[buz]

I think I have learnt my lessons through this experience:

1) Drive in the center lane and try and keep up from a distance with a vehicle in front.

2) Drive in the rightmost lane only if you have to overtake or you have clear view of a fair amount of distance.

3) Always keep the car stocked up with windshield cleaning fluid and at the least, a rag to wipe the windshield (I had neither!!)

4) Ideally, call the helpline to help people apparently in need (this is not to say that if there is an obvious call to help, one shouldn't stop).

But people - we should still try getting this out in the press. Anyone who has contacts? This is definitely newsworthy.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Many times a thought came up in my mind "what if" one finds huge stones blocking the road? i guess in this scenario presence of mind with lots of gods grace is required!

Immediately take U turn, and go back (even if it means driving in the wrong side)? With hazard lights on? Until one finds some other vehicles to accompany?

Will this help in such a situation?

Any other ideas?

[thedreamcatcher]

Man o man.

Looks like you got up on the wrong side of the bed that day

The good thing you did is probably not stopping when the guy threw the stone. Many times, people woiuld have the tendency to get down and beat the crap out of him, but landing into an ambush. Probably.

On the other side, it could have been a passenger from the bus you delayed in the morning, taking revenge . Sorry. i know its not funny at a time like this

[tanwaramit]

thats scary, I guess, it makes sense of having some sunfilm which will help the glass pieces to stay there and not fall will help in such cases, atleast you can ride till the next destination and will not be hurt.

[lohithrao]

Raj, taking U turn will be a ideal move but am sure the thugs will not block the road where one can take U turn easly..

If near a curve the road is blocked or if on a narrow road they do..
then i can only think of is get the vehicle to break hard and put it on reverse...

again here aswel one can be easily cornered , guess presence of mind and staying calm one might be abl to handel the situation better.

Originally Posted by sbraj

Immediately take U turn, and go back (even if it means driving in the wrong side)? With hazard lights on? Until one finds some other vehicles to accompany?

Will this help in such a situation?

Any other ideas?

[issigonis]

Originally Posted by adits

I agree what happened was sad but why do you drive on the right-most lane? That lane should only be used for overtaking not cruising.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Of late, the Pune expressway is becoming just another highway, especially in the nights, when trucks appear to have developed a right-propensity and often spill over to the right most lane. Least said about the ghat section when you can see 3 trucks overtaking each other, leaving no space for the smaller and faster vehicles.

I face the same problem on the Pune -Mumbai Expressway. It is very frustrating to see passenger cars being driven on the right hand side and not pulling over to the centre lane despite reasonable action ( first a gentle sounding of the horn, then flash of lights, then more horn, then continuous horn) :this goes for as long as two odd minutes sometimes.

Ditto for lorries overtaking each other in slow motion and clogging up all the three lanes.

I faced both these types of problems on the Vadodara - Mumbai Expressway, the NH8 between Vadodara and Mumbai and also on the highway from Palanpur to Ahmedabad, via Mehsana, very recently.

Finally (and I hate doing this) I had to do what all other drivers do - overtake from the left whenever a car or a truck did not budge and then swerve back to the middle lane.

I realise that is the way most drivers maintain good average speeds. Despite crossing 120 kmph on certain sections of highways in my recent Mumbai-Udaipur-Mount Abu - Mumbai trip, I found that I was averaging just about 50-60 kmph, including factoring for stops, because I took my foot off the throttle whenever I came to a turn off or a crossing, however small, in order to anticipate any sudden intrusion from either side. I encountered not less than twenty trucks and an equal number of tractor-trailers and motor bikes driving in the wrong direction on both lanes on two lane highways. The only redeeming feature of such dangerous behaviour was that almost all had their headlights on.

Very frustrating, very irritating, so very Indian with our legendary disregard for others and ignorance of civic sense.

Regards and safe driving

[ishotmydog]

damn, that is indeed a scary experience.

just when you think these instances do not happen anymore, there comes another horrific tale. glad that everyone in the car were safe.

[dr.faramroze]

Hey, seeing the impact of hit on the door handle and the side guard is high. It could be a regular hunt for private vehicles on Pune route. It used to happen on NH8 between Virar and Charoti. But there was action taken against robbers and later people formed groups of cars, following each other at close range and continously monitoring the road edge.

This danger withered off now because of whole night continous traffic, due to airport proximity and industries.

[FanaticOnWheels]

The Indian Government must make it legal for all drivers to run over such miscreants if need be. They deserve it. We stand a better chance with a 1 ton + beast going at over a 100 kilometers/hour.

[Delta Wing]

There are occasions of robbery on the expressway still reported. Someone talked of eggs thrown by robbers. Eggs are a nasty lot (on the windshield). You use wipers and the white spreads and dries blocking the view entirely. You are forced to stop and the robbers grab you. Never use the wiper to remove an egg.
In another incident, one of my acquaintances traveling through Bihar stopped due to huge boulders in the middle of the road at night. before you could say Jack Robinson, the robbers surrounded them, forced them out at gunpoint and drove their car away, luggage et al, along with his wallet, wife's earrings, both their wedding rings and wrist watches etc. They were stranded on the road but heck, it could have been far far worse than this. At the police station, the police was polite but seemed to imply that somehow it was the traveler's fault to travel by night. Sheesh.
About lane discipline, I have noticed something else too. If I'm travelling at 80 or 90-100 kmph (at or above the speed limit of the expressway) in the rightmost fast lane, someone traveling much faster comes behind me and starts honking and flashing his lights demanding that I move over to the left. Many times I accommodate but many times there's another slower vehicle on the left and to move, I would need to kill my speed to less than 60 in order for his majesty behind me to pass. Then I would need to get my lane and speed back. This gets irritating, time consuming and fuel wasting. I would like to know, who has right of way in this situation? Is it me who should move over or is it the king of speed who should change his lane and overtake using appropriate signals?
I pose the above question because once on the expressway, I couldn't move aside for a guy in a Merc (a truck in the center lane just ahead, 30-40 m) and in his rage after the honking and flashing act, he changed lanes to center (without signal) and cut in front of me so harshly that had I not stamped on the brakes, we would have had a crash.
In this incident, I braked and escaped but in another, an Innova guy brushed my car in a similar manoeuvre in Delhi.
Can anyone throw light? Am I too much off topic?