[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Then the driver showed me his right side. I had ended up splashing mud on his right arm :-(

That's one funny incident !! Sad that he got muddy, but a good lesson learnt that he ought to be careful on dusty and muddy roads.
Nothing to feel bad about it. Just that you could have honked once or twice to make him aware. In anycase, a tanker would not have been merciful to stop and say sorry.

[binand]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

So I was forced to follow this Civic crawling on that road.

And I certainly did not expect a Civic guy to drive with windows down.

As a Civic owner - there are several roads in Bangalore where the low GC of the Civic makes it impossible to take the car above a crawl. My regular commute via the road behind the HAL airport is one.

Plus, despite all its shortcomings, the weather in Bangalore still makes driving with windows down possible at certain times of the day. :-) It is an indulgence quite impossible say, in Chennai.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean

HSR Layout 27th Main (area adjacent the Petrol Bunk) is completly blocked by a Shamiana. All the vehicles had to take a detour and this ended up in a long jam at the junction below Agara Flyover
.

The irony is that the road was blocked for inaugurating the new HSR Police Station building. And this is no ordinary road, but some 100ft wide road. Whole width was taken up by the tent. Nice example set out by our cops

[sureshurs]

Just returned from the airport. The 4 day weekend combined with deepawali had its effect - huge pike up of traffic from Ayyappa temple underpass in madivala to Silkboard at 1:00 am in the morning.

A bit surprised though that folks were waiting for buses at tine of the hour.

[unk9ja]

Originally Posted by sureshurs

Just returned from the airport. The 4 day weekend combined with deepawali had its effect - huge pike up of traffic from Ayyappa temple underpass in madivala to Silkboard at 1:00 am in the morning.

A bit surprised though that folks were waiting for buses at tine of the hour.

The whole of Bangalore is same during festive season or a long weekend. Went to drop my brother in law for a scheduled 21:45 pickup at Peenya and guess the bus turned up at 01:20. And it was utter chaos with long trail of buses trying to pick passengers blocking the way of other vehicles. There was absolutely no way one could move in such a careless world. The cops on duty were so much fatigued they preferred to watch the great Indian circus rather than participating in it.

[tharian]

Had a taste of Bangalore traffic which I avoid most of the times thanks to my office times.

I normally travel by bike which makes things much easier although I end up being covered in a coat of dust and my jacket, shoes and laptop bag have turned a light shade of brown now.

I work at GRTP on Whitefield road and those who travel from KR Puram to Whitefield and back via Phoenix mall will know the road conditons now . The side from Hoodi circle to Decathlon was dug up on one side to lay pipes and now although covered up, is unusable due to the un-eveness which makes the road into a single lane.

Last evening I headed to a mall in Whitefield to catch a afternoon show which finished at 545p. I was on the road in ten minutes expecting a maximum 2 hours drive back home which was around 22kms. I used my car to avoid carrying around my bag for the show.
Long weekend, festival, people travelling home, peak hour office traffic all put together took me 3 hours to get home .
I was stuck in one spot for 30 minutes for some reason which was soon after Hoodi signal.

Since I do not travel during peak hours, here are few of my observations.

There were all sorts of vehicles from buses, mini trucks, two wheelers, cabs and autos. Where ever there was a jam, most of them kept order. Only few autos tried their stunts by squeezing through. Two wheelers I don't blame since they can afford to squeeze through and escape.

Majority of the drivers turned off their lights when they were standstill and there were the senseless who left it in bright when they were not going anywhere at all for almost half hour.

Traffic cops were doing a good job standing in all the dust.
I counted a total of 5 broken down vehicles including a Octavia , all of them on the right lane. Sad part being when you want to go around them on the left by using the indicator, the car behind you on the left lane does not let you go like there is tsunami behind him and then he just carries on in the left lane in no hurry. I cannot understand this mentality.

There was minimal honking or flashing probably because no one was in a hurry or maybe my music was on loud.
I noticed a lot of drivers on their phone talking or chatting. There was ths girl in a Black Alto next to my car at KR puram who was busing typing and her eyes went up for a half second each time and otherwise was on the phone and without looking, brakes everytime at the right time. I was impressed and thought she maybe used to this every day and at the same time was thinking ,a bad driver.

As always, I had a sight of some low life auto drivers who was following an ambulance which was driving on the opposite lane after Phoneix mall towards the Shell bunk. The ambulance was having a difficult time since it was on the opposite side and few two wheelers and autos were acting as if they were part of a convoy with the ambulance . Sad cases.

Altogether I was stuck in 5 jams in 22 kms which took me three hours and I felt more tired than a long distance drive and I am sure my car felt more worse.

Respect to those who travel everyday during peak hours in their 4 wheeler and I am glad I don't work peak hours.

Regards

[NPV]

Experienced first hand last evening when driving from Koramangala towards Attibele:
As soon as we crossed the St.John's Hospital/Hosur Road signal traffic came to a complete standstill almost opposite to the endless shops housing the various Bus service providers. This was about 100 metres before we enter the Madiwala underpass.

There were 2 buses parked right beside the median and passengers were crossing over from the other side of the road (from the travels office), jumping over the median and getting into these buses. And everyone was honking at these buses since they were blocking traffic.

I was a passenger in a friend's car, so I stepped out to find out what was happening. Turns out that the underpass is blocked with huge boulders, etc and traffic is allowed only in opposite direction from Hosur towards Koramangala. In the direction we were headed in, we had to take the service lane, but how was the question since traffic was completely blocked!

Now, the bus services are run by some really smart people so they cashed in on the situation by getting their buses parked in the lanes leading to the underpass so that their passengers can board the bus and they can simply drive off towards Hosur, smart!

Amazing timing by our BBMP authorities yet again - they've begun repair work on the underpass and it coincides with the festival/holiday season and affects everyone on these roads. The signages for this work begin from the service lane so it will get everyone by surprise

To add to the chaos, there were people waiting all along the road to board buses/vans to get to their hometowns for the holiday. Some pictures here - and again all vehicles had to wait for the buses to turn from right most to left most (service road) lane before they could move, they were the winners as always.

[ankan.m.blr]

A friend just called and told me there happened a horrible accident at Banaswadi ORR between an Ertiga and an Eon (my friend was not sure if it was an Eon, could be i10 also). The Ertiga has suffered major frontal damage; airbags were deployed. Eon is a total loss; in horrific condition. Any news of this accident ?

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by NPV

Experienced first hand last evening when driving from Koramangala towards Attibele

I experience a similar situation every evening while driving home from office. After St.John's signal, the wide road results in up to 4 lines of vehicles towards Silk Board. Since the underpass is now closed for repairs (what kind of repairs is questionable, as I've never seen any serious work being done there at any time of the day from the time the BBMP closed the underpass), all these vehicles jostle for the 1.5 lane available on the service road.

Somehow I manage to sneak in and honk away to glory to save my car from the Ape ricks and numerous 2-wheeler pests and also the Indicabs and Sumos to get to the signal on top of the underpass. If it's a "lucky" day, the cross traffic also joins in, to make it a bigger mess.

I see a solitary cop trying his best to control traffic in front of the Ayyappa temple. But bikes and autos care two hoots to his directions. I avoid the underpass in the mornings as it's extremely slow.

[rahulsnh]

Monitor and fine process. Raise fines every year by 10%. People will automatically learn when it hurts their pocket.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by rahulsnh

Monitor and fine process. Raise fines every year by 10%. People will automatically learn when it hurts their pocket.

The problem is - who pays fines? Most of the traffic rule violators beg the traffic inspectors not to bill the offense, and prefer to instead escape with a smaller bribe amount thrust into the hands of the cop or constable.

There is no end to this menace. When cops themselves prefer the easy way out for 'customers' / offenders (for monetary reasons of their own), how many citizens would prefer the righteous way of paying the correct penalty amount, with a formal challan issued against their name??

[reswaran]

I am a happy man since I started cycling to work. The commute from Kundalahalli to RMZ Infinity on OMR takes 1 hour at a minimum in my car, and even as much as 1.5 hrs at times. On my cycle, it takes no longer than 35 mins give or take 5 mins.

Like someone mentioned, there's traffic in Kundalahalli, Graphite India, Alpine Eco, KR Puram at all times of day, seemingly for no reason, and this is the best I could come up with for commuting without spiking blood pressures!

[am1m]

Originally Posted by reswaran

I am a happy man since I started cycling to work.

Hats off to you guys who cycle to work in Bangalore, or any Indian city for that matter!

I used to cycle to my father-in-laws place, had to cross Old Madras Road coming from CV Raman Nagar and man that road is a real mess, any time of the day, any day of the week! Even though RMZ would be pretty close to my house, I've never thought of applying to any job openings there simply because of the road and commute conditions.

How do you handle the dust and sweat once you reach work after cycling? Does your workplace have a facility for showers?

[reswaran]

Originally Posted by am1m

Hats off to you guys who cycle to work in Bangalore, or any Indian city for that matter!

I used to cycle to my father-in-laws place, had to cross Old Madras Road coming from CV Raman Nagar and man that road is a real mess, any time of the day, any day of the week! Even though RMZ would be pretty close to my house, I've never thought of applying to any job openings there simply because of the road and commute conditions.

How do you handle the dust and sweat once you reach work after cycling? Does your workplace have a facility for showers?

True, commuting by cycle is not easy in the least. I carry my laptop and a full set of clothes every time I cycle to work, that's an easy 8kg on my back throughout the commute. There is a shower at the workplace, so it works out alright. The bad part however is the pollution and the danger on the road. I use a good pollution mask, goggles and 20dB reduction ear plugs, so most of the pollution is cut out. The traffic is something else. I have lights, bar end rear view mirror and practice predictable riding, but still have many close shaves. I've had one nasty fall too! For all practical purposes, its crazy to bike to work on high density roads, but it's addictive!

[rahulsnh]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

The problem is - who pays fines? Most of the traffic rule violators beg the traffic inspectors not to bill the offense, and prefer to instead escape with a smaller bribe amount thrust into the hands of the cop or constable.

There is no end to this menace. When cops themselves prefer the easy way out for 'customers' / offenders (for monetary reasons of their own), how many citizens would prefer the righteous way of paying the correct penalty amount, with a formal challan issued against their name??

The problem is with rules. If rules are not solid the problem will not get fixed. The option to negotiate should be eliminated. It is already happening. For instance, vehicles towed away are always billed under a camera e.g. the vehicles towed away under cubbon road is billed under the camera of SBI circle. This eliminates haggling.