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-   -   7 Habits of highly effective idiots on Indian roads (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-safety/134551-7-habits-highly-effective-idiots-indian-roads-6.html)

Nicely portrayed, Sarang!! No doubt that ALL of us have come across samples from ALL the classes mentioned here. Some more:
1. They overtake through the left to wait first at a red signal, blocks a 'free left' in the process and "sleeps"!! (They take around 30 seconds to realize when the signal turns green).
2. In a narrow road, they prefer to stop right in front of you (though they had a wider place to stop and wait, no, atleast plan their speed, to prevent a bottleneck), and expects you to reverse / get out of the mess somehow without them budging a bit.
3. Kerala Private buses!! They overtake you through left and right - only to stop 500m ahead. Even just before stopping, they will make an overtaking maneuver and cuts the poor vehicle behind to a complete halt.
4. Constant honkers (accelerators on horns?!), even at a red signal (I roll down my window and show them the 'overtake' hand signal to such lot) and High Beamers!

Sorry to be blunt, but the above statement is a perfect example of how middle-class/working class/educated keep themselves chained to being the whipping boys for whole of India.
Is the law differently worded for the poor/ignorant/uneducated? Or is it not applicable to the rich/connected/political goon types?
Why is it that everyone expects only the educated working class (as aptly put the highly educated IT types) to pay their taxes, work hard, not crib and follow all rules of this unruly nation?
Its high time that we stop excusing the antics of the truckers/rickshaw wallas and the politcal goons, they are Indian citizens and must follow the law or expect consequences like all others. Each time we expect only the middle class to uphold the morality of the nation, we sink further into this cesspit.

You got the wrong message brother. Law is one and same for everyone, that is well understood, documented and comprehended.
I see 'so called educated' people committing as many mistakes as any other fellow on the road. This is reality, and we have to take it with a pinch of salt.

Let me rephrase in the Utopian context: Let the 'so called' educated follow rules and regulations to the book, and leave law enforcing agents deal with rest (truck/cab/bus drivers, etc.).

Hello All,

Let me narrate about one more highly effective idiot on Indian Roads:

Merrily Honking idiot: Mind it - there are millions & millions of these idiots out there on our roads. These idiots are always honking at practically everything & nothing. Some how they feel that honking is their birth right & probably in a minute they will honk atleast 10 times.

In cities these idiots are more from group of two wheelers riders but in small towns & villages you will find pratically every vehicle merrily honking at anything. Further I have a neighbour (residing at 2nd floor of apartment) whose friend comes to meet him at 11 pm & instead of calling on his friend's mobile, he honks trying to catch everyone's attention.

This reminds of my visit to Munich, Germany for 15 days & during all these days, I heard cars honking only a couple of times.

Thanks,

Seems this guy found a probable solution (Check out his bumper sticker)-"Krupa Horn na Bajaye -Please do not honk" (This was taken while travelling on the ring road in delhi ,sorry about the poor quality)

The most common of these are of the 'me first' category! They will do anything and everything to make up that fraction of a second even if it means literally running over someone else. And what really bothers me is that this is a seemingly ingrained behavior in almost everyone. Be it cafeteria queues, parking lot queues, cinema box office queues, anywhere any sort of queue is present, there seems to be a ready lot of people hell-bent on getting 'one-over' on the other person.
I even see this in elevators at my work place. Keep jabbing at the 'elevator close' button even though there's a guy running to catch the lift. More often than not that person gets his leg (or some other body part) stuck in the door and has a bruise to show for it!!
:deadhorse

Hi Sarang,

Excellent write up, and big thanks to your wife for the superb illustrations. Most of your observations are spot on. I have been thinking hard on putting some similar thoughts on Indian driving habits on facebook, hopefully so that at least some of my fb friends see it and pass it on. I wonder whether I can upload this post somehow, wish i could.

There are some unique situations here in Kerala. We mostly have two lane roads, actually single lane width roads divided into two by ridiculously drawn bold white lines. People here havent seen lanes, so most of them dont know lane driving rules. Driving slowly on right side is the norm here. Sometimes i feel it must be so because many of these fellows have lived in Gulf countries, and have not got over their left right disorientation.

One irritating problem i observe, even among educated people, even doctors here is that none of them respect zebra crossing when they drive. I drive reasonably fast, on right lane, but always stop for people to cross at zebra crosses after braking sufficiently early. In the rare places where we have two lanes, the fools on my left keep driving past me and the hapless pedestrian is stuck on the road in front of my car on right lane. Sometimes i feel I may end up being repsonsible for a pedestrians death this way by following the rule.

The other horrible stuff in Kerala is the buses, both private and even KSRTC buses, drive at maniacal speeds, and stop at every stop virtually. This happens not only on highways but in city as well. They will keep honking behind you at 50kmph in city, overtake you and stop right in front, making you slam brakes. This is not to frustrate you, but to merely stop at a legitimate bus stop. These idiotic drivers are mostly young men in their late twenties and early thirties, and have reasonable Goonda connections, so you cant mess up with them. The police cant catch them, because that would mean a bus strike the next day.

I also feel the way we acquire our licences itself needs to be changed. I live close to Government driving institute, and one can see potential drivers learning the trade in archaic fashion. Even today, they are asked to give hand signals, something they are never going to do the rest of their lives. Use of indicators is neither taught, nor tested. The result is sometimes seen frustratingly on highways, as you have correcty mentioned. Again there are some unique indicator signals in India. I once drove on Bangalore mysore highway on extreme right at about 80+, and found a cab driving slowly in front. After honking for him to move to left, i saw him give the left indicator in short blinks and not change lane for quite some time. This kept on repeating for a long time, after which i was forced to overtake him from left. I later realised he was asking me to overtake him from left by giving left indicators!!! I dont remember seeing this in driving instructions anywhere.

There arre so many, I can write a book. As BHPians, shouldnt we do something about it? Can we start a road safety campaign, maybe on facebook or something, similar to anticorruption campaign?

Durga Prasan

Very nicely illustrated with graphics. :) I'm cent percent sure that every one of us have qualified for this idioticy at least once in our driving career. Unorganized and poorly planned traffic system in India with weak laws leads to this type of traffic sense.

In countries like USA, you can judge cars moving on cruise control when there is an highway patrol leading right ahead. In India you would cut lanes and zip right under the nose of our cops.

You have answered your own question in the 2nd category of idiots.

And this is not just in highways but also common in cities where bikers would ride on the wrong side at break neck speeds to get to the U Turn quickly.

OT, but I am shocked. I wonder how you didnt smack the head of the guy who willfully closes the elevator door on a person. Too many Indians around, maybe thats the reason.

Great article!!!! It is high time that in India, people start to think and act seriously about road safety. Well to start with, it is quite simple, we need to be more courteous please: and exercise a duty of care (a duty of care is a legal obligation which is imposed on an individual requiring that they adhere to a standard of reasonable care while performing any acts that could foreseeably harm others. It is the first element that must be established to proceed with an action in negligence.) while driving on our roads.

All of your notes on Kerala are absolutely true. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see a huge change in driving habits in Ernakulam on a recent visit. People were fairly (can't still give full marks you see) disciplined on the 4 lane road from Mannuthy to Edappally. I spotted only 3 drivers who drove rash and above ~90. Even driving around in the city, I was surprised at the reduced use of horns, much less lane weaving, overall reduced speed (compared to early maniacal days). Well, it was only one trip and a couple of days, so I am not sure if this was a one off but thought I should mention this amidst our rising cynicism on road habits.

You probably missed a catogory of idiots who absolutely have no sense of respect for other people's property. I have seen more than my fair share of incidents at my office parking (which is turning out to be a premium these days) where the squeeze their cars in slots fit for a scooter and inevitably scratching other folks cars. Recently a fellow employee just crashed into a parked car head on - reason he drove into the parking lot at high speed and tried to pull a Ken Block stunt. Next thing, he moves his car to a different slot, parks it and walks away. These are the same people who are supposed to be educated and have driven in half a dozen countries they travel to. I do not believe education is a cure to these problems anymore; it seems to be in most peoples genes...

Well, we are so used to chaotic driving habits that in the beginning I used to get very irritated when everybody was moving at 40Km/hr speed when I wanted to rush. But no amount of speeding would make others go fast and I used to frustrate myself. Those were the beginning days of my driving. But somehow I disciplined myself without making costly mistakes and after I saw how public drives in Germany and US, I realized how comfortable it would be to drive if everybody obeys traffic rules. We create same scenes everywhere. For instance, when I traveled to US via Frankfurt, boarding at Mumbai airport was real chaos. Boarding a bigger flight from Frankfurt to US was very disciplined and return from US till Frankfurt was also same. But boarding at Frankfurt to Mumbai was real chaos as people created their own ques and all trying to cross the bottleneck of boarding gate together as if flight seats are occupied on "First come-First service" basis and as if somebody was going to steal their seats. What a shame!
And just to mention, honking at somebody in a western country is supposed to be a very rude gesture. And the sound of some after market horns some of which are installed on the private buses plying around here in Udupi is heard to be believed.

I have a colleague whise habits are similar. He is coming in my Office bus in my route. He will get down from the bus, rush to the Office building from the bus stop (200 meters away), catch the lift and close the door before anybody else gets in and goes alone to the third floor! I do not know what he gets from it!