sunilg

Imagine the first thing you read in the morning newspaper is about a bus driver being stoned to death in Delhi in a bizarre case of road rage, just because he allegedly did not let a Toyota Qualis overtake him. When the bus stopped at its destination, the occupants of the Qualis apparently confronted the bus driver. They started hurling abuses at him and what seemed like a minor incident on the road soon took an ugly turn and those men started beating the bus driver. One of them hit him on his chest with a brick and that turned out to be a fatal blow for the poor man. The only bread-earner of a family of 9 died there and then while his killers managed to escape. Shocking? Isn’t it? But, incidents like this seem to be becoming a thing of routine for the residents of this city. Even I found myself in place of that bus driver a few days back when I was coming back home after dropping a friend at his house. It was around 11 in the night and I stopped at a road intersection, stuck behind another vehicle. Suddenly a car came from the opposite side and tried to take a U-turn very aggressively. The driver of that car seemed in a big hurry and he apparently cared least for other road users. First he hit the car ahead of me and then put the car in reverse and hit my bike. The impact was serious and could’ve easily broken my right leg had it hit me a few centimeters here and there, and the worst part was that the driver didn’t even seem to notice the hit. Far from being apologetic about his action, he even glared at me for being an obstruction! I shouted, “abe dekh toh le (hey! why don’t you look out!)”. As if that was a gross insult to the driver and the other occupants of the car, the person sitting in the passenger side drew out a cricket bat and started waving it at me in a threatening manner. And I could clearly see him mouthing foul and abusive words. I was shocked and honestly terrified at that moment. Here I was alone on relatively empty stretch of road and there were three people who almost certainly were looking for a reason to pick up a fight and beat the life out of someone. I didn’t want to be that someone and so beat a hasty retreat from that place.
Now the question is WHY? Why are we losing our self control over these little issues. And the anger is apparently so overpowering that we are ready to even kill somebody just because he didn’t let you overtake or banged his car into yours? Are these minor altercations on the road such a big issue that we are ready to put our everything on stake? No matter how hard I tried, answers to these questions were elusive. I couldn’t really find the answers, but tried to come up with my own list of remedies to avoid getting into circumstances such as these:

1. Start Early: Rash riding/driving due to lack of time is a big cause of scuffles on the road, so always try to have enough time in your hand when you go out to ride/drive.

2. A ‘sorry’ said with a smile can do wonders. Learn to admit your mistakes. Saying sorry would never harm you if your handlebar hit the side-view mirror of a car on a congested road. Even if you’re not at fault, an indicated apology can save you from the aggression and violence of a madman.

3. Always have proper vehicle insurance: If you know that your financial worries related to the repair of your vehicle can be taken care of by someone else, you are more than likely to react in a less violent manner if you ever get into an argument on the road.

4. Learn to forgive: Nobody comes with a plan to kill someone the road, well almost nobody. Sometimes accidents happen due to mistakes committed by some other person on the road. Maybe the guy on your left swerved suddenly into your lane to avoid a kid or an animal on the that came suddenly in front of him. If you feel the guy who hit is genuinely accepting his mistake and is ready to apologize, try to accept it rather than fighting it out.

5. Be watchful on the road for people who seem to be in too much of a hurry. Let them by. Let them overtake you and speed ahead. A few seconds wasted here wouldn’t hurt anybody bad enough to kill him.

6. Leave your ego behind: Ego clashes are one of the main causes of road rage. Leave your ego home when you are on the road. You won’t win the MotoGP title racing on the streets.

7. Assess the situation: The numbers and power do matter. In metros like Delhi or Mumbai where most of the people are migrants from other cities, if you ever get into a scuffle with somebody and even if it is not your fault, you might never get people supporting you. Back off if you have to, maybe it is not just your day. It can also be applicable in a situation when you are not in your town; sounds bad, but locals would support the local, not you.

8. And lastly, always remember that your family needs you more than your bike or car, so ride safely and act sensibly.

__________________
(Been There Done That) x 3.25

Join xBhp On

sau007007

Absolutely right man.
They people do not know the cost of other lives.

No offence to anyone, but many young reckless drivers play highly mad games like gta and all, and drive/ride like they are the KING, whosoever they want, they can hit, they can steal, rob, do the actions and all.

One very cruel accident i remember was that- i was parking my new bike at my school parking, one of my maths sir came and said to ride very low on some streets as a day before one guy on pulsar was speeding on right pavement on congested road and suddenly hit a small kid by his leg guard and ran off...without knowing that the kid had died on spot.

I request to all to leave to your destination a little before and to ride/drive calmly.

Ride Safe.

__________________
The HARDEST JOB kids face today IS learning GOOD MANNERS without SEEING ANY.......................................

-----------------------------------

My priorities :-

1. God
2. Parents
3. My Bike n Future Bikes
4. My Things
5. Money
6. Rest World

Insomnia

Very nice write up sir.
I would also like to add that, we must concentrate on our riding only when we are in road, i mean when we are tensed, we tend to think about it while we are riding, and thus making us more prone to common mishaps, we should try to drift those thoughts away and enjoy our riding. Be happy while riding, feel the breeze around your neck, hear the engine spinning to make you happy, exhaust playing a orgasmic tune for you, there is so much to be happy about, dont ruin it by being sad and worried.

Ride safe and do read the 8th point once again.

__________________
If you want something which you never had before, do something which you have never done ........before.

sundarvignesh

Good one! good to see issues like road rage being talked about in xBhp.

My point of view is that most of these cases happen when one is pushed to the limit and when cant tolerate it anymore, at times a person doesnt realize what he is doing in rage.

It has happened with me also, i mean i end up using foul language when i see someone changing lanes or driving crazy and posing a threat to me and others, im not proud of this and lately have been refraining and controlling myself. But still the thing is something needs to be done to prevent road rage in the first place......people should follow rules...following a traffic rule is so damn hard for people.

__________________
No its not about speed, its about turning and shifting those gears!

NikSquash

Agree wid u brotheren...!!
Fly Safe....Bon Voyage....!!

pulsater

Excellent points Sunil and sorry about the awful experience you had with that car wala.

One thing we should remember here is that we are talking about the behavior and tolerance of the motorist, not why/why not and how they follow/violate traffic rules so talking about rash driving etc will divert us from real discussion of why people are so rude and inhuman on roads.

This also reminds me of the initial scenes from Munna bhai MBBS (between 9sec till end) when a pick pocketer get trashed by general public while he tries to pull a fast one on Sunil Dutt. The dialogues of Sunil Dutt are very true in content of what goes on in every day life of an Indian and how that affects their social behavior. same is reflected on roads when people pick up a fight for the smallest things possible.

We still have lot to learn in terms of civic sense. When I say "please" to anyone the opposite thinks that I am pleading helplessly and when I say "sorry" I become a punching bag.

__________________

If you think you are too small to make a difference, you probably havent slept in the same room with a mosquito

tibby

Nice thought provoking write-up this.

I think one needs to keep a calm head while riding/driving, be it within the city, or on the highway.
People need to realise that the other person is in as much hurry as they are!

There are lots of BIG heads riding/driving on the roads, and the best way to tackle them is to ignore them, and forgive them if at all they wrong us. No point in fighting a losing battle. Ego tussles are the last thing one must get involved in, especially with unknown people out on the streets.

__________________

My views on the YZF-R15 V2.0: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/news/198...tml#post699240

My test-ride experience of the YZF-R15 V2.0: http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/news/198...tml#post725556

The pleasure is when your rear wheel slides, and you bring it back; and when the front wheel lifts, you take your time bringing it back.

angrymon

Seems to be a ticking time bomb in our cities and towns. Traffic violations happens around us all the time and enforcement is next to nothing. when someone knows that they cannot be punished for an offence, these kinds of incidences happen.

That is one of the reasons I pack by 6" buck bowie blade when I ride alone.

keep safe and watch out. adopt defensive driving techniques at all times. Avoid situations that can put you in a physical conflict. It is better to walk away with a few harmless scratches that can be fixed easily rather than something more serious.

retweak

IMO , our environment is conducive to said RAGE. Macroscopically speaking, post-independence, we attained freedom , but not the mindset to use it. Since then we have been coming along doing whatever it takes to earn big money,status or just a living for many. We strive to achieve in the worst of conditons, then talk about the worst of conditions exaggeratively and thus there are few who know what they really wanted in the start and actually satisfy their more worldly needs.this environment makes it difficult for one to think for themselves, ponder over what they really wanted out of life.In trying to search for ourselves , we relate to family connections, other politically powerful contacts, our religion and try to establish an image of status achievement in our minds.we need society to accept our achievement for us to be satisfied about having performed. there are few individual minds, global-thinkers, broad-perspective thinkers,who achieve out of thier core-want and are happy with it regardless of how the society percieves their achievements.
so what im trying to get to is that we thrive heavily upon society in terms of a give and take relationship.we make provisions in our life because society expects , and thus have an expectation from society in return, with support in the form of literally small-time gangster activites since those are the adversities faced by common man on thier road to fulfilling society's purpose,our own purpose.Do you really think most people in India have the b@ll& to consider their life as a JOURNEY?
Discontent,misdirection,pure frustration and no jubiliation from within at our own achievements is what makes us get ticked off at any point,IMO.
And what better place to channelise it than on our cramped-up,congested roads utilised by all kinds adhering in their own little way to the above mentioned mind-set, being well aware that you might never see the person you are pitting yourself against, ever again.that apart,our trust and high levels of ego in our own backup and this"you know people in the highest of places, i know people in the lowest"principle we pit our inventory of contacts against each other and get a rush out of who wins this battle of the pointless.
coming back to the micro-level, since i reside in mumbai i can vouch for these happenings.a certain area in chunabhatti has some vigilante civilians who take it upon themselves in hoardes, to make right the wrong done by who they consider a passing errant driver,rider in their locality by physically attacking them.this happened with a person i know , and he retaliated by going back there that evening with a van full of people ready to achieve some societal recognition of thier own.
all this is my opinion still forming since the past 19 yrs if i could think since i was a year old , which i believe is what we need , to think and assess for ourselves from a young age, than to just follow the bandwagon, do things blindly because society demands or our perception of society makes us believe it demands and end up a country so diversely unified that it eventually lacks individualism.
p.s: lets not blame GTA,we have access to many a things,its what we pick up from it, that makes us.frankly, the freedom that a bike in GTA allowed, is what made me want to start riding.
p.p.s: i think what pulsater mentioned about from the movie, in a nutshell explains what i have tried to get across above.

Sunny

Seems like a conflict in advice and action. I would advise you against taking that thing with you. It could lead to some unwanted and serious repercussions marring the rest of your life.


As far as this great article by Sunil is concerned, it is one of the reasons why I completely detest riding in Delhi, it is a nightmare, stressing me to the limit.

The people in Delhi are the most foul mouthed, bad mannered people I have ever seen in all across India. Given an option I would anyday like to quietly migrate to a city in south like Pune.

Sad, I feel very sad.

__________________
Join xBhp On