[SlowerthanMaps]

1. Drunk Driving : No excuses, this deserves the highest fine and some jail time if needed
2. High beam driving at night on a single lane road: This is dangerous to the extent that many elder people including my father have stopped driving at night. And yes, the solution is NOT to install extra high power white LED headlamps off-market on your car. Its like everyone having a gun for their "safety".
3. Abrupt lane changes and rashly overtaking without using any indicators at least a second before changing lanes
4. Wrong lane driving because the correct lane has vehicles waiting patiently in a straight line to allow the incoming traffic to pass through
5. Incessant honking/using dipppers without any reason when driving behind someone

[zyksstar]

While wrong side driving and DUI seem to be taking all the limelight, in my view flouting any traffic rule is just as serious.
What's concerning is that some of the violations seems to have become 'socially accepted' without raising too many eyebrows. To list a few -
1. Distracted driving - talking on phone while driving.
2. Not following lanes or queues at signals/intersections. Jumping queues, taking extreme left lane to turn right, etc etc. Blocking free left turn.
3. Popping head out of sunroof! What happened to the rule that all occupants in a car should be belted?

[denzdm]

For me every traffic offense which endangers life on the road or the occupants in the car or to the driver itself is a serios traffic offense. Basically, its taking a risk and assuming that nothing will happen. But its not a matter of IF, its a matter of WHEN.

[GTE]

Police & parasites breaking every single traffic rule & getting away with impunity & arrogance.

[binand]

There is only one unpardonable traffic offence in my book - DUI. Everything else has a glimmer of restitution. If you drive after drinking in today's world you deserve to spend a significant amount of time (couple of years) in prison.

[megazoid]

All traffic offences listed are equally dangerous including the unintenional jumping of a signal. Punishment needs to be to steep for all these mistakes. Depending on the nature of the offence and the track record of the license holder, this could be enhanced or reduced as the traffic cops deem fit.

At the same time, infrastructure predictability is of paramount importance. You cannot have a four laned road disappearing into a pit with a dilapidated signboard cautioning the driver to slow down and thereafter impose every possible criminal case on the motorist for causing an accident.

Still remember the few days when the motor vehicle fines were absolutely crazy. The discipline had to be seen to be believed. Well, our machinery moved in quick to revert the "mistake".

[electric_eel]

I voted for drunk driving alone not because the others are okey but because drunk driving is multiple notches above all others. In the kingdom of traffic rule violation, drunk driving is the king and hence my vote for it.

[charanreddy]

Generally speaking I think there are 2 kinds of offences.

1) Where one causes damage to himself or herself : Driving with out a helmet or seatbelt etc.

2) Where one causes damage to others on road : Drunk driving, driving on the wrong side of the road, reckless driving etc.

I take the 2nd type of offences more seriously as we saw in the Pune car crash incident, people are impacted with very little fault of their own.

So voted for Drunk driving, driving on wrong side of the road, reckless driving, driving without registration and insurance.

[akhil_007]

1. Activa aunties riding with LED high beams on inside city. If asked to switch to low beam, they act surprised/don't understand/don't care/take offense

2. Corporate Techies riding on footpath and honking at pedestrians to give way

3. Autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore deserve a special place in hell for all the ruckus they create. They drive, park, turn, halt so dynamically that "Butterfly Effect" should now be attributed to them

4. Off late, cab drivers have become the elite version of auto drivers. On single lane roads,they stop with hazards lights switched on, glass up and watch youtube shorts completely unmindful of the fact that the road is choked on both sides. All because of their selfishness and stupidity.

[Vikki@Hyderabad]

1. Wrong side driving - most people take it for granted, including school buses. I reported it at my kid's school once and they said "Otherwise they'll have to go another 50 meters, wait at the signal, and then take a u-turn. And there is no police around, so it's okay." The food delivery racers take the wrong side in front of my apartments to literally save fuel worth 20-30 meters, or a precious 4-5 seconds.

2. Breaking speed limits at both ends - this is a big problem on Hyderabad's ORR. Anybody driving from Gachibowli towards TSPA/airport would know it. All the slowpokes/'economy warriors' hog the rightmost lanes (speed limit 120 kmph) at 60-70 kmph when the 2 left lanes are already blocked by trucks climbing up the slope at 30 kmph. Some are on phone while doing so, and some happy chatting along with their co-passengers, without a care for the world trying to get by behind them. For some reason, they're mostly Marutis, either cabs or personal vehicles.

3. Unnecessary use of high beams - I've taught at least 2 people how to use a dipper - they just didn't know. One can draw their conclusions from here. Seeing no end to this suffering, I bought a pair of night vision riding/driving glasses.

4. Bullying - right from that dude on the two-wheeler to the diesel share-auto to those Creta/Thar/Fortuner 'commanding/demanding respect' guys, everybody tries to bully those trying to follow rules or who appear vulnerable. While it doesn't mean that you can't give it back, you'd still be breaking rules doing so, and escalating the situation as a result.

5. DUI - enough said already.

6. Those blinding LED lights on every taxi and truck (including Mahindra Pikups) - they don't serve a purpose other than to blind oncoming traffic. This is especially a menace on 2-lane highways. I see some Trax/Toofan/trucks use the dipper with these LEDs on - I appreciate the effort, but those LEDs are still blinding me!

7. Creta/Seltos/Harrier/Safaris (I can go on) flashing in the rearview mirror like they'll climb over your car if you don't disappear from in front of them.

8. Those 2-wheelers, rickshaws and tractors on highways - some might even slow down to have a conversation with the other while you wait patiently without honking.

9. Not using seat belts in the rear - "Oh, it's suffocating." "Why at the back? Nothing will happen." "No police on the highways. Don't worry, I'll pay the fine if we do get caught." "Bah, you're such a pain."

One can rant all s/he wants, but the fact is we're ill-equipped (both knowledge and discipline) to be able to drive responsibly in this country. I thought I was a good driver until I visited Phuentsholing and Shillong - which held a mirror to my face. These things need to be taken care of at their basic levels, i.e. at the time of issuing a driving license.

[cdrajeevkumar]

(I haven't voted for any of the options listed because of what I have penned below)

There should have been one more option mentioning "All of the above". I personally feel, the most serious traffic offences are when you endanger not only yourself but others. In the options listed to choose from, each of the category either falls under endangering self OR endangering others.

No single option can be called "Most Serious Traffic Offence" as I believe, TBHPians will see each offence in a different way!!.

[GTO]

Exhibit A:


Source

- Driving so pissed drunk that he "doesn't remember" anything from that night

- Unregistered car

- Guessing it had no valid insurance either, since the temp registration had expired

- Speeding not on an expressway, but on a narrow road full of people

- 600 BHP in the hands of an underage driver

- Trying all sorts of fraud to get away with murder

[Burgman_tales]

Originally Posted by cdrajeevkumar

(I haven't voted for any of the options listed because of what I have penned below)

There should have been one more option mentioning "All of the above". I personally feel, the most serious traffic offences are when you endanger not only yourself but others. In the options listed to choose from, each of the category either falls under endangering self OR endangering others.

No single option can be called "Most Serious Traffic Offence" as I believe, TBHPians will see each offence in a different way!!.

For me endangering others is definitely a much bigger offence than endangering self.

I do not like authorities spending much more time and effort on the latter i.e. driving without seatbelt,helmet etc just because it's easier for them

[ashokabs]

I voted for almost all of them except a few procedural ones like not carrying a license etc. I just want to state that this exercise is essentially not going to reveal anything relevant or useful. It will only reveal our own individual biases vis-a-vis unsafe conditions and unsafe actions. Actual data from traffic accidents can throw much more light on what actually are the most dangerous offences as per available accident related data as on date. All that can change substantially based on actual conditions on the road.

How do we rate the seriousness of an offence? Is it on the likelihood of an accident or on potential for fatalities? If it is fatalities then not wearing a seat belt, not wearing a helmet and not driving a car which has a high safety index are paramount. One might find that people driving on the wrong side of the road have lower fatality rates than other accidents. Hence, on fatalities speeding and driving under the influence must also rank very high.

I have tried to raise relevant factors and also to show that such a poll has little practical value.

[Shotgun]

Besides the “serious” offences mentioned above, there’s a need to highlight offences which “do not appear to be serious”, but can have catastrophic consequences.

Listing a few:

1. Absence of under run protection bars on heavy vehicles.
The only hope of protection from fatality in case of collision with a LMV. Crumple zones be damned, no 5 star rated vehicle can protect its occupants in the absence of the under run protection bars, since the point of impact would be the weakest point of a vehicle, it’s A-pillars.

2. Driving without reflectors on HMVs and non functional headlights/ brake lights.
Essential for visibility at night.

3. HMVs plying without valid Fitness certificates.
While it may appear that considering the rampant corruption, FCs bear no relevance, however the process is largely transparent, and surprisingly thorough. Considering the amount of weight the HMVs carry, their basic roadworthiness ought to be better enforced.

4. Overloaded vehicles.
Every vehicle is designed to carry a particular weight, exceed it and it severely impacts the handling and braking capabilities of the vehicle.