Team-BHP - Bad Drivers - How do you spot 'em

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 2592140)

Turn up the volume of your music system in your car, or tune into something you enjoy. Keep your mind off the idiot and the way he has parked his car. There are idiots all over the Wolrd, and not just in India. And we cannot teach all of them a lesson now, can we?

You have just quoted by entire driving philosophy. The best way to counter such idiots is to roll up your windows, switch on the AC and just listen to the music playing in your car. It might be difficult the first few times, but trust me in the long run you will start enjoying your drive when you do this.

I learnt this during my earliest of driving days when my commute to work used to be about 4 hours a day. And this was all the way from north of Bangalore to Hosur. This long commute lasted all of 3 years. And believe you me, if I had started to lose my cool every time I encountered a bad driver 4 hours a day for 3 years, I would definitely have been in some kind of mental institution by now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by suhaas307 (Post 2591728)

In the heat of the moment, I'd feel like doing the same thing too. Trust me!

I drive a Santro on a regular basis, and it's 8 years old, and quite well maintained. Very few dings and scratches. And another scratch or ding wouldn't really affect me, because I don't 'love' my car, the way I loved my Zen and the way I love my Jazz.

So I wouldn't really care if my car got dinged. And hence, would consider dinging his car with mine.

BUT. I wouldn't.

It isn't advisable to do something like that. In a fit of rage, all of us feel like doing something inhumane, in order to 'teach the guy a lesson'. But when better sense prevails, one must know that we are not in any position to teach him a lesson. He is a human being, just like you and me. We don't have the authority to mess with someone else's property, just because he has caused us inconvenience.

Wait for that extra 5-10 minutes if you have to. It wouldn't kill you!

Turn up the volume of your music system in your car, or tune into something you enjoy. Keep your mind off the idiot and the way he has parked his car. There are idiots all over the Wolrd, and not just in India. And we cannot teach all of them a lesson now, can we? :)

I hope you don't get me the wrong way!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker (Post 2593533)

Sir,

I'm afraid you're mistaken.

You've quoted Thad, but that's what I had said, in my earlier post. It's in bold :)

today morning at 8 AM while i was stranded in the middle of the road waiting for padestrians to cross the road, there was a guy who came at the speed of a rocket on a bike. All the indicators broken, Front mudguard broken, pollutiing like hell, foot rests hanging down, Front headlight wisor cracked, helmet wisor broken and bang straight into my car which is just 2 months old.:eek: I somehow managed to drag him on the side and then he started begging and crying about his poverty. Last but not the least when i asked him to get my car repaired, he started shouting on me about me braking suddenly. How does one handle these drivers who bang your car and ask you to claim insurance all the while cribbing about their poverty?

The only thing left to do is feel sorry and curse yourself for buying and driving a car on delhi roads. Whom do i save? Myself or the padestrians or other drivers.

A man is only as good as the vehicle he drives. These are another breed to be careful about while driving on the road.

Almost had a major accident today because of a moron.

This happened afternoon today on the new airport road near Viman Nagar in Pune. Now, this road is with a massive divider (the kind that has trees and plants growing with a 3 ft high divider wall.

I was doing around 45-50 in the fast lane, close to the divider. In the left lane there was a rickshaw followed by a Maroon City (current model). Thiis Maroon City was driven by a moron.
I had a Swift behind me. Just as I came close to the City, he made an overtaking manouver on the rickshaw, cutting into my lane. He did not use indicators and just moved in! I tried to give him space but then he kept coming (the overtake was not a smooth lane change but he almost was at a 45 degree angle!).

I had to brake really hard but his right rear fender brushed my front left fender. The idiot didnt care to stop and just kept driving! :eek:

I then followed him for a bit and caught up with him. The chap was a student at the Symbiosis college (wearing the uniform). He was nonchalant!. I let it go...but I was seething with anger. Stopped the car a little further, pulled over to the side. Just let my adrenaline flow stop and then moved on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 2595263)

Moron here!

(No, I wasn't the guy driving that Honda, but this was just as bad)

I regret to say that I was chatting happily to wife, when an oncoming bike took a right turn straight across me. I hit the horn, and started shouting at the guy. He coolly pointed at the red signal ... which I had just crossed.

It was a good exercise in ego size reduction!

were you on a cellphone or Madam was on the co-driver side. Anyways, take care mate. You are two of you risking your life and others also by letting your concentration go haywire. We being the members of this forum have this moral responsibility of being safe drivers.

Safe drivingplease:

Quote:

Originally Posted by su1978 (Post 2595542)

... We being the members of this forum have this moral responsibility of being safe drivers.

You are right. And neither Mrs G nor I could understand how both of us missed the red signal. She always tells me about anything she thinks I might have missed (difference between being a co-driver and just being a passenger?).

What's more, in my mother country, this is something that is an absolute and complete no-no. One just never fails to spot a signal. What's more, even on a deserted road in the middle of the night, even though it feels surreal, one never fails to stop at one. This was true even in the days before many of them were equipped with automatic cameras to catch the offenders.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom (Post 2595987)

Thad
Your hold on the english language is too good. Seems like you eat up websters for breakfast and Thesaurus for Dinner. The beauty of the language is that it allows for confluence with ease.

Coming back to the point all of us do miss on a signal atleast once in a lifetime ,it is fine as long as it was not intentional and harmful in ulterior motive. (this is not a statement to right a wrong)
The place you are talking of sounds like the autobahn-korrekt ich hoffnung :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dieseldunk (Post 2596097)

Methinks Thad is Brit. If you have been reading all his previous posts, both the lines and whatever is between them, you might come to the same conclusion

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha (Post 2596138)

Methinks Thad is Brit. If you have been reading all his previous posts, both the lines and whatever is between them, you might come to the same conclusion

I have seen that Germans observe traffic signs to a T. Infact, once in Germany whilst travelling by bus ,the driver waited for his turn at the signal- a full two minutes ( nothing strange for a traffic abiding person except it was 1 AM),hence the conclusion.

Gee! hit me with a two by four. Come to think of it Germans usually refer to their country as fatherland. nice observation KiloAlpha sir.

Cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dieseldunk

Thad
Your hold on the english language is too good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KiloAlpha (Post 2596138)

Methinks Thad is Brit.

He's right!

But being British and speaking the language well are two different things: British education has been "dumbed down" in the last few decades. So...

Thanks, Dieseldunk!

And no, in this instance we didn't jump the red on purpose: I just followed through with the moving traffic. The fault though, was that I didn't look.