[Immix]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Before we can enforce lane discipline related fines, our infrastructure and law enforcement needs to become consistent.

My view exactly. You can't enforce rules unless you have the base/platform for people to follow those rules. For whatever reason - cost, land acquisition, lack of traffic flow studies, and in most cases sheer neglect, there is simply no semblance to how wide (and with how many lanes) a road is built. Some examples that come to mind:

• There are national highways with 3 lanes that suddenly become two lane because of an existing bridge that was only 2 lanes before the road was widened.
• Bottlenecks becasue of religious structures in the middle of the road
• 3 lane road becoming 1.5 lane becasue of BRTS
• 2 two lane roads after a fork result in another two lane road again

There are other infrastructure related issues of course that cause people to suddenly change lanes - potholes, undulations because of bad pavement, woefully underpowered and extremely overloaded slow moving trucks on ghats, absence of dedicated lanes for 2 and 3 wheelers, etc.

[asingh1977]

I really do not think that the research (and it suggestions) will be the magic wand to cure India of this nuisance. And to be honest, I think it has worsened to such a situation that people have actually forgotten what dividing lines are (or lanes), and now drive smack in the middle. This makes it extremely difficult to overtake from either side (yes, one side is illegal). If people can drive wrong side so blatantly -- I think no-lane driving is not that serious a concern for most.


Lane? What Lane?

[gkveda]

I think we have enough knowledge about all these research and white papers. There is nothing new.

However, when it comes to the question of how to impose these regulations laid out, there are lot of loopholes from where criminals can escape.(Sorry, if you think Criminal is harsh word. But, I really mean this word. Per me, those drivers who do not follow rules are CRIMINALS)

So, my thoughts:
1. Laws should not stick to "let 100 criminals escape, but innocent should not be punished" Principle.
Even if few innocents are punished, it is fine in the larger interest of the country. Let all the criminals be punished + a few innocents. This will teach lesson to all criminals + innocents proactively

2. Have enough police force (at least 100 times more than current) to catch the criminals and punish them
Today we have police men on contract(Not permanent employed police). And the strength is so feable that they keep struggling to control the traffic.

Do they really have time OR Power to control the "CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES ON ROAD"? In my opinion, NO. Neither do they have power to catch the CRIMINALS nor they can CONTROL CRIMINALS from performing CRIME on Road
Another point is, Police force should not be limited to be appearing near signals(As current scenario). Every 1/2 or 1 km, there should be a armed police. If the CRIMINAL escapes from ONE, immediately, next km, he should be arrested by another set of police

3. PUNISH the CRIMINALS (YES, I do not mean "fine" criminals. It is PUNISHMENT. No amount of fine or money can teach lessons to "RICH CRIMINAL"
Probably, more jails are required for imprisonment, but yes, this is required

IF and only IF the above three points are IMPLEMENTED, probably, after 10 years, people mentality will change and start behaving like foreign countries

Otherwise, I am not hopeful that this problem will be solved

[tstlnt]

Originally Posted by Yieldway17

Almost all drivers in our roads lack empathy of fellow people who share the road. Take the high beam menace, it doesn't need painted lanes and good roads to dim your lights for opposite traffic, all it requires is acknowledging other people on the road. Even people who recognize and follow this give up after a while due to frustration and lack of mutual reciprocity.

Well said and it's in line with my thoughts. More than anything, driver's ability, skills and attitude plays a key role in safe driving and accident prevention.

We can refer few snippets from the annual publication, ‘Road Accidents in India- 2016’, released by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, India, on 6th Sep'2017.

It says, 84% accidents are due to driver's fault and 67% accidents are due to over speeding (exceeding lawful speed).

As rightly pointed out by you, 'empathy' effect can well be seen in the ghat sections, especially in the upper Himalayan region. One of the reasons being, both will be in a deadlock as otherwise and hence, naturally they need to be empathetic. I experienced it personally.

But, it's often ignored / neglected in plains

Complete article can be viewed using the link : http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelea...x?relid=170577