[adimicra]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

You can file a complaint with that and if required even claim the damage from her insurance. But its a very long drawn process and even your car would need to be left at the station.

Yep, I know that and that's why did not bother.
It's not a major accident anyways.

Sometimes, the rules in this country are made in a way that normal people like us can't ever use them

[athanedar]

Road rage in pune. Youth murdered for lane cutting.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/25719052.cms

[Karadi]

Originally Posted by faustus77

Hi everybody.
Here is a link from the Economic Times dated 19/12/2012.

Citings
Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff
DR RICHARD CARLSON


Often, we allow ourselves to get all worked up about things that, upon closer examination, aren’t really that big a deal. We focus on little problems and concerns and blow them way out of proportion. A stranger, for example, might cut in front of us in traffic. Rather than let it go, and go on with our day, we convince ourselves that we are justified in our anger. We play out an imaginary confrontation in our mind. Many of us might even tell someone else about the incident later on rather than simply let it go.
Why not, instead, simply allow the driver to have his accident somewhere else? Try to have compassion for the person and remember how painful it is to be in such an enormous hurry. This way, we can maintain our own sense of well-being and avoid taking other people’s problems personally.
There are many similar, ‘small-stuff’ examples that occur every day in our lives. Whether we had to wait in line, listen to unfair criticism, or do the lion’s share of the work, it pays enormous dividends if we learn not to worry about little things… Once you begin noticing yourself interrupting others, you’ll see that this insidious tendency is nothing more than an innocent habit that has become invisible to you. This is good news because it means that all you really have to do is to begin catching yourself when you forget. Remind yourself (before a conversation begins, if possible) to be patient and wait.

I wonder how many of us would be able to practice what the above piece preaches.
Regards

While I agree that we are not to get upset by someone who cuts across, being passive does not help the overall smoothness of flow. Almost everybody who is in a hurry to reach their office in the morning 'appear' to be educated, but unfailingly these 'educated' young executives who are eager to be on time to work have no compunctions of travelling at high speed in the opposite oncoming lane, overtaking all other motorists who are patiently waiting in line as all disciplined motorists are likely to do, and end up blocking the oncoming traffic and thereby slowing the entire process of moving ahead for ALL road users.
Is it not time that these 'hurrying educated executives' not compound the delays which are also due to increasing vehicular volume? is it not a fact that these people in a hurry are the cause of a feature unique to India -namely Speed-Breakers? Is it not time that the patient disciplined motorist is not subjected to punishing their spines with compression stresses just to prevent the occurrence of an accident to a person who does not bother about injury to self, let alone others? I am tempted to speculate that this a result of a nexus between administration and the pharmaceutical giants .

[Dieseldunk]

In todays world rage is becoming a increasingly used vent out for frustration.

Sometime back my friend had his helmet broken(in a parking slot) since his helmet was on the side(locked on the back of the bike) and obstructed the vehicle parked next to his to move in freely (this happened in a mall wherein parking lines are marked) and there was enough gap to mount and unmount from a horse.The attendant could not help much but then who is to blame.
roadrage is a psychic conditioning of the human brain(it starts from childhood and is either ingrained or self taught)
To avoid getting into a road rage the below story would help.
A young boy scratches on the boot of his dad's new car and the dad when he returns from office sees this and gets wild with rage. He asks who has done this and when the boy confesses he is the cause he beats the fingers of the boy to pulp. After all this the guy goes to the shop gets his car repainted and gets it gleaming as new.
He shows it to the son and the boy jumps with joy says dad that is great now can we dothe same to my fingers
Moral : a few scratches are really not worth even a chip of bone\cartilage\flesh

Cheers

[humyum]

Since some months I have been practicing a ritual which has helped me over come road rage to such a large extent that I have a patience of a Monk now when it comes to insane drivers.

1) I have been driving at 80 and 90 or 100 at max. At these speeds everything is going so smoothly, that even if someone does cut you off, you just have to tap the brakes and voila you are fine.

2) 100 for me earlier used to be a shifting point from 4th to 5th and I used to gun it till 150's and 160's on the highway whenever I had a chance, now since some months I have been driving slowly, 120 feels like my BP is rising at 140 feels like I am committing suicide. A little sanity changed my perception of speed. The slower you drive, the less chances of you getting pissed by anyone driving erratically.

3) I shift to 5th above 60, its in turbo lag zone, there is no rush of power, you are not getting excited to jump the pedal. Its relaxing. Someone honks from behind, change lanes, let him pass and again start driving like you have whole day to cover the distance.

4) Lastly, if someone slightly touches your car from behind, from the side, talk to them nicely, see what they say, a half decent guy will offer to reimburse the cost himself if it was his fault, give people a benefit of doubt. Like your ride got blessed with a dent, so did his because of the contact, which owner will deliberately want that. A fist fight with someone for a dent is not worth it.

Yesterday some bike guy rubbed his foot peg on the lower part of my bumper. He parked his bike ahead, came to me and said "I reversed hence his bike touched, now he wants compensation'.

I told him I had the hand brake on while he passed me from behind, so I have not even moved. He started threatening me that he knows this and he knows that.

In my earlier times, I would just get out with a spanner and be ready to belt him if he did not back of.

Now I just calmly keep explaining, and tell them right from the start, if its not my fault, I am not paying anything. You can come to the police station if you want, we will talk there. I am not continuing to argue on the road. Full stop.

Has always worked.

To top it all, because of all this I am getting a fantastic mileage.

Its 280 kilometers since the last refill and the fuel gauge shows only 1/4th of the tank consumed. This is the most insane mileage I have ever got.

[rakchow]

Originally Posted by humyum

Since some months I have been practicing a ritual which has helped me over come road rage ... This is the most insane mileage I have ever got.

Humyum,

This is exactly what i do.
Also its less likely to be pulled over by cops for rash driving, overspeeding and dangerous driving.

[phamilyman]

Easiest things for north Indians to do to avoid road rage?
Move to chennai, don't learn tamil and only drive a car. everywhere.

Seriously.

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Easiest things for north Indians to do to avoid road rage?
Move to chennai, don't learn tamil and only drive a car. everywhere.

Seriously.

On the contrary, many people would tend to look at this proffered ignorance as yet another excuse to resort to unreasonable behavior including violence against such a lone crusader.

The story of violence against the people of the Northeast in New Delhi and other places is a case in point. I am neither from the Northeast, nor do I owe my roots to New Delhi. However, I have seen how, despite our north eastern cousins ignoring taunts from our delhiite brethren - situations do go out of hand - very quickly.

I don't think this is a New Delhi or even a North India phenomenon. In general, we Indians have become an intolerant lot despite what the history books say. Example - ask Biharis in Bombay , or Bengalis in Northeast, or Marwaris in Bengal, Hindi speakers in Madras etc. So when an Indian settles for any length of time out-of-state, there is a constant risk of not being accepted - and not the least because he may have trouble with the local language.

Now take that basic intolerance to the roads, and add a healthy mix of pent-up frustrations due to our crazy traffic - for both sides. You get the picture ?

One can perhaps understand why it's not such a great idea for a north Indian to take his car out in Chennai. alone. ever.

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by joybhowmik

On the contrary, many people would tend to look at this proffered ignorance as yet another excuse to resort to unreasonable behavior including violence against such a lone crusader.

The story of violence against the people of the Northeast in New Delhi and other places is a case in point. I am neither from the Northeast, nor do I owe my roots to New Delhi. However, I have seen how, despite our north eastern cousins ignoring taunts from our delhiite brethren - situations do go out of hand - very quickly.

I don't think this is a New Delhi or even a North India phenomenon. In general, we Indians have become an intolerant lot despite what the history books say. Example - ask Biharis in Bombay , or Bengalis in Northeast, or Marwaris in Bengal, Hindi speakers in Madras etc. So when an Indian settles for any length of time out-of-state, there is a constant risk of not being accepted - and not the least because he may have trouble with the local language.

Now take that basic intolerance to the roads, and add a healthy mix of pent-up frustrations due to our crazy traffic - for both sides. You get the picture ?

One can perhaps understand why it's not such a great idea for a north Indian to take his car out in Chennai. alone. ever.

Firstly - I think we should keep the Nido Taniam case out of this. Delhi with its hyper-aggression is a compeletely different animal. Chennai is, shall we say, far more (actually light years more) civilized in not picking fights? I don't find myself at the receiving end of any nonsense due to not speaking the language - but yes, I go to extreme lengths to avoid any altercation too.

So, I have been doing just fine brother. I drive through a congested 4km one way (50% first gear) route twice every single day when I'm here to drop/pick my kid from his day care.

IMHO in Chennai the traffic is crazy, the pedestrians in non-main roads have no option but to walk in the middle of the road (adyar /thiruvanmiyur) because the lanes are small and lots of vehicles are parked. The bikers are simply suicidal and crazily weave between traffic assuming you will stand still - so u better make way for them. here, your LHS mirror is at risk of being swiped by a biker overtaking u from left to right, even as you turn left with full indicator since 100m!!

In the middle of this chaos, if you don't know the language, then your only substitute is to calm the hell down, drive real slow, be over-cautious. Forget giving way to pedestrians - I give way to other cars in 80-90% of situations (but car drivers here are far more civilized btw) because there's no value in getting stuck/asking others to move etc.

Oh, and there's value in driving slower because if you miss an intersection, the next U turn may be 3-4km away courtesy CTP's incredible planning skills! So you overall drive slower and more relaxed/alert in the city.

After you do that, you find yourself getting much less angry and avoiding situations 100x better. I am quite sure that if I continue to drive like this - I will have a very high chance of avoiding any road rage incident once I come back to Delhi later this year. Its all in the mind.

I think Chennai is making this jaded hardened Dally boy soft. damn!

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Easiest things for north Indians to do to avoid road rage?
Move to chennai, don't learn tamil and only drive a car. everywhere.

Seriously.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

... I go to extreme lengths to avoid any altercation too.
...

.... your only substitute is to calm the hell down, drive real slow, be over-cautious. Forget giving way to pedestrians - I give way to other cars in 80-90% of situations (but car drivers here are far more civilized btw) because there's no value in getting stuck/asking others to move etc.
.....
After you do that, you find yourself getting much less angry and avoiding situations 100x better.
.....

So, actually, your recommendation is to drive defensively. As I have never been to Chennai, I was unable to understand the link earlier. It makes sense now.

------

This weekend I was returning from Chandigarh and there was a huge traffic jam almost right upto Ambala! There was some examination in Chd and it seemed all of Haryana had turned up there.

While driving through the jam, I was wondering, if all these ppl will go berserk once the roads clear up. And sure enough, as soon as the roads cleared up a little, people where honking, flashing, cutting across lanes, between trucks/trailors/tractors etc like mad! I am guessing they wanted to make up for the lost time.

I switched to the middle lane and drove at a constant 85-90 till Karnal, where I took a break. After which the traffic became sparse. But, I so much liked the relaxed experience that I carried on the same way (85-90) almost* all the way till Delhi.

*Fog made me drop the speed to 40 at places.

This trip made me realize 2 things.
- Whatever the state of our highways, 85-90 is the most comfortable cruising range.
- Just after a huge jam, don't bother with making up for the lost time - rather stick to saner speeds and pay a little more attention to stay safe.

[krish-iitm]

Hi

I had a very painful experience 2 days back in my home city Gurgaon. While I was driving with my 11 year old son to school, one guy with a white Ford Figo came to the left at a traffic signal and asked to down the glass, The child opened the glass and this nasty guy started showering bad words ( in hindi ) at me. After crossing the signal his overtook and blocked my car for a moment and drove away. My son was very upset and felt sorry for opening the glass.

I am not able to understand the reason behind his act.He would have been under the influence of Alcohol , I guess.


krish - iitm

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by krish-iitm

...While I was driving with my 11 year old son to school, one guy with a white Ford Figo came to the left at a traffic signal and asked to down the glass, The child opened the glass and this nasty guy started showering bad words ( in hindi ) at me. After crossing the signal his overtook and blocked my car for a moment and drove away. My son was very upset and felt sorry for opening the glass.

I am not able to understand the reason behind his act.He would have been under the influence of Alcohol , I guess....

If you have the number, you may go and file a case for dangerous driving. I am NOT too sure of the complications involved or whether the case will stand in the first place.

The best for you to console the kid is to tell him to forget it and never bring up this discussion again. Also he would have learnt NOT to open windows again - so that's fine.

[pulsar56]

Apparently outraged by a verbal reproach of his driving habits, a young man deliberately ran over an elderly driver who dared to criticize him. The shocking footage was leaked unto YouTube which led to criminal charges against the enraged motorist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4d8LIxE7Y

Source: Link

[sudeep11787]

Had a bad experience today !
Gurgaon expressway is famous for people skipping lane like anything. An orange Volvo S60 with a covered beacon light being driven too rashly was giving everyone a hard time! Same happened to me, he came out of nowhere and almost squeezed me into the divider, I braked slightly and let him go. But obviously such guy ultimately end up in a mess and so it happened ! He braked suddenly and i swerved and touched his RHS rear view mirror. Still the guy tried to stop me in front and came out all ready for a fight ! I drove away.

He is a regular on gurgaon eway. Have spotted this car a couple of times. Any idea?

[gabrielthomas]

Originally Posted by pulsar56

Apparently outraged by a verbal reproach of his driving habits, a young man deliberately ran over an elderly driver who dared to criticize him. The shocking footage was leaked unto YouTube which led to criminal charges against the enraged motorist.

That was indeed shocking. But what appalls me is - why no one was helping that old man? Even the guy who shot this footage did not get out of the car.