Why you should practice defensive driving: Experiences & learnings

Leave one car length from the vehicle ahead and a bus, car, two autos, and half a dozen two-wheelers and that over-enthusiastic cyclist will surge ahead to occupy that space.

BHPian GKR9900 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Time and again it has been emphasised in our forum about the need for proper driving etiquette like keeping a safe distance from the vehicle ahead and refraining from road rage. Although I was no saint in these matters, I had been trying to enforce these principles into my regular driving. A lot of the time, sticking to these principles means that you will be left out to fend for yourselves in the ‘traffic wars’ that are plying on our roads. Leave one car length from the vehicle ahead and a bus, car, two autos, and half a dozen two-wheelers and that over-enthusiastic cyclist will surge ahead to occupy that space. Overtake that wheezing car revving up to 6000 rpm to maintain 80km/h, and soon one finds himself locking horns with Vin Diesel’s apprentice. In spite of such negative experiences, I have tried to stick to proper driving etiquette. Can’t say I had been 100% successful in doing it, but I’m at least close to 90%. Every now and then, there comes an incident that humbles a typical Indian driver no matter how skilled he/she is. In my case, there have been quite a few incidents over the past few months that shows how unpredictable our roads really are. I have shared a few instances in team-bhp like the ones below:

A pothole launching a scooter into the air

A disciplined rider gets entangled by a sinister rogue pole-wire

An auto rickshaw guy beat by the very traffic he was trying to beat

I was the cammer in all these cases and ensuring a safe distance from the vehicle at the front ensured that I stayed a witness than a perpetrator!

The next incident that I’m about to share really drives the point as to how defensive driving can really turn the tables on a potentially ill-fateful journey.

My dad and I were going to Thrissur to check one of our properties. I was enjoying the momentary bursts of speed that narrow congested Kerala highways allow whenever I had a clear road ahead. After one such instance, I see congestion up ahead with a KSRTC bus up front and a few vehicles tailing it. I also see a person walking on the fast lane close to the median. I slowed down and decided to proceed behind the convoy. The Dzire in front of me decided to overtake the Alto ahead of it through the left lane. Assuming that the Alto is slow-moving, I also proceeded after the Dzire driver. The Dzire driver had almost finished the overtaking manoeuvre when the Alto driver accelerated and honked his way through, taunting him. The Dzire driver gave way and the Alto was again in front with the KSRTC bus ahead of it. Seeing the commotion, I decelerated and then I find this impatient Fabia driver honking his way through, overtaking me and proceeding to ride behind the Alto. I was irritated by the shenanigans pulled by the Alto and the Fabia but decided to take a deep breath and slow down. Maybe the guys are in a real hurry, I thought. Little did I know that this tiny bit of slowing down would become a huge sigh of relief within the next few seconds. Now, this is the picture in front of me: Alto and Fabia are travelling in the right lane. The Dzire and I are travelling in the left lane. The KSRTC driver in front of them is travelling in both lanes trying to squeeze in between an Ertiga in the left lane and a lorry in the right lane. The Alto driver is driving dangerously close to the KSRTC trying to prevent a potential overtake attempt by the Dzire driver. The Fabia driver seems to think that his best attempt at overtaking is to follow the Alto, so he too proceeds close to that. All this overcrowding was making me uncomfortable so I slowed down further. And then it happened! The KSRTC braked suddenly swerving to the left and stopping in the middle of the road. The Alto driver slammed on the brakes managing to just hit the KSRTC’s rear. The Fabia driver in spite of his best efforts couldn’t stop the car in time ramming into the Alto’s rear causing the Alto to again hit the KSRTC. All of this was over in an instant. Then the question came up. Why did the KSRTC break suddenly? As you can see in the video, some poor soul who was waiting on the median slipped onto the fast lane causing the mishap. I shudderingly remember the look of relief on his face of being glad to be alive. That guy should thank his stars. As for the Alto and Fabia, the cars really took some beating but the occupants were seemingly ok. For me, however, this was a humbling experience. There were a number of variables here that seem to lead the way to an impending crash. The people walking on the fast lane, the Dzire trying to overtake through the left lane, the Alto driver’s ego, the truck driver riding in the fast lane ahead of the KSRTC, the KSRTC weaving in and out of lanes hampering the visibility and judgement of all vehicles at the back, the Fabia driver’s impatience, the bad luck of the guy who fell onto oncoming traffic, the lack of space between all the vehicles. Had I been egoistic and tried some reckless manoeuvre amid all this commotion, it would have been me who would have kissed that Alto’s back. Myself and the Dzire driver and were thankfully just witnesses just because we decided to take a back seat amid all this action.

To those who are reading this, I plead again:

• Maintain a safe distance from the vehicle at the front
• Maintain lane discipline
• Practice defensive driving
• If someone seems to be taunting you with immature tactics, just let them pass
• Expect the worst. Even if it’s a highway, people or animals can wander onto the roads

This incident is a grim reminder of some of the oddities that plague our roads and just emphasises the necessity of proper driving etiquette. It may not always be rewarding, but the few times it does is really worth it!

Here’s what BHPian CarNerd had to say on the matter:

The First thing to do on Indian roads is to reduce speed. There’s no point in acting like F1 drivers on track trying to overtake everything in front. Most fatal accidents are a result of high speed. Experienced drivers should reduce their average speed instead of increasing them.

The second important thing is Patience – People drive as though they’ll lose crores every minute they get late. I can understand certain emergency situations where one has to hurry but most people do it 24×7.

The third is Traffic Rules which most don’t know as usual. You can do all the defensive driving you want but can you prevent some idiot from ramming into you or something falling on you? I have seen many accident videos where people get caught in an accident for no fault of theirs. This is where Prayer can be useful for those who believe in God.

The authorities are busy coming up with one rule after the other but no one is thinking of educating students. I don’t know how many 18-year-olds get licenses every year without knowing anything about driving. This is serious and we should keep reminding our family and friends about safety.

Here’s what BHPian aargee had to say on the matter:

I’m still in hesitation to share this here as I had originally refrained from posting this in this post on our recent trip to MH on account of the word of flares

Anyway, this thread ignited me to post on some of our observations & lessons learnt:

• We found most (say 80% to quantify) cars don’t like to get overtaken. How do we know? We cruise in steady 100, either when nearing the other car or after having overtaken them, they suddenly start picking up speed. Again most of the time (say again 90% this time) when I yield to their speed letting them go, they no longer interested in maintaining speeds over triple digits & give up
• Only one Tiago (or Tigor), perhaps in the entire trip was lunkhead in this stretch. He would never let us go in the front (60 Kmph cruise) nor he would speed up over 50-55 Kmph. Finally, when I overtook him with difficulty, he came behind us with blinking lights for which I promptly yielded his way thinking he would speed off & he didn’t. Instead, he continued his drama. So out of the 2900-odd Km, this section was one to pump the adrenaline on account of this lunatic.

• When we yield (ensure explicitly that the other party knows this) way for others, there’s a good chance that others (if not everyone, at least 80-90% of them) will certainly yield way for us. Although I had known this fact, what I learnt in recent times is, this act of yielding has to be explicitly proclaimed so that fellow roadies understand
• When we yield, we take the foot off the gas or cancel & reengage the cruise after 2-3 seconds, enabling the fellow roadsters to overtake with ease
• And we always, always, always, prepare to yield so that even before people think of overtaking us, they’ve right of way
• From our observation, most standards of defensive techniques go awry in Indian driving standards; we follow a middle path combining defensive driving & Indian driving standards, call it, ahimsa driving.

On account of the word lessons learnt, my instructor then told me something that I would never ever forget. He said driving is a lesson to be learnt over a lifetime & can never be learnt fully. Each time you drive you should learn something otherwise you’re soon to become a dead man.

Here’s what BHPian vabhian had to say on the matter:

Thank you for sharing this and including the very relevant videos.

I consider myself as a sedate driver who values safe driving over anything else. In my experience, Indian roads (highways included) are full of surprises – animals, people, wrong-side driving, and reckless driving can be found almost everywhere and anywhere. One has to account for everything. Maintaining a safe distance is still an alien concept for a lot of drivers on the roads. Just last month, I had an experience with a crazy driver on NH-44 who almost caused a collision b/w multiple cars due to his reckless passing between lanes.

As you correctly said, experience is the best teacher. I had two experiences (thankfully, no mishap happened) almost a decade back that ingrained “safe driving” in my head. I have seen some folks I know who make it a competition to clock the same hours (or less) than the other person to cover the same distance and then brag, which in turn causes them to overspend and drive a bit recklessly.

Here’s what BHPian ajayc123 had to say on the matter:

Driving on our roads appears like a car racing and ego game for a lot of guys.

Anyways, I can’t do too much about it, but the game that I play is to stay clear of such gamers.

While I try to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle ahead, I feel it is more important to maintain a safer distance from a tailgating vehicle. So I just let the aggressive tailgaters pass by at the first opportunity.