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-   -   A Four Lane Expressway in India is still the same chaos (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/106420-four-lane-expressway-india-still-same-chaos.html)

You see at the progress of Indian roads and look back 10 years thinking it has been a major progress.
But truth be told no matter how many lanes are there in an Indian road, it will always be a chaos.

1. Lane Rules:No-one and I mean literally NO-ONE understands the importance of a Driving lane and an Overtaking lane, Trucks especially blocking both lanes, one taking ages overtaking the other at times, and buses, like its their will to chose whichever way to drive. :Frustrati

2. The Rear View mirror: I still have no freaking idea why even many car drivers fold their rear-view mirrors of either side, like what's happening behind them is of a bygone era.

3. "It's also the People's fault!": Not just bus drivers for stopping whereever they want, but the people for encouraging that by standing anywhere on the road, like the entire stretch of Indian roads is a bus stop.

4. "Villagers, no offence, but the road is not for you to dry husk and cow dung."

5. Dump, Mud/Sand carrying Trucks: Their carriers have so many holes that they seem to drop 80% of their load all throughout the road itself. :Frustrati

6. The List is endless, so I stop here..... you can add to the list by commenting

All true, but compared to almost a decade back when my family first went out on a roadtrip, conditions have improved a lot now, specially along the main highways.

I would say, there are lot more positives than negatives.

The conditions are far better. Road sense remains same or has gone down, its a different story altogether. We at least have 4 lanes now. Not the 2 lanes/muddy roads which were once NH/SH.

Welcome to the forum Haldar :)

All things you mention are true and though I hate to say this, but we can't be of much help. Of course, we the enthusiast drive/ride as safely as we can, but our minuscule presence won't do much good.

I have certainly lived with it and a dash from my place to Siliguri takes anything between 2-4 hours. Reason? Well you already mentioned.
Sadly, we have to get used to it, keep a leash on adrenaline, drive responsibly/safely and keep us and our rides in pristine condition.

Drive Safe :)

Well, in UP / Bihar / Bengal, a 4 lane highway is like 2 highways. Traffic can move in either direction in either side.

But driving now is definitely easier than it was 15 years ago.

Exactly what I mean, thanks for mentioning, there is four lane highway for most of the distance between Purnea and Siliguri, and still about 3-4 hrs. Starking example.

A new problem has cropped up on mysore - bangalore 4lane . People have developed and are developing at an alarming of travelling on opposite lane - initially it was cycles , then tractors , then scooters , now cars and lorrys . sugarcane laden carts think its their birth right to travel the entire stretch on opposite lane. Its sick and irritating.

There is no body to man or look over those flouting the rules. Wish to see cops going in the opposite lane?

All I have to do is stand at the E-W corridor with my Canon in hand and shoot them. As Mr. Harish said, it indeed is disgusting, irritating and dangerous.

I have noticed big differences (Positive changes) on driving discipline in last 5 - years, especially on Major highways in Gujarat. Don't have much idea about other states as jot driven much in last couple of years.

I see majority people maintaining lane discipline on NE - 1 from Baroda to Ahmedabad.

It is all about educating people on the rules. Most of the two wheeler drivers (and i think may car/bus/truck) drivers too do not know or respect the concept of "lanes" or for example the difference between a normal non-continuous white line and a continuous white line.

As far as i have seen, atleast in TN/KA When one goes to an RTO to get a license, you get asked dumb questions about no-parking/yield/cross roads symbols for a theoretical test and a 200m driving for a practical test.

This no way judges an individual person about his/her traffic sense, and over a period of time, it becomes the norm for a person NOT to have a traffic sense. Any one following the rules is honked out or looked upon brashly.

Its an accepted fact that indians would rather risk their lives on roads by driving brashly and save 3 minutes of their travel time to go home and watch tv rather than respect traffic rules and drive safely.

Well i have something about the city driving sense.. forget about highways

More than half the people go through the Agents to avoid even these dumb questions and 200m driving!!

lol:

Real example:

A wannabe cabbie approaches these driving school instructors asking for what it takes to learn driving and get a license.
Driving school instructor: It takes XXX for learning how to drive and YYY to get you a license from the RTO.

Cabbie: Ohh.. then i just need a license, take YYY and get me a license.!!!!!please:

I am sure this must be happening everywhere, and the result is not just in front of us, they overtake us from all directions, do not follow any rules, go on the wrong lanes ..etc etc..

^^ I agree to this. The issue is should be tackled at the grassroot level. When people understand the importance of a driving license they will drive resposibly. Today even a monkey can get a license. The RTO officer will not even blink to sign even if the address is given as "cage no 10 , zoo ". All he sees is the wad of cash coming with the form.
Even in the driving test the officer is more intrested in completing the test rather than actually testing the candidate.

Am a regular user of this stretch and by regular I mean almost every weekend of mine is spent in Mysore. You being from Mandya should have gotten immune to this inherent problem :).
There was an instance wherein I was driving to Mysore and gave way for a VOLVO to overtake me.This was at the curve which leads to Srirangapatna,while on the curve I see a tractor on the wrong side and was heading straight towards me. I had nowhere to go and stopped blocking the tractors path.

The driver of the tractor and me got into a verbal duel and his reasoning was that " naanu nan gaadi ge road tax kattidini " (translates to " I have paid the road tax for my vehicle" ) . I realized that I was at mistake , for arguing with such a retard. Left it at that and moved on.

That said, the problem lies with the authorities themselves.Proper enforcement is the need of the hour, however our pals are busy collecting bribes from road users so much so that they have become leeches only trying to fill their pockets.

I will agree with that. Gujarat had the best lane drivers on our recent cross country drive. Trucks do not encourage cars to overtake from left and always give way. Even cars keep a look on their rear view mirrors and give way from their right before you reach near them. But one confusing thing. Why do the same HR RJ TN MH trucks drive with lane discipline in gujarat and not in maharashtra, rajasthan, haryana or andhra?

Very valid question. Couple of things that come to my mind. First, the road infrastructure is so good in Gujarat compared to neighboring states with minimal traffic jams, truckers don't have to rush and can drive at a constant speed where as in other states, they would have lost lot of time in traffic jams and to make up for that they drive without any discipline.