 2 second time period you allow only puts lives at risk.

BTW, 60kmph is the speed limit for bikes and in Bangalore, there are plenty of roads you can reach 60kmph.

My 2 cents. Hope this isn't disregarded as too long, like my post on 22nd June,
https://www.facebook.com/BangaloreTr...15386695193709
whose reply I am still waiting for.

[binand]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

BTW, 60kmph is the speed limit for bikes and in Bangalore, there are plenty of roads you can reach 60kmph.

Unfortunately, the speed limit in Bangalore for two-wheelers is 50 kmph.

http://www.bangaloretrafficpolice.go...id=180&btp=180

Even otherwise, BTP can interpret your message to be an argument in favour of reducing the speed limit further. It is 40 kmph in Chennai, for example.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

Not a rant exactly, but just something I thought about

Your logic is somewhat flawed - everyone must slow down at signals even if it has green signal on it. However in Bangalore everything goes. People actually speed up when they see an orange light!

[volkman10]

This is now the sitauation in most roads, chaos when it rains - flash floods due to the failure of the drainage system is the biggest problem nowadays.



Cheers!

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by binand

Unfortunately, the speed limit in Bangalore for two-wheelers is 50 kmph.

http://www.bangaloretrafficpolice.go...id=180&btp=180

Even otherwise, BTP can interpret your message to be an argument in favour of reducing the speed limit further. It is 40 kmph in Chennai, for example.

Yes, I got a message from BTP saying just that. And with 50kmph, it amounts to 1.6 seconds stopping time necessary for a Pulsar 200NS and 2.3 seconds for the Apache 180 mentioned above. These are bikes equipped with excellent disk brake systems. The braking time required for smaller bikes will be 0.7 seconds more atleast I'm sure.

I don't know how BTP interpreted it, but I just felt that some Orange light durations are too short. It's really scary to come to a halt all of a sudden and you don't know if the guy at the back even intends to stop!

Originally Posted by SunnyBoi

Your logic is somewhat flawed - everyone must slow down at signals even if it has green signal on it. However in Bangalore everything goes. People actually speed up when they see an orange light!

Haha, my logic is fine. I agree everyone must slow down, but does it happen? Do people strictly follow the 50kmph speed limit? No. And BTP fixes durations considering they do. I just believe it's better to plan things out based on the ground reality rather than what the rulebook says.

Since they can't get people to adhere to the speed limit, they might as well minimize damage that they might cause.