Road Rules And Common Courtesies.

[VVTi]

With the influx of new cars to the Sri Lankan roads, many new road users are joining the fray daily. Most of them are new to their cars and most of them are still newer to driving. So I want to start a thread to discuss about what we know about the most common road rules, courtesies we have to afford other drivers and hopefully reduce the amount of idiotic driving habits we see every day on our roads.

Some mistakes and some tips.

1. Not giving right of way. Right is Might according to SL traffic law. No matter how mcuh you will try to weasel your way out of a crash, if you did not give right of way, you are WRONG!

2. Not keeping junction boxes clear. (For instance, Near Apollo Car park entrance, ITS A HOSPITAL PEOPLE! IT COULD BE YOU WHO ARE INJURED NEEDING MEDICAL ATTENTION STUCK IN A CAR BECAUSE SOME IDIOT IN A BRAND NEW PERMIT MARUTI DOES NOT KNOW THE JUNCTION BOX RULE. KEEP IT CLEAR AT ALL TIMES).

3. In the night, use the High Beam only if the road ahead is clear of all on coming traffic. Do not follow another car with your High Beams on. Its a Common Courtesy. Before many of you decide to put on HIDs, learn how to use the headlights you have first.

4. Always follow the 5 second rule when indicating. Indicate your signals a minimum of 5 seconds before turning.

5. Try not to overtake on a single unbroken line. Getting copped is a bad idea and worse is if you cause an accident. You will be charged and the fines are really high. Same goes to zebra crossings.

6. Use a hands free at all times. That call is NOT WORTH IT, if you cause an accident while on the phone. ( I broke both legs of a 3 wheel driver, because I looked down to see who is calling and the taxi ahead stopped. Taxi was condemned and I paid 100,000 in compensation + court charges and fines and a suspension for 2 months. Like I said, ITS NOT WORTH IT).

7. Colombo roads are not race tracks, they are busy, congested and unpredictable. Drive with your wits about you. You wanna race, lets meet up regularly at the usual closed race circuits and race your hearts out with relative safety.

8. Always follow the 3 second rule when following another car. "To determine the right following distance, first select a fixed object on the road ahead such as a sign or tree. When the vehicle ahead of you passes the object, slowly count "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." If you reach the object before completing the count, you're following too closely. Making sure there are three seconds between you and the car ahead gives you time and distance to respond to problems in the lane ahead of you.".

9. Your life, the lives of your family/friends in the car and the lives of strangers with families and loved ones are in your hands when you take the wheel. Always be cautious and be courteous.

10. Discourage your wives, mothers and others to carry babies in the front seats. Buy a car seat. I am sure your baby's life is worth more than a few thousand rupees. Forget what your elders say about, 'nothing will happen'. When it does, it will be too late. A baby will not survive a trip through the windscreen or hitting the head on the dash board or even a deployed Air Bag. (Air Bags deploy within 0.04 seconds, a force enough to kill a baby)

Thats all I can think of... others are quite welcome to comment.

[jdnet]

Good post!

[heavyD]

+1 for a great post.

If I may add one or two of my own observations...

Paying attention to the lane you're driving in. If the lane leads to a traffic light where you can only turn right or left, occupying that lane simply cause its empty, whizzing past everyone else and then cutting into traffic once again slows everyone else down even more. The same courtesy applies to when stuck in traffic on a single lane road. Driving past everyone else on the opposite lane and then cutting in somewhere in the middle is just plain annoying. We all want to get to where we're going. Nobody's special.

Being aware of vehicles approaching from the rear. If someone wants to overtake you, let him. Hogging lanes is a bad idea and might cause road rage. On the same lines, if you aren't driving too quickly, chances are you can occupy the left side/lane of the road.

Driving straight and true. It doesn't help when people sail all over the road.

And stop switching on the hazard signal when going through a four way junction for Christ's sake! What is wrong with people?

[VVTi]

And stop switching on the hazard signal when going through a four way junction for Christ's sake! What is wrong with people?

Damn! I forgot this!!!! This is such a NO BRAINER!!!!! Who came up with it?? Retarded!

Also, flashing of the head lights to overtake will get you NO progress if I am ahead of you! Toot politely, put the turn signal to indicate you wish to overtake and you will get your chance. Flash the lights in my rear view too much and you will not see much progress on the matter. I can hog roads too.

[dinran]

superb post!

[VVTi]

Always make sure all your lights and horn are working properly. So many people drive with no brake lights or no indicators. It will not cost more than a few hundred rupees to fix them. Save on the silly bling and invest in the proper recommended bulbs and indicators. You don't need a garage to replace bulbs, its a strictly DIY that will not take more than 10 mins of your time.

[nexus]

damn good post mate

Being aware of vehicles approaching from the rear. If someone wants to overtake you, let him. Hogging lanes is a bad idea and might cause road rage. On the same lines, if you aren't driving too quickly, chances are you can occupy the left side/lane of the road.

i completely agree with you some times road rage going to get you lots of trouble and remember

overtaking gay may not be a gentleman. if you keep it up

p.s some times road rage can lead you to a fight with other guys

[AL998]

Top post

[Sumiya]

Hi Guys

Like to add this too ...

I still remember that is written in the "Margopodeshakaya" clearly

that Either Horn or Head Light will not give you priority

those are there to say that a vehicle is coming...

And i always hate Sitting on the horn continuously , i will not give space for those type of people since i am driving without making any one annoy on inconvenience unless tweaking the horn decently to get space..

thanks

regards

sumith

Edited December 23, 2010 by Sumiya

[MkX]

[jdnet]

Should add this:

Hazard lights are not meant to be used while passing an intersection or roundabout. They are meant to alert drivers to when your car is broken down or in an accident.

[VVTi]

Sometimes its a 1000 times better to give way to an idiot rather than getting aggravated. I now just smile and let any idiot who wants to overtake, go. Also, started to give way to people waiting to cross the road, turn and all kinds of other things. Noticed that there is no nett delay in my ETA and that I am more cheerful rather than if I played 'El Bastard'...

Perhaps if we all do that, there might be an overall drop in road rage?

[scds]

:appl:

[Sumiya]

Sometimes its a 1000 times better to give way to an idiot rather than getting aggravated. I now just smile and let any idiot who wants to overtake, go. Also, started to give way to people waiting to cross the road, turn and all kinds of other things. Noticed that there is no nett delay in my ETA and that I am more cheerful rather than if I played 'El Bastard'...

Perhaps if we all do that, there might be an overall drop in road rage?

Hi VVTi

what you say is correct ,must practice that way

that is better for health as well as wealth too

thanks

regards

sumith

[Isuru Udana]

VVTi,

Good post. Thanks for starting the thread.

[rangerover]

good post VVTi

Few things to add

1. At a traffic light, dont honk when the count down comes to single digits. The person in front of u surely aint blind. Also when the light turns green, be patient for couple of seconds. Not all of us want to be on gear the whole time ruining our clutch plates and gear boxes

2. Stop following ambulances in a parade. People give way for the ambulance and not for you. You will just cause anger and confusion amongst motorists trying to start moving right after the ambulance passes. If you need to go fast in a parade, contest for the next elections

3. Especially during seasonal periods people stop vehicles in the middle of the main road near big shopping complexes and expect the motorists behind them to wait until their entire extended family get off their "dolphin". Stop it! use car parks or disembarking points to do so

[Sifaan]

8. Always follow the 3 second rule when following another car. "To determine the right following distance, first select a fixed object on the road ahead such as a sign or tree. When the vehicle ahead of you passes the object, slowly count "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand." If you reach the object before completing the count, you're following too closely. Making sure there are three seconds between you and the car ahead gives you time and distance to respond to problems in the lane ahead of you.".

VVTi, great post, apologies for the cynicism but the difficulty in trying to do this is all the other jokers who think "hey look, there's some space! I can overtake!"

Hazard lights are not meant to be used while passing an intersection or roundabout. They are meant to alert drivers to when your car is broken down or in an accident.

Hazard lights? aren't they used to indicate that your car is an escort vehicle for some silly fart and therefore ordinary road rules/courtesies do not apply?

[heavyD]

Sometimes its a 1000 times better to give way to an idiot rather than getting aggravated. I now just smile and let any idiot who wants to overtake, go. Also, started to give way to people waiting to cross the road, turn and all kinds of other things. Noticed that there is no nett delay in my ETA and that I am more cheerful rather than if I played 'El Bastard'...

Perhaps if we all do that, there might be an overall drop in road rage?

Yeah, and it also frees up traffic building up behind the chap as he waits for someone to let him pass.

[VVTi]

good post VVTi

Few things to add

1. At a traffic light, dont honk when the count down comes to single digits. The person in front of u surely aint blind. Also when the light turns green, be patient for couple of seconds. Not all of us want to be on gear the whole time ruining our clutch plates and gear boxes

Add to this, do not stop past the green light... how the hell will you see when the light turns Green?? This will surely get you a barrage of toots! Stop so you can see the lights. Many idiots do this.

[Sifaan]

Add to this, do not stop past the green light... how the hell will you see when the light turns Green?? This will surely get you a barrage of toots! Stop so you can see the lights. Many idiots do this.

plus do not overtake the guy who is stopped right at the stop line just because there is some space in front of him?

[VVTi]

plus do not overtake the guy who is stopped right at the stop line just because there is some space in front of him?

Correct. Not many people respect the STOP sign. STOP, means Stop. Not slow down or crawl....

STOP.LOOK.DRIVE.

[MkX]

And once you pass a vehicle or turn, switch OFF your signal lights.

[shanX]

Someone should make a list of these and pass it around as a mail forward or something

[VVTi]

The thing is all of these is included in the Tarffic rules book. Theoretically all of us have to be fully conversant with the traffic code. However most of us knows only to keep a car going in a straight line, and most of us have the attitude of, 'To hell with the next guy, I am in my permit Maruti/Allion/Axio, I am King'.

Its a bad way to go about driving.

[MasterDon]

Great topic VVti!

My road rage is at an all time high these days,and I'm amazed to see people with 4/5 million allions,axio's etc. driving like three wheeler buggers.