[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by mayankk

This is just sort of reinforcing teh scorpio stereotype, isnt it?

That vent, isnt it the intake for the engine?
Its scooped right into the structure of the car, probably thats why it came out on top against the fender. It may be a tall ask, but i hope the guys realize that had they not hassled you, you would have managed to get the car off without breaking it off.

The stereotype, yes perhaps. To be honest this is probably the first real incident I had with one of these Scorpios. Usually it is the Dzires, Indicas, i20s and Innovas!

I would not expect too much of these people in terms of common sense. If they had enough sense, they would have stayed in their vehicle and allowed me to reverse and go my way. That is why I just decided to leave when he knocked off the ORVM. I dont get into fights, logical arguments is a different story He would have known he didnt have enough logic to support him, hence the violence?

Perhaps they were looking for the usual easy target to fleece money (in formals, headed to work alone in a car etc)

[akj123]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I don’t know if I should have stayed, but at that moment I thought it was better to get away even if it meant a dent on my car. Especially as both the guys were out and it would have taken time for them, even to catch up with me. If it got worse, I thought I would park near the police station and wait inside the car till help arrived.

Had a similar experience few months back, and I took a similar split-second decision. I was on the 80 feet road on Indiranagar, going straight in the rightmost lane. Had stopped for a car (from the other side of divider) to take a U-turn, and behind that was another SUV (don't recall which). Once the car turned, I started moving forward, and that agitated the SUV - that I didn't wait for him it seems.

This was not even a proper cut, it was a low-ish divider and the SUV was going over it, as it wanted to take the turn and (I believe) enter an under-construction property whose gate was right in front of that turn.

Anyway, the driver got down, tried to open my car's door (luckily it was locked and windows were up). I sped off, and could see in my ORVM the person picking a stone/brick and throwing at my car - thankfully he missed!

I feel it was good I moved off any didn't try to get down and talk - that could have turned ugly indeed.

[n_naik]

An overloaded old Govt bus (with 80-90 passengers) loses control and falls into a lake in Belur, Karnataka today and kills at least 7-8 people. Many among the dead were students.

P.S: I am not sharing NDTV news link since it is full of spelling mistakes and has got too much wrong information like for example, it says the conductor of the bus survived while in reality, he was one among the dead.

[Shiv_1984]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Within the next fraction of a second another guy in dark glasses (same shade as his skintone I guess) jumped to my side of the Nano and started abusing me. I was trying to calm him down and tried to explain that I could get the car out, though I knew it was his mistake. But he got even more aggressive and knocked my ORVM off with his hand. When he reached the abuse list with my family members, I got so mad at him that I felt like getting out and punching him in the face. But though there was a police station right across the road, better sense prevailed. I rolled up the window and while these morons started hitting on the windows, I revved up and zoomed away. The bumper which was stuck in the vent came off and when I looked in the rear view mirror, they were trying to figure out the damage while the other cars behind them honked away to glory.

Points to note:
No one at that intersection came over to quieten these goons though it was obviously their mistake, not even the cops across the corner.

I don’t know if I should have stayed, but at that moment I thought it was better to get away even if it meant a dent on my car. Especially as both the guys were out and it would have taken time for them, even to catch up with me. If it got worse, I thought I would park near the police station and wait inside the car till help arrived.


I always wondered why that vent was created, but though it caused the incident in the first place, a sadistic part of me is glad and hopes that it caused some reasonable expense to that moron.

I truly agree with you on not getting into an altercation at that point of time as that would have aggravated the matter for no reason, and to be frank you never know what sense prevails these days as that guy might get into a this way or that way mood. It's foolish to expect any support from onlookers as they are just onlookers who look, enjoy and move on.

They have enough time to enjoy the scene but no guts to stand for the right. Its simple. It's your problem, deal with it.

People are getting more and more violent and there is an exponential increase of maniacs on road. Even for a small issue which can be solved amicably, people are creating ruckus and resorting to violence. Everyone is not sunny deol indeed and cannot cope up with those moronic behavior.

Anyways, good that your Nano had nothing major.

[EagleEye]

Originally Posted by john doe

And this comment is really shocking! YOu weren't even there! . And a license-carrying teenager can be 19 years old, no? Oh, and hit-and -run is illegal , even if the scooterist ( who may not have a license either) runs over Dawood !

I wasn't there, but I know he didn't look in the direction of the oncoming traffic before he entered the intersection because of the simple logic that if he had looked, he would have seen the scooter coming and would not have entered into its path.

I did not say a hit and run is not illegal. It's just that with some road sense (which almost all of our bikers severely lack), such silly, preventable accidents can be, yes, prevented.
I have noticed in my several years of driving on Indian roads that bikers behave as if we are responsible for their lives, not them. On fast highway drives, I have encountered many a situation where a biker enters the road from a cut in the divider (into the fast lane directly) without even bothering to look in my direction. Obviously, I have had to panic brake in these cases. The biker just rides away, not even realizing that he could have died because of his carelessness.

Originally Posted by drmohitg

I can relate to the thought process of eagle eye. As a doctor we frequently see bikers specially youngsters coming in with serious injuries after an RTA and many a times the feeling of " You had it coming dude" creeps in and you just feel anger directed against the patient for having put his family etc through this ordeal. And yes the victim might not be at fault behind the accident but witnessing almost 90% of youngsters ride recklessly on there bikes every day, one starts to feel frustrated. They possibly are too careless to judge the after effects of an accident, just like in this case: Head injuries and spine fractures mean months in the hospital, painful surgeries, lot of money and a very long recovery period.

Thanks. Exactly.
And there are some accidents you never fully recover from. One of my friends lost his right arm in a bike accident long ago when we were in college. He himself admits that it was his fault and due to his recklessness.
Now he advises other youngsters not to ride carelessly.

[msbehave]

Just had an accident an hour ago - last car in a 4 vehicle pile-up. A rickshaw stopped suddenly and the Honda city behind it wasn't able to stop in time and same with the XUV behind the Honda. I was behind the XUV knowing in the last second that I was going to crash into him. We were all at about 50-60kmph on the WEH at the Goregaon stretch. No clue as to why the rickshaw stopped. We all got into our cars after getting no satisfactory answer from the rick.

I slammed on the brakes but wasn't quick enough in terms of reflexes to downshift. Keep on thinking what I could have done differently. I was in the right-most lane and couldn't move into the lane to my left on time. :(

Also moaning the damage to my swift - my first accident ever and certainly first ever for my 8 year old Swift. Have attached pictures of my car for reference.



Well, can't attach anymore due to a parsing error but I suppose one is sufficient.

[john doe]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Within the next fraction of a second another guy in dark glasses (same shade as his skintone I guess)

Fantastic post, and should be read by everyone driving these days in Pune!

I just have one problem with this post and that is your above quoted description of the guy. In the US, you would come across as very racist. In India, there are many other interpretations as to why you chose to bring up his skin tone.

Are all these 'Fair & Handsome'type ads more effective than I thought in ruining our mindset?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by msbehave

Just had an accident an hour ago - last car in a 4 vehicle pile-up.

Very sorry about your accident. Regard it as an expensive lesson in...

1. Always leave enough space in front of you to stop, and remember that it is your fault if you fail to do so, whatever the reason the guy(s) in front stopped.

2. Always try to avoid travelling as part of a group of vehicles. Every time I see such a "knot" of cars, I think it is a pile up waiting to happen. Either drop back, or get ahead, but get out of the group.

Life on the roads is good at giving us expensive lessons: I've had a few myself.

Wishing you well for the repairs.

[AbelAFC]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I always wondered why that vent was created, but though it caused the incident in the first place, a sadistic part of me is glad and hopes that it caused some reasonable expense to that moron.

He must have thought he could mess with you just cause you were in a Nano. Good on you for revving away and leaving him there. Idiots like him deserve such treatment and nothing else.
You should have shot off a few choice words of your own as you drove away though.

Mod Note : Please quote ONLY the relevant bits of a post. Quoting a full, long post inconveniences our mobile readers.

Thanks!

[EagleEye]

Originally Posted by msbehave

I slammed on the brakes but wasn't quick enough in terms of reflexes to downshift. Keep on thinking what I could have done differently. I was in the right-most lane and couldn't move into the lane to my left on time. :(

As you did not leave enough space in front of your car, it couldn't have been avoided. Ideally you should always leave one car length of space in front of you.

On another note, under emergency braking don't worry about downshifts and your car getting switched off. Just stand on the brake pedal and hope for the best.

[nijelj]

Originally Posted by EagleEye

On another note, under emergency braking don't worry about downshifts and your car getting switched off. Just stand on the brake pedal and hope for the best.

I think he meant the engine braking effect of downshifting.But that wouldn't have helped,because if you press the clutch(for downshifting),you would loose any engine braking that you already have from the 5th gear.I also learned it the hard way about leaving car lengths infront. BTW,the damages of the other vehicles,did each of the owners take care?

[sumannandy]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

I always wondered why that vent was created, but though it caused the incident in the first place, a sadistic part of me is glad and hopes that it caused some reasonable expense to that moron.

Sorry to hear these but here are my stories.

An innova is trying to take a turn from right side into my lane but the way he turns it is bound to touch my car.

I honk, he does not listen (after all he is a cab driver), his car touches my bull bar, some part is scrapped badly.

Now he starts chasing me, stops and demands money. Passerby supports him and ultimately takes Rs. 200.

Incident 2: A road carves to left. I am on the leftmost lane. A swift on my right. He tries to turn left without noticing me. His car touches my bull bar. All the wile I honk frantically and stopped.

He tries to take his car out, reverses, moves forward and wat not and in te process completely damages his left passenger door.

He demands money, I said for what? e said that your fault is you stopped and did not move!

The cop asks us to go to police station.

Long story short, finally I had to pay 500.

This is India my friend.

Both the times I was on my safari.

What I have decided?

1. Give way, its not worth the pain to get involved into these. After all have you ever seen a Merc or BMW jostle for space? These guys have "cheap ego" (at the risk of sounding judgmental) and let them be happy with it.

2. Install a car video recorder, I will do it as soon as possible.

3. Instead of getting angry, which will only hurt you, think how amusing it is everyday on Indian roads, people not giving space, people shouting abuse etc., and it would be a great entertainment.

4. Think about something else wile driving, like next vacation, or some work while driving.

5. Respect other road users. Yes, you heard it right. They are also human beings, and some of them may have genuine emergency. How many times I tried to drive fast through traffic because I was late for a meeting or for something else? After all its not a race, what do I loose if I allow the other person to go first? It happened that in an intersection I was approaching with another car. I stopped, smiled and signaled him to go. He also stopped, smiled and insisted that I go first.

[sgmitr13]

Originally Posted by msbehave

I was in the right-most lane and couldn't move into the lane to my left on time. :(

I am not judging, but a typical common mistake among us Indians. We tend to swerve to right or left without looking over the shoulder or ORVMs if it is safe to do. I wonder why people just can't brake in the straight line and save other motorists or road users on the adjoining lanes.

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Within the next fraction of a second another guy in dark glasses (same shade as his skintone I guess)

I feel sorry for your experience, but as a bald & dark complexion guy myself with dark sun glass on a Safari, I think I have enough reasons not to step out even to offer a help
Last think I want is someone to use pepper spray on me. Just kidding! I approach folks with a smile.

[gurudutt]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/21287733.cms

BANGALORE: Six vehicles, including three cars, one autorickshaw and two two-wheelers, were damaged when a concrete-mixing vehicle rammed them near the Kodigehalli traffic junction on Bellary Road around 6.30pm Tuesday.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by john doe

I just have one problem with this post and that is your above quoted description of the guy. In the US, you would come across as very racist. In India, there are many other interpretations as to why you chose to bring up his skin tone.

Maybe this is why I dont live in the US! I think many of our terms here are more racist than these. I do admit it sounds bad, I should have used better words. I thought of comparing him with an animal, but that would have been insulting to our animal brethren. Anyway, if it is against forum policy, perhaps the mods can remove this line. It was typed out when I felt like punching him in the face, and not intended maliciously towards anyone else other than this obnoxious moron.

Originally Posted by sgmitr13

I feel sorry for your experience, but as a bald & dark complexion guy myself with dark sun glass on a Safari, I think I have enough reasons not to step out even to offer a help
Last think I want is someone to use pepper spray on me. Just kidding! I approach folks with a smile.

Bald and dark reporting here too. But I dont go around scaring people either, well not voluntarily at least by banging on their windows etc,

Originally Posted by sumannandy

1. Give way, its not worth the pain to get involved into these. After all have you ever seen a Merc or BMW jostle for space? These guys have "cheap ego" (at the risk of sounding judgmental) and let them be happy with it.

I totally agree with you on this.
In my case, I always give way keeping in mind the brakes on the car I am driving (I drive a Jazz too). But for this, the moron should be in our line of vision. This guy hit my rear passenger door, after I had passed him. Even if I had spotted him in the ORVM I didnt have anywhere to go as there were a lot of bikes to my left and traffic ahead was slowing down.