[nareshov]

Originally Posted by Blr_RK

I believe traffic mess can be reduced by setting and enforcing speed limits. If a speed limit of 30 is set and anybody who doesnt follow the limit is punished, then there will not be any question of overtaking, honking or rash driving.

Automatically, the traffic discipline will get inculcated in the drivers.

I believe it's the other war round. Lane discipline enforcement must come first. As it is, the potholes don't let you cross such speeds consistently. In fact, I think that's what adds to the frustration and makes some people accelerate faster to cross that signal that's about to turn red or overtake that jaydriving autorickshaw.

Take the example of the railway crossing in places such as the Sarjapur road one. Almost everyone spills over to the other (wrong lane) on both sides of the crossing when the gate is closed. Speed limit is useless here.

In a similar vein, consider junctions where the signal turns green only for those going ahead and it's still red for those wanting to turn right. Those who want to take a right are spilling out into the leftmost/middle lane meant for traffic that just wants to go straight ahead (wrong lane) blocking them. And then there are those who want to go straight ahead but are stuck in the rightmost lane behind those waiting to turn right. Speed limit is useless here.

In both cases there's ample opportunity for honking, overtaking and rash driving (e.g. an auto / two-wheeler who wants to go right but sees red overtakes vehicles in leftlane and then wraps back into the right lane ahead of all the already waiting vehicles).

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Also, the notorious potholes near Varthur police station and KarthikK's favourite one in front of Sri Vinayaka theatre have been spared.

And the massive "dry lake bed" like pothole after Gunjur almost took a life today morning.

I deeply regret to announce that the potholes between Greenwood High and Varthur bridge including the dry lake bed are no more. The authorities have patched up all the massive potholes this evening. But every cloud has a silver lining, the young budding potholes have been spared which have the potential to get converted to king-sized ones in few weeks. RIP potholes!

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by rohanjf

Quelle Surprise!
The potholes around Carmelaram railway crossing (on Carmelaram to Gunjur road) are being patched up, since today evening. KarthikK will be happy.

Oh wait, there is a catch. He will probably drive on that road only on Monday. Don't point at me if the potholes are back by then!

Wow! this is good news for sure. I took ORR over the past 2 days because of the lack of traffic during these next 2 weeks. Looks like everyone's on holiday, and some offices are shut too. If the roads are empty, I think ORR will turn out to be very quick for me compared to the Carmelaram route where I still have speedbreakers (and until now, the potholes too). I am managing 30 km in ~45-50 minutes now at early hours. Today evening I am switching back to Carmelaram just to see how nicely they have patched up things.

Of course, from Jan first week, ORR will become unusable again and I will be back to Carmelaram permanently.

Originally Posted by rohanjf

It seems that half the population of in southern Bangalore is away on vacation. I had such a peaceful drive to office, as there were very few cars on the road, and not a single school bus belonging to some international school.

Yeah! I switched to ORR for this week and next week until 2nd Jan. Silky smooth roads, hardly any signals, very little traffic and no school buses too!

In other news, authorities have destroyed potholes in Gunjur over the weekend. However, one pothole has managed to escape the authorities' atrocity, and still stands well in front of Maharaja restaurant. I hope it grows and spawns more potholes.

Also, the notorious potholes near Varthur police station and KarthikK's favourite one in front of Sri Vinayaka theatre have been spared. These potholes continue to harrass traffic, and also work as effective speedbreakers (complementing the massive speedbreakers in the vicinity).

Not only speed breakers, they can break an alloy wheel or two also *lol*. I think like you suggested earlier, probably that bakery stretch between Varthur and Gunjur is manned by some municpality other than the one which did the patchup work at Gunjur over this past weekend.

Originally Posted by bharat4ever

Rohan, I suggest you get back to using the ORR -> Kundhalahalli route to come to Whitefield again. Good roads, and I always reach SAP in 45-50 min from HSR.
Even better is when going back from SAP to HSR in the evenings. Irrespective of when I start, be it 5 PM, or 7 PM, or 8 PM, i always reach HSR in 50 min - 1 hr tops. Best advantage is good roads, and good speeds from Marathahalli to HSR.

This route for me works only when the roads are empty, such as this holiday season during Christmas/New year's or Diwali week. On all other days, the Carmelaram route although had potholes and speedbreakers till now and was 5-6 km longer, it saved me 30-45 minutes over the conventional ORR route. Very few unpredictable jams, no bumper scrapers on bikes and office-crazed car drivers, no rash cabbies. Tortoise and hare story I guess. Carmelaram route was slower but average speed was good - the car was always in motion. In the ORR route, cars can be superfast through Silk board - Marathalli, and then will hit a roadblock on the bridge for 20 minutes. Again another 20 minutes from Kundalahalli to Cosmos and another 20 for graphite India - SAP turning.

After doing Carmelaram for more than a year now, I once tried getting back on the conventional route in peak hours. Needless to say, I almost went mad with the chaos around and the crazy drivers/riders nudging past the car in every small gap possible. At least for the car's sake, I would avoid ORR at every given opportunity apart from unearthly hours.

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

I deeply regret to announce that the potholes between Greenwood High and Varthur bridge including the dry lake bed are no more. The authorities have patched up all the massive potholes this evening. But every cloud has a silver lining, the young budding potholes have been spared which have the potential to get converted to king-sized ones in few weeks. RIP potholes!

I feel they should have done this (re-tarring) patchup work after the Sarjapur railway bridge was opened, especially the ones around Carmelaram - Gunjur. Heavy vehicles will continue to ply on these fresh roads and destroy them again, what with the thin layer of tar these guys use with 'cost cutting' measures. But very good news for us commuters nonetheless!

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I feel they should have done this (re-tarring) patchup work after the Sarjapur railway bridge was opened, especially the ones around Carmelaram - Gunjur. Heavy vehicles will continue to ply on these fresh roads and destroy them again, what with the thin layer of tar these guys use with 'cost cutting' measures. But very good news for us commuters nonetheless!

I still don't understand why they allow the heavy trucks inside the narrow Varthur roads. They can divert them from Sarjapur town through NH-207 which will reach Hopefarm from Channasandra side. The roads are wider and can hardly see any vehicles.

I have observed that they block the truck traffic inside Varthur at peak hours. But I think the police have forgotten the definition of peak hours. They start stopping the trucks at around 9:15 AM near Gunjur. Is this the time peak hour starts? The chaos inside Varthur starts well at around 7:45 AM itself and will get over by 10 AM. I'm not aware what time they start allowing trucks in the morning and the time they block them in the evening. Again they allow the trucks at 7 PM which lead to deadlocks.

[Soumyajit9]

After a lot of pomp and show of the launch of Python 5000, this is what the BBMP Corporators feel now:

BBMP councillors on Monday opposed the use of Python 5,000 - an automated pothole filling machine that was imported from Canada a month ago.

Full news : HERE

I am just wondering what were the authorities doing when they sactioned money to purchase this equipment ? Scratching their bald head with no brains ?
Do they even have a roadmap or plan what they intend to do ? Now they say that they want to resurface the roads entirely, so this equipment is not required.


Another rant - Is there any law which enables traffic cops to catch hold of motorists (2 or 3 or 4 wheelers) using headphones ?
For a long time now, I am seeing 2 wheelers and 4 wheeler riders having headphones plugged in. Either they are on a call, or listening to music. Either of these can cause fatalities.

When a person buys a car, what makes him not want to include a damn music system. This results in the idiot listening to music on headphones. Still OK. I absolutely hate 2 wheelers with headphone plugged in. These people are 1) at a more risk of fatal injury even if they fall 2) more senseless drivers (they can easily queeze in and out of traffic).

Just picture this incident that I met with yesterday.
1) Honda Activa rider - IT Employee, identified from the bagpack he was carrying
2) TVS Victor rider - plumber or technician, identified from the equipments he was carrying.

I am on right lane with another car in front of me. There is a BMTC on the middle lane. I cannot overtake any of these slow moving vehicles.
So the impatient It guy with his "less stable" Activa barges in between me and the bus. I brake and he manages to come in front of me and brakes, because there is a slow moving car ahead. Seeing this opportunity, the plumber with his 1960's TVS Victor, carrying a long rod and some stuff barges in front of me and now parallel to the Activa guy. I keep my horn pressed for about 7-8 seconds and there is no movement or acknowledgement or reaction from either of them. They were happily braking accelerating swaying left right, etc.
Then I see the magic. White Headphone pluuged into the IT guy (Rich guy, may be using iPhone or iPad). And a Black Headphone plugged into the Plumber's ears.

[shankar.balan]

@Soumyajit9:
Ha ha. This is normal here in Bangalore. No point losing your cool and adding to your blood pressure. I see this every day on my commute too. And these 'IT' wallahs are sadly, getting stereo-typed on account of a few bad apples. These headphone using bike riders should be fined one year's salary by their employers at source itself! As for the plumbers and electricians, they are also completely at fault if they carry dangerous pipes and rods on their bikes, which is by itself a dangerous thing, and then weave in and out of traffic, which compounds the issue even further. Ref the BBMP and the Corporators, all they know is to create trouble. We know that one requires only rudimentary skills, zero education and oodles of crude cunning and ruthlessness, to become a politico, corporator or other similar. They are scum but unfortunately we have allowed them to get to the spot where they call the shots and get to play with tax payers money! Sometimes I feel so irked that I begin to think India should never have been given Independence, because all we have done is to ruin our own lovely country with our greed, short sightedness and nasty nature. Hope that the New Year brings better things to us poor tax payers, in the form of a country-wide AAP etc...

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

This is normal here in Bangalore. No point losing your cool and adding to your blood pressure. I see this every day on my commute too.

I lost my cool for a while, but then my worry was with my car and specifically my legs !!
I don't know what is the mileage of my car and what is the brake & clutch condition (literally) of my car. Poor car. :(
And I have developed some major ligament pain on my left knee. I guess to much of clutch work has caused this.

By the way a lot of weird ideas come to my mind when my blood is boiling.
For instance everythime I pass a BMTC Bus that is parked awkwardly, or stops suddenly, I feel like writing on a piece of paper "Park Properly", wrap it on a stone and thrown on the front windshield and run away.
Similarly, feel like keeping a small stick and smash the ORVM of any vehicle that comes dangerously close, or tries to squeeze me.
Again, these are only thoughts and being a Law Abiding Tax Paying Citizen, I won't do these. Hope mods don't ban me !!

And these 'IT' wallahs are sadly, getting stereo-typed on account of a few bad apples. These headphone using bike riders should be fined one year's salary by their employers at source itself!

Me too IT wallah, but could not teach a single fellow about good traffic manners. All they do is laugh off saying "bhai, bangalore mein aise hi chalta hai" !
Bad Driving Tax - Deducted at Source.

As for the plumbers and electricians, they are also completely at fault if they carry dangerous pipes and rods on their bikes, which is by itself a dangerous thing, and then weave in and out of traffic, which compounds the issue even further.

I tried giving a mouthful to one of these, but he turned out to be a son of soil and I backed off. Hopeless section of the society.

Ref the BBMP and the Corporators ..... in the form of a country-wide AAP etc...

The best thing in the above quote, which made my pressure come to normal is the last but one word - AAP.

[sunilg33]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

By the way a lot of weird ideas come to my mind when my blood is boiling.
For instance everythime I pass a BMTC Bus that is parked awkwardly, or stops suddenly, I feel like writing on a piece of paper "Park Properly", wrap it on a stone and thrown on the front windshield and run away.
Similarly, feel like keeping a small stick and smash the ORVM of any vehicle that comes dangerously close, or tries to squeeze me.
Again, these are only thoughts and being a Law Abiding Tax Paying Citizen, I won't do these. Hope mods don't ban me !!

You are not the only one. I too imagine such attachments when my anger reaches the boiling point.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

By the way a lot of weird ideas come to my mind when my blood is boiling.

Boy, and I was thinking I am a weirdo. :-) My favourites are:

- A baseball bat under the right ORVM that would smash the headlights of guys coming towards me with high beam on.
- A scythe-like contraption that would be deployed to cut through both the right-side doors of any car that overtakes me from left and cuts in front of me.

[Mr_Bean]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

And I have developed some major ligament pain on my left knee. I guess to much of clutch work has caused this.:

Switch to an automatic, it will reduce your pain physically and mentally.

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I tried giving a mouthful to one of these, but he turned out to be a son of soil and I backed off. Hopeless section of the society.

I am a son of the nearby soil (read Tamilnadu, Kerala) , So when they barrage me with Kannada words, I switch to Tamil or Malayalam language.
Keep a pepper spray in your car, that will give you enough confidence to deal with bad elements (drunk people, people inciting violence, provoking a fight).

[500ContyCruiser]

On 25th December, had been to Bangalore Central (near MG Road) in the afternoon. On returning to car parking, I see a guy "trying" to reverse-park next to mine. He should be in early 20's. He is hardly looking around.. someone (looks like his dad) sitting in rear sit was popping his head out and instructing him.

He did park the car properly after lots of struggle. I was more worried if he scratches my car.

Security guard at mall told me that, this guy comes here to learn car parking. Looks like he has lots of money.

I notice that both his side mirrors closed. I asked the guy whether he is learning and got the answer "YES". When I asked him to keep the side mirrors open so that it can help in judgement and got a very expected response. He just ignore me and walked away. So his dad!!

When parents itself do not bother to correct their kids, how will they learn? They will grow up to be more bigger morons on the road.

[satan's_valet]

Originally Posted by [B

Soumyajit9[/b];3332282]I keep my horn pressed for about 7-8 seconds and there is no movement or acknowledgement or reaction from either of them.

And, eventually when they finally acknowledge, they stare you like its your fault in the first place. I still don't understand what's up with this staring. The first thing everybody does is stare at you before owning or acknowledging their mistake.

Today, while driving near Freedom park, an i20 after indicating came to the right lane in which I was going. Seeing some free space in the middle lane, he immediately switched over before realising there was a slow moving auto before him. Seeing the auto, he again switched back to the right lane without realising I was coming in it. And when I honked, he started staring without realising he was rapidly closing his gap with the auto. He braked at the last moment to avoid the auto and I guess he must have thought it was my fault all the way. I smiled and waved at him before zooming away.

[satnjyoti]

OK folks. Let's take a break from the rants on bangalore traffic. Have a blast tonight .. responsibly.. And don't forget to either make that call for taxi or have someone sober to help find your way back. U don't know but is there a separate forum for wishing a happy new year to the BHPians. Well happy new year to all

[Soumyajit9]

Originally Posted by satnjyoti

OK folks. Let's take a break from the rants on bangalore traffic. Have a blast tonight .. responsibly.. And don't forget to either make that call for taxi or have someone sober to help find your way back. U don't know but is there a separate forum for wishing a happy new year to the BHPians. Well happy new year to all

What new year man. I started from Whitefield at 6:00 pm sharp. My house is in BTM. Its 7:40 pm and I am only at HSR Layout. Folks at home are waiting for me. I'm missing the smile of my kid. What a terrible state of mind I am in right now, as I type this. Will go for a nice dinner somewhere to make things better, hopefully.

[aajohn]

Originally Posted by Soumyajit9

I started from Whitefield at 6:00 pm sharp. My house is in BTM. Its 7:40 pm and I am only at HSR Layout.

Can understand your pain. I drive every day from HSR to Whitefield. Had a break for four months when I was abroad. Just thinking of driving on the same route from the 2nd of January is giving me jitters.

Every one on the road today, please drive safe and be alert - people will definitely be on 'high spirits'

Wishing every one a prosperous and happy new year