The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread
-
I've been driving on and off on Indian roads for ~3 years and driving is something I really used to enjoy but it has become nervewracking for quite some time now and things have changed so much I actively avoid driving unless I really need to. There are so many fucky things that I simply do not know how to deal with. Other drivers I've asked have usually given me the same fucking answer - "Drive like an asshole that's the only way you can drive on Indian roads". I do not believe throwing in more fuckery onto the roads is gonna help anyone and it simply increases the potential for something to go wrong regardless of whether driving like an asshole works or not. I'd like to deal with these situations cos public transport is getting to be absolute shit these days!
SCENARIO 1
Things to Remember:
1.The Driver's seat is on the right side of the vehicle always.
2.99% of the drivers on the road do not understand "Right of way"So the traffic in the top lane flows right, the traffic in the bottom lane flows left. I'm getting to the intersection and need to merge with the top lane.
Ideally I come to the intersection, Turn on the right Indicator/ Turn signal, the traffic on the bottom lane stops and waits for me to merge onto the other lane and everybody goes about their way.
What happens really though is nobody fucking stops, there is always constant flow of vehicles and the only way I've successfully gotten the vehicles in the bottom lane to stop is to slowly inch my way on to the bottom lane and block the vehicles for a few seconds (everybody gets pissed off cos am blocking the way) and I have to watch for the tiniest window in the top lane and merge with the traffic.
Depending on the day of week and time of day, this ordeal takes anywhere from 30 seconds to a full 3 - 5 minutes. This is a fucking ordeal cos bigger vehicles ( Trucks and Buses) do not give a fuck about vehicles or pedestrians. They usually go Mad Max Fury road. Also there are a lot of Motorcycles and Auto Rickshaws on the road zipping by mostly with 18 yr old kids who think wearing helmets are optional and uncool.
Everytime I go driving and come back home I'm mentally exhausted and fuming with rage. This intersection where nobody gives a fuck is a huge part of it. What do I do? What sort of defensive driving techniques can be put to use here? :/
-
@stillwater
I mean, around here, an intersection like that would either have an explicit Stop (and do not proceed until traffic is clear) for the road that T's in, or it would be implicitly assumed if the T was a driveway / private access way, or if for some bizarre reason there was no control on the road at all.So that would just be an intersection we'd avoid while bitching at the local traffic commission to upgrade the controls on to a multi-way Stop or a traffic signal. And said avoidance would mean the upgrade would never happen, because there wouldn't be enough traffic count to justify the change in traffic control.
tl;dr - my expectation would be that the major cross-road has the right-of-way there, and you should find an alternate route that has more favorable traffic patterns & controls.
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Ideally I come to the intersection, Turn on the right Indicator/ Turn signal, the traffic on the bottom lane stops and waits for me to merge onto the other lane and everybody goes about their way.
Looks like you're joining from a minor road onto a major one? In that case, the cars you want to get past have the right of way and you should be waiting for a gap.
Alternatively, turn left, turn right off the main road, turn around and rejoin with another left turn. I've known junctions where doing that is significantly faster than waiting for a break in both directions of travel to open at the same time
-
@jaloopa Are you asking me to take a U-turn on the main road here?
-
@jaloopa said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Looks like you're joining from a minor road onto a major one? In that case, the cars you want to get past have the right of way and you should be waiting for a gap.
Completely agreed. But there is never a gap. Nobody even slows down. Partly due to the fact that people think they always have the Right of way. The bigger problem is everyone thinks like that.
The only time, I'll shamefully admit, where I could drive without any problems were when I ignored any common sense on the road and drove like an asshole out of frustration. Could never do that again in good conscience.
-
-
@izzion There are no alternate routes. Every roads south of the Main road joins the Main road via minor roads like these and likewise for roads north of the Main road. Trust me I'd have found a better route if there was one.
-
@jaloopa This sounds like a good way to go about it except THAT road on the other side is about ~1.6 kms away :(
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
The only time, I'll shamefully admit, where I could drive without any problems were when I ignored any common sense on the road and drove like an asshole out of frustration. Could never do that again in good conscience.
Tragedy of the commons. When everyone drives like a dick, it's best to drive like a dick. Which encourages everyone else to drive more like a dick and makes the experience worse for everyone
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@jaloopa This sounds like a good way to go about it except THAT road on the other side is about ~1.6 kms away :(
So it adds two miles to your journey. Sometimes that will still be faster than waiting for the gaps, depends on the road.
When I've resorted to that sort of trick it's mostly been a few hundred metres if that. It would have to be bad to make me detour a mile
-
@jaloopa said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Alternatively, turn left, turn right off the main road, turn around and rejoin with another left turn. I've known junctions where doing that is significantly faster than waiting for a break in both directions of travel to open at the same time
+1, there's a set of lights (4 way stop with traffic lights) on my way to work where it is at least 5 mins quicker in total to go straight across, drive 1/4 of a mile then go all the way round a roundabout to go back towards the lights and then finally a left than it is to wait to simply go right.
-
@jaloopa Couldn't have put it myself better. When I tried telling that to anyone I know I was laughed out of the room with "Yeah Good luck with driving all proper and nice" and yeah sadly what I was told is true.
-
@cursorkeys This seems to be like the safest alternative so far.
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Partly due to the fact that people think they always have the Right of way.
But... do they?
If there's no traffic light, and the main road has no kind of yield sign, then they do have right of way, yes? That's how traffic laws in the US work.
The problem here is that your local traffic department probably created that intersection 20 years ago when there was 1 car a minute average and haven't checked back now that traffic has doubled or tripled, and thus the intersection's now impossible. (And believe me, we have this in dozens or hundreds of places in Washington State due to all the fucking Californians moving up here and causing our double-digit yearly population growth, fucking Californians.) Call 'em up and ask what the deal is.
And until they fix the impossible turn (which, BTW, they'd probably do by making it a left-only anyway, so that doesn't really help you), you'll either just have to grin and bear it or find an alternative route. And you should definitely stopwatch taking a left and then making a U-turn at the next light; it might be much quicker on average than waiting for both lanes to clear.
Now if there's a traffic light and everybody on the main road is just literally ignoring it, then you have a bigger problem. Then you're in Mad Max.
-
@blakeyrat I should also mention that in the US (or Washington State at least) that busy road would have been designed with a third lane in the middle that people could use to make left (or in your case right) turns by merging with only one lane at a time. It's called a "Two Way Turn Lane": https://driversprep.com/two-way-left-turn-only-signs/
Of course, that idea wouldn't work in a place filled with assholes because they'd just drive in it when it's supposed to remain clear.
-
@blakeyrat said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
If there's no traffic light, and the main road has no kind of yield sign, then they do have right of way, yes? That's how traffic laws in the US work.
Yes they do. The reason this whole thing takes a lot of time is because I have to be super careful cos I don't have the right of way. The problem is when I'm halfway onto the bottom lane and there is a truck from the other side trying to take a right turn onto the road I'm coming from, I think the Right of way is ceded to someone taking a turn with turn signals on during a gap. But no, people just keep going around the vehicles.
I'll rephrase. When I mean people always think they have right of way I mean to say people never ever want to slow down even when they should and would rather prefer to zig zag in the same speed they're at.
-
@stillwater Well it really sounds like your roads are just really badly laid-out, if you have an impossible turn and there's no U-turn for over a kilometer.
-
@blakeyrat said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
The problem here is that your local traffic department probably created that intersection 20 years ago when there was 1 car a minute average and haven't checked back now that traffic has doubled or tripled, and thus the intersection's now impossible.
Haha yeah no. I'll put it this way. Every single road with zero fucking exception, on either side of the main road connects to the Main road the same way this one does. Nobody thought this was a big deal cos everybody drives like an asshole and so assholes would not have problems with other assholes. I've never seen in my entire fucking life where a T intersection had a signal where the vertical bar in the T is a minor road and if you're not in cities then yeah you deal with minor roads all the fucking time.
@blakeyrat said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Now if there's a traffic light and everybody on the main road is just literally ignoring it, then you have a bigger problem. Then you're in Mad Max.
This version of Max Max happens in most major cities in India.
-
@blakeyrat This is a fucking brilliant Idea. +500123123
-
@stillwater The study I found was inconclusive except for rear-end collisions in rural environments.
I suspect the reduction in crossover collisions due to the increased separation of through lanes is offset by the vastly increased risk of head-on collision once someone actually enters the center lane.
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Indian...public transport is getting to be absolute shit these days!
-
@jaloopa said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
So it adds two miles to your journey. Sometimes that will still be faster than waiting for the gaps, depends on the road.
More importantly, it can be less taxing on your stress levels, blood pressure, sanity, etc.
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
What sort of defensive driving techniques can be put to use here? :/
From your story, I'd go for offensive driving techniques and get a bazooka or something.
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@blakeyrat This is a fucking brilliant Idea. +500123123
It is, but it doesn't work if everyone drives in the lane. Which, from what I hear about Indian traffic, is exactly what I suspect will happen...
It's nice because it provides a buffer between opposing traffic and the traffic you're trying to merge into - if you're a good driver you can even merge into that lane to make a merge at speed/in the same direction rather than a turn.
Of course, if someone else is trying to use the same lane for the same thing going the other way, you're gonna have problems.
-
The general advice I hear to get from A to B anywhere in southeast asia is to take a cab, and don't look out the window too much. Don't use public transport, and really don't rent a car.
That's for tourists though, of course.
-
@sloosecannon said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Of course, if someone else is trying to use the same lane for the same thing going the other way, you're gonna have
problems.a fun game of Chicken!
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Turn on the right Indicator/ Turn signal, the traffic on the bottom lane stops and waits for me to merge onto the other lane and everybody goes about their way.
Why?
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
where a T intersection had a signal where the vertical bar in the T is a minor road
Literally the street a few hundred feet outside my workplace has this exact description...
-
In NL, although 'equal' T crossings without any priority rules exist and in that case traffic from the side street has priority if they come from the right, in the grand majority of cases these will be private exits or priority crossings, where the main road has priority on all traffic.
The 'multi way stop' proposed may not exist as a concept in India - I know it doesn't here. Here, a stop sign implies the crossing road is a priority road.
-
@pleegwat said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
The 'multi way stop' proposed may not exist as a concept in India - I know it doesn't here.
Yup. Hence the thread.
-
@tsaukpaetra said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Turn on the right Indicator/ Turn signal, the traffic on the bottom lane stops and waits for me to merge onto the other lane and everybody goes about their way.
Why?
Are you asking why I want to go from point A to B?
-
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Turn on the right Indicator/ Turn signal, the traffic on the bottom lane stops and waits for me to merge onto the other lane and everybody goes about their way.
Why?
Are you asking why I want to go from point A to B?
No. Why merely turning on your indicator would force traffic to stop and wait for you to merge onto the other lane.
-
@tsaukpaetra said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@tsaukpaetra said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
@stillwater said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
Turn on the right Indicator/ Turn signal, the traffic on the bottom lane stops and waits for me to merge onto the other lane and everybody goes about their way.
Why?
Are you asking why I want to go from point A to B?
No. Why merely turning on your indicator would force traffic to stop and wait for you to merge onto the other lane.
I did not imply that turning on the turn signal would CAUSE the traffic in the bottom lane to stop. Turning it on is only the first step that lets the people behind me on the minor road know that I'm gonna make a right and also so that the people on the bottom lane can see a vehicle is about to make a right turn on to their lane.
-
@jaloopa said in The "Tips for driving in a Jungle" thread:
you should be waiting for a gap.
Gap. *giggle*
He said "gap"
*mad laughter*
Welcome to Asia!
