junaid

Almost in every Indian city, traffic jams are so common that we have to account for at least 4 hours on road everyday. Just imagine how nice it would be if we had about half of that time to spend with our family? Tragedy is, half of this traffic jams are created by we ourselves in our effort to get to our destination faster!

Arguably, Indian roads are one of the busiest in the world. Wherever you go, we see it full of vehicles, people, animals, bullock-carts, vending carts, what all and what not? It would not be wrong to say that – a large portion of Indian population appears to be living on the road during daytime.

Especially in cities, it is a nightmare to drive on these roads and we are never sure of reaching our destination on time. More than the number of vehicles or number of people using the road, it is the way we use the road makes it look very busy and occupied. We always have a tendency to blame population for all the problems we have. We point our fingers at the Governments for having not created or maintained infrastructure.

It is true that the infrastructure is not up to the mark either in construction quality or in maintenance. But partly, we as citizens are also responsible for the bad conditions of the road. We dig and tear roads wherever we want for our personal needs and functions; we damage, distort, displace barricades and medians because it does not suit our personal needs, etc.

For a foreign visitor, travelling on Indian roads give shock of their life. Some of the attitudes we show when we are on the road are not accepted in any other civilized society. We can broadly classify the behavior of Indian drivers as follows:

Indiscriminate

Noisy

Daredevils

Intruding

Aggressive

Not here, now

Indiscriminate - is one word to explain our driving style. We care too hoots for the signals (unless otherwise, there is a policeman right in front of you). We have not heard of lane discipline. We neither care for our own safety nor for others safety; We do not know the guideline that slow moving vehicles on the left, fast moving on the right. We just get on the road and find our way though the traffic- any which way we can. In fact, we do not drive; we weave through the traffic. Left, right or center, any space is okay for us to over take. Virtually, all foreigners, who visit India, have virtual heart attack, seeing our driving methods.

Noisy – that is in our blood. We talk loud in public places, we play music on loud speakers we past mid-night in residential areas, so honking horns right through our drive is our birthright. Even when the vehicle in front of you has stopped because of the "Red light " at the signal, we honk horns from behind just to let him know that we are behind him. Many drivers
communicate between them, using horns. They have their "codes" for saying –Thanks, give me way, watch-out for a police standing ahead, etc. In most of the other countries, horns are used only under extreme emergency. It is said that when one of the renowned car manufacturers started manufacturing cars in India, first part to fail prematurely in mass scale was – Horns! Why not? The horn would have finished its life’s quota in less than a week! Everybody failed to see this coming.

Daredevils – By nature, we have an appetite for lot of risk taking. Even in busy road, we over-speed. We over take without even seeing what is coming from other side. We change lanes without giving any signals. We love thrill in life. Who want to wear a helmet? For us, our hairstyle is more important than our head!

Intruding – We have got so much used to live in others’ space that we fail to see that we are intruding into others space. Shops intrude into footpath, pedestrians intrude into the driving lane, Cows, buffaloes, dogs, chicken, pigs, sheep and other animals intrude on the road.

When buses stop at the bus stop, they stop at the middle of the road. They stop right after a major junction and invariably, that chokes up traffic behind. Typically, bus drivers have a typical practice. When one bus is already stopping at the bus stop, next bus, which comes behind it, instead of stopping behind the first bus, they just overtake and stop right in front of the first bus. Neither the first bus can move, nor the second bus can.

When we are on a relatively empty road, we have an attitude – "I own this road". If we see empty road in front of us, we will be driving right in the middle of the road – unmindful of vehicles from behind. If there are two vehicles, we divide the road to 1/3 and 2/3 and we will be occupying the road leaving a gap of 1/3 from either side of the road. Hence, if there are 2 two wheelers on the road, no four wheeler can go past them!

Aggressive – When we are on road, we drive with such urgency as if we are going to miss a flight or a train if we are late by a minute. We break all the rules to ensure that we inch ahead of others as long as we are driving. If we show the same amount of urgency at work, we as a country, would have had made a lot more progress in all fields.

Not here, now – With amount of traffic congestion and confusion on the road, driving has become a full time job. We have to be hundred percent on driving job, if we have to drive safely. But many of us play music so loud in the vehicle that we can not listen to other sounds, we keep seeing here and there instead of seeing the road ahead of us. We keep talking on the as we are driving though a busy road. Those who drink and drive are another category all together!

All the above traits are a sure invitation for accident and no wonder that we have so many accidents on the road. When an accident happens, we just start shouting at the others. Invariably, it is the person with a bigger vehicle is perceived to be at fault.

Have you all experienced this? There is no point in lifting our hands in disgust and expect the Police or Government to do something. From today, if we decide to be little more careful and care for others concerns, half the job is done. Other half of the job is to tell others about safe and sensible driving whenever we get an opportunity.

Shall we?

text from here

junaid

Note: This is not the reply of first one; it is just another intresting post to read

One morning, as I was driving though a layer of fog, I saw a traffic light turning Red. It appeared that the light was flickering, It occurred to me that it is winking at me! Probably the light wanted to communicate something.

So went my thought and suddenly we entered into a conversation…….

Traffic Light: "Have you ever bothered to look at me with some interest? Whenever you look at me, you treat me as if I am your enemy. Just because, I would have turned Red just then? How about when I am Green ? You never even care to give me a glance! You just zoom past along with other vehicles" was its complaint.

Me: "But when you are Red, you remain red for a long time; just like my wife – once she is angry, she is angry for a long time. But when you turn Green , you are in a hurry to go off" I said.

Traffic Light: "That’s not my problem! It’s how you see it. Ask the traffic police who is turning me from one color to the other. Have you ever bothered think about the tough life I am going though?" asked the traffic light.

Me: "Come on; what is the problem in just standing there and winking? Once this eye, once that eye. That’s all you do!" I said.

Traffic Light: "Ha… Ha…" When I ask you to stop for a while, you can not stand here for more than one minute. Suddenly you start feeling hot, suddenly you find that the dust and smoke is too much. You can not tolerate the noise of Horns, Lorries and Autos. I can’t even put my finger in the blocked nose and clear as my hands and legs have been tied and made as a post. After 8 hours of work, you get rest; but I don’t get any" it went on with its argument.

Me: "But there is no work for you in the night", I made an observation.

Traffic Light: "What do you know about our nightlife?" Retorted the light. "You go home and sleep under cozy blanket with your near and dear one. But we have to be standing here in cold, blinking yellow like disco lights. We get crams standing all night long. Standing here all these years, I have fallen in love with that sleek lamppost on the other side of the road. I can not even go and hug her on cold nights!"

Me: "Oh! I never thought from that angle", I said.

Traffic Light: "You have never thought from any angle. You know what? Just when it is morning and we think that the early morning rays of Sun are giving us a respite from the crams, these street dogs – one after other, come and make us wet all over!"

Me: "I understand. I really pity you" I said.

Traffic Light: "What pity you? If you are really feeling so sorry about it and want to help me why don’t you do me a favor?"

Me: "Tell me, I will do all that I can do within my powers, I promised"

Traffic Light: "Come and stand in my place for a day; I just need to go to my home town for a while".

text from here

kavita

!!! amazing

pawan

Nice posts Junaid…Traffic light story is really very good.

apurva

road manners in India

Impatient /Ill-mannered /Illiterate

The 3 words in the above line describe our road manners especially in big cities .People honk ! honk ! and in many cases just use the dipper too much .All this just serves one purpose -they might reach their destination 5 minutes ahead of schedule ,provided they do not meet with an accident /hit another car.

vishal

It's really shameful and painful that most of the Indians think that Horn is there to blow.

May god bring some wisdom to people of India.

Pedestrians are also non entities for most of the drivers.

Please stop the madness on road and for that change yourself at least,if you can't change the world.

Alex

Same goes with pedestrians they think vehicles will stop for thwem so they can cross the road.

nikhil

Money can buy cars for us but not Manners. Let's be more civilized on the roads.

cheers

hemant

When a pedestrian is seen crossing a road, driver should be given the passage for the pedestrian and the vehicle drivers must slow down the vehicle. (It should be)

Pitiable condition

In India if we see a pedestrian crossing a road, we tend to increase the speed of the vehicle thus forcing him to run or get knocked down.

INDIAN

Most driver uses their vehicle as a kind of barricade to block the peripendicular traffic and slowly close their way and then take on from there.

junaid

honk, honk & honk right near schools, near hospitals, does not matter, just honk.

Start honking from one end of the street and keep honking till you reach the other end, never know who ill barge in between.

varun

It's very disgusting fact that majority of the Indian driver's do not adhere at least 10% of traffic rules or manners.But according to me the main reason for this is the inability of Governments to keep size ,quality, improvement of the roads in proportion of increasing size of vehicles. 90 percent of Indian roads irrespective of they are Nukkad ki Gali, City Roads,Rural roads or highways are inadequate for volume of traffic they sustain.That directly reflects driver mentality and results into bad driving.

prabhat

Theres no doubt about that. Because its so easy to buy a car and a driving license with money that we forget that it does not buy safety. Good road manners do buy safety but money doesnt buy good manners. Good education does! and we badly lackit.

anshuman

Great Line..(Y)

hemant

many ppl even dont consider leaving way to an ambulance or fire engine .... including me.. who do not know which side of the road should we go to allow such vehicles.

pawan

• If you see Red Light, then you can look LEFT, then RIGHT, then proceed undeterred unless there is a danger of getting pulverized by oncoming traffic.
• An Orange Light here doesn't mean that “Slow Down...lights changing”, but “Speed up buster, or the world'll know thou sucketh” !!
• A Green Light means, "Do whatever you want"!!!!!
• You can be the first to honk when the light turns green.
• You can start moving when the timer says 7 seconds left for light to turn green.
• If you see the auto in front giving it's right indicator, but the driver waving his left hand, then you can not mind the indicator.
• You can seek whichever lane is free, because it is your birth right to change lanes at the last moment. That is why the indicators and horns are there.
• You can not use dipper at night.
• If you are at foot, then you are the "King of the Road"...nothing can touch you!
• You can disregard one-way signs only if you have Rs. 50 in your pocket.

road runner

nice post pawan.

Once we out of our homes then we show our true colors. Rampant indiscipline, carelessness, no fear or respect for law, casual attitude is all that we show out there on the roads and almost everywhere.

Its very scary on the roads to say the least where every one seems to driving to save himself or herself and the basic rules of driving are just not cared for.

ruchi

The conclusion is 'We are Ill Mannered' on roads.

sam

Ruchi I agree with u that we are ill mannered on the road. But the blame equally lies with us. Not with the congestion, not with the other ill mannered drivers nor with the government.

Lots of Indians driving in other countries. They are very careful, very civilised, and take extra precaution while driving there. But the same person once he/she is back in India behaves like a wild buffalo.

I feel that the main reason is the lack of ACCOUNTABILITY FOR YOUR ACTION AND THE ABILITY TO GET AWAY WITH RESPONSIBILITY BY USING INFLUENCE OR MONEY.

If we had the same amount accountability as in most parts of the world, we will be driving in a much more civilised manner. The government and politicians have to take a stand on this and ensure that they bring in accountability for both themselves and for the general public. But then that is a new subject altogether......

varun

India is our country and each of us can make a difference.