[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not saying this because I live in Mumbai, but this city has the best road manners of any metro in India. And I've driven in them all.

Mumbai drivers are generally well-behaved, stick to their lane (especially in autorickshaw-less South Bombay) & adhere to traffic rules (at least most of the time ). More than a couple of Mods visiting from other cities have commented on the same, including bblost who once rode down on his Bullet.

The worst road manners I've seen are in Calcutta.

+1 to that. I was in Mumbai in Jan for a visa appointment and this was my first visit to Mumbai. Right from the airport till reaching the hotel in Colaba, I was impressed by the driving manners of the motorists and especially their adherence to the traffic lights. The experience was consistent on both days I ventured out. Was certainly a welcome change from what I get to see in Chennai everyday.

[fine69]

Originally Posted by GTO

Mumbai drivers are generally well-behaved, stick to their lane (especially in autorickshaw-less South Bombay) & adhere to traffic rules (at least most of the time ).

Strongly agree!!

My parents lived in Malabar Hills for the last 4-5 years and everytime I visited them it was a whole different world. The general feel was that nobody was in hurry, there was an unusual calm on the road and it was incredible given that I've driven in Delhi since 2000.

I LOVE South Bombay for the road behaviour. The road itself is nothing great, in fact nowhere close to the quality of roads that we have in Delhi but its the drivers who make it pure bliss rather than hell that's unleashed on Delhi roads everyday.

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

I saw someone commenting on improving Pune infra,

That someone must be me?

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I mostly see Pune score better on implementing road expansion projects as I have seen many tiny roads turn into 6 lanes by demolishing everything that is around it, something that I can only dream in Bangalore.

but let me add that all these conversions of roads to 4 & 6 lanes is without planning whatsoever.

Probably the reason why it didn't score on Infrastructure criterion and none of us will deny that. However, its always good to see that expansions have happened instead of nothing at all which is the case of many cities.

From more than a decade I have witnessed how tiny roads have converted into 4 to 8 lane roads.

Hence my statement was only to say that at least there is something that is being done instead of simply accepting the fact that we will have to live with it.

And on top of that, the BRTS project screws up whatever is left of the usable road.

Pune BRTS especially between Hadapsar - Katraj was a flop. It is a fact that no one can take it away. Done in haste, implemented without proper vision and operated with no rules in place that also caused a lot of accidents (and quite a few deaths too).

And I am not even talking about potholes/traffic sense/ etc yet.

Another reason why it didn't score on Infra or Road Safety and it is a known fact that Pune which is only 2.5 hours from Mumbai has a massive difference when it comes to road manners.

[amit_rai]

Being from Hyderabad, it will score worst in Road Manners. However, it has one of India's best Roads (Nehru ORR) and even internal city roads are not bad.

[Nav-i-gator]

Road connectivity, infra and quality - Delhi is obviously the best, being national capital. IMO, Delhi should not be considered for these 3 parameters; undue disadvantage for other cities. In every other parameter, it would be worst. Delhi and manners do not blend at all. People do not look at traffic lights at all. At any junction, the general rule is - look right, look left, look straight and around the pillars/corners. If no cop, move whichever way you want to, traffic lights be damned.

Bangalore is fast gaining an iconic status on "what all can go wrong with traffic". first hand accounts of residents have now become legendary tales of horrific traffic situation there.

Chennai is better managed vis-a-vis other cities. Hyderabad is also good. Kolkata I have never been to, so can't comment.

Mumbai, considering the geographical limitaitons on road infra and huge pressure on existing roads, has to be significantly good in road manners. Otherwise, nobody can move an inch forward. Pune is slowly going bangalore's way I dread.

[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by amit_rai

Being from Hyderabad, it will score worst in Road Manners. However, it has one of India's best Roads (Nehru ORR) and even internal city roads are not bad.

It seems road manners is only getting worse day by day. While I agree about ORR, the internal roads in Hyderabad have deteriorated sharply over the last few years. While nothing to do with politics, I believe Hyderabad, in fact the earstwhile AP state, witnessed best roads when CBN was CM.

[swissknife]

Originally Posted by smartcat

This index has been compiled by recording citizen views and organizing ground-level surveys in the said cities. But I wish there was more information on the methodology used.

With a million intersections and a billion two-wheelers on Bangalore roads, I

I was shocked to see Bangalore top the list of cities for Road Safety! It was after some thought that I realised that a parking lot would surely end up being very safe rather than vehicles on streets!

[silverado]

Originally Posted by GTO

Not saying this because I live in Mumbai, but this city has the best road manners of any metro in India. Mumbai drivers are generally well-behaved, stick to their lane (especially in autorickshaw-less South Bombay) & adhere to traffic rules (at least most of the time .

Mumbai drivers in general used to respect traffic police lot, there was a certain fear about breaking rules, but this has reduced now.

Most people in Pune do not follow traffic rules.But they are very much aware that Mumbai police is strict, hence the same set of people start following rules once in Mumbai.

Pune, especially Pimpri Chinchwad area has grown tremendously in road infra.Quality of roads here is top notch.

BRTS is still a joke as it was in 2006.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by dZired

Maruti Suzuki has released a Road Safety Index for 8 Indian cities. This index has been compiled by recording citizen views and organizing ground-level surveys in the said cities...

So the whole study is subjective and opinion-based. No mention of methodology in choosing the respondents, how the survey was conducted, or what were the actual data.

Maruti Suzuki says:

The 8 cities selected for the campaign were identified based on population, metro status, and statewide coverage. The study was conducted over a period of 3 months. It considers feedback from 6000 people representing the population in these cities. 15 prominent locations in each city, including malls, bus stops, petrol pumps, tourist spots and similar busy areas of the city were identified for the survey.
Source

6000 per city, or 6000 in all? That is a paltry number to survey for cities with populations of tens of millions each.

Originally Posted by dZired

The 8 Indian cities rated for this first Road Safety Index are Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.

All the cities are winners in some parameter or the other. Any idea which cities fared the worst in any of these parameters?

Originally Posted by dZired

The automaker believes that the said ratings will serve as a reference point for administrative authorities of the rated cities to work on parameters that have scored poorly.

We don't even know which cities fared poorly in what parameters, so how does the automaker expect the cities' administrators to work on such parameters? This seems to be an exercise in patting some government people's backs, promoting the MSIL name as a company that is safety-conscious, and carrying out their CSR duties in a manner that turns the limelight on them.

Maybe Maruti Suzuki ought to focus more on giving us safer cars and not pat their own (and others') backs about promoting road safety. The Manesar-built Celerio for the Indian market scores a miserable zero-star in the Global NCAP, but the built-for-Australia Celerio from the same plant gets a 4-star ANCAP rating. Shame on you, Maruti Suzuki - please walk the talk first! Give us safe cars before telling us our city roads are safe.

[prasathlr]

Bangalore is on top of the list with respect to road safety because no one can drive above 20kmph.

[Vitalstatistiks]

Let me stick my neck out and go against the grain here.

It is a strongly perpetuated myth that Bombay traffic and drivers obey traffic rules better than most other places in India.

There. I said it. It is a myth. It used to be true, very true. I perpetuated this myself. When I moved to Bombay for the first time in 2002-2003, I witnessed cars stopping at signals close to Opera house, at 2 in the night. I saw traffic cops issuing challans to people, for CUTTING LANES. It was mighty impressive. Never saw that anywhere else, before or since. But, alas, how things have deteriorated for the worst in the last few years.

Traffic signals have become a joke. Most people think of them as being mere guidelines, rather than law. Even when people stop at a traffic signal, do you see where they stop? They keep creeping forward, blocking half the road for traffic going in other direction. NEVER have I seen a queue of vehicles stopping behind the white strips. NEVER.

Oh and the Pedestrians. My god. No wonder Bombay is rated highly in this survey on pedestrian rights. Because they exercise it with impunity. There should be dedicated thread on pedestrian behavior on Bombay roads.

I say the above with some responsibility, having driven in Bombay for close to 5-6 years, before moving to Delhi. Besides the tony SoBo neighborhoods, there is absolutely no discipline observed by anyone on the roads, be it cabbies, private vehicles, two wheelers and PEDESTRIANS. Everyone is always in a mad dash. And we haven't even started discussing the joke called the road infrastructure in Bombay.

Let me illustrate my absolutely subjective views with a couple of examples. (And please, this is not a Bombay v. Delhi or Bombay v. anything post. So pls refrain from making it one.) Couple of us car-mad colleagues moved from Bombay to Delhi at the same, and shared these views.

1. The road infrastructure in Delhi is so much better, so much better that it automatically induces better driving behavior from people who are inclined to follow discipline. While in Bombay you are assured of driving from one traffic jam to another, repeatedly, and hence are always in a dash to get in front of the queue, in Delhi you know that the only jams there are, are on the traffic signals. Otherwise the traffic keeps moving. Which automatically relaxes the person, and he/she doesn't drive every second behind the wheel as if it is a race of life. This was one of the first things I noticed in Delhi, as to how folks would drive sedately at 50 kmph on a completely empty stretch of road. I could not fathom why would that person not put pedal to metal when he/she has an empty stretch, like how we do in Bombay. It dawned on me after spending some time on the road. Now I don't do 0-60-0-60 dashes anymore either.

2. Linked to road infrastructure, there are relatively much lesser pedestrians on the road. At least the arterial roads. Comparable to, say, SV Road, Linking road etc. Can you imagine driving on those during peak hours and not constantly looking out for an idiot jumping in from of you. Polar opposite of relaxing drive, no? Well, you know what, you CAN do that in Delhi. Almost take it for granted. Of course there are pedestrians and idiots, who jump across from time to time, but it's not every 20 meters, and you know where they will be. Net result, much more relaxing a drive.

3. SURPRISE SURPRISE. What you didn't expect to hear from anyone about Delhi traffic. Traffic signals are by and large respected. (p.s. They are called 'red light' in Delhi, not signal ) Most people stop behind the STOP sign. I was super surprised to observe this, but my theory is that Delhi traffic moves that much faster in Bombay that if you jump signals, there is that much more possibility of serious accident. What accident do you expect driving at 20 kmph in Bombay, hehe.

On the opposite end, though, people in Delhi have no idea what lanes mean, and how to take turns on corners. Like seriously. Idiots cut from extreme left to turn right and vice versa all the time. And they don't realize what they are doing. Like it's normal.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. But I had read about bad traffic manners in Bombay even here on team-bhp, so was surprised to see flowering tributes again. Hence, I thought I should my point of view, having closely been part of it for many years. Let me also clarify that my views on both Bombay and Delhi traffic is definitely skewed by the areas of the cities that I generally drove around in. Let me clarify- In Bombay, i drove regularly between Bandra to Lower Parel to Nariman Point stretch. In Delhi, I drive in south and central Delhi by and large. I know East and West Delhi display much worse traffic. And no, Gurgaon and NH-8 is not Delhi.

Just like those who would counter this post, I have no objective data to support my views. It is my personal observation and subject to number of variables. Please feel free to provide your equally subjective, and full of variables, point of views.

[landcruiser123]

I can only comment of Chennai and Bangalore.

I like Chennai better any day- There are more wider roads, flyovers, interchanges, quality roads and proper dividers. The average speed of traffic in Chennai is definitely higher.

Bangalore has inconsistent road quality at most places and so many bottlenecks.

I have a theory that major cities built during the British Era (Bangalore wasn't, Mysore was) have better infrastructure and lesser bottlenecks. Example: Mysore seems to be better planned than Bangalore if you can tolerate the ill-mannered autos.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

I have a theory that major cities built during the British Era (Bangalore wasn't, Mysore was) have better infrastructure and lesser bottlenecks. Example: Mysore seems to be better planned than Bangalore if you can tolerate the ill-mannered autos.

Completely agree with this statement. Even the Delhi of British times is far far better than what was planned and executed later.

Chandigarh is one of the finest example of traffic movement in all respects.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Altocumulus

PIn a red light, by the time it turns green people are already in the middle of the junction.

Originally Posted by silverado

Mumbai drivers in general used to respect traffic police lot, there was a certain fear about breaking rules, but this has reduced now.

Originally Posted by Vitalstatistiks

Traffic signals have become a joke. Most people think of them as being mere guidelines, rather than law.

You guys should come visit Mumbai again. Leave aside jumping traffic lights, drivers are now petrified of even waiting on zebra crossings.

Reason:


Drive around and the change in behaviour is remarkable.

[The Great]

But isn't it ironic that the company which has most of its product's failing in crash tests is conducting a safety index study ?