[ninjatalli]

Situation 1

This was back in 2003 when I was doing my engineering in Calicut (/Kerala). We were heading back from a trip driving through the night in a private tempo after a long day. Most of us were snoring away to glory and only two of us were awake. We noticed the driver was extremely sleepy and had starting to nod off slowly.

Halted the van near a roadside stall; had a few smokes and a cup of tea and then started back to the college. The two of us took turns to sit with him in the front to ensure he didn't go back to sleep We finally reached in one piece around 5 in the morning.

Situation 2

This was around 2011 in Ahmedabad. We were on the way to a client office traveling in an old Indica cab. Suddenly the car shuddered and came to a stop. Apparently the gearbox had some issues and would not slot into gear 1 or 2. The poor driver tried hard to come up with a solution; but nothing worked. Plus my boss wasn't helping with her shouting at him at the delay for the client meeting; nor was she ready to get off and get another cab/auto.

I asked him to move aside; took the driver's seat and started driving. Somehow I was able to get the car moving on the 3rd gear using clutch play After a nervous 10 min drive, we finally reached the client office and the poor driver was finally able to call for support.

[SJM1214]

Spotted by one of my friends at IIM road ,A"bad.

[ninjatalli]

This isn't actually on the road, but this thread is definitely the right place.

We have double parking in our society; two lines of cars parked back to back. The society committee (wisely) decided to allow the slots to be swapped between the front and back cars depending on who turns up first. Most agreed with the decision; a few of the flat owners who had the front spot didn't; including the one that had the spot in front of mine.

I hardly had been using my car so this wasn't really a much of a problem. But lately I have been using it for office work and with extended hours, I used to land up late in the night; having then to first remove the car parked in front, park mine in the back and then get the other car slotted again. And repeat the same next day morning too. This whole activity would take about ~10 minutes; everytime I would ask the security guard to advise them to do as everyone else did in the society.

Last week, after a really long day, I decided enough was enough, called them downstairs to move the car. I was in a foul mood (long day, multiple 'incidents' during the day), ready to get into a full argument if needed. The lady of the house came out; headed to the car and reversed her car to the slot in the back. It was then I noticed she was having a very tough time to even do this basic reversing act. I questioned the guard about it - apparently that's how "good" her reversing skills were; and also she was the only one able to drive in her family.

Appalled at the situation and with realization creeping on me - if she was not comfortable reversing her Honda Amaze, how in the world would she be able to move my Vento in the highly likely situation that my car is in the front and she needs to get her car out; i.e. if we followed the society's decision.

Once she is done, I apologize to her for asking her to come down; tell her that she can continue parking in the front and that I'll go the extra mile to park my car behind hers'.


Edit:
On a side note, recently I had noticed one of my rear parking indicators having a wide crack. I had been racking my brains trying to figure out when and what caused this; with no memory of any accident. Now I know with surety how this might have happened.

[BUXX]

^ do all of you guys have each other's keys? or are the cars parked in Neutral?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by BUXX

^ do all of you guys have each other's keys? or are the cars parked in Neutral?

Security keeps keys.

[arun_josie]

Felt funny/weird seeing this Etios on top of a loaded truck . Wonder how they loaded it up like this.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Felt funny/weird seeing this Etios on top of a loaded truck . Wonder how they loaded it up like this.

Attachment 1758215

Wow! Thats very strange to see and also unsafe. Was it tied with any harness on to the truck?

[Thad E Ginathom]

One of the strange-to-me things seen in the Netherlands is the family car on the back of a barge.

Yes, the above is dangerous. But there is neither knowledge nor imagination about what happens when a vehicle comes to a sudden halt. If there were, people wouldn't have to be persuaded to wear seat belts, let alone load trucks safely.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Wow! Thats very strange to see and also unsafe. Was it tied with any harness on to the truck?

Yes, it was tied but not sure how effective it was. Also, there were some damages to the front bumper.

[n.devdath]

***Angels Exist***

I planned to travel to Kakinada last weekend to meet a friend and since I was short on time, I flew down to Rajahmundry, which is the closest airport to KKD.

After we landed, around 2015hrs IST, I asked the CRP sentry the best way to get to the bus stand so that I could catch a bus and he told me to either take a taxi or an auto right at the exit gate, which would be expensive, or walk to the main gate around 500mts away and hail an auto, pay him 10 bucks and reach the bus stand to catch a bus to KKD.

The second option seemed better and hence I began walking towards the main gate. A few steps down the road, a couple of lady constables, who had finished their shift were going in an auto. They saw me and offered to drop me till the main gate after which our directions were different.

After I alighted, I crossed the road and was waiting for an auto to take me to the bus stand.

I had probably waited for 10 mins when a white City came from the airport and stopped. A gentleman, around 28-30 yrs old gestured me to go to him.

I assumed he would need directions, which I was anyway unaware of and hence, I did not budge.

He got out of the car, walked over to me and said "Sir, we heard you asking the security the directions to go to KKD, we are going there, would you want to join us?"

The next moment, an elderly gentleman got out of the car and said, "Come along, don't worry, we'll drop you."

I sheepishly said "Yes, thank you very much", and walked towards the car. The person's mother was also in the car.

We had a nice discussion about a lot of things and the family was kind enough to suggest a good restaurant, a few temples and other information about KKD.

When we reached the town, I told them to drop me at a place which would enable me to get a rick, but they insisted on dropping me till my destination.

A journey from Rajahmundry to KKD which would taken me an arduous 3 hours was completed in one, all thanks to Anvesh and his family from KKD.

Do angels exist? Hell, Yes.

[Simhi]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

The next moment, an elderly gentleman got out of the car and said, "Come along, don't worry, we'll drop you."

If I were in your place, I would have thought twice. I think you were lucky on that day. What if they had stopped in a lonely place and robbed you. These days it's becoming difficult to trust any stranger.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by Simhi

If I were in your place, I would have thought twice. I think you were lucky on that day. What if they had stopped in a lonely place and robbed you. These days it's becoming difficult to trust any stranger.

Ad nahi dekha? Darr ke aage jeet hai..!!


My life and experience have taught me how to analyse strangers, surroundings, and defend myself should the need arise.

Here's something that may give you the drift.

Sunny Deol-Border

In my opinion, these days a lot of us are living in unnecessary paranoia all the time (there was another post somewhere about Armageddon happening and hence all of us should drive Toyota SUVs only), no doubt influenced by the kind of (mis)information?? we consume and believe in, and the world isn't such a bad place.

Thanks for your concern nevertheless.

[prasanna_indaje]

I live in a border village of Karnataka and frequent to Kerala (Kasaragod district, to be specific) for temple visits and meeting relatives. While returning from one such visits, i pulled over to a bus stop on the Kerala side around 11 AM to drop one of my cousins. I was just about to leave the place after dropping him, but heard a knock on the window. An elderly couple, looking at my KA registered vehicle, wanted to check if I go to Puttur (KA) by any chance. They had a train to catch from Puttur at 12.20 PM, which was around 40 kilometers away from that place.

As I was travelling in the same route for some distance, I told them I can drop them to another small town in Karnataka, from where they can try to catch an auto to their destination. They boarded my car and after some time, I realized that only way they can get to railway station on time is if I drop them there. I decided to drop them to the station and was able to drop them at 12.15.

The elderly couple were very happy and I too was happy to be able to help them.

[paragsachania]

Ever since this incident (Honda Jazz from Hyderabad accrues Rs. 1.8 lakh of overspeeding fines in a year!) became famous all over including the media, at least the way I noticed, there has been a positive change in the way motorists drive their cars on Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road.

Only recently on my way to Nagpur & back from Bangalore, as part of my route, I had to drive ~68 Kms on this Outer Ring road to get onto the other side. My earlier drives on this was only at night when the limit was 120 KMPH If I recollect.

So this post is to share the heartwarming experience of driving on Hyderabad’s Outer Ring Road where almost all the cars indeed drove strictly with an upper limit of 100 KMPH all the times. If I ignore the blatant disregard for lane discipline part or even the way the same drivers exhibited extreme discomfort by cutting queues at the exit toll, the whole experience of driving under the limits felt extremely safe if I instantly compare this to the way cars are driven on Bangalore’s NICE Road or Mumbai Pune Expressway at breakneck speeds!

During my onward journey, I passed this at noon when there was not much of Private traffic but during return, it was a Friday evening and I could notice many cars joining the ORR from various entry points connecting to the IT Hubs (Financial District, Gachibowli etc). Each of the drivers knew what it meant to cross the limit of 100 and hence none of them even dared to cross this.

I can easily recollect an MH Registered Force 1 SUV and another MH registered Swift that overtook me at quite good speeds during onward journey. However, both of these looked like passing by cars as I could notice the luggage loaded to brim and may be they were not aware of the fact that how stringently the speed limit has been implemented here. During my return, an Innova Taxi joined me at Medchal and was always seen either beside me around me all the way till he took the Airport Exit while I exited for Bangalore.

Without physical presence, with systematic policing via speed cameras and a portal where you check for over-speeding and pay fines which are indeed on the higher side depending on the speeds that you – All it took for Hyderabad Traffic Police to win the game without much ado! Kudos to you and this is the post to appreciate your implementation first and the fear of law from the car drivers later!

Goes to show how effective implementation can really bring down the accident rates and make people follow rules; The need of the hour for the entire country.

With everyone driving under limits, the fear of getting involved in an incident was near zero.

[Aakarsh]

When transport is too costly and you have to shift as soon as possible!