Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Slow Vehicles Hogging the Speed lane


Big slow vehicles, like overloaded trucks, autoriskshaws, three wheel cargo vehicles, tractors, water carrying tractor trailers seem to like the right most lane to travel. This lane, in other countries, is called the speed lane, and is reserved for the fastest vehicles – On roads that do not have lanes, vehicles stick to the left side of the road (in countries that drive on the left. – In countries that drive on the right, vehicles stick to the right)
What happens because of this is that overtaking is very difficult. To overtake, vehicles coming from behind, do not see oncoming traffic properly. They will have to go right in the middle of the road, and sometimes to the right of the road to see oncoming traffic. This places them right in the path of oncoming traffic. No wonder that we see a lot of fatal head on collisions!

Otherwise, the fast car trying to overtake the slow vehicle going on the right of the road, will try to overtake the vehicle from the left – frustration leads to breaking of rules – right into traffic going on the left lane
If the slow moving vehicle moves in the correct lane, that is the left lane, overtaking would become much more simpler – the driver would easily be able to see if there is oncoming traffic, and traffic from behind. Needless to say, it would also be much less dangerous.

Traffic "Jammers"

I will first list down all the “Traffic Jammers” which cause unnecessary traffic jams in the city.  I will then proceed to elaborate on one topic at a time, in later posts.
  1. Slow Vehicles Hogging the Speed lane
  2. Lane Discipline
  3. Vehicles weaving across lanes
  4. Buses stopping in the middle of the road
  5. Traffic from side roads ( T Junctions) not waiting for the traffic on the main road to stop before turning into the main road.
  6. Chaos at  cross Roads
  7. Chaos at Railway crossings
  8. Vehicles not keeping to the correct lanes while turning
    1. Vehicles going straight occupying the left lane blocking vehicles that need to turn right
    2. Vehicles on the right lane cutting across the traffic on the lanes of the left to turn left
    3. Vehicles turning right occupying more than one lane, blocking traffic going straight
    4. Vehicles on the left lane cutting across lanes to turn right
    5. Vehicles taking the inner turn while turning right, going into oncoming traffic
    6. Vehicles taking the outer turn while turning left, going into oncoming traffic
  9. Pedestrians and animals crossing the road indiscriminately wherever they want
  10. Cattle on the Road
  11. Unnecessary and huge speed breakers and bumps on the road
  12. Vehicles keeping their headlights on Hi Beam all the time.
I will update this list as and when I remember the ones I have left out



Whats wrong with Bangalore's Drivers?

What we do on the Roads of Bangalore, to make it the most difficult place to drive on the planet? The roads are not bad – I mean, comparing it with the rest of India, Bangalore has some of the best roads. They are maintained regularly, and most of them are four lanes wide.

Driving in all Indian cities is very difficult – but I think Bangalore is particularly bad. The reason is that most drivers do not know the basic rules of driving! They flout all the rules of decent, safe driving