[AbdulRahmanM]

Hi All,

Though i have been driving in the ECR for the past 7 years and aware of all the dangerous overtakings, i was in for a surprise last week, on sunday. I was going to mayajaal thorugh the kelambakkam road. Once i reached the ECR strech, after i crossed the bridge i overtook an innova and moved forward in my indica, while all of a sudden, a white colored bus written tajudeen in the front windshield overtook a government bus in the opposite direction and came straight ahead at me, it was near a curve and i had no place to hide, the left side of the road had the steel fence and i had no place to hide, since my wife and kid was with me i could not risk hitting the fence as they might get injured, i braked hard and swerved to the left a little bit, and thankfully the other government bus seeing this braked a bit and took a left to his side and teh TAJUDEEN bus just sped away, i thought of chasing that guy and give him a mouthfull, but i felt it was not worth it. Since all of this happened in seconds i was not able to note the number, but i would like to know whether there is any ECR specific patrols to whom this can be addressed to? This incident almost spoiled half-a-day of my outing. Its high time they installed cameras in the ECR strech as every one who goes in this road at some point of time get involved into accidents, even if we drive safe the others are not willing to, mainly the omni buses. I would like to advice all ECR users to keep off when you see this name in the bus, 'TAJUDEEN'.

[mail4loys]

The ECR stretch is becoming dangerous these days, i had experienced this kind of behavior from Car drivers as-well. The main reason being a very nice single lane road and people take advantage of it!

[ikoneer]

ECR Roads are reliable after mutukaadu only until then its' better to maintain vigil and safe speed.

I can understand how shaken you and family would have been, it's better you it go and did not do any chasing stuff.

Glad that your family and vehicle is safe, thank god.

[para_7k]

Glad that you handled the situation well and your family is safe.

The ECR is more of hype than quality these days. Every one thinks they can exploit their vehicles on this road.

Edit: I meant the quality of driving. Quality of road is still great.

There is utter disregard for safety of other users and every vehicle tries to overtake every other vehicle.

Avoid driving in the dark on this road and slow down on bends. Overtake only on straights when the stretch is clear and there aren't any junctions.

There are also a lot of cross roads and vehicles will give you a surprise when you overtake.

Drive safe

[sandy261]

Good to hear that you and your family are safe

Lot of people started driving on the ECR due to good road conditions and the driving experience along the coast. But of late no of people who hit ECR on the weekends is very high. Speed jerks still race on ECR. Overtaking with least consideration for the approaching vehicles is very common. Worst offenders I have see are the taxis/travel vehicles, speed jerks on a joy ride, heavy vehicles in particular the private ones. Law enforcement agencies should come down heavily on the high speed joy rides.

Some dos I have on the ECR

- I use a simlar paced vehicle (@ around 60~80km/hr) as a lead and follow. Normally use a sumo or a scorpio or a safari - not many overtake dangerously on seeing these vehicles approaching. At nights, cuts the light/glare from approaching vehicles too.
- If a spot a badly driven vehicle allow them to pass. Couple of weeks back, one moron on a Civic overtook on the left side - though the shoulder It was one heck of a surprise to see him on the left side and to see him cut me off and join the road in from front of me!! He was not following me and had overtaken 3~4 vehicles on the left in one go as there was heavy traffic on the other side.
- Avoid it if possible. Unless on a majayal trip I dont use ECR. If its just to enjoy a highway drive, I hit the GQs. With the divides and 4 lane roads they are much safer than ECR.
- For Mahabalipuram during daytime its better to take the OMR than ECR. Very few traffic and the roads are wide and good.

[navan49]

Abdul,

Really the Tajudeen is terrible. Thanks a lot for the safety of you. There are some other monsters ply on OMR. They come in yellow fleet and they will overtake you in 0.5 inch gap and make you panic, but they will disappear from your site before you come to Normalcy. Beware of the Yellow giants too.

[babaops]

I just googled a little and found this:

"Tajudeen Bus Service

Tours & Travels - Daily Service in Puducherry"

The address and phone nos. are also mentioned, you can google and take note of those if you want. May be its the same one...at least I wont be taking this one if I ever go to pondicherry anytime...

[rajushank84]

Originally Posted by sandy261

- Avoid it if possible. Unless on a majayal trip I dont use ECR. If its just to enjoy a highway drive, I hit the GQs. With the divides and 4 lane roads they are much safer than ECR.
- For Mahabalipuram during daytime its better to take the OMR than ECR. Very few traffic and the roads are wide and good.

Totally agree! The NH is better for Pondy trips, and OMR is better for Mahabs trips. All college students who have newly bought a bike or car want to test its speed limits on the ECR. .

[MX6]

Thank god you are safe. Ever since an idiot went singing on an open jeep with his girl friend (yeah the same acp anbu chelvan thing), people have taken a fancy. I've hear from many friends that this is one of the most dangerous routes in TN.

[kutlee]

good that you didn't chase that guy with your family on board. could have ended up in more trouble. i guess we should stop before a curve, get out and look for overtaking morons from the other side and get back to the car to drive. i have seen blind overtaking in Kerala roads too. too scared.

[ampere]

The only problem is that the guys who drive like this have nothing to lose, but we have quite a lot at stake. Hence no point following them. Will land up in more trouble. I keep hearing about the perils of this road on a daily basis now a days.

[scopriobharath]

Sad Man -> Bad on the part of the Tajudden bus.

One more thing on ECR is people abuse you and shout at you when you slow down when there is a Speed Limit Posted. If you are 80 and you slow down for a 40 kmph, you receive many abuses. We need to slow down for two reasons one safety and other is the Radar Gun which Traffic police uses.

[roadracer]

You handled the situation well.

I used to travel in ECR regularly about 10 years back in Government buses. It used to be a dangerous road as it had many curves, and in fact the Government took an initiative to modify/alter such curves. But still,I think,it's dangerous because people travel at high speeds and it's just a two lane without dividers. High-time it's made into a 4 lane highway with divider.

[ElantraGT]

ECR is one place where people get carried away with a false sense of security while driving. They think the roads are good so what you rip the car, but in reality everyone thinks on the same line and it ends up in disaster.

I have seen morons driving at crazy speeds of 140+ in this stretch. So let us ensure we drive safe and keep the thoughts of our families at the back of the head while using these roads.

[bottle]

My turn today, my side mirror was broken by an oncoming bus who was doing an overtaking move and driving on myside of the lane.