[Gannu_1]

2 clips from our return drive from Pondicherry last weekend.

1. An MTC bus makes an unauthorised stop to pick a passenger when another passenger decides to get down from the moving bus and almost into a road-side pit.

https://youtu.be/Hjm-m6c6I24

2. In the ORR from Vandalur, a stray cow wanders into the fast lane. The car was doing 100 km/h. Luckily we noticed and slammed the brake. Due to the green pastures on the large divider region, cattle grazes here often. Can be very dangerous.

https://youtu.be/Q0gTa29-DR4

[mpksuhas]

Is there a increase in cattle menace around Chennai since past couple of years?

Even on GQ- Bangalore side, nearer to Chennai there used to be cattle grazing on divider earlier too.
However, since past couple of years noticing bigger herds of cattle roaming around and suddenly darting across.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

2. In the ORR from Vandalur, a stray cow wanders into the fast lane. The car was doing 100 km/h. Luckily we noticed and slammed the brake.

Please don't speed up before you cross the Nemmili toll despite the road looking empty. Too many locals on two wheelers, cattle etc before that.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Have been seeing more cows, at least in the suburbs. Some places, like Thiruvanmiyur East Mada Street, have become more like farmyards than roads!

[Turbohead]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Is there a increase in cattle menace around Chennai since past couple of years?

Even on GQ- Bangalore side, nearer to Chennai there used to be cattle grazing on divider earlier too.
However, since past couple of years noticing bigger herds of cattle roaming around and suddenly darting across.

For reasons unknown to me, yes, people are rearing cattle inside the city. I'm noticing then in my colony which has not been the case in the past 18 years. Weird considering how milk prices haven't gone up much in the last few years.

[m8002?]

Originally Posted by srinath.s

Toll collection on OMR toll plazas to stop!

Link

On a related note, other redundant toll plazas surrounding Chennai are also planned to be scrapped as per the article.

Its high time the toll is shut on OMR. Its crazy they collect a toll for road with numerous signals and limited turns and that too at rates of Rs. 30 per trip. Given that most of OMR has now been brought under the CMDA, it should be a regular city road maintained by the city corporation.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

An MTC bus makes an unauthorised stop to pick a passenger when another passenger decides to get down from the moving bus and almost into a road-side pit.

This was predictable. On Madurantakam bypass, there is a spot where buses pickup-dropoffs done on a fast section and there is literally zero indication of it. You have TNSTC parked on the slow lane and 2-wheelers riding wrong side from/to it. People crossing the NH at will.

Originally Posted by Gannu_1

In the ORR from Vandalur, a stray cow wanders into the fast lane. The car was doing 100 km/h

Originally Posted by hserus

Please don't speed up before you cross the Nemmili toll despite the road looking empty. Too many locals on two wheelers, cattle etc before that.

To add on what Suresh has mentioned. Drive a bit slowly and eyes peeled on the following multi-lane sections during regular hours:

Madras-Melmaruvathur (NH45)
Madras-Ranipet (NH4)
Madras-Tiruttani (NH205)
Madras-Sri City (NH5)
Madras-Pondy (ECR)

and connecting roads like Bypass, Outer Ring Road, Vandalur-Walajabad, Oragadam-Sriperumbudur. Its tempting to press on, but there are far too much miscellaneous traffic (especially post-Covid) that you have to be alert.

If you enter/exit the city post 10 pm and before 4 am you can drive with a lot more peace of mind.

Originally Posted by m8002?

Its high time the toll is shut on OMR.

The toll collection is suspended because the upcoming phase-2 metro work. Going by the proactive suspension, I expect OMR is going to be a big mess for atleast a couple of years.

[hserus]

On this topic - drive carefully especially after dark.

Long stretches are still not lit and don’t have control on entry and exit points so that they become local roads with patches of construction.

https://m.timesofindia.com/city/chen...w/85943644.cms

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks.

Somewhat surprised to read this*:

CHENNAI: Accidents are on the rise on national highways in the city suburbs as streetlights have gone on the blink on many stretches.

People can't drive without streetlights?

Is this going to be the next thing after rain, fog, bad visibility, whatever but anything but the driver's fault? Had the accident because: no street lights.

I'm not saying that lighting doesn't make roads safer, just that driving in the dark isn't the greatest exploit known to man: we should all be able to do it.

Oh wait, no, I suppose I'm not. And yes, I'd like to avoid those roads after dark too, now.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I'm not saying that lighting doesn't make roads safer, just that driving in the dark isn't the greatest exploit known to man: we should all be able to do it.

Oh wait, no, I suppose I'm not. And yes, I'd like to avoid those roads after dark too, now.

I had this interesting experience with a black cow on a pitch dark night ++ rain. Not every car (especially not the lower end hatchbacks) has all that good headlights unfortunately. Stopped just in time and wished that cow all manner of unpleasant things before I drove off again.

[Yieldway17]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Thanks.

People can't drive without streetlights?

My first reaction was the same but the highways in the suburbs are a different beast. As they are highways, streetlights are generally absent or not lit the far from the city you go. But the pedestrians, two wheelers etc. who are crossing the road are still in high numbers which is a risky combination. Streetlights help in this situation to spot better a pedestrian or cyclist who unfortunately has to dart across 4 lanes to get to the other side. It's all poor planning from our authorities who designs these wide highways in suburbs without a thought about the local population.

Chennai Bypass though is an access controlled highway for almost all of its stretch and I think streetlights should not strictly be a necessity there except for near the toll plaza and interchanges which are already lit (unless broken).

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

People can't drive without streetlights?

Is this going to be the next thing after rain, fog, bad visibility, whatever but anything but the driver's fault? Had the accident because: no street lights.

Good question. At least the cattle and the dogs and cats have Tapetum lucidum - a layer of reflective tissue behind the retina which helps these animals to see better in lower light. This is the reason why you see their eyes shine in your head light. You could see their eyes shine several hundred feet away even before you see their bodies.

Humans and monkeys and pigs don't have them. So we have poor low light vision. But pigs can be disastrous as their eyes don't shine and because of their black bodies, you can't see them until it is too late.
They used to frequent the border area between Karaikal and the 'Union'. Pigs also travel in clusters.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by hserus

I had this interesting experience with a black cow ...

Even in the city I have met with such animals lying in shadow

Originally Posted by Yieldway17

My first reaction was the same but the highways in the suburbs are a different beast. As they are highways, streetlights are generally absent or not lit the far from the city you go. But the pedestrians, two wheelers etc. who are crossing the road are still in high numbers which is a risky combination. Streetlights help in this situation ...

Yes, I agree.

I'm not at all against such lighting. Certainly it makes these roads safer. What I am against is the people who will not alter their speed or driving style because conditions have changed, whether it be rain or darkness, their brains are like a cruise control that has only one setting.

Reality is, yes, there are many such people, and, even if we are not among them, we have to share the roads with them, so I'm all for the lighting!

As an aside, in my mother country, where I have not driven a car for a few years now, urban motorways are lit. Perhaps junctions are too, I forget. But, as one drives away from the city, there comes a point where the lighting just... stops. I used to find that, being plunged into darkness at 70MPH (or more, albeit illegal) very disconcerting, and wondered why they could not graduate the lighting and phase it from light to dark.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

People can't drive without streetlights?

There are loads of penny wise folks driving/riding without headlights. How will 2 such geniuses spot each other?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by narayans80

There are loads of penny wise folks driving/riding without headlights. How will 2 such geniuses spot each other?

This is one of those great eternal questions. My wife tells me that, in her youth, police would even stop pedal bikes that didn't have correct lights. Now it feels like they must be stopping the ones that do!