Feb 17, 2009

The last one isn't the slow one

Sometimes, in traffic, you will naturally start classifying people as
slow or fast. I'm not entirely sure what goes into classifying them,
but you know as well as I do, that you do this. Without going into the
degrees of good-fast versus reckless or good-slow versus
idi-effing-ot, I was thinking about it and I realised that I consider
myself pretty quick through traffic. And for a fair amount of time,
I'm last or nearly last in traffic. Does that describe you too?

I figure that it's because my take-off from the traffic lights and
progress through traffic tends to be on the rapid side, and most of
the time, I catch up with the traffic that's ahead of me. In
traffic/transport planner terms, a group of traffic that leaves
together from a traffic light is called a platoon. Each cycle of
greens causes a platoon. Er, the point is, that I'm usually at the end
of the platoon. Doing what? Passing them, of course. And I'm sure
there's more riders like this out there.

Point? Don't automatically dismiss those at the end of the platoon,
they're probably just taking some time to get ahead. I think this
point has wider meanings that purely in traffic, but that's purely
unintended.

19 comments:

Hrishi said...

Good to see you back online. Hope its not that one-off post!

:)

And the last statement is quite interesting...

I likes it. :)

Anonymous said...

I think, the unsynchronised traffic signals in our cities also play some role here.

greySith said...

Almost three months to the day... Good to have you back!

Nice post. Hopefully it's the first of many (regular :P) posts!

Anonymous said...

Whoa. Quite a realization, that one.

Seems you're still riding around the city inspite of the hectic schedule! Like everybody else is gonna say now, Would love to hear more from you!

If it doesn't destroy the anonymity, what bike do you ride around on now? Have cars taken up more of your time any chance?

Frankinsmoke said...

Been ages since we saw something from you!! hope this is not a passing post!!

sanket kambli said...

true ...last one isn't the slow one..
what happens is ...
when u r last one in the "platoon"
..u have a wider view of the gang..
and so u can easily chart out escape routes to get ahead....coz once u r stuck in the gang ur view becomes narrow....when u r behind all of them its different...so its good...i do the same...when i reach the signal late...i try to stay behind all of them...sufficient enough to a wider look and then find the gap and zoom ahead..simple...just that one has to be alert for unpredictable behavior from others.///

p.s. good to have u back blogging..

Anonymous said...

da hell r u on abt?

Unknown said...

Its great to see your post after such a long time rearset. :)

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness, you're alive !!!!

Anonymous said...

As always a crisp and short snack which gets the tongue rolling for more is what you serve [;)]

EvolutioN said...

ooh ooh oooooh! now thats catching a thought by the balls... please excuse the profanity. I see myself in that position VERY often. But I have never figured out why that happens, probably because I am the last one to pass the yellow light and speed ahead, only realising that there are crores of vehicles in front of me, and almost none behind me, and by the time i cross the next signal, I have passed most of the crowd, and find the next group in front of me... I mean what the F? Didnt i just overtake like a million dudes?

I guess I figure it out now. Good thought man!

And yes, welcome back!

Love,

Evo

The Ultimate Motorcyclist said...

maybe i am an aggressive rider but then the best way to still be the first one to reach the next signal is to be somewhere in the center of the platoon. At least in Mumbai often the guy who actually stops FIRST at the signal is the guy who couldn't make it when it was amber hence he would be a BEST bus, a garbage truck, a taxi with load on the rooftop or simply a bespectacled gentleman in a Premier Padmini with an aged wife and young dog.

So best is to be behind them. Allow some of the turbo charged Honda stickered platinas to move ahead squeeze through, overstep on the zebra crossing and be ready for the moto-gp flag off.

So as soon as it turns green..let em go..then slowly accelerate and by the time u r in 3rd u know whom to overtake what gaps to slip through and also know that the guy who took off first would run out of breath in another 3 - 4 seconds...

It works..i may be somewhere in the middle of the platoon at the time of take off but i always end up as the person who doesnt have to stop at the next signal as i get it GREEN !!!

Practice made me perfect..try it on senapati bapat road and law college road in Pune...

jsr said...

nice observation :)

Pulsurge said...

RearSet Ahoy.....Welcome back. Now please dont go absconding for 3 months again :'(

Black Retina said...

It has been a while. Looks like a one-off post.

Anonymous said...

hmm, where have we seen this before!

Anonymous said...

last one may not be the slow one, but the first one can be

N David said...

I agree with that.. that is almost my riding style.. start at the back of the platoon before me and reach the end of the one ahead of me.. signal to signal.. In delhi traffic that is pretty easy too

Shrinivas Krishnamurthy said...

When I read your post, I recollected some idle thinking that I'd done sometime back. For a while, I used to notice which car/bike I'd overtaken along my commute between Bandra and Thane. Surprisingly enough, I realised that many times I was overtaking the same bike/car more than once, leading me to the conclusion that although I was pinning it through traffic, others were either luckier to find a shorter route or were faster than I was. Of course, the moment I found an open stretch and pinned it, I'd find another "platoon" to navigate through, and the cycle would begin again. Sometimes it annoyed me that the M800 that was going at a steady 60-70 kph would catch up with me doing bursts of 110 while coasting at 80. Perhaps moving in a straight line really is the shortest distance between two points!