[DrivingDoyen]

For me, it is the horrendous habit of cabs and mini trucks turning suddenly without any indication is the greatest menace.

Also, two wheelers recklessly surfacing from village roads and suddenly merging into fast flowing traffic of the highways without any circumspection is a greater evil in our roads.

The other culprits of drunken driving, mobile phone indulgence etc. being obvious I am not re-inventing the same.

[Sensible_Speed]

The options I omitted are what I consider personal choices. If you think your life is not important enough to warrant wearing a seatbelt or helmet, then I can only pray for you my friend. As long as these offences don't inconvenience other motorists on the road, or endanger them, I don't mind if your vehicle is of a different colour, or you forgot your papers at home.

I didn't select the seatbelt option as there are certain scenarios where one might be required to bail out of the car immediately (such as during a landslide or while off-roading).
Not wearing a helmet is that person's deathwish and I cannot really do anything about it. Personally, I wear helmets and follow traffic rules even on a bicycle. It amuses many to see me wearing a helmet on a simple bicycle and wait at traffic signals!

Parking in a no parking zone cannot be avoided sometimes in case of emergencies.

[Raghu M]

I don't see hit and run in the list. That's the most serious traffic offence. There is not debate about it. You either hurt someone or take their life, what could be more serious that that?

[attinder]

Two-wheelers without rearview mirrors, a simple lane change can result in serious injury or worse if the vehicle behind misses the turn signal.

[attinder]

Originally Posted by Raghu M

I don't see hit and run in the list. That's the most serious traffic offence. There is not debate about it. You either hurt someone or take their life, what could be more serious that that?

Because the mob will try to lynch the driver regardless of fault. Have you seen that Raveena Tandon video ? People going 'Maaro, Maaro'.

[SeniorC]

For me wrong side driving is a nightmare for normal traffic. These guys suddenly appear and give a shock. Especially true on highways. One can handle most other idiots.

[Raghu M]

Originally Posted by attinder

Because the mob will try to lynch the driver regardless of fault. Have you seen that Raveena Tandon video ? People going 'Maaro, Maaro'.

I did not speak about the driver being correct or wrong. It's just the offence. If there is a mob, surrender at the nearest police station. But, if you run away to try to get away from the crime when you are wrong, it's serious.

[MT_Hyderabad]

For me it is 'others'.
Not driving a road worthy vehicle is the biggest sin one can commit. For example, driving with very old, bald or underinflated tires which can blow anytime is something I dread while overtaking. I am so anxious about this that I drive slightly towards the left lane to be able to steer my car if my own car blows out a tire.

Once, I took a detour of around 3 kilometers to inform a bus driver about a wobbling rear tyre. This tyre could have come out anytime. Someone forgot to tighten the nuts after replacing a tire I think.

God save us from poorly maintained, fast driven vehicles.

[DevilzzzzOwn]

I will be very honest and list down what I have done personally. Don't hate me for what I did in the past. That doesn't mean I continue to do these. Just saying that not all of us have clear past:

Driving intoxicated - Done that. Not blind drunk. But 1-2 Beers down. Quit doing for 20 years now. Highest severity.
Driving without a valid license - Done that. School days.
Reckless driving - Done that. I thought it was subjective (driver thinks its fine and passengers are left clutching their seats) until a few years ago. Now I have become super patient.
Speeding - Done that. Now I engage CC at the Highway speeds and I relax and drive.
Jumping red lights - Done that at nights when noone was around. Not anymore. Stopped going out at night now.
Driving on the wrong side of the road - Done that locally, especially while joining the main road out of my previous society. Not habitually, but just to join the traffic at the correct speed. Highest severity.
Not wearing a seat belt - Done that when I was young. Ofcourse nomore.
Not wearing a helmet while riding a two-wheeler - Done this locally until Covid start.
Using a mobile phone while driving - Done that. Sadly, most of us have, how much ever we deny it. Using a mobile constitutes taking eyes off the road for any reason including watching directions on phone when we had older cars with no displays in cars.
Overloading passengers or cargo - I had been an overloadee many times when I was a kid.
Parking in a no-parking zone - Done that. Not anymore. Now I park and sit in the car while others sort out what needs sorting.
Driving an unregistered vehicle - Never done since since when I started driving, the cars we had were either registered already or the showroom delivered the cars with Reg.
Driving without valid insurance - Thankfully, no instances.
Not giving way to emergency vehicles - NEVER!!
Not following traffic signs and signals - Fairly regularly. Especially since the signs on Indian Highways have some of the most ridiculous speed limits.
Driving without proper vehicle documents - NEVER!!
Not using indicators while turning or changing lanes - Done previously only when the roads were deserted.
Driving with tinted glasses beyond permissible limits - Never owned or drove a car which had tinted glasses since I belong to a lower middle class family.
Honking unnecessarily/excessively - Done in my initial days when I was super nervous and not sure what the vehicle in front was going to do. Especially when I was, sadly, speeding.
Using high beams mercilessly - Done this as a Tit for Tat against someone who just won't use a Low Beam.
Modifying the vehicle without proper authorization - Done that with Skoda type dual horns installed.

Not saying I am proud of what I did in the past. Just saying it was so easy to cross the line and do illegal and dangerous things. Then and now too. What we all need is maturity.

Thankfully, none of my actions every resulted in an accident of any sort. But now that I look back on them, they seem so avoidable.

If you were effected by my actions on the road in the past, all I can do is apologize and promise that I don't do them anymore.

Drive Safe.

[theqca]

Random thought - going by the effort our cops put in to "catch" people breaking rules - their idea of what is important and should be followed appears to be very different from what we consider as dangerous.

Example - not wearing a seatbelt will maybe get you killed however driving on the wrong side might get someone else killed. I've seen cops very keen on stopping people not wearing seatbelts however they seem to be okay with people riding /driving on the wrong side of the road.

[emkay.india]

For me, anything that affects other road users is dangerous. Anything that affects the driver themselves due to their ignorance/negligence like riding without helmet, seatbelt, etc., - which he/she chose to ignore, is not. Of course, their family gets affected but it's purely due to driver's negligence.

[xsrahul]

Offences are offences - period.

Driving is a privilege and not a right. Better to follow all rules than selective ones.

So from my perspective, I am not discounting any as serious and others as not. If the law prescribes it and it’s not followed - it’s serious

[drGicher]

I would go for multiple options here:

- Driving intoxicated

- Driving without a valid license

- Reckless driving

- Speeding

- Jumping red lights

- Driving on the wrong side of the road

- Using a mobile phone while driving

- Overloading passengers or cargo

- Driving an unregistered vehicle

- Not giving way to emergency vehicles

- Not following traffic signs and signals

- Not using indicators while turning or changing lanes

- Using high beams mercilessly

[PWRUP]

In descending order of seriousness:
1. Driving on the wrong side of the road
2. Driving under the influence of alcohol
3. Driving on footpaths
4. Speeding on narrow roads, especially when there's a lot of traffic
5. Using high beams without any need to.

[svsantosh]

Guilty of doing at least 3-5 of these in the poll. In todays context even if I want to, I am mortally afraid to commit any offence.

If your eyes scrolled left and saw DUBAI, you guessed it correct.

DUI - If you are caught in a casual check, Your next 3 generations will pay for the crime. God Forbid someone is hurt - you will be extinct. If someone is dead because of your DUI, please consume radiator coolant and die before someone catches you.

Signal jump, wrong side - May be 1 kidney, if you are unlucky, even 2.

W.o Licence - Interesting point, you cannot even buy a car without a licence. Your father or mother or friend or the salesman or any person will soil his pants before handing over their car key to someone without a licence. Just wont happen. PS - if it does, the driver looses some % of his life savings, the person who gave it also has to part away his life savings.

Basically, I am saying the fear of 'Road' laws here are so sculpted into each persons head, I wish, I really wish, India gets there in 5-10 years. Education is not necessary, so many matric fail people drive for a living in UAE/Dubai, but the way they get the licence and the fear of Police is on everyones head.

Which brings me to the next point - Unless the Will to Police the society in a free, transparent and honest manner is cultured and supported, corruption and 'chalta hai' attitude will brew more and more Porsche and Merc and BMW accident case drivers.