The car ahead is rolling back! What do I do?

Snowman79 · 14th April 2010, 09:24

the same thing happened to me a few years back . i had a qualis and a maruti zen guy rolled back onto my bullguard, then he gets out of the car and started shouting at me for "hitting" him .

in the end i used a few choice expletives on him and told him that if i really had hit him. his car wouldnt be driveable!

Sudarshan · 19th April 2010, 12:40

Well its a very serious issue ,its dangerous
I tell you solutions from my various experiances
1) Normal care ,Keep safe distance (Though a luxary in city traffic) but a MUST on hill roads, & highways.
2) Turn on head llights & hazard warning ,also horn in a patternised mode (to draw maximum attention) .Flicker head lights in on/off mode. Try some shouting (polite but loud).
3) Its upon the size ,weight & sturdyness of the vehicle ahed of you , so two classes
A) smaller vehicle in front of you , its easy just sit back put the car in neutral, apply brakes (Not hard) ,have a look behind for space .Wait for the Touchdown, then when you have impact slightly remove pressure on brakes ,let both vehicles roll a little ,just to soak the impact .This may lesson the damage. When the shock is taken apply brakes again. Till You gain control over the situation,Dont Leave your car. Apply hand brake ,& make sure that both the vehicles are not moving again Before you leave your car. If there is no space behind you , pray for luck !
B) Larger, sturdier vehicle in front of you--- This is really scary movie.But hold on You have no choice, Check for space behind you REVERSE, Look at sides Change Lane ,ESCAPE. Well no space behind & you are trapped, Dont be in gear , Apply brakes slightly. Do NOT try to stop a Larger vehicle with your own . Taking care of own Life is a priority, car is secondary. Escape( from car) if you fear for worst or seea real threat of your car getting crushed by a heavy weight.It is better to pass the shock to the vehicle behind you if you are trapped bet the two. Rear end dammage is affordable, then the Front (Front end consists of more vital parts like engine,steering & drive in many & controlls too).But in any case you CANT STOP a larger vehicle with your own.

zavegur · 7th May 2010, 12:21

the best way to tackle this is to honk before you queue up behind him, or just before you both stop for the signal or for whatever reason.

GTO · 8th May 2010, 13:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by zavegur

the best way to tackle this is to honk before you queue up behind him, or just before you both stop for the signal or for whatever reason.

Absolutely NOT! Why would you honk everytime that you line up behind someone? Not only is it a flawed solution to the problem, but can also get damn annoying for the guy in front.

mobike008 · 8th May 2010, 13:43

Simplest solution is to maintain a reasonable distance when you stop at a signal. Make sure to increase this distance if you see a "L" board on the car in front of you.

If the car in front starts rolling behind, you cannot do anything but honk, assuming your blocked from behind and sideways.

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, when a lady driver slowly backed into my car and due to which my front number plate got a crack. She didnt realize because she was on phone and i showed a finger to her and overtook her.

In this small world, she surprisingly turned out to be my customer and when i told her the problem, we both apologized to each other and forgot about the incident.

MileCruncher · 8th May 2010, 14:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobike008

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, when a lady driver slowly backed into my car and due to which my front number plate got a crack. She didnt realize because she was on phone and i showed a finger to her and overtook her.

In this small world, she surprisingly turned out to be my customer and when i told her the problem, we both apologized to each other and forgot about the incident.

Lucky you Man! Not everybody can get away by showing a finger to the customer

fine69 · 15th May 2010, 23:52

Its a mixed feeling to see a thread on this topic. To know that I'm not the only one who's come across such situations is somewhat comforting however the bad part is that usually there isn't much one can do if the driver in the front decides to be a jerk!

I'll quote a few instances here:
1. On my way to office I stop behind another M800 (I also drive one) and there are cars all around us (peak hours). Now the guy in front start rolling back, I honk.....I honk again but the car doesn't stop rolling, I reverse my car by 4-5 inches (that a looooooot of space considering I'm at a delhi red light) but the guy still doesn't stop and finally touches the bumper. I honk again but this old guy (I finally see that he's like 60-65 yrs old) has no clue as to what all has happened in those 7-8 seconds. I just sit there waiting for the signal to go green and as it does he moves.

2. I'm coming back from gurgaon and its raining cats and dogs and there's a huge traffic jam. The driver in a zen in front of me start rolling back and I honk & honk & honk (flash high beam several times too as its night time) but he continues rolling. I finally roll down my windows and shout at the top of my voice and what do I see - a hand out of the front car asking me why the hell am I honking? The car continues to roll and touches the bumper and when I shout out aloud that telling him to move it he gets his head out of the car telling me to shut up.
Now you tell me what to do here??!!

I just continue to sit there and hope that he moves (at his convinience of course)

So the bottomline here is - there isn't much you can do if the driver in the front decided to be a jerk!

Now I maintain more than comfortable distance from the car in front (pretty much all one can do) and if they start to roll I roll down the windows immediately (while honking and flashing lights) and as of now all 3 of them did stop - yes, its happened 3 more times after that.

beat this!

psst! or what I could recommend is getting some spikes under your car that'd come up within a second or two with the press of a button and screw up the bumper trying to kiss your ride

rajeev k · 16th May 2010, 07:57

This happens when an 'idiot' is at the wheel of the vehicle in front of you and at traffic signals or intersections in cities on hills like Trivandrum and when one is on trips to hill stations.The reason being these idiots do not know how to operate the clutc/brake/accelerator properly on such steep inclines.If you are following him quite some distance it is possible to get a feel of his bad driving; the thing is these guys are very very bad drivers.

It happened to me on quite some ocassions. i remember vividly such an incident long long back when a guy in his Fiat rolled back at the overbridge junction in Trivandrum and was about to hit my Amby. Then I stopped my car, came out very quickly and yelled at him through his window. Remember it was possible in those times because traffic density was very less and air conditioned cars were nowhere to be seen.

SRK72 · 24th May 2010, 20:24

This happened to me once in my brand new Fiesta. I honked but to no avail, the guy kept moving backward. To avoid the car in front bumping me, i reversed slightly and hit a bike at the rear. Meanwhile this guy didnt stop and hit my front bumper. Luckily not much damage.

I guess there is little one can do in such situation except to pray

prateek99 · 25th May 2010, 11:33

What i am going to share is a little off-topic; this happened to me from both the sides instead of front car rolling back. The reason to share this here is I too was on 'PRAY' mode with little in my control.

I was on my way back home, stuck in chock-o-block WEH traffic in front of the Hub Mall in Goregaon. A dreaded red state transport bus, not the BEST bus, was inching closer to me beyond my comfort level.

It must have been a cm away from my right OVRM and still drifting left. I moved a little on the right to find a Tata 407 on my left. I moved my car a little to the left and waited to let both the non-considerate drivers move ahead and saved myselfy from loosing both my OVRMs.

JuggernauTT · 27th July 2010, 17:03

This has happened to me quite a few times now. But since i drive a HM Contessa with a full iron front bumper (chrome type, weighs around 10kg's!) i don't bother even honking when a tiny car is inching backwards! And since every road to where i stay has considerable inclines, this happens very frequently.
My method is to just stand on the brakes so i don't hit the car behind me.
And to hope the car ahead gets maximum inflictable damage as a reminder for being so absent minded in Mumbai traffic!

This might sound very cynical but it gets really annoying after a point!

If its a bigger vehicle like a scorpio or something.. I just pray my bumper is high enough to stop his car

Btw if you see any zens, indicas etc. around hiranandani powai with a triangular dent on the hatch, it might be thanks to a certain somebody

mooza · 3rd August 2010, 21:00

My recently installed reversing sensor saved the day today for my Scorpio.

A Xylo was rolling back (on a slope) towards a guy in an Octavia, who panicked, shouted, honked and flashed his lights, all to no avail, as the Xylo guy seemed to be a rookie driver !

My amusement ended when the Octy guy started to reverse his car too, towards me, as I was next in the pecking (or denting) order.

I too started to reverse my car till within 0.2 metres of the car behind me, who started honking endlessly in panic, by which time the merry procession of rolling had come to a standstill, thanks to the Xylo guy finally stuttering ahead.

I felt that my reversing sensor had paid for itself today

kanuj · 28th September 2010, 11:57

My friend has an Indica and we had a similar experience once. We were waiting on one of the traffic lights in Noida, when a car (don't remember which, but going by this thread, must've been a WagonR lol) started to roll back. He started to honk the car's horns, but the guy didn't listen. Now my friend has this "hidden" beeping alarm/horn switch placed neatly underneath his steering wheel that blasts out like anything. He hit the switch, and not only did it stop the car in the front from rolling back, other car owners standing alongside us took notice of their cars as well. He told me that's what that horn is for... illegal I know, but saved his car a few scratches that day!

deep_bang · 28th September 2010, 13:34

has happenned to me too.
A Zen slowly starts to inch backwards - i honk once and hope he notices.
It seems like did listen to the horn, but did not realise that that he is backing up.

Slowly, it hits my car, and this guy comes out says "Hey - there is no space in the front. You not only honk but also hit my car".

Amusing, but i saw there was no perceptible damage, and after explaining the "real" situation, he was confused. By this time the signal was green and everyone started to move.. so left it at that.

mykal shoemaker · 29th September 2010, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by rajeev k

This happens when an 'idiot' is at the wheel of the vehicle in front of you and at traffic signals or intersections in cities on hills like Trivandrum and when one is on trips to hill stations.The reason being these idiots do not know how to operate the clutc/brake/accelerator properly on such steep inclines.If you are following him quite some distance it is possible to get a feel of his bad driving; the thing is these guys are very very bad drivers.

It happened to me on quite some ocassions. i remember vividly such an incident long long back when a guy in his Fiat rolled back at the overbridge junction in Trivandrum and was about to hit my Amby. Then I stopped my car, came out very quickly and yelled at him through his window. Remember it was possible in those times because traffic density was very less and air conditioned cars were nowhere to be seen.

In learning phase,everyone goes through the "idiot" role.
Its not because all of us are idiot.
Practice makes perfection. And those drivers will improve over the time.

Safe distance is the best solution.
Increase that safe distance when there is an L sticker or a lady driver.

14th April 2010, 09:24	#76
Snowman79 BHPian Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Hyderabad Posts: 45 Thanked: 10 Times View My Garage	the same thing happened to me a few years back . i had a qualis and a maruti zen guy rolled back onto my bullguard, then he gets out of the car and started shouting at me for "hitting" him . in the end i used a few choice expletives on him and told him that if i really had hit him. his car wouldnt be driveable!
	() Thanks

19th April 2010, 12:40	#77
Sudarshan BANNED Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Pune Posts: 1,200 Thanked: 880 Times View My Garage	My trick Well its a very serious issue ,its dangerous I tell you solutions from my various experiances 1) Normal care ,Keep safe distance (Though a luxary in city traffic) but a MUST on hill roads, & highways. 2) Turn on head llights & hazard warning ,also horn in a patternised mode (to draw maximum attention) .Flicker head lights in on/off mode. Try some shouting (polite but loud). 3) Its upon the size ,weight & sturdyness of the vehicle ahed of you , so two classes A) smaller vehicle in front of you , its easy just sit back put the car in neutral, apply brakes (Not hard) ,have a look behind for space .Wait for the Touchdown, then when you have impact slightly remove pressure on brakes ,let both vehicles roll a little ,just to soak the impact .This may lesson the damage. When the shock is taken apply brakes again. Till You gain control over the situation,Dont Leave your car. Apply hand brake ,& make sure that both the vehicles are not moving again Before you leave your car. If there is no space behind you , pray for luck ! B) Larger, sturdier vehicle in front of you--- This is really scary movie.But hold on You have no choice, Check for space behind you REVERSE, Look at sides Change Lane ,ESCAPE. Well no space behind & you are trapped, Dont be in gear , Apply brakes slightly. Do NOT try to stop a Larger vehicle with your own . Taking care of own Life is a priority, car is secondary. Escape( from car) if you fear for worst or seea real threat of your car getting crushed by a heavy weight.It is better to pass the shock to the vehicle behind you if you are trapped bet the two. Rear end dammage is affordable, then the Front (Front end consists of more vital parts like engine,steering & drive in many & controlls too).But in any case you CANT STOP a larger vehicle with your own.
	() Thanks

7th May 2010, 12:21	#78
zavegur BHPian Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Bangalore Posts: 94 Thanked: 121 Times	the best way to tackle this is to honk before you queue up behind him, or just before you both stop for the signal or for whatever reason.
	() Thanks

8th May 2010, 13:43	#80
mobike008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 11,702 Thanked: 14,827 Times View My Garage	Simplest solution is to maintain a reasonable distance when you stop at a signal. Make sure to increase this distance if you see a "L" board on the car in front of you. If the car in front starts rolling behind, you cannot do anything but honk, assuming your blocked from behind and sideways. This happened to me a couple of weeks ago, when a lady driver slowly backed into my car and due to which my front number plate got a crack. She didnt realize because she was on phone and i showed a finger to her and overtook her. In this small world, she surprisingly turned out to be my customer and when i told her the problem, we both apologized to each other and forgot about the incident.
	() Thanks

15th May 2010, 23:52	#82
fine69 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: New Delhi Posts: 1,591 Thanked: 1,467 Times	Its a mixed feeling to see a thread on this topic. To know that I'm not the only one who's come across such situations is somewhat comforting however the bad part is that usually there isn't much one can do if the driver in the front decides to be a jerk! I'll quote a few instances here: 1. On my way to office I stop behind another M800 (I also drive one) and there are cars all around us (peak hours). Now the guy in front start rolling back, I honk.....I honk again but the car doesn't stop rolling, I reverse my car by 4-5 inches (that a looooooot of space considering I'm at a delhi red light) but the guy still doesn't stop and finally touches the bumper. I honk again but this old guy (I finally see that he's like 60-65 yrs old) has no clue as to what all has happened in those 7-8 seconds. I just sit there waiting for the signal to go green and as it does he moves. 2. I'm coming back from gurgaon and its raining cats and dogs and there's a huge traffic jam. The driver in a zen in front of me start rolling back and I honk & honk & honk (flash high beam several times too as its night time) but he continues rolling. I finally roll down my windows and shout at the top of my voice and what do I see - a hand out of the front car asking me why the hell am I honking? The car continues to roll and touches the bumper and when I shout out aloud that telling him to move it he gets his head out of the car telling me to shut up. Now you tell me what to do here??!! I just continue to sit there and hope that he moves (at his convinience of course) So the bottomline here is - there isn't much you can do if the driver in the front decided to be a jerk! Now I maintain more than comfortable distance from the car in front (pretty much all one can do) and if they start to roll I roll down the windows immediately (while honking and flashing lights) and as of now all 3 of them did stop - yes, its happened 3 more times after that. beat this! psst! or what I could recommend is getting some spikes under your car that'd come up within a second or two with the press of a button and screw up the bumper trying to kiss your ride
	() Thanks

16th May 2010, 07:57	#83
rajeev k Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Emerging Metro Posts: 3,352 Thanked: 1,947 Times	This happens when an 'idiot' is at the wheel of the vehicle in front of you and at traffic signals or intersections in cities on hills like Trivandrum and when one is on trips to hill stations.The reason being these idiots do not know how to operate the clutc/brake/accelerator properly on such steep inclines.If you are following him quite some distance it is possible to get a feel of his bad driving; the thing is these guys are very very bad drivers. It happened to me on quite some ocassions. i remember vividly such an incident long long back when a guy in his Fiat rolled back at the overbridge junction in Trivandrum and was about to hit my Amby. Then I stopped my car, came out very quickly and yelled at him through his window. Remember it was possible in those times because traffic density was very less and air conditioned cars were nowhere to be seen.
	() Thanks

24th May 2010, 20:24	#84
SRK72 BHPian Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Chennai Posts: 62 Thanked: 26 Times	This happened to me once in my brand new Fiesta. I honked but to no avail, the guy kept moving backward. To avoid the car in front bumping me, i reversed slightly and hit a bike at the rear. Meanwhile this guy didnt stop and hit my front bumper. Luckily not much damage. I guess there is little one can do in such situation except to pray
	() Thanks

25th May 2010, 11:33	#85
prateek99 BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: Pune Posts: 113 Thanked: 20 Times	What i am going to share is a little off-topic; this happened to me from both the sides instead of front car rolling back. The reason to share this here is I too was on 'PRAY' mode with little in my control. I was on my way back home, stuck in chock-o-block WEH traffic in front of the Hub Mall in Goregaon. A dreaded red state transport bus, not the BEST bus, was inching closer to me beyond my comfort level. It must have been a cm away from my right OVRM and still drifting left. I moved a little on the right to find a Tata 407 on my left. I moved my car a little to the left and waited to let both the non-considerate drivers move ahead and saved myselfy from loosing both my OVRMs.
	() Thanks

27th July 2010, 17:03	#86
JuggernauTT Newbie Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Mumbai Posts: 15 Thanked: 0 Times	This has happened to me quite a few times now. But since i drive a HM Contessa with a full iron front bumper (chrome type, weighs around 10kg's!) i don't bother even honking when a tiny car is inching backwards! And since every road to where i stay has considerable inclines, this happens very frequently. My method is to just stand on the brakes so i don't hit the car behind me. And to hope the car ahead gets maximum inflictable damage as a reminder for being so absent minded in Mumbai traffic! This might sound very cynical but it gets really annoying after a point! If its a bigger vehicle like a scorpio or something.. I just pray my bumper is high enough to stop his car Btw if you see any zens, indicas etc. around hiranandani powai with a triangular dent on the hatch, it might be thanks to a certain somebody
	() Thanks

3rd August 2010, 21:00	#87
mooza Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,096 Thanked: 368 Times	My recently installed reversing sensor saved the day today for my Scorpio. A Xylo was rolling back (on a slope) towards a guy in an Octavia, who panicked, shouted, honked and flashed his lights, all to no avail, as the Xylo guy seemed to be a rookie driver ! My amusement ended when the Octy guy started to reverse his car too, towards me, as I was next in the pecking (or denting) order. I too started to reverse my car till within 0.2 metres of the car behind me, who started honking endlessly in panic, by which time the merry procession of rolling had come to a standstill, thanks to the Xylo guy finally stuttering ahead. I felt that my reversing sensor had paid for itself today Last edited by mooza : 3rd August 2010 at 21:01.
	() Thanks

28th September 2010, 11:57	#88
kanuj BHPian Join Date: May 2010 Location: Noida Posts: 91 Thanked: 15 Times View My Garage	My friend has an Indica and we had a similar experience once. We were waiting on one of the traffic lights in Noida, when a car (don't remember which, but going by this thread, must've been a WagonR lol) started to roll back. He started to honk the car's horns, but the guy didn't listen. Now my friend has this "hidden" beeping alarm/horn switch placed neatly underneath his steering wheel that blasts out like anything. He hit the switch, and not only did it stop the car in the front from rolling back, other car owners standing alongside us took notice of their cars as well. He told me that's what that horn is for... illegal I know, but saved his car a few scratches that day!
	() Thanks

28th September 2010, 13:34	#89
deep_bang BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore / Boise Posts: 888 Thanked: 1,271 Times	has happenned to me too. A Zen slowly starts to inch backwards - i honk once and hope he notices. It seems like did listen to the horn, but did not realise that that he is backing up. Slowly, it hits my car, and this guy comes out says "Hey - there is no space in the front. You not only honk but also hit my car". Amusing, but i saw there was no perceptible damage, and after explaining the "real" situation, he was confused. By this time the signal was green and everyone started to move.. so left it at that.
	() Thanks