[vishnu.csk]

Mods: This post is a bit offtopic. Please feel free to move if required.

I had once parked my car on the road in banglaore. It was a no parking area and i was not aware as i was new to the city. There was a challan. My wife called him up and he said that he will be there. I was wondering what was going to happen as i didnt know kannada. The cop who came there was very nice and spoke friendly when compared to the cops here.

[supremeBaleno]

Today at 8:30AM at the Loyola College subway, saw an accident between couple bikes with one guy on the ground in pain. But what was surprising was smoke billowing high into the air. After traffic cleared, saw that one of the bikes (Scooty Pep I think) was in flames. Some people were trying to douse the flames with water, but from the fire/smoke, I would think the bike would end up fully burnt. Funny thing is that traffic was scarce at that time, so how the accident happened was surprising and the burning bike was facing the other way on the road. Maybe tomorrow's paper will have more details.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I have to tell you that what you are suggesting should never be done. Do not mess with the cops, treat them with respect even if they are rude, show your maturity and respect for the law and remain calm.

I also believe it helps to be calm when dealing with them and avoid aggravating things. At worst, it is just a fine of a few hundred bucks. Is that worth spoiling your whole day? Ofcourse they need not be rude for no reason too.

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

The absence of a No Parking sign does not automatically mean parking is allowed there. Designated parking areas are marked with the Parking sign, all other places are No Parking.

True. Just a caveat for the part in bold. Places where one should not park even in the absences of NoParking boards is listed in detail in the MV Rules - eg. at a turning, on a bridge, in front of entrances etc etc.

Originally Posted by vishnu.csk

I had once parked my car on the road in banglaore. It was a no parking area and i was not aware as i was new to the city. There was a challan. My wife called him up and he said that he will be there. I was wondering what was going to happen as i didnt know kannada. The cop who came there was very nice and spoke friendly when compared to the cops here.

Good (and bad) cops are everywhere. Last Monday, a friend's Swift was swiped by one of those yellow Airport cabs (old Amby) and while the cab was clearly in the wrong, he and his union friends tried to intimidate my friend. A cop posted at Kotturpuram who had seen the incident ensured that they did not have their way.

[aabidansari]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

The absence of a No Parking sign does not automatically mean parking is allowed there. Designated parking areas are marked with the Parking sign, all other places are No Parking.

Absolutely agree with you there. Somewhere in this forum I read this quote by a fellow petrolhead 'The educated do not need implementation'. Though the english is incorrect, the message is profound!
I was simply crying out loud because I got caught. By no means do I find fault with the Traffic cops. They are doing a thankless job.

[aabidansari]

The other day I had parked my Nano near the JJ Basketball stadium at the end of the Stadium road very close to the dustbin. The footpath was to my left and I had parked very close to the kerb. There was ample space around my car so I left her there to attend the function at the stadium.

I parked in the morning about 1000hrs and every couple of hours I came back to the car for something or the other. I finally returned to the car about 2000hrs and my heart simply broke.

Horror of horrors!

The side view mirror on the right side was completely missing, there was a deep scoring mark a few inches above the skirt level from the driver side door upto the nose of the car. I looked around but did not find any broken pieces of the mirror. My family was with me and we spent close to 20mins scouting the area for any bits and pieces. There was not a soul on the road and ours was the only car at the end of road.

Whoever had hit the car had probably broken the mirror as well and seeing nobody around he must have collected all the broken pieces leaving no evidence behind.

It must have been his lucky day. You see, we were returning from a Karate competition and had just won the Champions trophy. The joy of having won the tournament was not fully dampened by this damage to our car.

Wonder how the 'culprits' would have reacted had they seen us in our full uniform and Black belts if we had caught them damaging the car!

I know we wouldn't have touched them, would have been against the spirit of the martial art. But I would have loved the opportunity of putting the fear of God into those guys.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

Ofcourse they need not be rude for no reason too.

Yes, I understand that our absolute idea of a cop is a corrupted one, but IFFF we can take a step back and think of their working conditions, we MIGHT be able to give them some leeway. On the other hand, we are also very angry with them for harassing us and taking mamools. I just have one thing to say to all those saying that the country is corrupt and the cops and Judiciary is corrupt. Look at yourselves in the mirror and try to convince yourself that you have been faithful to your job, that you never misused the internet or the comp in your office or that you never worked beneath your ability. There will be a lot of answers, ponder that my friends. Corruption is not just taking money from someone, it is also in defying your own abilities and misusing your responsibilities. Cops are public servants, hence in the limelight for all the dirty stuff they do, but remember, they have also managed to create some sort of L & O in an absolutely politically volatile society.

P.S. Biju, that sermon was not just for you, for everyone that reads it.

Originally Posted by aabidansari

'The educated do not need implementation'. Though the english is incorrect, the message is profound!

I raked my old brains, you have a chance to prove that I am really old. In what way is that English incorrect ?

[supremeBaleno]

No issues with the sermon, even if it was only for me. Though I fail to understand the relation between the content of it and the part of my post you quoted. What has "being rude" to do with being corrupt ? The corrupt folks (in terms of asking for favours) are usually the most sweet-mannered, because their intent is money and so no point in aggravating the other person without reason. My point was that if someone has broken a signal or parked wrongly, you could still fine him without being rude. Ofcourse it is another matter when you have a hapless cop enforcing traffic at a busy signal (say when lights are not working or some VIP is visiting) and there is the sneaky biker who inspite of repeated admonitions, keeps inching his bike forwards till he is bang in front of oncoming traffic, making the junction a mess. Add the Chennai heat to this and if the poor cop blows his top and uses some choice Chennai abuses, well I won't blame him.

P.S.: If using the internet at work is corruption, most of the IT folks here (including me) are automatically corrupt, "but IFFF we can take a step back and think of the working conditions of us IT folk, we might give them some leeway". A typical workday is 9AM-8PM, with still some calls to take later in the night. A Govt. official can come in at 10, leave at 5 and then browse from his PC at home at 6PM - does not work for most of us, hence Work-Life Integration.

[aabidansari]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

I raked my old brains, you have a chance to prove that I am really old. In what way is that English incorrect ?

Ah..from one Esteem lover to another. Please take no offence when I correct that statement (if you have originally quoted it).
'Implementation' is a a noun. It signifies the act of implementing. That would mean that an 'object' is required for the sentence to be correct. One 'implements' something. It is not a thing to be handed over to the subject.

I do not know if I have cleared the doubt. But hey we could always catch up over a cuppa to talk more about it rather than bore all bhpians.

What say?

[headers]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

A Govt. official can come in at 10, leave at 5 and then browse from his PC at home at 6PM - does not work for most of us, hence Work-Life Integration.

a typical work day in some govt offices are 10.30 AM till midnight - Scary, but true, especially in the senior levels.

[supremeBaleno]

As if the metal barricades blocking half or more of the OMR was not enough, CTP has come up with another ingenious idea to put the already harried commuters to more hardship. They now use drums (filled with dirt I guess) lined up to block half the OMR, resulting in a traffic jam at these places - pics below.

The first one is just after SRP tools junction (near Capital Honda showroom)


The 2nd one comes up less than a km away.


I completely fail to understand the point here. You first build a nice road (toll road at that) which is 2-3 lanes wide on each side so that traffic can move smoothly and then you negate the whole purpose, by putting up these contraptions on the road, which not only create traffic-jams, but can be cause for fatal accidents too.

If the idea is to slow down traffic so that pedstrians can cross OMR by jumping across the median, nothing could be more foolish/deadly. For this purpose, we have overhead pedestrian bridges at regular intervals.

And if the intention is to reduce speed, all you need to do is put proper signboards indicating max. speed and then install cameras to catch violators. I can vouch from personal experience that the cameras work superb. I was on the nice 2-lane-on-each-side stretch of the NH47 between Chertala and Cochin couple weeks ago where they have cams installed. On the return journey, the camera snapped me speeding and sent home a challan for Rs400 with 3 clear snaps of the car - 1 snap of the number-plate zoomed in, and 2 snaps of the car on the road (long-view). No need for cops to stand hidden with speed-guns hidden inside Innovas etc.

[Kaumad]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

...

I completely fail to understand the point here.

And if the intention is to reduce speed

Completely agree with SupremeBaleno here. The Chennai traffic police seem to be a bunch of morons who have no understanding of traffic sense - sorry for the sweeping statement!!

I live on this road and 99% of the times my average speed is under 40 kmph on the stretch from Thoraipakkam to Tidel Park. What speed reduction are they thinking?
These barricades are completely pointless and make no sense whatsoever.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

As if the metal barricades blocking half or more of the OMR was not enough, CTP has come up with another ingenious idea to put the already harried commuters to more hardship. They now use drums (filled with dirt I guess) lined up to block half the OMR, resulting in a traffic jam at these places - pics below.

The same set of new barricades are put up on the road from Kamakshi hospital to the Velachery railway station as well. If you are stuck in that route between 6:30 - 8PM, then you will have a lot of time on your hands because of those "speed checkers" especially if there is a truck or a MTC bus

[DWind]

As it is OMR is bursting its seams. Now they plan to have an elevated road running from Taramani (I assume after SRP Tools signal) till Mahabalipuram. I refuse to call it an expressway as
1. It would just be 2 lanes either way.
2. Each turn off would have a rotary which I am sure will only bunch up traffic for miles.

And then reduction in number of lanes due to construction. Not to forget removal of existing unused pedestrian over-bridges.

SB! Cheer-up. These barricades will be removed as soon as construction work starts and then you can start flying at speeds of 22 KMPH!

And yes! No place for Metro / BRT / Mono-rail.

[Thad E Ginathom]

At least these barrels are highly visible (at least if one has headlights on) unlike the fence-type barriers in use in the past, which just add a hazard to the road.

And if the intention is to reduce speed, all you need to do is put proper signboards indicating max. speed and then install cameras to catch violators.

I believe that this is the way to go for all major roads and also for signal violations, but I fear that sufficient numbers of the worst offenders will find some method of exempting themselves. Will the cab drivers slow down? Will they pay if not?

It is also important to actually keep pedestrians off roads such as OMR. not just bridges, but Proper barriers should be built to enforce that.

Probably many of you guys are commuting at commuting times: as an evening user of OMR, I can say that speeds are way over 40kph!

As it is OMR is bursting its seams. Now they plan to have an elevated road running from Taramani (I assume after SRP Tools signal) till Mahabalipuram.

Is this going to be actually over the existing road? Even construction of the OMR seems to be a never-completed project, elevated-road construction will destroy the existing facility. It could be even worse than the impact of Metro construction of Anna Salai


.

[headers]

Attachment 1068295

It is a wonderful slalom, cheer up guys, it does catch one unawares and then you get used to expecting the unexpected

[Ananthang]

Originally Posted by headers

Attachment 1068295

It is a wonderful slalom, cheer up guys, it does catch one unawares and then you get used to expecting the unexpected

And we pay Rs.38 per day for using the road. Even If I have to use just the road for 2 Kms one way, I have to pay 38 .

I use to travel from Madipakkam to Thoraipakkam PTC Quarters