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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-8.html)

Thank you so much guys for your kind words and actively contributing to this thread which has exponentially increased this thread's worth. Honestly, although as a human being it was pleasing to realize you guys liked the post, but I take the least credit for it as it wasn't even meant to be of some literary value. In fact, I was kind of surprised that most found the post humorous (credit goes to my better half for her pictures) because when I penned it down, the only feeling that was inside me was that of a frustrated 'relatively frequent' law and common sense abiding person on the road. I must thank the team-bhp forum and as usual it again proved that you offer 1 to it, you gain 10 in return !

I was out of station and now have gone through each and every reply on this thread. Saddened to know there are so many different types of idiots with equally disastrous traits but Supremely impressed with the mindset and approach of the forum members that despite adversities, they are optimistically and desperately trying to find out effective solutions to curb this menace. See we do tend to put every discipline or common sense related stuff to our humongous population but I have had friends in China who read my post on my personal blog and told me it's totally absent in China in fact not only on the roads but in general Chinese are extremely disciplined and law-abiding people, they respect their infrastructure and have much more empathy for the fellow citizens be it on the road or in any public place.

Stringent and quick law enforcements is one solution (and only) that comes to my mind. Members living in other developed countries can you please post your own experiences and thoughts on what is that differentiator between us and them when it comes to minimizing the number of idiots on the roads (and in public places as many of you mentioned)... What's that they do differently that we don't?

Brilliant sforsarang. I must confess, on 1 or 2 ocassions i was "Me first' idiot".

How many of us stick to Speed limits? May be you should add "Speedster Idiots" Who never bother about speed limits. I see everyday people paying Fine on BETL flyover for overspeeding.

Also there is a category called "Crossing Idiots", They dont even know that one should cross the road from behind the Bus once they alight and not in front. Its a bloody blind spot and i have seen so many accidents near Narayana Hrudayala, Bangalore.

On similar lines, I always wondered if we can have a reflector which can reflect the high beam (amplified twice or more) right into the eyes of the driver on high beam - specially for those who are insensitive to your repeated requests for a dipper :Frustrati

The daemon in me takes over just talking about it or venting out this frustration - lets be good people, let us talk about improving the situation here :)

A friend sent me this image a few days back, and i bet you agree with what it potrays about the mentality of India drivers.:Shockked:

Excellent initiative Sarang, hope the RTO dishes out the traffic rules in such a way, before providing license. Here are a few things which irritates me every day in Chennai.

1. People riding with the high beams on, they won't lower the beam even if you blink your lights.
2. People who honk endlessly at every vehicle in front of them.
3. Bikers who overtake you on the left, even if you have switched on the left indicator and started moving towards left to take the turn.
4. People who turn, slow down or stop without bothering to use the indicators.
5. People who ride without a tail/brake light.
6. People who put half their vehicle in the opposite lane, while waiting to take a U-turn.
7. People who drive well below the speed limit of a road. You need to make a risky overtake move to go past them, especially when there is no divider. (Especially bikers and auto wallas).
8. People who have their high beams on, at night, while coming in the opposite direction.
9. People driving at 30 - 40 KMPH, occupying the right lane, without bothering about the chaos they cause behind them. Why is it too hard to understand, SLOW - Take the left lane; FAST - Right lane.
10. Taxi wallas tail gating 2 wheelers as though they are bugs waiting to be crushed.

Just typing these frustrates me a lot, is it too optimistic to expect a change or are we resigned to this fate?

Very much possible. The high beam morons are most irritating especially when they light up your mirrors from behind. Simple yet effective solution to this, paste two used CD to the rear of your car, with the reflective side out. The moron will flash his high beam, get a reflected high beam back and then will drive the rest of the way on his parking lights, unless he overtakes you. lol:

Yesterday morning, I was waiting at a signal (reliance in Bannerghatta road) in my bike with my wife as pillion. A bus was also waiting next to me.



Suddenly a biker came from behind the bus and banged my bike from behind and fell down. I could control my balance as I was waiting with my leg support.

The guy then got up immediately and came to me and started to shout at me. I simply told him, that if he needed to pass the red signal, he needed to put a red beacon on his bike and have two police pilot jeep in front of him.lol:

This made him shut up and wait behind me for the signal to go green.

Hello Sarang,

Let me once again thank you for this wonderful thread.

While stringent & quick law is always an option, but going by the history we know how good we Indians are at bending (& not breaking) the law. If the fine for jumping Red light is increased to Rs. 500, most cops will merrily accept Rs. 100 as bribe & let go the offender. Similarly the motorist will be more than happy to escape by just paying Rs. 100 (instead of official fine of Rs. 500) & will be motivated to jump the singal next time also.

I feel the best solution to this menance is education, awareness of self & others safety & self discipline. This reminds of an experience that I had in Munich, Germany - within 10 minutes of being on roads. I landed at Munich & reached to my hotel by Taxi. The day was Sunday & it was approx 5 pm on a chilly winter afternoon, I decided to take a walk on empty streets. I started walking from my hotel & the streets were absolutely empty. I reached a small intersection of two streets & on seeing a car approaching from one of the streets I halted on footpath (as there were no traffic signals). To my absolute astonishment the car stopped couple of feet from the intersection & the driver hand signaled me to cross the street.

Now looking at above incident, where does law enforcement & strict traffic rules come in picture? It is just a matter of self awaremess & respect for another person's time & life, which I am sorry to say is totally missing on Indian roads.

Thanks,

Reminds me of the 'Crossing Dancers'. They take a step forward into your path as if they are about to run & cross the road (in all probability, when your traffic signal is green), makes you slow down, which reminds them not to cross the road now. And when you've had your share of waiting, they again decide to jump - I plead them to cross by waving my hand and wait till they've finished their maneuver.:Frustrati
On a related thought - How often do you see pedestrians following their traffic signals (for crossing) and them getting penalised for not following the signal?

Thanks guys for adding value to this thread. The more I read the more it makes me introspect and BEHAVE on road almost always.

Agnijit, a picture speaks thousand words. You got it right with this !!!

C4CAR, thankfully Indian roads, Indian cars and overall road dynamics doesnt really support or encourage high speed driving else Indian mindset and people's behavior on road mixing with great infrastructure, vehicles etc. is a deadly cocktail. Surprisingly, not many Indians are in the news for accidents that happen abroad. So I guess it is the fear of law enforcement agencies that keep these morons at bay there.

Chakri400, Recently saw a facebook pic in a funny way describing exactly what you have mentioned. Not sure how to get that.. I guess it is there somewhere in this post thread only !

Optimus7, yeah it is too optimistic to expect a change. Honestly, even if that change happens, that's going to be for the betterment of our next 3 generations onward. not for us.

PetrolRider, didn't you take assistance of the traffic police there to teach that idiot a lesson in riding?

Jignesh bhai, thanks again ! Yes I totally agree, even when I was in the US for a short stint, this change was really big for me to digest. But, coming to that education point, I don't then understand how the same set of Indians BEHAVE on roads when they go abroad but dont, when they drive or walk or commute in India? That's what makes me think it's mainly the fear of getting penalized without an iota of corrupt opportunities to escape loosely.

ImprezaFan, 'Crossing Dancers' are prevalent here because people just aren't used to the speeding vehicles. In almost everyone's mind it stays put that no vehicle can be driven with speed in India. We have absolutely zero sense of incoming vehicle's speed while crossing the roads and since everyone is so unpredictable when it comes to road manners, people can't decide what when how while crossing roads !

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Absolutely agree with the crossing dancers part. If they can't make up their mind, they should have stayed at the spot and wait till the signal turns red for the motorists. Its mind boggling when you have one of these guys on the streets and judging by the way they go back and forth, i tend to dab the brakes and dance with him till he crosses the road :Frustrati. Talk about the pied piper of hamlin on the streets. :D

He already had a fall and as a creature who is supposed to have brain could not understand from this, then how a traffic police could have teach him a lesson :Frustrati.

Anyway, I was also getting late to my wife's work place and then I would also have to go to my office, hence didn't want to be in a mess.

Very funny thread about the driving scenario in India although in reality its anything but funny. Since "idiots" seem to be an accepted compliment on this thread I'm going to use it quite liberally. Kidding:)

How about a tribute to the pestilence that move under the guise of auto-ricks and cabs? It's so funny to observe how identical the both forms of transport are driven, almost as if there's a driving school in hell that sends out these beings of torment. Lets get to the finer points of their skills :

1) Cabs/ricks parked neatly by the side of the road, awaiting an oncoming vehicle from the back/front, BOOM! in .5 of a second they start their engine, slip into gear (pun intended) and take the sharpest turn possible out to the road (even if there are no vehicles parked in front of them!), in the process occupying a full lane, and most of the the opposite lane as well while throwing out sharp stares to cover their rear end (pun intended again).

2) Now that their form of torment in still-motion is covered, lets get to torment in motion. Traffic jams. The beings salivate at this, for its the rickshaw's "Only" chance to honk at a car and blame it for being slow. Note that I've gone to lengths to highlight "Only" yes you get what I mean :) If the auto driver is possessed more than usual he will give out a yell and a few expletives perhaps even if its obvious that traffic around isnt moving at any more than 5 kmph. Cabbies tend to honk with clockwork precision every 5 seconds anyway, whether in a standing still jam or in a freeway with no vehicle in sight.

3) Rick's are sort of the enforcers of un-law and dis-order of the road. If they honk and bully in slow moving jams, shouldn't the opposite also hold meaning? Lo and behold! A reasonably free road where a safe speed of 40-50 kmph is easily possible, the problem? Carefully choreographed ricks planted every 50 meters revving it up at top gear at a mind boggling 10 kmph. They wont give way, they are there for a reason as specified above. Cabbies do this less often, mostly if one gives way to them they are less intrusive. Suggestion to companies for cost cutting : Might as well do away with indicator switches and blinkers on cabs/ricks. They are never used anyway.

4) Lane change, this is where rick's and cabs truly work like a tag-team/partners in crime. A rick will hold the victim from being able to change lanes while the cab will show up from the back and bully the victim to no end and so on and so forth.

While for people who are about to learn driving this may seem like a joke, yes it is but its as real as it can get when it comes to describing the state of laws on the road - A JOKE. Please do not change lanes without indication, turn on soft music and turn off a better part of your reasoning when driving. Under the present circumstances only Draconian Law can resurrect traffic rules in the country.

We must not forget this cadre of idiots on the road i.e. jaywalking on the road and talking on the mobile phone.

Your post reminds me too of my experience in Orlando, USA -my first visit to USA. Similar to your experience, I too was crossing a road near a shopping mall. Our tendency as Indians is to stop and allow a car to go and then cross. I stopped without a concious effort on seeing a car approach. But the driver stopped well away from me and signaled me to cross.
Another pleasant surprise was all the taxi drivers were really coming to a complete stop at intersections (not only busy ones but also in deserted roads inside the hotel property as well) and giving a careful look either way before proceeding further. Here I guess only people learning driving will do that and will never practice same again once they learn driving on their own.