[benbsb29]

Originally Posted by Samurai

But Indian drivers are mostly oblivious to lane driving and therefore tend to move all over the road. While I was enjoying the rare occasion of hassle free driving, I did see a few cars driving fast and snaking between vehicles that were driving within speed limits.

Most countries have strict laws about speeding on bridges, for the accidents on bridges can be lot more dangerous and can cause traffic jams for miles. But who is going to educate the average Indian driver who can't differentiate between bridge and a highway?

If the expressway is open to 2 wheelers, it should be taken into consideration that they would hog most of the road, and therefore other vehicles would need to snake their way through. That slow moving vehicles do not stick to one lane is another perennial problem we have to deal with.

Since the design was for an expressway under Indian considerations, there should have been wider lanes. Also, it was easier to do this during the design phase, rather than trying to implement something of this sort later on.

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Yesterday evening I drove the elevated tollway for the very first time. And I simply do not understand the comments about the lanes being too narrow. It is not narrow provided everybody follows lane discipline.

The lanes on the Expressway are narrower as compared to the road below.

One of these lanes (the right lane) is always occupied by Infosys buses during office hours. The left lane is occupied by 2-wheelers, some of whom purposely drive very slow to enjoy the view from above. Some other 2-wheelers enjoy driving parallel to the bus at low speed and purposely block all 4-wheeler traffic coming from behind.

Do the 4-wheelers have any option but to snake around them ?

Originally Posted by benbsb29

Since the design was for an expressway under Indian considerations, there should have been wider lanes. Also, it was easier to do this during the design phase, rather than trying to implement something of this sort later on.

+1. The design of the Expressway is faulty. Either the lanes should have been wider or 2-wheelers should not be allowed on it.

Yesterday another biker had an accident on the Expressway. This guy is from my company. He was over-speeding on his Pulsar, could not stop when the car ahead applied brakes, and collided in the car.

The guy ended up with broken ribs and severely bruised hand. The car owner took him to the hospital.

Rohan

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

The lanes on the Expressway are narrower as compared to the road below.

Obviously, this expressway is fashioned after a bridge. It will be narrower than normal expressway, like the Mumbai-Pune expressway which has shoulders all the way.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by Samurai

And I simply do not understand the comments about the lanes being too narrow. It is not narrow provided everybody follows lane discipline.

But who is going to educate the average Indian driver who can't differentiate between bridge and a highway?

Absolutely right!! The lanes are not narrow if one stays with in a lane. Yes, one may not have a gap of six feet between vehicles, but who needs them anyway? We are so used to have people squeezing between two vehicles in two wheelers, four wheelers trying to squeeze but in the process driving the disciplined guy to the shoulder...

But my major grouse is that this should have been a metro like train. Now it caters only to people who have cars. A train would have been a lot more useful transporting tonnes of people.

Nainar

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by anainar

Absolutely right!! The lanes are not narrow if one stays with in a lane. Yes, one may not have a gap of six feet between vehicles, but who needs them anyway? We are so used to have people squeezing between two vehicles in two wheelers, four wheelers trying to squeeze but in the process driving the disciplined guy to the shoulder...

It is not fair to compare the Elevated Expressway to a congested city road. The typical speed on the expressway is much higher as compared to a congested city road.

Hence it would have been better to have some more gap between vehicles rather than driving within inches of each other on the expressway at a speed of 80 kmph.

Rohan

[IronH4WK]

as Samurai-san mentioned the lanes are not narrow. if people stick to their respective lanes there won't be any problems, but - this isn't a perfect world and hence people waver within their lanes and this makes other people uneasy.

few days back i was overtaken by a idiot in a white Laura doing more than 150km/h on the BETL. he passed me within inches of my car! some people panic when they get passed so close and veer off their track. combine this with L-boards and negligent two/four wheelers, trucks and buses - BETL is a pretty scary place to be.

[IronH4WK]

Infosys bus thundering down on me. i was already at 80km/h



it's a scary sight to have one of these in your RVM!

[naveenroy]

Yeah, I have seen these big buses either thundering on the road, ripping above 80kms or they are slow and hog the left lane - forcing me to overtake them and then go at 60kms on the left lane. Biker.

[naveenroy]

Of late, I have been using the flyover to get to my office in Electronic City at around 6 in the evenings. It is intensely bugging to see that NONE of the lights are switched on in the flyover. This is the same for the the lights over the elevated highway as well as for the lights that are supposed to shine down on the road below. We pay the toll - for good roads. Is there anyway we can bring this to "light"?

I tried to complain to the guy at the toll-booth itself but he was helpless. I have seen a complaint register on the main toll-booth....

[rohan_iitr]

Don't bother complaining to toll booth attendants, they are helpless.

I would suggest that you request some higher ups in your office to send a complaint to ELCIA and BETL regarding this issue.

Rohan

[Latheesh]

Forget about ELCIA, I had sent couple of mails to them regarding elevated way traffic management. They did not even acknowledge!

[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Forget about ELCIA, I had sent couple of mails to them regarding elevated way traffic management. They did not even acknowledge!

Thats why I suggested him to request some higher ups in his company to speak to ELCIA/BETL. When some higher up raises a voice, the effect is different.

Rohan

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Thats why I suggested him to request some higher ups in his company to speak to ELCIA/BETL. When some higher up raises a voice, the effect is different.

Rohan

Haha, the lesser said about the "higher" ups in my office, the better. Well, no choice but to "chalta hai" I guess. Oh god!!

[asdon]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

as Samurai-san mentioned the lanes are not narrow. if people stick to their respective lanes there won't be any problems, but - this isn't a perfect world and hence people waver within their lanes and this makes other people uneasy.

few days back i was overtaken by a idiot in a white Laura doing more than 150km/h on the BETL. he passed me within inches of my car! some people panic when they get passed so close and veer off their track. combine this with L-boards and negligent two/four wheelers, trucks and buses - BETL is a pretty scary place to be.

There is one statement each and every foreign car maker uses when they bring a new product to India -"Adjusting to Indian driving conditions", which means - suspensions be ready for big holes, huge speed breakers, AC, lighter body for FE etc...

Same goes for roads too, when our cars are adjusted to our driving conditions, we expect our roads to be ready for our driving habits. Frankly speaking following respective lanes and driving are alianetd words in India. You just can not stick to it and continue driving, leave city roads, on the 4/6 lane highways its not possible many times due to so many reasons. So when you take your car on the road, you are ready for the following points

1. The car infront of you will take the fast lane and drive at 50kmph where the speed limit is 80kmph and he will not give you the lane no matter how many times you flash the lights
2. Suddenly you find some one going extreme left to right lane for U turn without indicators
3. one 2 wheeler getting his share of space in between you car and a BMTC bus in a traffic signal
4. One 3 wheeler driving exactly middle of the road leaving space for only 2 wheels each side
5. And mother of all, all vehicle standing when the signal is green

So the statement "Lanes are narrow holds true"

[Rocky_Balboa]

Today afternoon at about 1:45PM, saw a scooter parked on the elevated road, with no souls around. This was hardly 300 mtrs from the ECity Phase1 toll.

Had a word with one of the toll guys, only for him to say "I ll inform the patrol if it comes this side".