It was late at night and many other staff members at the banquet, who were mostly drunk, started surrounding me and my family.

BHPian mohitm29 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Wanted to share an extremely disturbing incident that happened with my cousin brother who had narrated it to me a few weeks back.

We were invited to attend an evening function- Mata Ki Chowki (payers for Goddess Durga) at a Banquet in Delhi (name not disclosed deliberately). The valet drivers were taking keys from the guests and were parking somewhere (assumingly) near the banquet premises. Myself included, many guests started leaving after dinner, however, my cousin was amongst the very few guests who were leaving late with our relative's family of organizers of the event.

When he went to ask for his car key from the valet stall, the people took time to find it. After a long wait, my cousin brother asked to call the manager of the banquet. The manager came out after some time. The valet people took this manager slightly away from the valet stall and were discussing something. The manager met my cousin brother and told him to take a cab back home as the staff was unable to find the key at that moment and that they would search in the morning and would arrange to get the car dropped at his residence in the morning.

This triggered suspicion and my cousin brother started demanding CCTV footage. The manager informed him that the CCTV was not working. My brother kept demanding they search for the car key but the manager kept saying the same statement - that he would get the car delivered in the morning. In the meanwhile, many other staff (mostly drunk) people at the banquet started to surround my cousin brother and his family.

Fearing any mishap my cousin called up police but did not get much help on the first call. He received a second call from the police but that also did not help. My cousin and his family had to go through this traumatic incident for almost 2 hours standing in between a crowd of drunk men untill a third call was received from the police.

On the third call, the officer discussed with the manager of the banquet hall and asked to return the car key to my cousin. The manager instructed one of the valet staff who hesitantly returned the car key. The valet people did not bother to bring the car back to the banquet premises and only guided my cousin as to where the car would be parked.

When my cousin found his car and opened it, he was shocked to see empty liquor bottles lying inside the car and some snacks like nuts lying on the seats which was proof enough that the valet staff was drinking inside his car. The family remained traumatised for many days after this incident.

This incident shockingly exposed the other side of valet facilities at banquets. It was also a lesson that unless it is a 5-star reputed property, we should try to park our vehicles instead of giving keys and relying on valets.

Here's what BHPian for_cars1 had to say about the matter:

Handing cars to a valet is shown as an everyday event in English movies where the star-cast lady or gentleman casually hands over the keys of their convertible to an eagerly waiting valet as they enter a premise.

Have never been comfortable with the idea of handing the keys to a valet and have always self-parked.

I find it intriguing when folks hand over their brand-new car carefree to a valet and forget about the vehicle. For a nominal meal at a hotel, for example, folks hand over their priced possessions to an unknown valet with unknown driving skills. I believe this is indeed a huge risk especially while on tours and away from your home location.

After taking all the pain of driving to a destination, wonder what it takes to just park the car as a final step. But I do respect the viewpoints of folks who may feel the need to avail a valet service to each of their own.

Haven't yet encountered a place where they insist on only valet parking. If you politely mention that you will self-park, you will be shown where without any fuss.

Here's what BHPian Aarhot had to say about the matter:

Valet helps in such places where there is not much parking left within the premises and if you insist on parking by yourself, they give a sheepish stare and a word of caution that there is no parking left in the basement and need to search around the by-lanes (which they will do anyways).

Had to pay a fine for roadside parking that they did when we visited a restaurant a few years back. After this incident, I have been asking them to make sure it's parked inside the parking lot or within the premises. They, anyway don't care for your car as they clearly say "they are not responsible for anything".

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They may be in the wrong, breaking the law, but they will abuse you and not give a damn about others.

BHPian blitzkrieg recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Location - Khar Subway road, Mumbai

A very common sight on this road is over smart two-wheelers, taking the wrong side of the road to skip traffic.

It's infuriating to see them flouting rules with complete audacity. What really got my blood boiling today was an obnoxious moron who could have caused a very fatal accident.

You see him almost hitting this pedestrian. Then turning and shouting at her for being on the phone. I did the most non-violent thing I could do. I stood there and sat on the horn for him to go back and take the correct lane.

In turn, he is behaving like he owns the road and has done nothing wrong.

This is a very common attitude with drivers on Indian roads. They may be in the wrong, breaking the law, but they will abuse you and not give a damn about others.

Watch the video here for the non-violent showdown

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In all this, however, we all knew that staying silent was the best way to deal with the drunk fanatics.

BHPian that_sedate_guy recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Friends, I'm still shaky as I type this. Not because I'm traumatised or anything but because I feel sick to the stomach like I'm going to throw up any time.

My wife and I went to the book fair hosted at Kalyani Kala Mandira (nice book fair by the way). So, anyway, we went along with one of my friends and her husband in our Scorpio. When we came back to my friend's house to drop her off and unload the books, it was nearly 1 AM. Her house is in Challagatta near Domlur.

We were unloading the books when a car with two men inside came there and signalled for us to get out of the way. When we tried to reverse, they aggressively tried coming closer and closer in a threatening manner. I saw a cigarette in the co-passenger's hand and figured out that it was a bunch of drunk goons. We let them pass and then resumed our job. They turned around and came back and shouted at us again. I could hear them shouting something about Tamil Nadu along with some expletives. We went away from there and parked at a different spot with space for them to pass. That's when all hell broke loose.

They got out and shouted in Kannada but I easily figured out what was going on. They asked where we were from and then shouted, "So you don't know Kannada huh? You think you can come in here without knowing Kannada huh? Look at these (Explicit), they don't know Kannada". The guy who was driving the car slapped my friend's husband and the other guy landed a blow on my face and eye when I was still seated. They were drunk out of their minds and were mouthing so many foul things about my wife and my friend.

We got out and then he pointed at my wife and asked who she was. I replied that she was my wife and immediately he went, "Sorry sister, I thought you were his (explicit)"

At this, my friend got enraged and shouted. BAD MOVE, I know but she couldn't contain herself. The goons got pissed off and caused a huge ruckus all the while shouting that we are Tamil people and we do not belong in Karnataka.

It took two hours of neighbours trying to pacify the drunkards for them to leave us alone. We were tired, scared for our safety and extremely drained emotionally. We had no one there, we were outsiders who had been singled out just for having a TN-registered number plate. I've had people misbehave after seeing my number plate but this was on a different level. We decided to stay the night and leave in the morning because they might still be there somewhere trying to cause trouble.

In the morning, I did my routine walkaround of the car before getting in and noticed that they had not left us alone after all. Two of the four wheelcaps in my Scorpio were broken and the front right tyre was deflated.

I couldn't believe people would stoop so low in their lives that they had to resort to petty acts of anger. Luckily I bought a portable tyre inflator from Agaro just two months ago and that helped tremendously in inflating the tyre in a few minutes.

After a lot of chaos and other people pitching in, they left but not before proclaiming that they had the locals, the cops, everyone on their fingertips and again shouting that we're just "(very abusive expletives) Tamil people"

With a very, very heavy heart, I'm writing this.

I feel DISGUSTED by the internal racism in India. It has been nearly 12 hours since the incident happened and I still feel nauseous.

Of course, there'll be exceptions to all that I mention below but, Karnataka vehicles ply on Tamil roads ALL the time and no one bats an eye. I've lived in Uttarakhand where everyone minds their own business. I've been to Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, and Sikkim and I've driven a lot in Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi and no one acts all high and mighty about their state and actively tries to kick out people of other states.

But Bangalore? I don't get why these people behave like this. This is not the first time I've experienced "Number plate based treatment" in Karnataka. It has happened numerous times in Bangalore and quite a few times in Mysore and other places around there. So many of these experiences personally have made me realise that apart from the need for my career, unfortunately, Karnataka will be the last place I would ever want to visit or live in. Ever.

Frankly, I don't even feel like going to Bangalore for work anymore. My wife got so deeply hurt from being called many vulgar names that she said she doesn't even want to ever try a Bangalore-style chicken dish from a cookbook we bought yesterday.

I feel extremely DISGUSTED and extremely upset that my wife and my best friend also had to hear so many ugly and vulgar words spewed at us.

In all this, however, we all knew that staying silent was the best way to deal with the drunk fanatics. My friend lost her cool initially but I instructed her sternly to keep silent as well. It might have prevented the situation from further escalation. Or not, who knows?

Sorry for venting out so vehemently and thanks to whoever reads this. Sorry if my experience shared does not resonate with other's experience in the place but Bangalore/KA is simply not for me or my family. Also, people with similar experiences, feel free to share.

Mods, if there's another appropriate thread where this will make more sense, please move it as see fit. Thank you.

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The pain was sharp and I just hit the indicator and pulled to the left and halted.

BHPian SS80 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Not a major accident as such, but posting this to create awareness. I ride to the office from Horamavu to Arekere -22 km thrice a week. I always felt riding gears is for routers or bigger bikes, commuters like me hardly need this.

Yesterday, I was zipping across the underpass on Bannerghatta Road and probably I was around 60kmph, maintaining the same pace as the rest of them. A big piece of cement plaster fell from the metro construction above and struck my right bicep. Pure luck, it did not hit my helmet/fingers/knee/laptop.

The pain was sharp and I just hit the indicator and pulled to the left and halted. I almost created a panic-breaking moment for the guy behind me.

The loose spongy jacket saved me to a good extent, I ordered a glove with a knuckle guard last night.

The chunk of cement broke into 2 to 3 pieces, 2 of them remained on the bike as I came to a halt and 1 fell off. It was a good time, I woke up with just mild pain this morning and nothing serious.

Basic riding gear is a must, no matter where we are riding.

Here's what BHPian TallBoy had to say on the matter:

Thanks, good heavens that you got away safely. Please do post to the metro authorities and police so they can take necessary safeguards to ensure that something more serious does not happen to other commuters.

As you rightly said, basic riding gear is a must, no matter what the distance, speed and time are.

Here's what BHPian t3rm1n80r had to say on the matter:

Glad you are safe and there is no major injury. This has always been my fear with the rapid metro and flyover constructions. Every time I get stuck in a traffic jam under a metro station I get nervous due to the ongoing construction work above my head. Maybe I've watched too many Final Destination movies. ATGATT is a must. Better safe than being a vegetable!

Here's what BHPian aishwaryamaurya had to say on the matter:

New fear unlocked. You were lucky - thank god.

My daily commute route involves 2-3 places where overhanging overbridge construction is going on and I think I am going to be extra careful when I pass under from now on.

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Flashing of lights these days has become way too common on our roads.

BHPian paragsachania recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

The disease of flashing lights!

Encountered this moron today morning on Railway Parallel Road in Sahakarnagar, Bangalore. While the pedestrian too was very casual in the way he was crossing the road without really assessing the density of traffic in both directions, the Bolero driver was an atypical Bangalore driver diagnosed with an incurable disease of flashing lights when you don't know what else to do, including slowing down.

The Bolero driver also tries to play smart with his quick manoeuvre to exhibit condescending behaviour when he realises that I am sticking to my line rather than laying a green carpet on him. It barely misses hitting the pedestrian waiting on the median marker.

Flashing of lights these days has become way too common on our roads that at least 7 out of 10 vehicles indulge in this. You encounter them on a 2 lane road (city or highway) with tight overtaking spots or limited space to pass due to parked vehicles. I am sure all of these drivers picked up driving lessons by driving on 4-lane roads!!

Needless to say, I am not at all discussing the parents dropping their kids home on 2 wheelers in this video without helmets or even talking on the phone for that matter. This is now a norm.

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For those who aren't into physical altercations, such incidents can be unnerving.

BHPian shadyrulez recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Saw a Road Rage incident this morning. It left me pretty shaken. This happened at around 8:50 am on Balfour Road, Chennai. I had just dropped my son at school and was heading to the gym when I saw a car driver and autowala fighting it out on the road. I could clearly see the car driver really afraid for his life as he took steps back to avoid jabs and was also trying to be aware of oncoming traffic.

BHPian Jekyl87 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I had a learning experience today. Wish I had a dashcam installed. While crossing a T-intersection with proper functioning traffic signals, I was coming from the bottom of the T to take a right. The signal had just turned green so all the cars along with mine were slowly starting and crossing the road to the right. Suddenly, a guy on a scooter barrels between the cars waiting patiently on the top right of the T for their light to turn green and just narrowly misses driving head-first into the driver-side door of my car.

The surprising this is what happened afterwards. He parked the scooter in the middle of the road and started banging on my glass shouting for me to open it. When I and others told him that he was the one who jumped the red light in the first place, his response was 'Red light jump karunga to mujhe uda doge kya?' ("If I jump the red light, will you run me over?")

I was dumbstruck. My car was crawling through the intersection at 5 km/hr on a green light, and he was the one shouting at me. I just took this as a learning that there are people on the road just looking for a fight and it's always better to disengage even though you may be the one who is in the right.

BHPian Strider24 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

So this happened to me last month in Pune, after a long office day I was going to Westend Mall to catch a movie. I started off at 6.30 pm from my home and took the road with least expected traffic toward Aundh via the Pashan-Baner link road.

An old Maruti Dzire car was ahead of me driving at a snail's pace for some time. What was more flustering was that there was plenty of space ahead of it, but oncoming traffic was making it impossible for me to overtake. It seemed that the Dzire driver was talking on the phone while driving leisurely.

After a while I lost patience, I honked and flashed my headlights to draw his attention & this is when all the drama started. He didn't like being disturbed, stopped the car mid-lane and started hurling abuses at me. Taunted me to go ahead and see what happens.

I didn't want to escalate the situation & also there were other cars behind me, so I overtook him and went ahead thinking it was nothing, let's move on, but NO, now he started to honk continuously behind me as if saying 'My Turn'.

What followed after this is captured in the Dashcam Video.

The way this driver chased me without caring for his or anyone else's safety on road was scary. I was sure that he was either a criminal or drunk or both. He was provoking me to stop my car so that he can start a fight or something. However, I was neither in the mood nor in a shape to do so, at the same time, I was also thinking about news articles in TOI where serious fights broke out during the road rage incidents and People were killed.

In the end, I was relieved and happy that I didn't take the bait. Being hot-headed doesn't help in such situations. I have read many times in this thread only how to handle such a situation & I am glad I came out okay.

The only time when I was disappointed in this episode was with my car. When he was trying to overtake from left and I tried to accelerate to outrun him, my car didn't have enough power in the 3k-5k RPM range, it simply wasn't accelerating enough. It made me think, what's the use of 140 PS and 173 NM if you don't have it in a usable powerband? what if it had happened on a highway where the only option was to outrun him towards a police check-post.

I am seriously thinking about going for stage 1 engine tuning soon to be prepared. All suggestions are welcome if Corolla Altis's 2ZEFR NA engine is suitable for tuning or not, so far I haven't found any examples of a Corolla being tuned in India.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

For those of us who aren't into physical altercations, such incidents can be unnerving. My suggestion = don't ever step out of the vehicle. It was the car owner's fault for stepping out, as most people do. Stay in your car. If the other driver gets violent, start recording it on your smartphone (make sure he sees you recording) and drive to the nearest police station. If you are inclined enough to have an FIR registered, he will be visiting courts for the next 20 years. Even if you don't want an FIR, it's best to drive to the nearest police station for safety.

A friend who was in a similar situation with a taxi driver drove into a 5-star hotel for safety. The cabbie didn't even attempt entering the hotel.

Even if your car is damaged, just claim insurance. That's what we pay those steep premiums for every year!

Here's what BHPian bblost had to say on the matter:

GTO's advice is spot on. Do not exit your vehicle. Always keep an escape route open.

In my case, the auto driver was very puny in size. But I had no idea what drug he might be on or what weapon he might have on his person.

Also even if get an upper hand on him in a physical fight, I don't want to expose my young kids to that part of life.

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Your presence of mind to apologise as a response was wise & de-escalated things immediately.

BHPian krishnakumar recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I got involved in a road rage incident on 11 Dec in B'lore. We were returning from a long drive when this happened.

Fortunately, nothing happened to us. I captured the whole incident on my dashcam and here’s the video.

Update 1: Car was already going below 30km/h and the puddle was not visible on the road. I noticed the puddle when the Duster ahead causes a big splash (again, clearly because it isn’t visible) and slowed down to move to the left, but didn’t expect the puddle to be so large.

The splash was primarily because there is a depression in the road. So the car dipped into it which I don’t think is apparent in the video. At that point, speeds would be just about 20kph and I would have had to literally stop the car to a crawl if I were to prevent a splash. So up until that point, there was no flags which reasoned that I should come to a crawl.

It was a judgment call because I was worried about losing traction as the surface was extremely slushy. At least based on all my learned experiences so far, it shouldn’t have splashed the guy. Yet it did. So it’s a new learning that I should keep in my mind. Driving in India is crazy.

Udate 2: Two Reasons:

1. I honestly didn't think the splash went inside and even when my wife said the water went inside, I thought that it is unlikely because of the low speeds.
2. Before the guy waved me down, I did apologize (with my hand and bowing of head, didn't open windows) while he was coming alongside me, that is not there in the video. He continued to wave me down even after that because he just wanted to create a ruckus. To keep the video brief, I omitted all of these.

Regarding the "losing traction" bit, yes, given the road condition bringing the car to a 0 from 30km/h (in the distance when I noticed the puddle) would have led to a certain skid which I wanted to avoid. There is no guarantee for the car to have prevented a splash as well. I'm not being "holier than thou"  I know it is frustrating to have water splashed and it is to some extent my fault in the judgement call I made (which is my takeaway from the experience).

But the underlying point is, given weather and road conditions, some of these incidences are beyond our control and losing the cool to a point of smashing someone/their vehicle with a rock is plainly stupid.

Here's what BHPian WorkingGuru had to say on the matter:

Your presence of mind to apologise as a response was wise & de-escalated things immediately.

Stay safe. Hope we all learn to respond similarly & get on with our life with minimal disturbance.

Here's what BHPian jono213 had to say on the matter:

Yeesh, an extremely unsavoury incident. Whenever these guys cause accidents and damage, we are expected to let them go because their incomes are not high but then they can pull off this nonsense and get away with it. Disgusting!

Here's what BHPian bblost had to say on the matter:

You handled it perfectly well. Proud of you.

This was like a triggering video for me since I had once run into this auto driver's brother in Hyderabad. Here's the link.

Not getting into a fight is the best outcome possible.

Here's what BHPian audioholic had to say on the matter:

This thing with Auto drivers or even motorists and splashing water is a very common form of ending up in road rage. But somehow people like him feel that this is done on purpose. My driver had reported this incident when similarly some auto driver got splashed from my Celerio while he was driving it and then the driver came back to take revenge by getting a bottle of water and pouring it back on my driver. Beyond that, he couldn't do much. Just street justice is being attempted with zero brains and emotions running high as to how someone can splash water on him.

I ended up splashing water a few years ago on a two-wheeler rider because my car landed in a pothole filled with water and at the same time the biker was overtaking me even though he knew that place had quite some water. He approached with full rage as to how I could do it. I just asked him what else I would have done and he had no answer.

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The public who assembled started blaming the truck driver, but the footage helped matters.

BHPian Bibendum90949 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This footage is from my friend's dashcam. He was lucky to be driving a little behind. The mishap took place at Kuriyachira, off Thrissur town in Kerala yesterday by 11 pm (time stamp in the cam is not correct). He handed over the footage to police. The public who assembled started blaming the truck driver, but the footage helped matters. The occupants in the Celerio escaped without any major injury. Appears like a case of dozing off at the wheel since there were no vehicles ahead for the Celerio to overtake. They were lucky that the truck didn't topple on them.

Here's what BHPian Aditya had to say on the matter:

Many thanks to your friend for providing the dashcam footage and helping an innocent person get compensation. Otherwise, the poor truck driver, who probably struggles to make ends meet in today's times, would have have not only been unfairly blamed, but also lost his job.

This incident just highlights the importance of a dashcam. It's as necessary as a black box is in an aircraft.

Here's what BHPian sunilch had to say on the matter:

Seems like the Celerio had airbags and they did their job. Good to see airbags helping indeed and will help in making them more acceptable.

Here's what BHPian krishnakumar had to say on the matter:

Again a reason why every single car owner should seriously consider fixing a good front and rear dashcam in their cars. It's one of those things that'll really help in such situations when its your word against someone else.

Here's what BHPian AutoNoob had to say on the matter:

Your friend's response to the accident, straight line braking is also commendable.

Also, in this case, the dashcam clock was off by many hours and difference can be ascertained from the sky and streetlights. But in some scenario, such a time-stamp error may be 'the difference' in successfully defending oneself in front of the police or court of law or suffering.

This is the reason I ensure correct time and keep GPS/ speed stamp ON on my dashcam.

Here's what BHPian Chetan_Rao had to say on the matter:

Word of advice to dashcam users.

Always report the evidence to appropriate authorities as soon as practically possible. Deescalating the situation is important, of course, but 'I have evidence so back off!' doesn't always achieve that in a mob-like situation, or with a belligerent person up against you.

Secure the device/SD card, offer to get the cops involved, and if damages (human & property) are significant, get a lawyer involved before offering up evidence.

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