Addition to my Number Plate Blog

Clicked this photo today morning while coming to the office.

 

For the original Blog click here

Western Express HIGHWAY(?)

Having been driving on the Western Express Highway of Mumbai since past 9 years now, I consider myself somewhat an expert of that road. So much so that I thought of writing this blog and also trying and making the Traffic Commissioner read this.

I have seen the highway grow…from a plain road to flyovers, from bottle necks to wide roads. But still its not enough. The traffic jams just do not reduce. Infact its a shame to call it a Highway anymore.

So let me rant off my wisdom…if anybody is interested…

I simply dont understand what is the use of flyovers when there are traffic jams at the exit ends…either because of Nakabandi by police(currently observed daily at the north end of Andheri flyover) or because BEST busstops are hardly 100 meters away from the end of the flyovers(south end of Malad flyover). These busstops dont only create a traffic jams because of buses stopping there, it also because of rickshaw drivers and other vehicles stopping there trying to woo the harried bus travelers who are getting late because the bus has not come in yet.

One more observation I have made is that the beginning of flyovers are being used by private buses as a collection point. This leads to a bottleneck thus leading to slowing of traffic.

We are a major city with no facility of immediate removal of breakdown vehicles or vehicles involved in accidents. Neither have we demarked any service lane to move such vehicles. Some vehicles are allowed to be repaired right in the middle of the road, which is one more reason for the jams.

Driving slow in the fast lane is one more headache. There are various kinds of drivers in this category…the rickshaw drivers, the busy on the mobile drivers, the lady drivers. They take pride in keeping the lane ahead of them totally empty, leader of the pack of the long line of cars behind them. The busy on the phone drivers are still ok as they wake up from their slumber moment the call is over and speed up again…the remaining two…less spoken of the better!!! Our Traffic department knows of only asking for fine for overspeeding not for underspeeding.

Oh forgot the old uncles, who are out there in the fast lane to protest against the fast cars. No matter how many cars overtake them, they drive at their own leisurely speed, reminding us of their times when cars never used to touch even 50 KMPH!!! ( I dont think they understand my sign of middle finger also )

Dedicated public crossings seem to be decided not by the traffic departments, but by the public and the local politicians. Dividers disappear overnight, barbed wires are effortlessly cut to create a new gap for the local public to cross. Forget public crossings, at some places U-turns appear overnight creating trouble to the cars.

Sigh!! I can go on and on and on…..

I know the traffic department alone is not to be blamed , even we as the citizens are responsible for most of this mess. But then when rules are implement strictly( and not just to pocket the money by enforcers), things can change….but who is going to bell the cat….

Traff*&ked

Being a Mumbaikarr I know how bad it can get when you are stuck in traffic. A two minute distance takes not less than 15-20 mins to cover sometimes. Sometimes the car is just stuck there in the same place. One cant even move in any direction.

Yesterday was stuck for nearly 20 mins at the same place. While there I could hear a faint siren of an ambulance. Now I am not sure if the ambulance was on its way to pick up a patient, or on its way to drop the patient to a hospital… or if at all in line of duty. But yes…began to wonder what would happen to a patient in case stuck in such traffic.

Why just get Traffucked on any road…imagine getting stuck on the road to an important hospital. Take the case of Hinduja Hospital at Mahim. A school in its vicinity with its all ultra rich students coming in cars occupy the road and create jams over there for almost half an hour in the morning. These car owners care a damn about traffic rules, cutting across the lanes, taking U-turns from where ever they feel comfortable. I have seen parents just park their cars and talk to other parents without caring a damn about the traffic situation. I shudder to think of a medical emergency patient getting stuck because of this stupidity. I am being told that there are other schools also, where similar situations occur daily.

Forget ambulance, what if there is a medical emergency to a driver or a co-passenger. Are we equipped for such eventualities?

Surely not. Our State Government has funds to build a stupid monument over the sea. But they have never planned any air lifting medical facilities in Mumbai. This is one facility we need badly in Mumbai, not just when we get Traffucked on the roads, but also in case of disaster management. Is anybody listening????

Interesting Number Plates

How often we find some interesting number plates, no I am not talking of a series of number, but the way the numbers are made to mean something.
Here I will try and put forth the number plates which I have seen either myself or in photos….DO NOT MISS THE LAST ONE ;)
4141 in marathi font to read दादा (brother) in marathi

8055 written in such format that it looks like BOSS
4129 written in marathi font to read दारू (alcohol)

One of my cousins car has 6C in its number and she loving calls it Sexy

 

7171 written in marathi font to read नाना

 

 

5171 written in such a way to read SAI

This one takes the cake B491 !! meant to read Badava!!

 

 

This was provided by a reader in the comment…but the link is not clickable so am adding it to the main post….Thanks Hiren

 

There are many more….but was not able to put up all….maybe next time….or maybe you could add your own :)

Disclaimer : All Images courtesy Google 

Cost of owning a car

Technorati Tags: Car,EMI,Loan,expenses,fuel

Got a mail stating that my Car Insurance is expiring soon. Made me once again realize how fast a year flies. Also reminded me of the words of a Gentleman who has been a guide to our family since years.

Once we both had purchased our cars around the same period, if I remember correctly this was around 12 years back. We were both discussing our respective cars when his words of wisdom started flowing in.

According to him, the best way to purchase a car is on installments, for according to him, where else will you get a loan at such a low rate of interest and also benefit in your taxes. However he had a word of caution over there. While getting the loan is easy, one should also have other factors in mind. According to him, in two to three years, you need to change your car battery, then depending on your usage change the tyres, annual expense of maintaining and servicing the car, normal expenses over wear and tear of the car, annual premium of Insurance, the worst case scenario of major accidental expense on the car, and last but not the least….the fuel expenses.

He said one should average these all costs over five years of usage of the car and add the amount to the EMI to understand if one is making the right choice while going in for the loan or no. The car should not become a white elephant for you.

Well buying a car is the easiest thing ever today….but do calculate the actual Cost of Owning the Car……