[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by toroid

I'm a beginner driver. I have had many close calls so far during my ~2K kms behind the wheels. However, being only driver from the family there's no one to give me tips or correct me.

So you've already had (more than) a couple of dozen constructive as well as destructive criticism of your driving since you started this thread, and I am sure you are either desperately trying to change your driving style, or cursing under your breath about receiving harsh advice.

I am going to refrain from commenting on or analysing your dashcam video, because I believe you can do that very well yourself by reading a little more about driving safe. Since you've only driven about 2000 km as you mention, it's not too late to start improving the way you drive. There are a number of threads in this forum that you ought to take a good look at, to judge how well you are doing, and here are a few links:

1. (Evidence-Based Driving for Safety: A Primer)

2. (How does one teach a newbie to drive / ride safe?)

3. (Kolkata enthusiasts attend the Low Risk Safe Driving course)

In the meanwhile, don't stop posting your own dashcam videos for criticism - you'll either improve your driving in a few weeks, or be immune to road rage!

[Indiguy]

You had ample opportunity to let both vehicles switch lanes but you chose not to allow them in. However you could be seen drifting to the other lane when you thought you could get a positional advantage. I recommend that you practise defensive driving. Anticipate someone may want to enter your lane, and slow down ever so slightly that you don't have to apply brakes, and let them enter your lane You are not in a race, and blocking off someone won't get you to your destination earlier. Avoid changing lanes unless you anticipate a reason for doing so. Don't honk, it's not polite and results in noise pollution.

Try to think along the lines that we are all on the road hoping to reach our destination safe and sound, and let's help one another reach there without incident.

Originally Posted by Alterlife

In city traffic, people will speed up to close the gap between them and the vehicle in front of them to less than a cars length when somebody is trying to aggressively cut them off. Basically if you see the car behind you speeding up, and you can anticipate that they're going to try to cut you off, keep your cars nose in front of theirs or close enough to the car in front of you so that they physically cannot cut in. Taxi drivers are very good at doing this relatively safely.

Agreed on the right of way, disagreed on advising OP to speed up so as to block someone from coming into your lane. The road is not a racetrack. I, myself, would see someone with a clear intent to change lanes and would let off the acceleration a wee bit to let him in. Keep safe distance from the vehicle ahead, do not go close to the vehicle ahead of you just to block someone from cutting into your lane. This is just my own opinion from years of defensive driving.

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[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by toroid

0:30 - i10 tries to occupy the 10-15 ft space between me and car ahead of me. I did not let it enter. Should I have slowed down?

0:55- Creta tries to enter my lane. Should I have preempted it? I did see the turn indicator. Was I supposed to let it change the lane first?

Hi Toroid,
Once way you can measure yourself is how many times you're honking, being honked at, and are required to make quick stops. While the actions of the i10 and Creta drivers were wrong, we're talking about driving in India. Using an indicator shouldn't mean you have the right to switch lanes, but Indians assume it to be a right of way. So, practice defensive driving and anticipate the actions of others.

If YOU can safely let someone in the gap, just let them. Some drivers can get worked up quickly and small incidents like this can lead to road rage. Take all the stupidity from others in your stride and don't let it hurt your ego. Check this out: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shift...age-truck.html ("The Law of the Garbage Truck")

Remember: Karma goes around. Your actions may bite you in the backside.

[Alterlife]

Originally Posted by Indiguy

advising OP to speed up so as to block someone from coming into your lane.

This was bad communication on my part!

What I was trying to say is: I've seen cabbies do this and I think it's about telegraphing intent. They make it clear to the car in the other lane: "I do not intend to let you past". They don't get all that close to the car in front.

But frankly, I'm not a spirited driver myself so I should have kept my fingers tucked away from the keyboard on this topic.

[viXit]

Hey man!

One video is not enough to judge and advice,

But of the two instances, you were not in the wrong, but if you've ever visited the road safety forum, you'd know that we consider the non practice of defensive driving also unsafe.

Always allow a little bit room of error for other people.
Honk a little while passing someone, it appraises them of your position in their blind spot.


Happy driving!
You're the only driver in the family?! That's quite the responsibility, enjoy it. Make sure all your passengers are always buckled up!

[livetodrive]

Hi Toroid,

My 2 cents :

Irrespective of highway or city, lane changing can be signaled either by:

a. Hand
b. Indicator
c. Slight cut with the vehicle angle already pointing towards your driving lane
d. No signal at all : autos, 2 wheelers in city, sometimes trucks in highways

For the first 3 points, brake early and let the cutter get into your lane ; this I follow strictly in highways. I do not preempt even with a honk, rather I slow down and let him come in. End of the day it doesn't matter actually whether he is first or me. Safely returning home is what matters most.

For point d, writing a paragraph will fall short. With several years of driving you will be able to gauge what is the intention of the person in left side front of you based on if its an auto, 2 wheeler or truck.

For example : In a highway, while driving in broad day light if a truck is behind a truck then the chances of overtaking is high if the truck is empty. If its loaded then the chance falls. Instead of day if its night then the chance is still lesser.

With experience your mind will make some automatic bins or buckets where each use case will fall and you will start taking immediate decisions based on the use case.

Wish you keep enjoying our roads and keep driving safe.

[Mat095]

Really Good that you are open to advice and opinions on your driving style, this really takes some courage!

From a newbie to another newbie, from what I have learnt it’s okay to be gentle and a little slow when you’re not sure about the road ahead of you. Secondly, sometimes it’s okay to let other people pass you or change into your lane, its not a racetrack and no one is keeping a score. Third, always be aware of your car’s dimensions, how it handles and the brakes. Fourth, and the probably the most important one, assume that everyone around you is newbie so give them some room and always have good music to keep you in a light mood. Lastly, the car belongs to you so don’t drive it like a cabbie.

That’s what I’ve been told, hope it helps you too!

[Rodo_Faita]

Originally Posted by Hayek

I would advice defensive driving - which includes allowing someone who is changing lanes to go past a slow moving truck (as in the case of the i10), or is changing lanes for some other reason (such as positioning for an exit as the Creta did) to come ahead of you. If you have to honk to prevent someone from entering your lane, in my view, you should brake to allow him to enter instead.

The above advice given is the best one for Toroid's case. Practice defensive driving at all times.

Originally Posted by Gansan

I always place my foot on the brake pedal momentarily to illuminate the brake lamps briefly, before actually braking. That will give sufficient warning to anyone following closely behind.

This is a very nice technique to alert tailgaters!

Also remember, “If you're driving angry, you're driving blind".

[Pkumarblore]

Hi, good to know you are receptive to feedback.
I think you were driving on the Nelamangala Flyover which I too use regularly to reach my workplace. Your driving style and reasoning would probably change if you were on a proper 4/6 lane highway, the reason being this Flyover is very narrow and margin for error is very less. So you had to pre-empt any move from from lane changers such as the Creta if you had fast approaching vehicles from behind and you had noticed it in the IRVM. As for the i10, that's ok. He/she asked for the lane change which maybe you could have allowed if you were not too fast or had no fast approaching vehicles from behind. I prefer to drive on the right most lane both on highways and city roads and wait for an opportunity to overtake from the right(remember the traffic rule still states that you should overtake from the right). But with so much of traffic on highways and flyovers and with slow moving vehicles on the right side, I am forced to overtake them from the left but I then move to the right lane immediately. That said watch out for the 2 wheelers on the left side when you overtake from the left.
Happy and safe driving.

[adi_sun]

There would be just one advise I would like to give, be calm and try to be the least aggressive driver on the road.
Take 5-10 min extra on the travel time, maintain distance and even if you stall the car / freeze and the people behind start honking bad maintain your cool.

Put big "L" signs and keep the windows rolled up, its a matter of few thousand kilometers.

[matchvan]

Hi, Toroid,

If you can drive in India and in a metro, then you already are an expert driver.

Nonetheless, in the one minute video, I find no mistake on your part.

Unfortunately both the drivers feel they are correct too.

It's always better to be safe than to be sorry. Always maintain a safe distance and I see no point in cutting across lanes on city roads.

On highways it's a different scenario altogether with sparse traffic. The time and distance to switch lanes is ample.

Safe driving. You are doing good. Always remember everyone is wrong in someone's opinion.

[jagdish_ker]

Case 01: The i10 driver needs to be sent for training. This is not the way to behave on the road. From your perspective it is always better to be defensive. Just let go such idiots. He will learn the lesson when he does the same in front of a heavy good vehicle and most probably end up with a total loss car (at least). Spotting such idiots are not rare.
Case 02: Amaze gave indication very late. You can take decision whether to let him go. Again, the above comment holds good here as well. The Creta guy has given indication to you well in advance. However, it is your discretion whether to allow him. Considering he has given indication well in advance, it was courteous to let him in and avoid such a close call. Still cannot justify the way the Creta guy forced into your lane. Both are at fault in my opinion.

[any23]

As far as I can observe, at first instance the i10 was at fault, he tried to cut in your lane without leaving enough gap between his and your car, as a rule one should change lane when the vehicle you are overtaking is at least visible in ORVM. i10 driver must have ensured, he has enough safe gap between your and his car, then put on his indicator and wait for 3-4 seconds before merging in to your lane, Clearly the i10 driver have not followed any of the above. Take it as experience and learn from it what drivers at Indian roads can throw at you.

What I could have done here with i10 is that depending on the traffic behind me I would have given i10 guy pass and let be him happy, as one can sense i10 guy intention was to overtake you so let him do it. While driving it's equally important to keep an overview of what happening to your sides and behind, that way you are prepared for most of the scenarios. I believe in defensive driving irrespective of size of engine under my car's bonnet, and suggest the same to you. This is not the only instance, you will find auto-rickshaw, 2-wheelers even bus squeezing in from left/right so better give them the way or else a auto-rickshaw, bus, 2-wheelr won't mind scraping your car. To be true, I don't even mind Wagon-R's and Alto's overtaking me on open stretch of highway.

Second time around you must have slowed down in advance looking at the indicators of vehicles ahead of you in the other lane, you must predict what might be forcing the drivers to slow down and change lanes on open stretch, it can be anything a dead animal or a big pothole or a broken down two wheeler etc. In extreme situation the Creta driver might have take a sharp left to change lane depending on the situation ahead of him, and that too he has given indicator long before, in that case you would have got no chance to maneuver as you were very close to him. Thankfully the Creta driver was observing his left ORVM, sensing that you may not stop he maneuvered slowly to change lane and as you can see you yourself was left with no option to do a little hard braking, in case some fool is following you closely he might have rear ended you.

What I could have done here, slowed down and wait for traffic in front to clear. Gradual slowing down of my vehicle will allow others behind me to slow down gradually and the chain continues.

More or less your driving looks good, you are following the best rule to drive straight unless and until it's important to give feedback to steering. You just have to be more predictive and alert of situations around you.

[dicor]

Originally Posted by toroid

Hi All,



0:55- Creta tries to enter my lane. Should I have preempted it? I did see the turn indicator. Was I supposed to let it change the lane first?

Some of the rules are very blurry or not in knowledge of general population and the best is to follow the rules which local public is used to. In these cases, there is no definition of right and wrong. The adaptability to the local culture is the rightest thing.

For example, lot of people turn on indicators when they want to turn, but some turn blinkers on when they want to give pass. All you must figure out when this is for turn and when for pass. It's not very difficult, eventually you will build that experience.

Another example, when in tunnel, lot of people turn on all 4 blinkers (hazard lights). Technically that is wrong, but it is an accepted and common practice in our nation.

One more, in a signal less roundabout we judge the distance of car and take a call who will pass first. Whereas in developed countries I have seen people give way to the vehicles which are on their steering position side. i.e., In US, they give way to car on right first and car on left will wait for you.

One more, in a traffic signal, two cars usually stop at safe distance where rear vehicle driver can see tyres of car in front of him. If you do that in India, bikers and autorickshaws will fit themselves between space.

Coming to your point of Creta, during my visit to UK, we were on M1 and all cars use to slow down when they saw car on their front turn on blinkers and trying to come to their lane. In India, people start honking like yelling "GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!".

But alone you are following this rule won't bring any safety or change. So my advice is to drive cautiously, be prepared for such surprises on highways and city. Eventually you will master it by practical knowledge.

[trkauditya]

I would slow down and let that car move ahead of me, though the driver of the other car is clearly at fault here. A bruised ego is easier to live with than a dented car or worse, a road rage that will mentally affect you for weeks. Let them reach their destinations early. You can reach yours in style.