Superstitious Beliefs of People on Roads

[350Z]

Superstition is a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation.

Are you superstitious? While walking or driving around in the public places, one can easily find some examples of superstitions, and then it could be either when a black cat crosses your path or else simply a shoe hanging on that truck in front to save it from evil eyes. This actually happened to me once; let me share the story here. It was almost evening while returning to home; I was driving on a service road and noticed a cat crossing the way. The man on his scooter next to me suddenly brakes hard and stopped, and then I saw a couple of oncoming cars slowed down too. Now I was quite forced to rethink, so stopped then and there.

For a few minutes, there was silence and a good number of vehicles had collected as if they were standing for a war. The folks behind started honking since they were not aware about what was going in front. A person from his bike came down and threw some pebbles across. I didn’t know exactly what he was doing, but as soon as he was done, all the traffic was back on its track. This was really a humorous but also an awkward situation. I usually tend to overlook superstitious beliefs but I think it was probably for the first time that it created such a scene and I was a part of that. I request everyone to please share their opinions and stories too. Especially if anything is related to autos, it’s welcome.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[mukeshus]

So many times cat has passed while driving my car.
I never beleive in such superstitions.

 

[ACMohan]

I believe in some of these.
But not as superstitious as the biker in your story.

 

[jalex]

Superstitions? Well I remember seeing competitors in Rallys who would only put on their right glove and right boot first and they say that if you put the left ones first, You will have a bad day or worse a crash. Then there were people around our part of the country saying that if the number of your car or bike adds upto make an 8, Then that vehicle will kill you. ( Ettu thattum! which in Malayalam means 8 will crash or finish you off.)

I dont believe in any of these things and what I believe in is to be alert and fresh behind the wheel. No drinks, No sleepy eyes and no driving while tense. You also should keep the vehicle in perfect order and rest will be fine I guess.

I also used to rally on a bike with the number adding to form an 8 and guess what, It never ever let me down. Even once after crashing it at around 80kmph on stage, Some contusions were the only injuries me and my navigator had to sustain and after his making a wrong call.

Also seen some people entering their cars with the right leg in first at delivery, You should see it. They look so much like Mr. Bean while doing that.

 

[type-r]

well, my parents believe in a lot of superstitions. actually worst is that of cat story as 350Z shared. happened to me many times when mom is driving. also another thing my parents cannot tolerate is if anyone asks for drinking tea when they are just about to leave because if they leave that tea, badluck happens and it does. also while leaving for somewhere, one should mention milk, oil, monkey, and some other stuff in hindi. so yeah, i have quite a lot of experiences.

 

[P3T3R]

Alexander Wurz (former F1 driver) always wore different coloured shoes for a race. Before his F1 days he was once late for a race and misplaced his shoes. He just put one the only available pair (the left and right each belonged to a different pair). He won the race and has been wearing different coloured shoes since then.

 

[sachinj12]

I never believe in any of these. Esp when I drive. So many times a cat has crossed my path and things have turned to be better than I hoped for.

And,speaking of cats, the other day a cat came under my wheels. The stupid thing crossed the road,did a U-turn mid way and came right under my wheel. I was doing around 100/hr, too less a time to react. All I did was let my foot of the A pedal. Felt sorry and said a small prayer for the poor soul.

And speaking of numbers, I ensured my car numbers add to 1

 

[smooth rider]

when i went to get my vento from the dealer in calicut the guy who was being delivered the vento prior to mine asked the sales staff to park the car in a particular direction from which the keys are to be handed over to him. the sales guys and gals were giggling and passing comments behind his back. black coloured cars were a taboo some years back. when i bought a black indica my family was not much happy about it.

 

[mukeshus]

Many times cat has just passed away from my wheels and crossed the road.
They come of suddenly and cross the road.
Luckily no kittens were at trouble.

Yes before i sit in vehicle & drive i pray to my god and then drive.
That's what my mom want's me to do every time.

 

[jayadev]

If a cat crosses my car. I stop wait for 5 minutes refresh and proceed.

call it superstitious or paranormal. i had 5 serious incident with cats crossings and i learnt a big lesson.
1.at age of 14, in a bus to my relative's house arounf 4pm. the bus was overloaded and going slow. i was at front door and could see the road . I saw a mix coloured cat hurriedly crossing the bus . though i did not took care of it but within 5 minutes the front tire exploded and bus almost went off road hurting 2 passenger in the bus.

2.age of 16 -I was in my bicycle riding down a slope with a kid behind on the carrier. a bownish yellow cat crossed and before i could think something i saw a pickup with load of bamboo sticks standing on middle of road . i applied brake but my tire slipped on gravel . the kid was tossed into nearby bush, i fell under the pickup truck with cycle ,front rim was seriously damaged beyond repair.

3. 2 years back-i was going up on an overbridge in my Honda activa a black n white cat crossed i did not mind it when coming to graduating side of overbridge i saw a pot hole trying to avoid it i fell into a bigger one in front i was tossed on the road, thankfully nothing happened to scooter it remained in the crater with stuck rear tire. my helment came off my head with straps wrung my throat and a broken toe nail all bleeding.

4.last year-again in the bus, when a cat crossed our way i could see the front as bus was almost empty. after a while when i forgot about it and bus was gaining speed somewhere around 60 . there was huge explosion kind of sound and lot of noise from bottom of bus with a sudden halt. the axle broke.
One Pax got his wrist broken.

5.recently- On the way to chennai for TAI meet , in the darkenss of night somewhere before mysore on bad roads ,we saw a black cat staring with green eyes, then hurriedly it disappeared into bush . I was discussing that it does not look like a good sign to me when the young fellows with in car ridiculed me saying "andhavishwasi,coward" etc. so we continued our journey when next day early morning we met with an accident . thankfully nobody was hurt. but this one cost me a fortune.

even though i am not much of believer of such cat crossing issues but series of incident forces me to practice a small halt of 5 minutes if I see a cat crossing my way. which i had been following since young age. i cannot remember when and where i heard about this un-auspiciousness of cat but first incident itself made me over-conscious.
when ever i failed to follow my petty chore i had met with problems.

so this is all personal first time sharing ,with TAI.

 

[AppU]

Yes before i sit in vehicle & drive i pray to my god and then drive.
That's what my mom want's me to do every time.

I never believe in any of these.some months back my Dad killed one cat, next day he left the car for water service & put pooja for the car.

My mom also says to pray after starting the car & she use to keep some Neem leaf in Bumper, but later i will reduce to 2 or 3 leaf.

 

[sachinj12]

If a cat crosses my car. I stop wait for 5 minutes refresh and proceed.

call it superstitious or paranormal. i had 5 serious incident with cats crossings and i learnt a big lesson.
1.at age of 14, in a bus to my relative's house arounf 4pm. the bus was overloaded and going slow. i was at front door and could see the road . I saw a mix coloured cat hurriedly crossing the bus . though i did not took care of it but within 5 minutes the front tire exploded and bus almost went off road hurting 2 passenger in the bus.

2.age of 16 -I was in my bicycle riding down a slope with a kid behind on the carrier. a bownish yellow cat crossed and before i could think something i saw a pickup with load of bamboo sticks standing on middle of road . i applied brake but my tire slipped on gravel . the kid was tossed into nearby bush, i fell under the pickup truck with cycle ,front rim was seriously damaged beyond repair.

.......

That's some serious stuff man!

As others mentioned, I always do a quick prayer before I start my car. Only when I leave from my home.

 

[Akash]

I do not believe in these things. Years back my car was badly damaged when it hit a herd of wild pigs. My car was repaired within 5 days, however as soon as it was back, my dad's friend advised him to sell off the car since pig hit (ac to him) is considered bad omen.

 

[jayadev]

That's some serious stuff man!

As others mentioned, I always do a quick prayer before I start my car. Only when I leave from my home.

Life is mystery as much as whole world is.We remain in our petty chores of our life that we cannot think of anything else other than what we know.
Neither we are being taught nor anybody who have ever known is surviving.Present age school and colleges are nothing more than memory feat institutions where you memories what is written in books and try to replicate.
Nobody has ever known how life originated on earth from where we all got such a brilliant tool called knowledge to manipulate things in our surrounding.

with our modern general logic we conclude that that anything happening is just coincidence or superstition.

My Dad said when he was in Jammu there was a narrow bridge which had some sort of curse or blessings from nearby Deity said by local peoples. Whoever crosses it with faith of god in their heart they will pass through it without any issues. With more and more traffic growing everyday the accident toll raised to such an extend that the military personnel has to be deployed at each end of bridge to make people relax a little bit before continuing journey since then there was no accident.
ps:My Dad is one who neither believes their exist any god nor ghosts.

 

[Thetraveller]

Interesting thread and interesting observations. Being superstitious is another way of handling unknown. Some people put a name to it like luck and some just do not believe it exists.

I go with what jayadev has said, it is a matter of personal choice. I do not follow any superstition but yes do a little prayer before embarking on a journey. Although there have been times when even after a prayer I have been in bad situations, but that doesnt stop me from doing a prayer next time. So it is merely a method of relaxing I believe and nothing to do with how your day will actually end up

Just like Murphy's law, if you think about it, it will happen with you.