[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by hserus

The only thing is I hope police patrols are on the ball. ECR is already way too widely used by bike racers ...

And weekend party goers

[Gansan]

I used to love the ECR a lot. It was my favourite for going to Pondy. But ever since the Tindivanam - Pondy toll road opened, I have switched to the GST Road to reach Pondy. Enjoyable four lane road and a peaceful drive.

Nowadays I travel the ECR only by bus; I would rather prefer an APC.

[Thad E Ginathom]

I did my annual waste of half an hour at the Chennai Auto Show today.

Usual verdict: you can see interesting cars in more comfort in the car park, or get a better up-close experience at the dealer. Especially if you want to look at anything posh.

Having said that, I ogled the Polo GTI and the Fiat Abarth and found them both to be desirable. So I desired them, for a short time, and moved on.

The biggest mistake the organisers make is that the show is vehicle only. Last year, there was one stand with some detailing stuff. This year there was nothing else at all. They probably price the thing out for those dealers who could otherwise bring us tools, gadgets, audio, detailing stuff etc etc.

It might have been better on Friday, or even yesterday. Plainly, I picked the worst, most crowded, day to visit.

And I couldn't even go and look at pumps and motors as they wouldn't let me in

PS... As your resident shopoholic and regular visitor to CTC shows, let me announce: next weekend is Audio and Video show. Last year, that one was better than previous years. I don't remember any car stuff, though.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

And weekend party goers

Oh yes. One of those fine souls decided to bash my right side ORVM in on the ECR on saturday, while trying an overtake, so I had to drive the remaining 60 km to Pondy with no ORVM on the driver's side.

And then drive 15 km away from my actual destination to the only Honda dealer in Pondy, way out on the Cuddalore road - and then back, about an hour late (and luckily the event I wanted to attend started an hour late so I don't think I missed more than a minute or two, thank god).

[noelravin]

Reply to aveemashfaq: it's unfortunate that this is the reality with chennai traffic police. They will do anything to a person for some loose change. I have had a similar case when a taxi rear ended my car. The cop screamed at the taxi driver and threatened to file an fir for which the car will be out of service for three days. The driver paid the cop got some moral advice from the cop and left. I was accused of rash driving! And for blocking traffic. I agreed to pay a fine knowing that it was futile to argue. The cop said the SI with the fine book will come in an hour. . . . I paid RS. 300/- after negotiations and left mighty frustrated. This is the problem which makes our roads and our lives so chaotic.

[CGB]

We ride every weekend to Mudilakuppam early morning for a break via ECR. The cops knowing this, Stop all the bikes on the way and charge them fine.

Some of the reasons they elucidate:
1) Why headlamps ON? (DRL's they mention)
2) Why costly bike on the road?
3) Why engine making such noise?
4) Why do you race with suit? (Wearing any riding suit, pant, helmet and gloves)
5) If pillion wears helmet, they stop asking why two people wear helmet
6) Overspeeding charge without any speedguns. They just stop and impose the fine.

Yesterday, A HOG group was stopped in a similar fashion.

[Kaumad]

Originally Posted by CGB

Yesterday, A HOG group was stopped in a similar fashion.

I saw a group of superbikes stopped by cops at the Thoraipakkam - Pallavaram junction, around 1100 in the morning.

On a completely different note, what annoys me no end is the idiot traffic constables switching traffic lights at major junctions to manual!
These guys have absolutely no sense of time and are completely oblivious to changing traffic situations. They manually switch lights as and when they feel like - some of them are even chatting away with friends / acquaintances while traffic builds up. Whats even more annoying is when they don't switch lights manually even when theres an ambulance stuck in traffic. They can very clearly hear the siren and in some cases even see it, as it stuck just 50-100 mts from the traffic light. They still wont switch lights to make way.

Many times, I have felt like getting out of my car, walking across and giving them a whack across their faces.......but well!!

[Ajay_the_Don]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I did my annual waste of half an hour at the Chennai Auto Show today.

Usual verdict: you can see interesting cars in more comfort in the car park, or get a better up-close experience at the dealer. Especially if you want to look at anything posh.

Hi Thad, I was there on Sunday around 5 in the evening. Absolute madness and crowded. This year Auto expo was okay. Not too many cars, bmw had a 530D and the retro section is only Morris Minor.

The only cars which I found interesting were the Jeep and the old school Ford Fairline.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Having said that, I ogled the Polo GTI and the Fiat Abarth and found them both to be desirable. So I desired them, for a short time, and moved on.

Oh! even I ogled. The girl at FIAT was cute!

Attaching few pics of the expo.

[hserus]

What is going on at the Adyar bridge today? Traffic jammed all the way from Adyar signal, worse than Silk Board in Bangalore at this time. Took me nearly 45 minutes to get from Adyar signal to the dgs dhinakaran salai turning :(

The way back is in the same boat, dhinakaran salai jammed solid.

Rather a long line of cops look to be deployed so this was probably bandobust duty for Jayalalitha or some other bigwig and a residual jam?

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by hserus

What is going on at the Adyar bridge today? Traffic jammed all the way from Adyar signal, worse than Silk Board in Bangalore at this time. Took me nearly 45 minutes to get from Adyar signal to the dgs dhinakaran salai turning :(

The way back is in the same boat, dhinakaran salai jammed solid.

Rather a long line of cops look to be deployed so this was probably bandobust duty for Jayalalitha or some other bigwig and a residual jam?

Read on Facebook that it is due to the Besant Nagar Church festival and the whole area is choc a bloc

[sjcherian]

Traffic on Anna Salai was crawling as well from Ashok Leyland office all the way till Usman Road (where I turned toward T.Nagar).

[swiftdiesel]

Originally Posted by hserus

What is going on at the Adyar bridge today? Traffic jammed all the way from Adyar signal, worse than Silk Board in Bangalore at this time. Took me nearly 45 minutes to get from Adyar signal to the dgs dhinakaran salai turning :(

The way back is in the same boat, dhinakaran salai jammed solid.

Rather a long line of cops look to be deployed so this was probably bandobust duty for Jayalalitha or some other bigwig and a residual jam?

Was sat twiddling my thumbs from 2.30 PM to 5 PM (no exaggeration!) on Greenways Road with nowhere to turn or leave. Found new ways to engage myself and also made a few friends around me. At one point even the traffic cops were engaged in casual banter! Trust me they're a friendly lot. Such chaos and confusion caused by mindless and daft creatures, in the name of some procession and festival. What I witnessed were anti-social elements parading the road, some even engaging in eve teasing like there was no tomorrow and some banging on cars because we blocked their way. Yeah right!

The cops were ill-prepared to rise up to this chaos and sadly they were mere witnesses to the whole fiasco that unfolded. The worst affected were the general public, women and girls from schools. Sad to admit that I was a mute spectator to all the nonsense I was witness to. It's not my intention to hurt the sentiment of any belief or community but that isn't a ticket for anti-social elements to be out on the prowl with no restraint.

[noelravin]

I have a TN 74! We must be retarded by that scale.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

The cops were ill-prepared to rise up to this chaos and sadly they were mere witnesses to the whole fiasco that unfolded. The worst affected were the general public, women and girls from schools. Sad to admit that I was a mute spectator to all the nonsense I was witness to. It's not my intention to hurt the sentiment of any belief or community but that isn't a ticket for anti-social elements to be out on the prowl with no restraint.

Someone needs to write a letter / start a petition to the local bishop requesting that he work with the police to make this more orderly, given the solemnity of the occasion. And also to rein in high spirits of younger congregation members on the occasion so they dont bang on cars, frighten women etc.

No need to call them anti social - it is after all much the same thing for various festivals of other religions where there's a procession. For the participants it is good fun (and drink etc), for motorists it is a huge pain regardless of which deity is supposed to be pleased by all these goings on.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Politicians, deaths, gods... these are the things that bring our roads to a halt, whether we like them or not.

Yes, it is that day when many thousands walk to the church at Bessant Nagar. I think there is another date in a few days time? There is also a diversions statement in today's The Hindu, for those who need to visit that area. Probably best to simply not take the car!

Only travelled as far as Adyar (from South of Thiruvanmiyur) today. The main Indira Nagar road (Ambika Appalam, Nalli, etc) was slowed down by a continuous stream of the walkers, but they did not stop the traffic or cause any nuisance.

I joke to my friends that I hate meeting god... especially when driving!