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Old 7th May 2010, 08:10   #1
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Quiet Cars - More Prone to hit Pedestrians/Cyclists?

I learnt to drive a diesel Indica, moved onto a M800 5 speed and now an i10 Kappa
Due to work, I am often required to visit congested inner city areas, very often with huge loads of equipments/drawings. The roads in these are narrow streets, with just enough room for a car to pass. The streets are teeming with pedestrians, rickshaws and cyclists, busy in their own activities, so one has to negotiate very carefully weaving between the pedestrians.
Now in the Indica, i never bothered to us the horn, but the rumble of the engine was more than enough to ensure people moved out of your way Never had any kind off incident with that car.
The M800 offered supreme visibility, and was a whole lot more negotiable in the circumstances,but I would end up edging to close to the pedestrians in front, expecting them to move, but then having to suddenly brake and or honk. Had a couple of close calls but never anything problematic.

Now the i10 - a whole lot quieter than my previous cars (both inside and out). Also I suppose I have off late become more of a highway driver not venturing into the bylanes all that often.
The first time I drove into the congested streets of Malviya Nagar, I was extremely cautious but found that I was driving to close to the pedestrians directly in front. Nearly hit a lady who decided to swivel around to buy some oranges.
Nearly a month later, on a similar stretch a cyclist who had just overtaken me from the left decides to swing right across the road within mm of my bonnet - now he should have seen me but no - braked hard, but nicked his rear mudgaurd. No real damage done, but a few abuses hurled around.
And now yesterday, It was hot and I had my windows up and ac on (thats a bad idea in such congested streets) this bunch of school children were walking hand in hand, pretty much occupying the entire rad width - there was an indica in front of me, they moved aside and he passed between them. As I was following, they suddenly moved back together resulting in me nudging one of them.

Now the question - Is this because pedestrians don't consider newer cars like the i10 a menace, or is it because these cars are silent and thus the pedestrians dont realise, or I'm willing to admit, is it simply that I have grown to be a highway driver, and are no longer familiar with the nuances required to be safe within congested inner city streets?
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Old 7th May 2010, 12:12   #2
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The locals here complain that my car is too quiet and I sneak up on them.

So I rev hard when I get near the neighborhood. Now they say I don't know how to drive my car. Gave one these old fools a ride the other day and showed them where the power band is. Now they say I give them a heart attack.

You just can't win as a petrolhead these days.
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Old 7th May 2010, 14:16   #3
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use HORN!
thats the purpose
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Old 7th May 2010, 14:25   #4
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Horn??? Well, I guess then I don't have time to take my hands off the horn.
I would definitely agree to the point that loud vehicles capture more attention & I can clearly see the difference in people yielding way when I ride on my Activa & RX. I somehow feel that ears tend to capture more attention to brain than visual because one hears from all the side while the sight is only in the front direction.
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Old 7th May 2010, 15:13   #5
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Is the i10 that quiet, even with A/C on. My Alto makes the fan noise(Palio was louder) with A/C on and hence people give way before it is dangerously close.I agree with petrol cars, they are super quiet when the fan is not running, allowing you to go on stealth missions rather than announcing your arrival 15 meters away.

I had quite a lot of people sitting on my Alto's bonnet because they couldn't hear it . This happened to me last winter.My advice is to upgrade that squeak of a horn in your i10 to a roots/hella pair and use it well in advance, so that you never have to face this problem again.

Last edited by JustCause : 7th May 2010 at 15:15.
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Old 7th May 2010, 17:08   #6
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in that case you have to check out Spark, it is lot quieter than i10 i can bet on that.

ok to make i10 sound louder why don't you go FFE. this will give a cool sound and you will love driving around or you can get a good ICE. just a suggestion
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Old 7th May 2010, 22:28   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alpha1 View Post
use HORN!
thats the purpose
Hahaha you've got a point, and I do use it - but only when I need it, thus never actually had any major issues, but I just have a habit of not using the horn until the last minute.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JustCause View Post
I had quite a lot of people sitting on my Alto's bonnet because they couldn't hear it . This happened to me last winter.My advice is to upgrade that squeak of a horn in your i10 to a roots/hella pair and use it well in advance, so that you never have to face this problem again.
Upgraded to a hella barely 3-4 days after I got the car - but like I said, I avoid using it right until the last minute.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Bangalore View Post
in that case you have to check out Spark, it is lot quieter than i10 i can bet on that.

ok to make i10 sound louder why don't you go FFE. this will give a cool sound and you will love driving around or you can get a good ICE. just a suggestion
Really, I always felt the spark was a bit whiny, and thus more audible (outside), and I like the FFE idea maybe in a couple of months... thanks mate
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