[FURY_44]

BTW white topping has begun in front of Lumbini Gardens towards Hebbal Junction, the service road has been freshly tarred to accommodate traffic diversion.

[chandrda]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

No not at all dangerous for us bangalore drivers, infact more fun. It's kept there so that you take the racing line through the corner and hit the apex. They don't want us to miss the apex hence kept it on the outside of the curve.

We like to hit the apex whenever there is a corner inspite of the traffic on a 3 lane road you will notice cabbies and buses always taking the racing line.

Hence this poses no danger at all.

This is how I defend India and any current situation which comes up with my Foreign Clients.

Defend sarcastically saying we like to do this way and that's how we are

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by am1m

Hopefully this is temporary till something more permanent and safe can be installed.

Yes it is temporary till something permanent and safe is installed...something like good driving habits in our minds would do I suppose

There was a time when I felt our infrastructure is the main culprit. But with each passing day I more and more convinced that more than infrastructure, it's our driving habits that is more responsible for this chaos called traffic.

[bhandary]

ALERT. Long jam between Agara depot and Sarjapur road on Outer ring road at 8.00 in the morning. Heard that it was due to an accident at Sarjapur but not sure if it's true.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

There was a time when I felt our infrastructure is the main culprit. But with each passing day I more and more convinced that more than infrastructure, it's our driving habits that is more responsible for this chaos called traffic.

It is absolutely the driving habits, now keep in mind that I'm ranting and since I travel very very less around town (<400 km p.m), these are purely my views.. in my 13+ years of driving I've not seen many great drivers in this city. I'm a very disciplined driver, as I've been taught that way.. I never criss-cross lanes and even if I do, I change once and blast off only when I see the opening, I honk only when required, and I keep pace with the traffic, I ensure that I'm not more than 2-3 feet away from the vehicle ahead at city speeds and about 10-12 feet at 80+ speeds.

Contrast that with the majority of the folks here.. a mixture of cabbies who barely earned their license, auto drivers who are blind, two wheeler riders who believe in travelling more horizontally than vertically, and most car drivers who speed up and honk unnecessarily at the wrong time and slow down and hog lanes at the wrong time.. I'm sure I belong in the 99.9999 %ile as far as good driving goes in India.

I'm a bit of a stickler on the road and as a result have a habit of getting irritated as well. I follow city speeds calmly and happily, until one cockroach of an auto or cabbie will come behind flashing and honking away to glory, after a point I get riled up and show them what a large petrol engined car with a real driver is capable of doing, when they eat my dust and disappear in the background I feel embarrassed that I had to do that when I was happily ambling along the road minding my business. I also get irritated at two-wheelers, autos and cabbies who trail the vehicle ahead by over 50 feet while I'm behind them, apparently in Bangalore there are only 2 types of drivers/riders, the ones who zig zag at 200 kmph, or the ones who sit and sag at 2 kmph. Between the both of them I go nuts.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by bhandary

ALERT. Long jam between Agara depot and Sarjapur road on Outer ring road at 8.00 in the morning. Heard that it was due to an accident at Sarjapur but not sure if it's true.

Which direction? Towards silk board or towards marthahalli?

[bhandary]

Jam on route from Agara towards Sarjapur. In the other direction (towards Silk board) the road is jammed from Sarjapur till Agara exit.

[itwasntme]

BEWARE: ToI article states likely traffic disruption in the Palace Grounds area due to the ongoing Millets Fair and also a political function. Please factor this in and check GMaps in real-time!

[aadya]

Originally Posted by dark.knight

It is absolutely the driving habits, now keep in mind that I'm ranting and since I travel very very less around town (<400 km p.m), these are purely my views.. in my 13+ years of driving I've not seen many great drivers in this city. I'm a very disciplined driver,

Same blood. My wife who is a rookie mocks me for being such a boring/disciplined driver, just to poke me on. And travelling in my car my wife and 4 year old daughter refuse to travel in cabs or cars driven by other drivers. Only trouble is I have to endure this for 1000odd kms every month. With my MID showing by average speed at 15kmph thats about 66 hours of incarceration in this traffic jungle.

[am1m]

Amazing the kind of people you get on the roads. Sometimes it scares me, and I wonder if the money I get working here is worth staying in a city like Bangalore.

Was stuck in the usual jam on my bike to work today. Was to the side of and slightly behind an auto. A idiot biker behind the auto struggled on to the footpath (!), rear wheel spinning and finally managed to get on and ride away. Both the auto guy and I expressed our frustration at such idiots. Continuing the conversation, this auto chap goes on to claim that he always followed the "path of dharma", how he never would go the wrong way (which was true so far, he was the only auto on the road resisting the urge to cut into the path of oncoming traffic and get ahead).

So I was quite happy thinking here was an auto guy who was unlike the rest, a good chap. But then he also went on to say that "he couldn't bear to see other people do wrong" like that biker on the footpath and if he had spotted him earlier, would have "taken off that guy's helmet and beaten him with it!". Now, in Bangalore, our road rage 'bark' is usually worse than our 'bite'. But still the fact that we're sharing road space with people who seem to think that violence is ok and keeping with their concept of 'dharma' is getting scary! And it's not just the cabbies or auto guys either, a lot of people seem to agree with the concept of violence as a means to solve our issues.

[Red Liner]

Originally Posted by am1m

keeping with their concept of 'dharma' is getting scary! And it's not just the cabbies or auto guys either, a lot of people seem to agree with the concept of violence as a means to solve our issues.

Bro, you have to understand that you (and I) spend the better part of our waking life in an air conditioned cubicle. These auto guys, delivery boys, cabbies, truckers etc spend their entire life on these agonising roads day in and day out for pay that is probably not even worth mentioning. Add to this, their current standard of living, trouble at home etc, I always try and cut them slack on the road be it their mistake or mine.

Ofcourse, this is no excuse for any behaviour of anyone, but we are all humans and come with our own stories.

However, the auto driver and the 2 wheeler going head to head (quite literally) should have been fun

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Red Liner

Add to this, their current standard of living, trouble at home etc, I always try and cut them slack on the road be it their mistake or mine.

Absolutely, I totally get the stress and living conditions bit. And I realize how lucky I am compared to a lot of people in the country. It's just that with each passing day, I see things getting worse on our roads, not better. It's not just the auto guys, several 'air-conditioned' people on the roads too seem to show the same propensity for violent behavior. Also, was pretty interesting how convinced this guy was about his 'path of dharma' and how he didn't see any contradiction with considering violence as a part of that.

I see something daily on my commute. The other day I saw a biker (air conditioned brigade, not blue-collar working class) almost into run into a lady crossing, because HE was coming down the wrong way. When she says something, he literally yells at her, "I said SORRY!" Getting aggressive when in the wrong seems to be the norm these days.

Just wondering if it's worth it anymore, and these are early warning signs to just pack up and get the heck out.

[itwasntme]

Guys heading out of town on Tumkur Road. Beware, due to the passing away of the Siddaganga Mutt Seer, GoK have blocked off entire NH48 between Dobbspete and Sira and channeled all traffic into a secondary road!

Expect massive delays - totally avoid that entire section between Sira all the way to BLR.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by am1m

So I was quite happy thinking here was an auto guy who was unlike the rest, a good chap. But then he also went on to say that "he couldn't bear to see other people do wrong" like that biker on the footpath and if he had spotted him earlier, would have "taken off that guy's helmet and beaten him with it!". Now, in Bangalore, our road rage 'bark' is usually worse than our 'bite'. But still the fact that we're sharing road space with people who seem to think that violence is ok and keeping with their concept of 'dharma' is getting scary!

You can't escape rudeness, the level is alarmingly high in Delhi, and to a certain degree in Mumbai as well. UP, Haryana etc. the less said the better. P.S I have no complaint if I go there, if someone wants to mouth off with me, I can give an excellent run for the money as well. Bangalore is very civil in most aspects, and this I say even though I hate its thuggish auto-drivers to the hilt. 50% are well mannered though

I think we all need to have thick skin by now, dharma merely means law/principle, now most people interpret the word to mean absolute righteousness, whereas practically, righteousness is brought about only by a catalyst, in the sense that none of us are born with the ultimate dharmic software embedded in us, it gets refined and corrected (by society) over time. Buddhism and Taoism has a whitewashed version where we need to be absolute saints to achieve dharmic perfection.

That apart, I've seen rude people in New York and New Jersey as well.. NY takes the cake. I quite enjoyed that as well, America is a politically-incorrect country, their leader has perhaps the biggest mouth one can find across all leaders on earth, I find that refreshingly good (though the man is a rebirth of Narcissus).

I've had way more skirmishes and verbal arguments with autowale, cabbies, two-wheeler riders etc.. in a way it is my dharma to point out when people are acting like pricks on the road. I don't care if they do not learn the lesson, most do not expect to be shouted at for what they deem as habitual, natural road discordance, but when pointed out sternly they do seem to follow a modicum of decency, albeit for a few minutes.

[Nalin1]

While driving down from Manyatha tech park to HAL airport road, as usual there was a small pile up while descending down the flyover in Kalyannagar after Royal Concorde. I found a gap wide enough for me on the left and occupied it. An auto tried to squeeze from my left and overtake me before I occupied it. He was unsuccessful and stopped. A bike had decided to overtake the auto from an even smaller gap. He could not stop and either hit the auto or the parapet wall and fell .

Even while squeezing into gaps on a bike some rules need to be followed!

Moved ahead and while on the railway parallel road (Sadanandnagar), witnessed another one! The road is quite decent apart from some patchy areas. A pothole has developed at one place and is quite a big one. Since I use the road everyday, I plan ahead and avoid it somehow. Again did the same today. As I could not swerve around it, let it pass under the car. A scooter was tailgating me very closely and saw the pothole at the last minute after I had passed. Slowed down and tried to avoid it and would have succeeded, but unfortunately for him another scooter behind him did not anticipate this at all and crashed into him .

Do not tailgate a bigger vehicle!