Team-BHP - Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them

So I'm driving to work today with a colleague. We commute everyday from Powai to Andheri via JVLR - WEH. I'm supposed to be at my desk at 11:30, so by the time I leave for work the roads a relatively empty.

Yeah, so I'm driving to work today, on the JVLR. The roads are free of traffic and i'm doing 60-70ish. Two signals before WEH at Jogeshwari, I see 2 girls waiting at the traffic signal for crossing the road. Noted, take foot of accelerator, check signal, it's green so good to go, feather the acc again, change lane to aviod the badly fitted manhole cover and carry on with the commute.
But one of the 'brave' girls decided she want's to get my heart racing, and not in a good way. As soon as I change lane to avoid the manhole cover depression, I see that she has resolved to cross the road before I can cross the signal, and has already taken a step. Flash Lights, Honk and start braking. But now the girl was singing the "aage baho" tune and starts running. I stand on the brakes, tires screech, car wiggles a bit and I come to a halt inches away from her.
I'm shocked, my colleague is shocked, a couple of pedestrians start looking, but the girl looks at us, looks at her friend (who is still standing at the divider) and smiles in relief ("bach gayi"). My colleague lowers her side of the window, she wants to give her some gaalis, but we are both shocked and unable to say anything. This girl almost died and she's smiling at everyone around her, thanking god (I'm thanking Michelins).

So what's going in my mind now -

1) Had I hit her, the blame would have been on me totally (even though she crossed the signal when I had the green light, and I flashed my lights, AND I honked)

2) Either I would have had to hotfoot it out of there to the nearest Police Station, or get beaten by the mob that would have gathered in seconds.

3) Whether or not you have a green signal, whether or not you have the right of way, you always, always have to account for the morons and jaywalkers and risk takers of the road.

4) Tires are Important.

One thing I noticed was that the tires screeched when I panic braked, even though I must have been at around 50 when I Braked, and I had to correct the steering a bit to keep the car straight. Last time I had filled air in my tires, I suspect it was a faulty gauge and my tires are under-inflated by 3-4 psi. I know handling will get affected a bit, but does under-inflation affect braking as well?

Quote:

Originally Posted by IronH4WK (Post 2998466)

Under-inflation also makes a tire run hot. Increased flexing of the sidewall increases the temperature of the tire, which in turn increases the risk of a tire failure and blowout.

source: http://www.aa1car.com/library/tirepres.htm

Tires run hot, Life is reduced - Agreed.

But Blowout does not happen in City driving, at city speeds. That is for highways, and tires are supposed to be inflated 4-5 psi more for highway runs( and I do that religiously, too many tire blown stories ). My tires, I assume are running 30 front and 28 back right now, while I generally keep 34 front and 32 back(195/60-15 on a Old Swift). My specific doubt was how would low air affect straight line braking?

Anyways, all this is OT here, i'll look for the correct thread, and get my tires inflated properly today.:)

Also, thanks for the link, it's like an exhaustive repository for all things automotive. Bookmarked.:thumbs up

Had a close escape while driving on a highway...

I was driving to Lansdowne from Delhi. I had crossed half the distance and had just crossed Bijnore city. My car was full to capacity with all ladies on board. I was the only male driving the car. I was doing comfortable 90-100 Km/Hr. I am a lazy driver and try to keep constant speed of less than 100 Km/hr so that car is always in control in needful situation. I saw a woman with a kid in her arms and a 8-10 year old girl standing next to her. They were trying to cross the highway and the woman saw me cruising at high speed. Seeing her face I was sure that she will allow me to pass. Then she looked on other side to see any coming vehicle from other side. There was no vehicle driving from other side. I was barely 150m from her now.

At this all of sudden the girl next to woman started to run and cross the road.:eek: She was constantly looking on the other side of road and had no idea of my car coming from opposite direction. The woman shouted to her kid and the more she shouts the girl run with more speed. My mother sitting next to me was shouting at me to save the child. My heart was beating thump thump and I can feel those 2-3 seconds. I applied the brakes with full pressure and ABS came in picture. My car slowed down from 100 to 60 in those three seconds and the girl with his speed was able to cross the road just in time.

Phew..Thas was a close escape. I was just thinking if my car would have been at more than 100km/hr or there was 1-2 sec here or there than that girl would have been crushed under my wheels. I would have been guilty for my lifetime and would have been difficult to come out from the situation with all ladies on board from that situation. Police and everyone else would have charged me only for negligent driving. I completed journey with a average speed of 50km/hr only. It took some time to recover from shock.

I spotted a very bad pedestrian today near the Seasons hotel in Baner. There was this cyclist who was driving properly on the left side road in front of the hotel. An aunty in her 50s suddenly darted out of nowhere straight into the path of the cyclist. Net result = Cyclist fell down and so did the aunty. The guy didn't even say a word to her, he was just too stunned to react, plus he had a bad bump on the back of his head. This lady got up and started throwing her chappals at him and beating him :eek: The poor guy was so confused that he didn't know what to say! Only after some passing women intervened, she calmed down and went away. I wish she would have shown some courtesy as the guy really had a nasty bump on his head; and the first mistake was hers - Running about on the road without looking left and right. Thankfully he didn't have any bleeding.

Avoid a group of college students, with that 'I am in the air' attitude. They are generally in their own world & would not mind concluding their gossip bang in the middle of a busy road.

Also here is a situation (to be read in a lighter vein):
You are at a traffic signal with less than 10 seconds left to turn red.
There is no vehicle in front or behind you.
There is one / two persons who are about to play chicken at the signal.

The trick is to avoid eye contact with those chaps, in that way atleast they would be discouraged to jump into the middle of the road. Mere eye contact will confirm them that you are not going to take the risk of committing homicide.

Bumping up this thread with an experience. I was driving towards Moodbidri from Mangalore at night on the NH-13 (old). There is this particular stretch which has a lot of curves and with no street lights or any light except for the vehicles. I was doing around 50-60 KPH around a curve a suddenly see a person wearing black clothes (he was a devotee wearing the Sabarimala Mala) head to toe walking on the left of the road. I had to veer past the median to avoid him. It is dangerous to stop at night, but I confirmed he was a devotee, I parked my car and walked up to him and told him about the situation. I told him, it would be better if he walked on the side of the road facing the oncoming vehicles and would be it would be a good idea to carry a torch. He was apologetic and took it nicely. I was wondering what if it was bus at high speed instead of my car and an oncoming vehicle at same time!!

Day in and day our I spot pedestrians walking on the road even when there is a perfectly good hawker free footpath available for walking.

I wonder what can prompt people to do such things. Everyone right from the low education people, topi wearing gaonwallas to the highly educated, suit and tie wearing public tend to walk on the road instead of walking on the footpath.

Even when some do walk on the footpath, if they have to get on the road for some reason, say some digging has been done and the path is blocked, people do not get on to the footpath once the block is crossed and keep walking on the road.

As a result, every lane shifts a little to the right causing traffic jams and minor accidents. I wonder what can be done to prod pedestrians to use footpaths as a rule and not as an exception.

Another rant is the rampant use of the footpath as a road by 2 wheelers. I think the only thing to do now is to cordon off all footpaths so that no 2 wheeler can get on to it.

This is a shot taken at Vytilla Junction (The busiest traffic signal of Kerala!), while I was waiting for the green signal to go straight from Trippunithara Rd to S.A. Road. The pedestrians on my left has already crossed half section of my side without even looking at the Red light on the Pedestrian signal and is waiting for an opportunity to cross the remaining part with the signal still at Red and the traffic is flowing :Shockked: But one of guy is planning for another move! Guess what? He is contemplating on making a diagonal crossing (crossing 2 sections at one go!) without even a glance at the Red Pedestrian light :Shockked:

Bad pedestrians are 'dime a dozen', but this guy deserves special mention. Standing and checking 'whatsapp?' in the middle of the road, while the others are busy scurrying to dodge the vehicles and cross. And when I stop and tap on the horn, he gives me that ' how dare you ' stare. Sorry Champ, to have disturbed you, but if you continue this way, that could be your last 'whatsapp' status update. :D

Today morning at Thiruvanmiyur signal (Chennai)

And that RED light. It was for the traffic coming in straight. I had a green to take the right turn. :)

Bad Pedestrians - How do you spot them-moron-1.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shanmd (Post 4049900)

For all the good that the new rates of fines are for motorists, I was hoping to see one-two additions for jaywalking.

Oh, please! For the average pedestrian... Wait. Not average. For the majority of pedestrians, "jaywalking" will be an alien concept.

In fact, if you were to go up to one such person and ask him about jaywalking, he's more likely to respond: "Gay-walking? How dare you!" followed by physical and verbal abuse.

If you do manage to clarify you're not talking about their orientation, they'll most likely respond "Is this your father's road? I'll cross when I want, where I want".

That does mean it falls to us drivers to be cautious. Alongside caution, I think its only right that we repay and encourage those who are politely and correctly waiting to cross by halting for them and letting them do so - the way drivers in the west do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by arunphilip (Post 4049944)

For the majority of pedestrians, "jaywalking" will be an alien concept.

There are many times when I am a pedestrian. Either due to me taking a bus, or taking a long walk from the parking lot to the place of interest. It is really sad at major intersections. The pedestrian crossing will turn green only after all the sides (assume a 4 side intersection) have turned green for the vehicles. And while each side gets as much as 150 seconds for the vehicles, us pedestrians get a few seconds, that too we have to dodge an over-smart bike or a car sneaking past.