[sidindica]

I have been forced to swap my punto with my bro's santro, thanks to alarmingly increasing number of traffic road violations in Delhi.

Yes, that may sound SILLY, but a 70,000 km abused car to me still makes more sense to pilot in a state which has WORST driving conditions in our country rather than a brand new less than 1000 km italian which then had to bear the brunt of premature expenses. Its being driven in Greater Noida, so no problem as of now.

Logic? Its my mind that says. Consider this..

Since I have to drive daily owing to my work, everyday or so I have to bear the brunt of people forcing me to break rules (which I have not done and DO NOT want to do) by knocking me car's rear glass, honking at red lights even they are not green, sudden appearance of pedestrians often forcing me to resort to heavy braking even at roads where foot over bridges are built (hence the importance of purchasing the santro with ABS option back in 2006).

• Today in the morning at Sirifort road, I was signalling my intention to turn right and the light was red. A scooterist persistently knocks on my rear windscreen and deliberately wants to pass me by scratching my bumper, just because his kid is late for school. I said no, at least he could have waited just for 15 seconds and he keeps on knocking at my tailgate glass till the light turns green. When he turns right, he shows his middle finger to me. Case closed.
• While driving towards andrews ganj flyover, a Tata 407 narrowly prevented in hitting my OSRVM. I was driving normally at the rightmost lane and he wants to cut between me and a blueline bus, which had stopped in the bus stand.
• 2 days back, a pedastrian's hand was hit with the right OSRVM as he appeared from nowhere, I was driving at 40 kmph and if I had stopped, a cruze was just about to rear end the santro.
• another instance-a cyclist, merrily going to left near maharani bagh flyover, suddenly appears in right without signalling while I am just about to climb the flyover towards lajpat nagar. he is narrowly hit. result: Left OSRVM glass broken as his handle hit it. Happened on sunday. And that man dares to abuse me by using that typical foul language.
• A lady talking in cellphone while driving an alto just applied brakes hard enough to prevent hitting her bumper at my car's rear. Happened at Bikaji Cama place.
• and of course, senseless many 2 wheeler riders riding on footpaths of nizamuddin bridge, zig zagging from in between etc..

If these small things kept on irritating me, my mind can become a ticking time bomb ready to explode anytime, I donno when.

What can be done? Any advises/suggestions?

[Gilead]

Swapping a top end Punto with a Santro seems rather silly to me. The Punto is a much safer car and will save your life in case any of these incidents turns out to be a serious accident. All these incidents that you have described are pretty much BAU in India. Most of us have learnt to deal with them in our own ways. I am sure you can too. Now get back into that Punto and enjoy.

[greenhorn]

makes perfect sense to me. when push comes to shove, it makes sense to be in something you dont mind getting dirty in
/why I love my indica to pieces

[Ardy]

Honestly, this is the situation in every city, not just Delhi. The most common site is a two-wheeler trying to squeeze through the gap between the four wheeler and road dividers at a traffic signal. And invariablly 8 out of 10 time the OSRVM would get touched and two wheeler rider would either ignore you or gesture with his hand and move on. And then there are auto drivers who also want to squeeze through every possible little place left on the road, forget about lane driving. Can't limit it to just a section of people on road, you can pull such examples of bad road manners from every section of people on the roads from 2-wheelers, autos, buses, cars, taxies every one.

In Hyderabad, you will find autos with seating capacity of 1+3 carrying at least 7-9 people with sometimes people hanging around. Well, who do you blame, the auto drivers or the passengers.

I had an incident on my way back last evening from work. A couple of chaps on a bike were riding and gossiping in their full glory without caring about what's around them. I was in the middle lane, and these chaps in the right most lane in front of me in parrallel to another bike on their left hand side. Don't know what they thought, the chap applied brakes, swung to the left of the bike and almost coming under my vehicle. I had to jam my brakes.

What this country really needs is self realization and people willing to get educated. Until then, I do not see things improving.

Cheers,

[aaggoswami]

Right decision to swap Punto for Santro for city driving. This is one thing that makes sense even to me. I hate driving Baleno in city, but love M800 for this. Even if the entire bumper is gone in M800, its relatively inexpensive to repair, though in any case, my heart breaks down.
I have stopped using ORVM in Baleno, and its just a normal mirror in M800, so no point in using it. And its only because of non usage that our Baleno OSRVMs are still OK.
Once our ORVM was hit by a lady in Chorwad. She was walking and crossing road as if the road was gifted to her by parents/husband/relative on her birthday. Since that day, we have stopped using OSRVM.

The manufacturers are no God, and they prices of parts likes ORVM is generally high across all manufacturers ( its only Maruti and Hyundai whose OSRVM are not that expensive ).

Dont use OSRVM, keep cool mind. That is the only solution to survive in India. If you cant fight it, endure it.

[akas_chauhan]

Is not it we all facing everyday. May be its your new car that's why you are more serious towards the issue.

You already managed the things in Santro and you will definitely manage these daily life situations in your punto. Since the car is new, now it's your mind which is saying "OH No do not touch me".

You'll overcome this. Do not worry.

[Eddy]

Sid, take a look here:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...revention.html

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

Right decision to swap Punto for Santro for city driving. This is one thing that makes sense even to me. I hate driving Baleno in city, but love M800 for this. Even if the entire bumper is gone in M800, its relatively inexpensive to repair, though in any case, my heart breaks down.
I have stopped using ORVM in Baleno, and its just a normal mirror in M800, so no point in using it. And its only because of non usage that our Baleno OSRVMs are still OK.
Once our ORVM was hit by a lady in Chorwad. She was walking and crossing road as if the road was gifted to her by parents/husband/relative on her birthday. Since that day, we have stopped using OSRVM.

The manufacturers are no God, and they prices of parts likes ORVM is generally high across all manufacturers ( its only Maruti and Hyundai whose OSRVM are not that expensive ).

Dont use OSRVM, keep cool mind. That is the only solution to survive in India. If you cant fight it, endure it.

This is perhaps the thing that I cannot afford to drive without. I use all three OSRVMs, whether at day or night and it really helps in planning overtaking manourves, see oncoming traffic, calculate your time and rate of defensive driving and most importantly, reversing on tight parking spots.

Of course, for highway driving, the fiat is there. And I am more comfortable with it.

[ikoneer]

Same story every where and for every driver, Sid. People's mentality has to change and so should their attitiude towards fellow indians. It would take time to change or may not happen at all.

We just need to be more careful and Keep cool. You should get back to your punto and enjoy the car.

If changing car is not helping, then you need to change the way you look. Be bullish and others should think twice before messing with you. Just kidding

ORVM' are very important in this congested world, it helps a lot.

[amitoj]

Sid, how much is your daily commute distance? Can you consider taking Metro?

[StarVegabond]

Hi Sid, I share your thoughts, i also suffer from similar pangs

in my view you have following options

1. keep a driver. this will prevent you from pressures of driving

2. Hire taxi or auto for reaching crowded areas, drive your car when you think it is an easy drive

3. choose the time of the day (ToD) driving i.e. avoid rush hours

4. develop tough skin, become a street fighter, show middle finger to the people who show the middle finger to you, return the compliments with same coin.

5. allocate more time for your drive. e.g. if you forsee 1 hour is needed to drive from point a to point b, then start 1.5 hours before your scheduled time. use that extra 0.5 hours for leisurely drive, maintain extra distance from the other vehicles, allow all those people who are in a hurry to pass /cross at their will.

6. never drive a old, dented, paint worn off car, people do not worry much before putting one additional dent or scratch on it.

7. Buy a a very very high end car e.g. Audi, BWM, three point star etc. People are scared to come near these cars

8. take sanyas from driving. (i am sure you will try find me so that you can beat me up, especially for the last suggetion).

[shiraz]

Sid,

Let me just express my solidarity with you here. Driving an SX4 in traffic can get even worse. However, the redeeming feature is when you're stuck in a jam next to the Lajpat Nagar underpass, and the guy in the car next to you leans over and very politely requests an entry into the queue. You needn't oblige him since he is out of line (pun intended), but someone is actually nice to you in a Delhi traffic jam, and that is worth applauding! Needless to say, I let the guy in with a smile and a wave.

[Shan2nu]

Pretty much every city has this prob. The sollution is within you. The more you worry about things that might go wrong, the more prone you are to actually get your car damaged.

Keep an open mind when you drive. Listen to some good music and enjoy every part of the journey. Take every intersection, corner, traffic signal at a time, dont worry about what you're gonna do at the next signal when you're approaching the previoius intersection.

Leave your house with enough time to spare, so that time is not an issue when you drive (this itself will make a big difference).

Shan2nu

[gaurav_chopra04]

Please, find my replies in bold.

Originally Posted by sidindica

I have been forced to swap my punto with my bro's santro, thanks to alarmingly increasing number of traffic road violations in Delhi.

Atleast you have an option to swap your punto to a Santro, you know its getting hot here in Delhi and now I more so have a reason to drive cedia instead of 800. I drive every day from west delhi to Gurgaon to my office (about 45 kms each side) and 2-3 day take cedia to office and vice-versa for 800. The other day I was about to leave for office in my cedia and my younger brother asks me to take 800 as he may need cedia. So I took the 800. While comming back from office in the evening, there was a jam in dwarka near the killer fly over, sector 7-8 I believe), so I took a service lane, a mahindra pick up was parked diagonally on the road. When I was about to pass it, the damn driver reversed it without looking back and the Mahindra's rear support angle tore off my car's bumper and fender. Since It was a service lane I was at speed of no more than 20-25. I honked and braked (was almost stand still) but the mahindra driver niether heard the honk or saw my car.

I thank god that I didnt take my cedia that day.

Yes, that may sound SILLY, but a 70,000 km abused car to me still makes more sense to pilot in a state which has WORST driving conditions in our country rather than a brand new less than 1000 km italian which then had to bear the brunt of premature expenses. Its being driven in Greater Noida, so no problem as of now.

Logic? Its my mind that says. Consider this..

Since I have to drive daily owing to my work, everyday or so I have to bear the brunt of people forcing me to break rules (which I have not done and DO NOT want to do) by knocking me car's rear glass, honking at red lights even they are not green, sudden appearance of pedestrians often forcing me to resort to heavy braking even at roads where foot over bridges are built (hence the importance of purchasing the santro with ABS option back in 2006).

• Today in the morning at Sirifort road,..........While driving towards andrews ganj flyover, .....2 days back, a pedastrian's hand was hit with the right OSRVM .........another instance-a cyclist, merrily going to left near maharani bagh flyover, .....A lady talking in cellphone ....and of course, senseless many 2 wheeler riders riding on footpaths of nizamuddin bridge, zig zagging from in between etc..

Its the same damn story every day, can we help it . Its hard to drive these days without breaking rules, even if you follow rules, others on the road force you to break them.

If these small things kept on irritating me, my mind can become a ticking time bomb ready to explode anytime, I donno when.

After driving about 100kms every day for last one and a half year, my head is a volcano, ready to erupt at anyone and every one coming near my car!

What can be done? Any advises/suggestions?

Nothing, keep driving the santro while I stick to the 800. Prevention though can be taken by leaving before time to get to office and drive slowly and steadily (slower than normal), but this either wont help much during peak hours). Its good to have cars like 800, altos and santros at home, for peak hours these are the best commuters, easy to get in and out of traffic, you dont have to worry about the 2 wheelers scratching your car. Small accident repairs cost peanuts!!innit?

Also, try not to be over protective towards your car, learnt it the hard way, although I have been able to prevent scratches off my cedia, I have involved myself in numerous arguments with other drivers on the road, which some day could be dangerous... better not to involve yourself in a road rage, moreso when you are alone

Originally Posted by Shan2nu

Pretty much every city has this prob. The sollution is within you. The more you worry about things that might go wrong, the more prone you are to actually get your car damaged.

Keep an open mind when you drive. Listen to some good music and enjoy every part of the journey. Take every intersection, corner, traffic signal at a time, dont worry about what you're gonna do at the next signal when you're approaching the previoius intersection.

Leave your house with enough time to spare, so that time is not an issue when you drive (this itself will make a big difference).

Shan2nu

exactly what I wanted to say, you beat me on that..hehe

[Sli_ce]

@ Sid
I hear you. in just about the past one year, i have seen Delhi traffic go from bad - worse - sheer Mayhem. Thanks to the Metro construction almost everywhere and the incredible numbers of new vehicles rolling out on Delhi streets everyday. ( i heard somewhere that about a 1000 new vehicles hit the streets everyday in the Delhi NCR ! don't really know if its true)

The incidents you have pointed down are no surprise, they happen to all of us here, and there's no escaping. i think switching to a beaten down car is actually a great idea, and i can totally understand why.

To be honest i don't want to sound all optimistic and merry, because i really don't see any light at the end of the tunnel, in fact i reckon that the situation is going to deteriorate a lot more going forward (regardless of the completion of the metro and all other construction). That's because no matter how much improvement in the infrastructure the govt provides us with, Civic/Driving/Common sense will always lack not only in Delhi, but the entire country.

All i can suggest to you is to remain calm, at all times. looking at the way you have handled the mentioned incidents, i can figure that you are generally calm and patient, but frustrated to witness everything going in front of you, (like the most of us). No matter how much someone manages to pis* you off, do not lose your cool. its just not worth losing your temper, energy and time on something which is a lost cause and something that will inevitably remain constant. i know its easier said than done, but the more you try, the bigger the difference is. and specially considering how trigger happy this city is, trust me, its never worth it.

All the best.