[vinya_jag]

Preamble: After a very Nice long non stop drive, a little negligence on my part at the time of alighting, made me write this post. I hit my Mom's leg (Neither me nor my Mom know how, and what exactly happened. She panicked, yelled, and I drove the car in reverse, a few inches, and it bruised her leg, which thankfully was gone in a day).
I have to use the entire road to enter into the house, I usually notice what is behind me in my mirrors, but since our street is quite calm, I failed to notice a car behind me until almost when I stopped. Not sure where he came from. Maybe it was one of the parked cars that came by, because it wasn't there the last time I had seen the mirrors. So, when I stopped at our gate, my wife alighted first and noticed that the gate was locked, and by then I had made the car behind me wait for a good 30 seconds. Also by then a two wheeler came and tried to sneak in. I then put the car in reverse and tried to reverse, not noticing that my Mom was still getting off. She panicked and yelled from outside, and didn't clearly say what the problem was, I first thought I had driven on her feet, then I thought that her hards were stuck, and in that commotion, I tried to correct by doing the opposite, and it hit her leg. She said that her chappals were stuck, and she couldn't move her feet when I first reversed, and second time, it pressed agianst her leg. Now she really yelled in pain, and again I did the opposite and she could free her leg. As she limped off, I was cursing myself not knowing what had happened. Moved the car a little ahead and let the Innova pass through. All this while the Car and the two wheeler inconsiderately were trying to hurry through, not even respecting or stopping by to look at my yelling Mom. A big lesson learnt

So, here are some of my personal experiences from this and other previous instances. Please do add other suggestions. A simple boarding and Deboarding can be cruel on us.

Watch what is behind. Let everyone Pass before you start alighting
I recently noticed in a Harrier that from the backseat, it was impossible to see what was coming from behind. I had to open the door a few inches, sneak and then open the door.

If you are the driver, Do not let anyone get off, until you have given clearance.
Driver's side rear view mirrors can be a good guide for even the back seat passenger. I usually shout to the person behind me, to wait, before I clear off. It works usually if you give a good shout. If you have parked on the right, watch your left rear view mirrors and again shout loud and ensure that the passengers on the left don't get off or open doors until you clear them to.

Handbrake should be ON, until everyone board or alight.
This was my biggest lesson. Following the handbrake rule should be a good safety measure. A moving car, specially on an incline can cause a lot of panic, specially for elderly, when they are getting in or getting out. Once everyone has alighted, and shut the doors, have a look around, and only then remove handbrake

Use Indicator when parked on busy roads.
This would indicate people walking by or vehicles coming from behind, that someone would possibly open doors. If you are parked on the left, Right indicator shoud warn people coming from behind. Follow this even before lifting off, because, people behind will always be taken aback when a stationary vehicle starts without indicating.

Watch for Puddle or Garbage before you park.
Scan the region where you are about to park. If it is dark, or has a drain or garbage pile next to it, let your passengers alight before you park.

Watch for Kerb height.
If you are parking your car close to the Kerb, and if the Kerb is tall, let the passengers on that side alight last. Also, while getting in, they should get in first. If not, you might end up with a Jammed Door against the Kerb.

Don't be in a Hurry.
Most motorists are in a hurry
Do not give in. Even better, to get off from the driver seat and help the passengers get off. This will keep the motorists behind waiting patiently.

Help others with seat adjustment or seatbelts.
With all passengers now mandated to wear seatbelts, invariably people will fumble while putting on their seatbelts. Do not lift off until everyone is fastened. Else, you will have to help them while you are driving, which can be annoying, specially when the rear middle passenger seatbelts vary from car to car.
Same is the case with seat tilt adjustment, or forward and rear adjustment. Each car has a different mechanism. Some are rotary, some are levered, some are fully automatic. Even the best of pros will find it difficult to adjust passenger seats on a new car.

Do not wind up the windows from driver's seat.
It is safe to request passengers to wind their windows themselves. It is very difficult to see if anybody has any of their body part dangling, when you are trying to wind up all 4 windows.

Reduce Music Volume when you come to a halt.
It is difficult to hear anyone with all windows rolledup even without Music, let alone with loud music. Reduce music volume, or pause when stationary.

Just to sum it all up, your drive is not complete until you have safely let everyone out, and locked the doors. Be alert. And, yes, will try and religiously follow what I have said, and will wait for other tips

[Amrik Singh]

Never thought of the consequences of minor mistakes we often commit. It is an eye opener if we look back into our poor habits while in control of the wheels.

[ajayc123]

Thanks for compiling these points. Served as a good refresher. A few things that come to my mind:

Ensure that all doors are closed and locked before starting. (Especially for older vehicles, where door open warning signs are not there) Sometimes, some passengers may close the door lightly, and the door may not have closed properly. The door may suddenly open when braking during motion.

Child locks should be activated (per use case) and /or inspected periodically.

Remind passengers to open doors and get off from the left side in case they are alighting on a busy street. A sudden overtaking vehicle from the right may cause a risk of an incident. I have seen kids getting off on the right side during school drops, which increases risk.

Ladies with saree/ dupatta sitting on the window seats should be careful to ensure that a their cloth is fully inside the car, Sometimes, we have seen part of the cloth dangling outside the door with the car in motion.

Tobacco chewing drivers often suddenly open the door to spit out periodically. They should be watchful of moving people / vehicles on the road.

[sreerknair]

For me the simple rule is - no one gets out of the car till I say so, and that is usually when I put the car in park mode and handbrake is applied. Before stopping I remind the passengers to wait till I give a go ahead.

When myself (the driver) was getting out, once I made a big mistake and just by luck nothing miserable has happened. I was driving with my Mom on a long trip overseas and on the last day I was really tired and was looking for a coffee shop nearby the highway. I noticed one just after I crossed it, and to park infront of the shop I reversed the car, parked and got out. The parking was on the side lanes of the highway itself and there were no cars behind my car. Mom said she will wait in the car, so I kept the Engine running. When I came back with the coffee, I was shocked to see that, while parking the car all I did was apply the handbrake. The car was still in reverse gear! Had the handbrake failed to stop the car moving backwards, I would have repented everyday in my life. So now a days I take a moment to check if I parked the car properly before myself getting out.

[FarPatel]

Good points to remember. However, a couple of observations from me:
1. Pedestrians do not normally use the footpath, even if one is available. They are found more often on the road itself.
2. The indicator is nothing more than a blinking light to them, ignored by 100% of them, I would venture to say. And even if they see a vehicle backing out of a gate, or getting out of a parking spot on the side of the road, they will not, repeat not, put on their own brakes and wait for a safe passage. They do not realise that the driver has to look forward, backward, side to side, almost simultaneously, in order to get a clear path forward.
This always makes me wonder at the abject stupidity or deathwish of humans in general and Indian humans in particular.

[A.K]

Came across this method called "Dutch Reach" a while ago. Seemingly simple but very effective, guess it belongs right on this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeM984dk220

[satishchugh]

Originally Posted by vinya_jag

So, here are some of my personal experiences from this and other previous instances.

Thanks vinya_jag for a very useful checklist. It reminds me of my own tryst with alighting etiquette…

About 13 years back, I was driving back from my in-law’s city with my parents and to-be-wife. I was dropping my to-be-wife to her hostel. As I stopped, she came out from behind the driver seat and was standing very near to the car’s back wheels. She was possibly moving to the other side to wish my parents. I wasn’t thinking about all this but was just trying to move to a bit side so the road is clear for incoming traffic, and this led to the rear wheels driving over my wife’s feet. This was a very minor injury that self healed in couple of days without any medical intervention, however I was accused of always trying to run over my wife for almost next 7-8 years.

So there could be other repercussions of not knowing the alighting checklist…

[sukhbirST]

Thanks for sharing very simple but important rules/tips. We have had serious accidents with point one, not being followed.

[vickzkool]

Great point, the UK Highway code has been updated this year with dutch reach method recommended to open the door whenever possible , simple and effective way to avoid an expensive fine of up to £1000 if an injury is caused for opening or allowing to open a door which leads to an injury

[ike]

Since I have two very young kids who are always at the back (should be restrained in child seats, I know but they don't) and I engage the child lock. A huge inconvenience because every time I need to park and then open the door for them but comes with peace of mind.

[anjan_c2007]

जी Every driver's role is very important to ensure a safe ingress and egress from a car. If there are passengers who are not nimble and agile seated in the car, including the elderly due precautions need to be taken. On the other hand, the tiny tots are much more nimble and agile and caution needs to be exercised. Very special care needs to be taken by the driver to ensure that such passengers have safely boarded or have exited the car, following all due precautions. The driver being the captain of the automobile on four wheels needs to verbally instruct every passenger tips for safety, if need be. He is bound to be listened in to and his instructions followed till the time he is on behind the wheel. He must also himself follow all the safety related precautions

After the driver makes his exit from the car, and if his wife has also exited, the wife can thereafter instruct him on worldly and domestic matters and he has to listen and obey. That's only after the driver or Captain relinquishes his post from the driver's seat. He regains his authority to instruct the passengers including his wife for following safety norms, the moment he's back behind the wheel.

And passengers will abide by such instructions only if the driver is knowledgeable and is not a moron or a traffic zombie.

[narayans80]

• Best case is to park the car in its final parking spot and then alight. This is my wife's preferred strategy as the kids follow her. Only in hotels that have explicit alighting space at their front door, we've made the exception.
• In terms of street parking, park away from main traffic roads. This way you can alight under lesser pressure.
• In narrow streets like in OPs case, its better to start watching the mirrors from the time you enter your street.
• Park as close to the sidewalk (if available) as you can. So no one can squeeze through that gap.
• Scan your ORVMs for pedestrians/cycles before signaling exit.
• If you have kids in the rear seat, enable the child lock and go and let them out yourself or adult supervision. To an extent applies to elderly with limited mobility as well.
• I've not been good at judging puddles. Mostly I end up asking my missus who sits on the passenger side to make that call.
• Safe parking of my car is more important than picking someone from risky spots. In case of my family, I tell them where exactly to stand in case I have parked elsewhere.
• If your car has a way to disable auto-unlock on vehicle off, please do so.
• For my residence, I generally carry all external keys with me. So I can do the main gate unlocking myself without dependency.
• During rainy days like today, I keep an umbrella in the rear seat foot well. So it can be picked up from the driver seat. Rear seat carpets becoming damp be damned!

[StopUnderrides]

Originally Posted by vinya_jag

So, when I stopped at our gate, my wife alighted first and noticed that the gate was locked, and by then I had made the car behind me wait for a good 30 seconds.

Never come under any moral or social norms related pressure when it comes to driving. If the car behind you had to wait for another 30 seconds for your passengers to alight safely it's his job to wait. The first DL I had in 2000 had a nice quote "Driving is a privilege; not a right"
Remember these are the various ways in which other drivers in India will try to bully you:

1. You are entering the main road from the exit gate of a mall/hospital that's at right angles to the main road. The cars behind you will honk to "push" you out even if there is traffic on the main road and no gap
2. Cars behind you will honk if you leave the proper 3 second gap from the vehicle in front
3. At Petrol bunks drivers who are in line behind you will honk and not have patience until you ensure everyone is belted up

The list continues. This is India. Ultimately as the driver you and you alone are responsible for the safety of your passengers and other road users so don't give a hoot to others. It requires one to swallow one's ego and have patience like a Zen monk at times since other drivers might "flip the bird", shout expletives etc.