[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by sumathindra

Taking pictures from a stationary car probably cannot cause any harm however i have seen at times people do object when you are clicking pictures!

That's another angle to it - privacy concerns.

Originally Posted by amitoj

So.... If at a red light i take picture of a guy who stops beyond the zebra crossing, i am the bad driver??

If you were stationary, you are not endangering anyone. But this is something we could bring out on this thread even without a snap as "At so-and-so time on so-and-so day at Brigade road signal (or wherever), there were these morons stopped beyond the zebra line, inconveniencing the pedestrians - a bad driving situation". Or maybe use a Visio diagram like someone so effectively used earlier.

The concern here is about snaps taken while we are driving, which is dangerous to us and/or others - no doubt about it. Many pics posted on this thread have been taken while in motion and to say that they were taken with care is akin to someone saying that he/she had only 1 or 2 pegs and it does not affect his driving.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by amitoj

I'd like to give more credit to tbphians and benefit of doubt that when they click a pic, they ensure they dont put anyone else in danger.

Sorry to say, i see quite a lot of T-BHP stickered cars - lot of them with the Learn to Drive (used to be Live to Drive), got Brains? (the earlier got BHP?) stickers driven rash.

One such nincompoop almost ran over me - it was a maroon Alto K10 with lots of T-BHP stickers. There are so many of them these days, that I no more post them in the Spottings thread, or over here.

Before someone whacks the moral whip on me - I don't drive here, I only walk, or travel by public transport in this city.

[vina]

Originally Posted by amitoj

...

I'd like to give more credit to tbphians and benefit of doubt that when they click a pic, they ensure they dont put anyone else in danger.

Last I checked anybody could become a BHPian by taking the trouble to register, wait and post 26 posts.

Also on this thread and others people have many a times defended dangerous driving methods, especially speeding, but also driving with hazard lights on etc.

Nobody is perfect and given the standards of joining and being a BHPian are less than those for many other things (like being a cop - all are trained but how many know what they are doing,) - I don't think there is any reason at all to give BHPians in general any credit over the general guy on the road - except perhaps hubris of us BHPians.


PS: this is not to say that most BHPians are not safe. The vast majority of BHPians probably drive very safe most of the time. But this is also true if you replace the word BHPians with drivers in the previous statement.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Sorry to say, i see quite a lot of T-BHP stickered cars - lot of them with the Learn to Drive (used to be Live to Drive), got Brains? (the earlier got BHP?) stickers driven rash.

Are these official tbhp stickers? When I bought the official set a couple of months ago, the stickers were still 'Live to Drive' and 'got BHP?'

Perhaps it is the handiwork of some disgruntled people whose tbhp applications were rejected or just somebody's attempt at sarcasm

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by vina

Last I checked anybody could become a BHPian by taking the trouble to register, wait and post 26 posts.

Any Tom, Dick and Harry can order the stickers from the T-BHP store, there's no need to go through the filtration/rejection/re-apply/approve/etc etc cycle and be a member here, to order them.

Originally Posted by vina

...this is also true if you replace the word BHPians with drivers in the previous statement.

Sounds better

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Are these official tbhp stickers? When I bought the official set a couple of months ago, the stickers were still 'Live to Drive' and 'got BHP?'

Perhaps it is the handiwork of some disgruntled people whose tbhp applications were rejected or just somebody's attempt at sarcasm

Those were official T-BHP stickers. The stickers read the same as earlier, but for those disgruntled imbeciles this is how it should read. I was the one being sarcastic here

[amitoj]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Sorry to say, i see quite a lot of T-BHP stickered cars - lot of them with the Learn to Drive (used to be Live to Drive), got Brains? (the earlier got BHP?) stickers driven rash.

Check the thread about spotting TBHP stickered cars. 95% of them are not members here. A TBHP stickered car != A TBHPian

Originally Posted by vina

Last I checked anybody could become a BHPian by taking the trouble to register, wait and post 26 posts.

LOL. That was a good one. You are probably the only one who thinks it is so easy to become a member here. TBHP has a very strict screening process. In fact, you can bribe your way to becoming a cop, but you can't bribe your way to a membership here.

But guests can view the threads here, including this one. So, if the fear of being reported here for rash driving or breaking the rules instills a sense of disciplined driving in someone, i think it is worth it. And no, merely mentioning the make/color/number of the car is not the same as posting a pic. A picture says a thousand words.

So, i'd like this thread to continue as it is, with members contributing pics of people driving rashly. Post a picture of someone driving rashly while taking a pic and then we'll talk.

[Xryder]

Originally Posted by amitoj

TBHP has a very strict screening process. In fact, you can bribe your way to becoming a cop, but you can't bribe your way to a membership here.

But guests can view the threads here, including this one. So, if the fear of being reported here for rash driving or breaking the rules instills a sense of disciplined driving in someone, i think it is worth it. And no, merely mentioning the make/color/number of the car is not the same as posting a pic. A picture says a thousand words.

So, i'd like this thread to continue as it is, with members contributing pics of people driving rashly.

+1 to that. I think fear of being caught driving rashly on cam will definitely make them ponder before doing it again. This is with regard to the BHPians and/or the general public who is aware of the existence of such a thread here.

Originally Posted by amitoj

Post a picture of someone driving rashly while taking a pic and then we'll talk.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Those were official T-BHP stickers. The stickers read the same as earlier, but for those disgruntled imbeciles this is how it should read. I was the one being sarcastic here

Thanks for clarifying that; I had not understood that the original sentence was intended to be sarcastic

Originally Posted by amitoj

And no, merely mentioning the make/color/number of the car is not the same as posting a pic. A picture says a thousand words.

So, i'd like this thread to continue as it is, with members contributing pics of people driving rashly. Post a picture of someone driving rashly while taking a pic and then we'll talk.

I agree with your opinion. I have seen quite a few instances where a fellow bhpian spots something else in the picture that the original pic taker/ poster had not seen/ observed.

Edit: IMHO we have discussed enough on the Bad spotters too, can we return to the OP about how to identify Bad drivers by their driving or otehr indicators?

[Gooney]

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

I continued my search through these pages. Came up to 90 pages. So as I said it just had 2 snaps in 44 pages and then each page started to have one. Then suddenly in the late 50 pages the circus started. Continued mainly by a couple of people. The title of the thread is to "how" to spot them? By mannerisms. Closed mirrors, driving on the dotted line etc. However the pictures prompted one member to even say that this is dedicated to spotting of wierd driving pics/videos!!

I am with you on this jeev. I remember very early on when this thread was started. It was text only And people related their experiences and incidents of bad driving they witnessed on the roads. It was a repository of do's and dont's of sorts. However, suddenly somewhere down the line, the thread got bombarded with photographs and was converted to an one-upmanship thread of who-manages-more-pictures-of-'morons.' There were even off-topic discussion on how to get such snaps clicked, IIRC.

I have no grouse against posting photographs, but do it when you are talking a walk, or a passenger, not a driver. Most of the images are taken on the way from home to office and back, while driving. I feel this is a dangerous hobby.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by amitoj

A picture says a thousand words.

Indeed it does - but if the pic is being taken when driving, it would say a lot more about the photographer than what it would say about the subject. But ofcourse, if the pics are taken when stationary or while walking or as co-passenger, then they would be OK.

Originally Posted by amitoj

Post a picture of someone driving rashly while taking a pic and then we'll talk.

It needs no picture - if someone is trying to take a pic while driving, he would be driving as rashly as someone talking on the phone or worse.

[jeevmenon]

Should we run a pollster to find out how we want this thread to run? BHP-LokPal!

Post a picture of someone driving rashly while taking a pic and then we'll talk. You click, I click. Double click??? In two moving vehicles? Double-trouble? We should be responsible as members of the best auto forum maybe in the world. Lets tighten the screw a bit further and stop the "circus". Lets be the best and maintain the quality.

OT: Maybe the following suggestions goes to the suggestions page but hit the iron when its hot and on its head.

- We should have an "Oaths" page. As a T-BHPian I vow that I wont do x, wont do y, would only do z.
- Things such as observe specific days. No Horn Day. All across the world we will not honk on that day. Why only that day? I know of people including me who dont honk. (Credits: Late TRRK).
- A sticker saying: If you find me honking I will not log in to team-bhp!
- Logging page. For all the defects you found others doing. How many have you committed? Log it religiously. Give the least violating guy a MVP BHPian at the end of the year rather than giving a D-BHP for contributing on which insurances or air conditioner to buy or for giving second-hand/GM based info to road queries!!

[vina]

Originally Posted by amitoj

...
LOL. That was a good one. You are probably the only one who thinks it is so easy to become a member here. TBHP has a very strict screening process. In fact, you can bribe your way to becoming a cop, but you can't bribe your way to a membership here.

But guests can view the threads here, including this one. So, if the fear of being reported here for rash driving or breaking the rules instills a sense of disciplined driving in someone, i think it is worth it. And no, merely mentioning the make/color/number of the car is not the same as posting a pic. A picture says a thousand words.

So, i'd like this thread to continue as it is, with members contributing pics of people driving rashly. Post a picture of someone driving rashly while taking a pic and then we'll talk.

May be becauseI became a member within a day (or was it 2) of filling out the form - didn't have to do much . Now I read several people have been rejected multiple times.

Anyway, the point I was making still stands - the screening process may be considered thorough but you'll have to agree it does have a big component of honour system - and there is no test of driving skills (may be TBHP should include an objective type test at least on road rules - we'll at least not have people driving the middle of two lanes)

[anilisanil]

@Jeevmenon: Now what's wrong with honking? I agree honking unnecessarily is bad. But honking in Indian conditions is a necessity, many a time a small honk would clear me the way from blocking two-wheeler. I use the horn to ask a truck ahead of me to tell if the way ahead is OK and most of the times I get a hand gesture. I saved myself many a time by honking at a dog running into my way. I honk to get the attention of a pedestrian who may be absent minded enough to not observe that he is walking into me.

Not honking would only lead to excessive braking and may be as bad as honking at everything. I am equally against not honking as much I am against excessive honking.

And what is wrong with giving advice on A/Cs and second hand info on road queries? Looks like you have good ideas to start a new forum altogether

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by vina

Anyway, the point I was making still stands - the screening process may be considered thorough but you'll have to agree it does have a big component of honour system - and there is no test of driving skills (may be TBHP should include an objective type test at least on road rules - we'll at least not have people driving the middle of two lanes)

While I partly agree with your suggestion, the challenge here would be that most of us know the rules but how many of us implement them on a daily basis?

I may know the correct answer to a question and write it in a test just so that I clear it. It does not mean that it will be implemented after I clear the test

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

Just read both the posts above you and what...


...for thrills.

Originally Posted by sumathindra

I think the whole thing is being blown out of proportions. Yes taking pictures while driving is defiantly dangerous however the intention must be not to just post pictures but to ensure that people get educated and reformed.

Taking pictures from a stationary car probably cannot cause any harm however i have seen at times people do object when you are clicking pictures!

Finally in Bangalore the traffic police have a facebook section where such pictures can actually be used to punish the guilty!

Sumanth has summarized what I've been trying to say pretty well here.

It is dangerous, taking pictures while in moving traffic. Half of your concentration is on getting the shutter to work, not to mention focusing on something else, instead of the road.

But when you're parked and waiting at a stop-light, I don't see the danger. What I'm trying to say is, overdoing careful practices to such extents that you'd end up with a dull headache isn't advised. Stay calm, focused and most importantly, completely aware of your surroundings at all times.

Humans can multi-task. But that doesn't mean we push our luck. Do what you feel is safe given the circumstances.