[viggienomad]

Originally Posted by andy69

... Another Indian trait :
Sorry bike riders, here's another trait I've seen on the road :
Bikers will honk incessantly when following you - warning - I'm behind you, move aside you moron ! ...

I always wanted to tell fellow bike riders that the button you are pressing with your left thumb is not a turbo booster! Also, it doesn't give you any rights, only a reminder to the vehicle / person in front. Sigh!

Yes that counts as Indian trait, but then could also be a South Asian trait?

[dj78]

Look what you started Jeroen.

Reading through the posts I see that everything that occurred to me has been mentioned. Even then I'll mention these:
1. Honking - Some honking is necessary to avoid killing someone or getting killed. But honking from 20 positions behind the pole position the millisecond the light turns green is absurd.

2. Stop Line - I make it a point to stop before the stop line at the light but with a great deal of anxiety because autos, two wheelers, cars.. make it a point that they have to squeeze past you till they have reached as far as they can without running into the cross traffic

3. Parking - Parking at blind corners creating chances of a t-bone. There is one right outside my home I encounter on my way to work every day.

4. No ORVM - Many esp. cabs/commercial vehicles don't have them. They don't bother themselves with checking who/what is behind them before cutting you off. Blind Spots - What is that?

5. You know who I am? - Every other car screams Govt. Of India, Army, Air Force (don't recall seeing a navy one - may be they don't drive as much), Police, Retired Judge....doesn't matter these are private vehicles. If you have a read beacon on your vehicle you can run any one else off the road. I make it a point not to be shoved aside by these VVVIP vehicles - who knows might get arrested one day.

6. Flash your headlights - Flash your headlights like there is no tomorrow because you need to pass.

7. Switching Lanes - Switch Lanes like crazy even if you can get ahead by no longer than one car length. Turn signal - who uses that.

Guess I'm just venting. But our road etiquette is just a manifestation of who we are - It just shows that in India if you follow the rules you are considered weak. Now don't we realize that everyday.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by dj78

Look what you started
Guess I'm just venting. But our road etiquette is just a manifestation of who we are - It just shows that in India if you follow the rules you are considered weak. Now don't we realize that everyday.

I had no idea there would be so many enthusiastic replies.
On your last point, why is following rules considered weak?
Thanks,
Jeroen

[paras211]

The trait I am guilty of is. Changing lanes and overtaking from the left on the highways.
I also speed a bit too.

[dj78]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I had no idea there would be so many enthusiastic replies.
On your last point, why is following rules considered weak?
Thanks,
Jeroen

Jeroen,
That's just the Indian mentality, I guess - not only on the road but everywhere else too. If you don't have connections you are an "Aam Admi" (the common man) and the rules are for you else its OK to flout the rules to your advantage - no consequences.


My only visit to Netherlands (Amsterdam and around) was too touristy complete with pictures in front of the famed windmills, canal boat ride et. al. Though I really liked it would definitely want to visit again and explore more of the countryside and the flower fields.

[SS-Traveller]

The single trait that defines an Indian driver? Please turn up the volume and play the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjvbsespRZw

[Drivethru]

One habit I have observed. Hoping it will not convert into a common trait.

You are driving higher than 80 kph on a clean stretch of road. The guy who is driving ahead of you suddenly realised he has set you on fire and flings the cigarette out of the right side window. With unmatched precision and in compliance with Murphy's law it lands on your bonnet / wind shield testing your nerves and luck. Its bit scary if this happens after sun set as you could end up seeing splinters on your bonnet and windshield.

[Sn1p3r]

How about people indicating with their foot? Never seen that anywhere in the world, but India. I got befuddled but a fellow motorist told me to watch out for autos and riders on bikes doing the same. Ahmedabad.

Coming from the opposite direction that too, like it is their side of the road (highway). Will remind you of UP

Racing trucks = In India they do it a bit more slowly or sometimes rapidly NH8.

People honk in almost all the countries, I have seen some mad honking in Spain/Portugal/Italy and Greece. Put more people in smaller confined areas and see them change into same old monkeys.

[ksmrsm]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

The single trait that defines an Indian driver? Please turn up the volume and play the video below:

- Which part of Calcutta is that, because I have not seen much of this in the newer parts of the city or even near the stadium/court.

[captain.torque]

I've seen this a lot in the Delh-NCR region. Almost all major traffic intersections turn into a marketplace during rush hours as you can buy anything from snacks to toys and car accessories to books while waiting at the traffic signals.

On numerous occasions I've seen cars are in the middle of the road, blocking all the traffic behind and their owners are busy bargaining with the seller. And no mount of honking can perturb these shameless creatures.

And this is true when this breed of homo sapiens are approached by beggars as well. They will keep looking for change in their purses/wallets while the traffic behind them waits.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by InControl

Well a kind of superstition that my friends in Bangalore follow and want me as well to

Whenever they start the car even if the front is right against the wall and they are supposed to reverse.
They will first put the car into First gear and move a bit and then only engage the reverse gear and start reversing
God only knows why

This was a similar question which I had during my engineering years. And the answer that I got from my professor was that the reverse gear is not a synchromesh gear. So when you directly put it to reverse, most of the time you would hear a "clunck" or grating noise. To reduce that, you would have to put it to forward gear which helps in lining up the reverse gear and it can be easily slotted in. You need not move the vehicle forward just putting it in forward gear and then slotting to reverse is enough.

This is not the case with automatics though which uses synchromesh gears for reverse as well.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

86 posts and 86 different answers to a question that needs a single answer!!!

That should tell you our national car trait.

Quite simply we don't know if there is a singular national car trait that stands out over everything else.

Oh yes, there is one - we follow every single rule.

**Sprinkle "don't" in the above according to taste.

[Wanderers]

Hi

As its coming out, Our trait lies in diversity.

We give variety to the boring monotonous drivers/passengers from the developed countries

I think "Expect the unexpected" should be our national traits.

Cows & street dogs are old stories. Things have improved.

Its now Nilgai & Deers in the middle of the expressway and Foreigners stopping dangerously to take photographs on their way to Agra.

[autonarr]

Originally Posted by VeyronSuperSprt

86 posts and 86 different answers to a question that needs a single answer!!!

That should tell you our national car trait.

Quite simply we don't know if there is a singular national car trait that stands out over everything else.

Oh yes, there is one - we follow every single rule.

**Sprinkle "don't" in the above according to taste.

But maybe to define a single national trait in a multilingual, multicultural country is not possible? There is definitely a north- south divide if nothing else

[Secretariat]

Well, enough of navel gazing. Let's have some good natured fun at others' expense too

- If you are a Chinese taxi driver, you have to open the window every 2.6 seconds and loudly spit on the road

- If you are a British driver, your major pleasure in life is to sit on the largest car park in the world, the M 25

- In the US, you express your manhood by driving on an arrow straight tarmac in the middle of nowhere at a blistering speed of 70 mph.

- In the great state of Oregon, you stop your car to let goslings cross the road, thereby demonstrating that the geese are more important than you. Click here

- If you are Australian, you send text message 44 times while driving, hit a cyclist and then argue its not your fault. Click here

- In Indonesia, you try your best to run down the crossing pedestrian and are chagrined when you (mostly) fail.

- In Nigeria and Samoa, you prove that it does not matter which side of the road you drive on, by changing the law to drive from the left of the road to the right (Nigeria) and the other way around (Samoa). Come to think of it, it doesn't matter in India too, but at least, we haven't changed the law.

- In Japan, you bow every time you cross a bigger car

- In France, you show the finger every time you cross a bigger car

- In Italy, it is an insult to your driving ability if you do not have at least 23 dents. If you drive a SUV, the minimum requirement is 24 dents.

- In any major African city you do you bit for international goodwill and relations by emulating the Indian driver at his best, as elaborately explained in the 86 posts below.

Learned BHPians (especially Jeroen) are warmly invited to add their perspectives.

All in jest, of course.