[gtonsing]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Probably better off sticking to ORR. From KR Puram, Metro construction has made many stretches one lane. But should be manageable considering majority of offices are still WFH and you wont see the pre pandemic ORR traffic

Upto KR PUram is fine and I have used it a couple of times - as always, KR Puram area has the normal chaos. Other parts of the ORR till KR Puram is fine. I have not gone beyond KR Puram and cannot tell of the situation beyond.

[vharihar]

Came across this video of traffic on Mumbai Pune Expwy:

https://youtu.be/Quc17kg0VXI

Notice how trucks keep to the slow lanes, they rarely come to the fast lane!

It's a high speed playback. And to clarify, the MPE starts at about 0:20 seconds into the video.

I wonder when things on Bengaluru's NICE Rd and other NHAI hwys in south India will improve to a similar state, whether by means of better enforcement or plain self-imposed road sense, I don't care which way.

Truckers' traffic sense on south India's hwys are notoriously bad in this aspect. Have not seen it so bad in central and north India, which are much better

[nagarjun]

I think the problem with NHs in south of India is most of them are 4 laned instead of 6, including Nice Road(this is in itself a pathetic situation). With 4 lanes, especially in non-cordoned off highways(which most of them are), its difficult for the big trucks to stay on the left lane. We have mopeds, autos, tractors, vehicles coming in opposite direction and sometimes bullock carts hogging that lane. Its not easy for a big truck to change lanes so often.

With a proper 6 lane express way, these unregulated vehicles are not an hindrance and the trucks can move to the left lane. You can see this in Hyd ORR for example.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Notice how trucks keep to the slow lanes, they rarely come to the fast lane!

It's a high speed playback. And to clarify, the MPE starts at about 0:20 seconds into the video.

I wonder when things on Bengaluru's NICE Rd and other NHAI hwys in south India will improve to a similar state, whether by means of better enforcement or plain self-imposed road sense, I don't care which way.

Truckers' traffic sense on south India's hwys are notoriously bad in this aspect. Have not seen it so bad in central and north India, which are much better

Trucks don't usually hog the fast lane. They complete their overtaking and get back to the middle lane. This is one of the most important aspects I have noticed on the expressway. Truck also get back to their lane if they realise they got out of their lane to overtake quite late and that will result in slowing down fast traffic behind. Elsewhere you will see the truck driver with a "wait for me now for the next 2 minutes dude" attitude and he will ensure you have to brake.

However, at nights, the traffic is mainly private buses and trucks (soon after entry and exit of trucks is allowed from Mumbai) and this is when you will notice all the 3 lanes occupied by mostly heavy vehicles but what differentiates it is that they are not seen crawling (except the 8 km Ghat section towards Pune).

Another aspect that I always notice is that trucks from south are almost always overloaded, especially from Tamil Nadu and seen crawling at single digit speeds on the fast lane. The chances that you will see 3 overloaded trucks on all 3 lanes crawling at single digit speeds is way higher down-south compared to highways in Western/Northern India.

There is also one more thing - Trucks elsewhere are driven faster (most aren't overloaded) and hence they maintain some decent pace on the highways (70-90 kmph). This is a case with the super busy Ahmedabad - Mumbai stretch. But the primary factor that makes them stick to the 2 lanes on the left is the presence of equal number of cars on this road. So, usually there is no domination of trucks only or cars only traffic and since truckers are well aware of this, they mind their business by remaining on the first 2 lanes. It is extremely rare that you will find a lone truck on a very empty stretch hogging the right lane but we see so many such instances down south.

The problem with NICE road is really different. It is the flaw in the design also. The road was developed with no importance give to the gradients. You will notice how maximum sections of GQ roads are on elevated sections that heavily compensate sudden gradients and ensure speeds dont drop drastically unless it is a ghat section. NICE road was done by ignoring this and same is the case with Hubli Dharwad bypass as well which again is a NICE affair. NICE road has many such sections where trucks struggle to maintain pace and hence occupy all the lanes or are seen driven parallelly for kms while car drivers end up getting frustrated and overtake from shoulders.

Even the way the Delhi Mumbai expressway is being constructed, I am amazed at the way importance is being given to road design and engineering in terms of installation of sound barriers closer to human population limits, drainage of water to reduce stagnant water, elevated sections to minimize gradients and ensure consistent speeds etc. These are also the same roads that do not get submerged due to heavy rains.

The best experience of gentlemanly truck behavior I had ever witnessed was when driving on the Kishangarh - Jaipur expressway where truckers were so professional that the right lane was always free while they managed it all in the first 2 lanes even at night.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Notice how trucks keep to the slow lanes, they rarely come to the fast lane!

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Trucks don't usually hog the fast lane. They complete their overtaking and get back to the middle lane.

It's probably the generous lane size and the number of lanes (may be not in this case). Notice how flat the terrain /road gradient is! I saw very few two wheelers, they are slow and unpredictable and therefore occupy a much larger space than their "two wheels" suggest - this means that in Bangalore a whole lane is occupied by two wheelers.

I've noticed that even the expressway to the KIAL airport is extremely narrow and without a shoulder, plus has some really bad "design" choices - wonder why.

*Edited this as I realized that my observations were not limited to the video alone.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by mvadg

It's probably the generous lane size and the number of lanes (may be not in this case). Notice how flat the terrain is!

In fact, Mumbai Ahmedabad has a lot of sections where lane size is certainly not generous. It is one of those highways where 4 lane to 6 lane happened by compromising the width of the median and the lanes too. But even then it is very rare to spot them occupy the fast lanes.

Also, with Mumbai Pune expressway, a lot of initiatives were taken including installation of height barriers on the fast lane to prevent trucks from getting onto the fast lane. Though most of these initiatives failed, the fact is that time and again the cops and the authorities try to create awareness about it by holding events and randomly penalizing the trucks here, something which is totally absent on NICE road.

Height barriers to keep e-way right lane free for overtaking

I've noticed that even the expressway to the KIAL airport is extremely narrow and without a shoulder, plus has some really bad "design" choices - wonder why.

Same is the case with BETL and NBTL elevated sections too. Lane width is compromised and one of the reasons you can attribute this to is that they are part of flyovers with interlocking blocks and hence limitations in making it any wider!

[am1m]

More lanes are always better of course, but the main reason truckers stick to right lanes is because there will inevitably be restaurants, dhabbas, and shops at regular intervals and idiots who will stop right on the road to do whatever they feel like doing. Just look at the idiots who line up and park right on the highway on weekend mornings outside popular restaurants like Dhruvathare because the parking is full. And the same car owners will complain about truck behavior when they finish their breakfast and want to zoom off. Swerving in and out continuously in a loaded ancient truck must be a pain. Yes, I too swear when I'm stuck behind two trucks having a 'who can overtake slowest' contest, but overall, personally, I've found the truckers to be the gentlemen of the highways in terms of driving behaviour.

As with everything else road-infra related- yes, it is always inadequate, but if there is discipline, we can make the best use of even 4 lanes well and not have chaos. And whether it's Bangalore residential roads or 4-lane highways, realizing that parking anywhere, anytime, and anyhow is not our birthright, that would be a good start!

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by nagarjun

I think the problem with NHs in south of India is most of them are 4 laned instead of 6, including Nice Road(this is in itself a pathetic situation). With 4 lanes, especially in non-cordoned off highways(which most of them are), its difficult for the big trucks to stay on the left lane. We have mopeds, autos, tractors, vehicles coming in opposite direction and sometimes bullock carts hogging that lane. Its not easy for a big truck to change lanes so often.

With a proper 6 lane express way, these unregulated vehicles are not an hindrance and the trucks can move to the left lane. You can see this in Hyd ORR for example.

Not quite true. I've seen this bad behaviour by truckers and to a lesser extent by TNSTC buses even on the 6-laned Chennai - Blore hwy via Hosur. And lotsa other places.

And on NICE Rd, even when the left lane is totally free for long distances, they still hog the right lane. Either bcoz "I got here first and it's easier driving this way" attitude, or it's a plain misconception on their part that it's the right thing to do.

Either way, it's totally wrong (especially in today's era of power steering)

I know Mumbai police is ruthless in taming truckers. We need that kind of taming on all south India hwys, where truckers the biggest rogues out there.

But alas, south India traffic police too is under a misunderstanding of the correct etiquette, I feel.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by am1m

More lanes are always better of course, but the main reason truckers stick to right lanes is because there will inevitably be restaurants, dhabbas, and shops at regular intervals and idiots who will stop right on the road to do whatever they feel like doing.

The number of highway eateries you will see on some busier highways is 10 times higher than the example that you have quoted. Some highways are literally food corridor for 300 km with restaurants and fuel stations every km and there are extremely busy bypasses to cross where you will notice maximum misc traffic on the left lanes and yet trucks don't unnecessarily end up on the fast lane.

Bangalore Mangalore highway is mainly a car highway where freight traffic is one of the least even in the nights that one encounters and I would not even want to compare this with any other busier highways.

These 2 trucks have no business to hog the fast lane when the roads are this empty. Yet they merrily have this love affair with the median.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

These 2 trucks have no business to hog the fast lane when the roads are this empty. Yet they merrily have this love affair with the median.

Fair enough, that is certainly an issue. Guess we can't generalize either truck behaviour or that of other vehicles. Faults on all sides on our roads.

I've been driving quite often around some narrow highways, ghat sections and small beach roads the past few months and number of cars I've seen just randomly stopping for any and every reason (selfies, drinking water, etc) even on small roads causing a minor jam every time, has made me sympathetic to the plight of trucks I guess!

[wildsdi5530]

Traffic Violations will now be sent on SMS. My 70 yr old dad got an SMS for a violation supposedly done 1 1/2 years back. On checking website of btp.gov.in, there is no violation image available for 4 violations. And these were not there a couple of months back as I keep checking often.

Also the car has been in quarantine as my aged parents didn't want exposure. I occasionally use their car when my car is in service, but really cannot remember what happened 1 1/2 years ago.

[drive2eternity]

Saga of a Bangalore driver

I didn't know how a 'Road' should be, till I visited Noida
I didn't know how 'Ring Road' should be, till I visited Delhi
I didn't know how 'Outer Ring Road' should be, till I visited Hyderabad
and when I came back to Bangalore, I got to know what obscene Road Tax is

PS- Since this is a ranting thread, not mentioning about the beautiful weather of Bangalore here

[NPV]

Couple of days ago, in the afternoon I was returning from the CBD area and saw a motorcycle being ridden on the wrong side (one way) with 3 young boys (none with helmets of course), heading straight towards my car. Ironically this was right in front of the Traffic Management Centre near Indian express building

[binand]

Originally Posted by NPV

Couple of days ago, in the afternoon I was returning from the CBD area and saw a motorcycle being ridden on the wrong side (one way) with 3 young boys (none with helmets of course), heading straight towards my car.

Wrong-side driving is so pervasive in Bangalore - even BMTC buses, trucks and all sorts of cars do it all the time with zero regard.

For example: the loop that takes traffic from westbound OA Road to northbound 100 ft Road at Domlur (the one that starts just after Diamond District and ends in front of Barbecue Nation) - I really don't understand what possible combination of circumstances would require someone to drive the wrong way on this one. But it is something I see with depressing regularity.

[balenoed_]

What I am observing and afraid to say is, post Covid (I mean, now), there is absolute disregard to traffic rules. People are freaking out as if they have got a second life. As if they have braved the deadly Corona and don't give a damn to traffic rules and disciplines, As if everyone has got an emergency.