[mpksuhas]

Well, not just the ones without indicators. Truckers who put on their right indicator when you behind them to indicate you can overtake them is another weird thing I can't make out the logic of.

[av8er]

Guys you are talking of Trucks parked on the same side without lights I have had trucks come on to me from the OPPOSITE side onto my left side of the highway.

As I drive down to my native quite a lot I start at night and reach there by early morning and the worst is when these trucks start for the day early in the morning during its twilight zone and choose not to turn on their lights and you can hardly make out if they are moving or stationary at times you dont even see them because of the mist or fog that forms early in the morning.

I think government should come with heavy fines cos then the cops would also ask for heavy bribes. The way it is for the violation of Pollution certificate in Delhi. I have heard that the cops charge a minimum of atleast Rs.500 as bribe itself and so the janta get the certificate instead.

The same should go for every violation. Fines are atrociously stupid and low. I crossed a stop line ones and I had to pay Rs.50 as fine. Who really feels the pinch of 50rs these days.

[designersf]

I had personally seen an accident happen where a can rammed into the rear of a truck in Tamilnadu, near Hosur. Nothing happened to the truck who escaped the scene while few people were injured in the van. I personally called up 108 and asked for an ambulance to come and pick them up. It is mandatory for them to take action on such trucks who put the life of innocent people at risk

[CARDEEP]

There should be some legislation which forces these truckers, truck/tractor-trailers to have hazard lights or at least some good quality reflective materials, which helps other highway users to spot the (generally stationary, else moving at snail's pace) vehicle from distance. In addition, our Govt. should install solar powered high mast lights on the highways for better visibility.
These can prevent many accidents that happen on highways in the night.
In fact I lost my best friend due one such accident in UP. I felt so bad that day that I wish that I could have crushed the head of tractor-trailer owner under the wheels of the same trailer under which my friend was crushed to death.

[Latheesh]

Yes, not only trucks most of the commercial vehicles here do not have working tail lamps. It is dangerous.

[<Badguy>]

TBHPians we have missed an important vehicle which pose more threat than trucks.
We have missed those tractors which ply on Indian highways in night with their trolley in back. It is almost impossible to see them while driving until one is not conscious enough.
I faced this situation where I was driving in night from delhi to Jim corbett where the tractors carrying sugarcanes from field were plying and it was a real threats on the roads. I almost banged one of them from behind but good sense prevailed and was able to just stop the car.

Any idea how we can fix the trolley problem. ?

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

See this related thread that came up just today : Soon, all cars will need a periodic health checkup - compulsorily

cya
R

LOL this thread should go in the Jokes thread.
so the old rules was
All commercial vehicles need compulsary health check
New rule
All private and commercial vehicles need compulsary health check

Real rule
We are not making enough bribe money from trucks and all, so lets rope in the private car buyers.

We can have tonnes of new rules which are not needed. All that is needed is existing rules to be enforced.

[nirmalts]

Originally Posted by jaspal singh

According to Motor vehicle Act of India, a vehicle must have its tailights/brakelights(& Headlights obviously!) in working condition. But the traffic police in our country, seems to be turning a blind eye to the above problem.

I guess such checks cannot be done by police but should be done by another agency which checks for the fitness of vehicles annually and issues certificates that should be displayed. But doesn't something called fitness certificate exist for public transport vehicles already? Does this cover only the technical fitness of vehicles?

Nirmal

[DieselAddikt]

Today I read in a newspaper that the cops in the city (Kochi) did a periodic traffic check and fined all vehicles without proper working tail lights and indicators and blah blah.... If the news is correct, I would say it will be good if they can do this atleast once in a month. With this they can earn money (bribe or no bribe). But the good thing is that more people will keep their lights working so as to not lose money. Working tail lights itself will redice a lot of accidents happening on highways.

[rutvij]

Originally Posted by ViMo

I feel Most of the OEM tail lamps are of poor quality and don’t last long.

I agree with you. Further most trucks/buses in India do not come with chassis and the Chassis builder in India are like grown up Garagewalas. They don't have sufficient expertise to make durable and long lasting tail lamps.

[jaspal singh]

Originally Posted by <Badguy>

TBHPians we have missed an important vehicle which pose more threat than trucks.
We have missed those tractors which ply on Indian highways in night with their trolley in back. It is almost impossible to see them while driving until one is not conscious enough.
I faced this situation where I was driving in night from delhi to Jim corbett where the tractors carrying sugarcanes from field were plying and it was a real threats on the roads. I almost banged one of them from behind but good sense prevailed and was able to just stop the car.

Any idea how we can fix the trolley problem. ?

Yes these tractor-trolleys are even a bigger nuisance. The primary use of tractors is in agriculture, but in our country its not uncommon to find them with a trolley attached and loaded 10 times their capacity
the problem is much more in UP, where you can find them overloaded with stuff lik sugarcane, wheat etc.
I faced a similar incident two years back while driving back from lucknow to my hometown jhansi, a trolley parked in the right most-lane, almost resulted in a disaster, it was only because of the low speed(<70kmph), i was able to avoid it.
I personally feel tractors with trolleys attached, must not be allowed to ply on national highways, as tractors are supposed to be used in farming and not for transportation purpose.

[AbdulRahmanM]

I was about to comment about the lorries without lights and i stumble upon this thread. Yesterday while i was driving back from office, i cross a strech of 2kms where there is no light, all of a sudden, i saw something dark just in front of me, i pulled to the right at once, and while crossing that dark thing i realise its a truck parked on the left side lane of the road, not even outside the road, but left lane in the road. This road has 2 lanes and luckily i had the other lane free.

[aby]

If we are to make a pet peeves of truck behaviour on the highways, I think there would be dozens
1) Rarely working tail lights
2) So many times you see the damn guys coming on the wrong side of the road (Especially in a 4 lane GQ highways) because they are too lazy to take a U-Turn
3) Most dangerous IMO - The way the Yamdoots load the trucks with Iron rods or poles which stick out quite some distance from the rear. Anyone hitting will straightaway head to next world. And they will have a small flimsy red coloured cloth to indicate :-) God save us.

But I think the root of all the problem is the thullas who use truckers as their personal ATM machines. A little honest enforcement can go a long way.

[gthang]

Guys,
If we are to keep describing about the insanity and chaos that the truck and general traffic situation in India is, we could do that all day long.

In my humblest of opinions, I feel a working tail/park/signal lamp is a root cause solution. How can we ensure that these lamps dont fuse/burn out? If you observe all the trucks/buses/lcvs, whether as OEM or from body shop, they are mostly similiar. But a large percentage of them dont work. And MOSTLY because the bulb is fused.

Can someone not see the business potential and/or safety potential in manufacturing some low cost LED replacement? Make it here, or import from China, or anywhere. If at least a thousand (or ten )pieces are installed, wont others duplicate and start doing the same? Even if used in the most idiotic manner imaginable, at least the break light would stay working.

Isnt there a TBhpian out there who has the resources to do this?

[jaspal singh]

Originally Posted by CARDEEP

There should be some legislation which forces these truckers, truck/tractor-trailers to have hazard lights or at least some good quality reflective materials, which helps other highway users to spot the (generally stationary, else moving at snail's pace) vehicle from distance. In addition, our Govt. should install solar powered high mast lights on the highways for better visibility.
These can prevent many accidents that happen on highways in the night.
In fact I lost my best friend due one such accident in UP. I felt so bad that day that I wish that I could have crushed the head of tractor-trailer owner under the wheels of the same trailer under which my friend was crushed to death.

There is already legislation, which states that a vehicle must have its lights(headlights, tail lights, brake, hazard lights etc), in working condition at any point of time.
Regarding the use of reflective material, i personaly feel it creates confusion about the type/size of the vehicle. its better to have a uniform lighting system for commercial vehicles of varying sizes.
I remember, few years back while on the way to kanpur it was very foggy, and we were driving in our little Matiz with headlights on(at low beam!) & tailights working in perfect condition, some traffic walas stopped us and pasted some really crap reflectors on our car. at the same time they allowed those monster trucks to pass by, if this was not enough they asked for Rs 50 for the reflectors! had a heated argument with them as to why they were allowing commercial vehicles with non functioning lights to pass and stopping innocent car drivers. They said their reflectors can be used only on cars!
Now some useful talk:
A vehicle's lighting system is suppose to provide information about vehicle's presence, position, size, direction of travel etc. but sadly in our country even the basic rules are not enforced properly. I keep reading about how the government wishes to implement, Intelligent Traffic Management System, specially in N Delhi. when our record in implementing basic rules/laws is so dismal, i seriously doubt the enforcement and effectiveness of such systems