[Tanmay K]

Let's be honest: Delhi is not exactly the safest place for women. Even more so at night. Does the government expect all women returning from work late at night to take the public transport on those even/odd days?

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by wrongturn

This traffic rule has what it takes to take India on top of the list of the most crazy and unbelievable traffic laws ever laid down.

Actually, most of the laws you've quoted make a lot of sense. It's just that they've been presented under the guise of being crazy -- and also that they haven't been explained.

When you understand the reasoning for something, it suddenly goes from being senseless to making sense.

A few of the rules are a bit "high level", but when you're in a country that has got the basics well sorted, it makes sense to push the limits to curb even that fraction of a percent of road accidents.

A dirty car? You are fined

Russia = Cold.

Cold = Snow & ice.

Snow piles up on cars. Lazy people drive without clearing the snow & ice off the car. At 80 km/h on the highway, large chunks of snow & ice fly off.

If there's a person on a motorbike behind you, they get knocked off!

If there's a car behind you, they can have their windshields totally covered, losing visibility. Wipers cant help.

As you can see, both are extremely dangerous. I don't know if its a "law", but in other cold countries its a common practice to get the snow off your car before you drive it. Cops will even pull you over if they see your car piled high.

Don't yell or curse!

If you think of road rage, it comes from a small incident that escalates.

If you're not allowed to yell or curse, and you have to keep it cool - chances are the situation will not escalate.

We have a thread on DE-escalating road rage. As you said, imagine if instead we had a law that just banned it!

Don't you ever turn your car's headlights off!

Sweden being cold has little to do with this. It's about Sweden being dark!

It's been proven that daytime running lights are extremely effective at improving safety. Most new cars come with this feature, but the law is probably to ensure that drivers of older cars follow suit.

Take a look at the daylight hours of a day in Stockholm:

You can drink while driving, but you should not be drunk!!

Crazy! I'm guessing there's some cultural pressure here.

In San Francisco, California, it is against law to wipe the car in a car wash with a used underwear

America! Probably lawsuit driven...

Don't sit in the front seat if you are drunk

Drunk people aren't always the most well behaved or logical, so having them near the person operating the vehicle could be a danger in extreme cases.

This law might make even more sense in the case of Taxis. Ask any taxi driver about the kind of drunk people he's had to deal with in his lifetime, and you'll be shocked at the stories. I wouldn't be surprised if the taxi driver union pushed for this.

Make sure that your driver isn't drunk too

Shared social responsibility! In a country where most people are law abiding, this makes sense to keep the few law breakers in check. It's for their own safety too.

Carry an extra pair of glasses

A lot of people have eyesight so bad that they would NOT pass a driving test if they didn't have their glasses on.

Glasses get lost. Glasses get broken. Why risk being effectively blind - leaving you stranded or dangerous on the roads, when for a few bucks you can have a backup set of eyes tucked away in your glovebox.

This extra pair is probably useful off the road as well. Eg. glasses break at work - no problem! I have another pair in my car downstairs!

Women cannot drive

No comment.

Your number plate can be a problem too

In Manila, you cannot drive your car on Monday if the number plate ends with 1 or 2.

This has been misrepresented to sound like an absurd random law or superstition.

It actually is a sensible (though rather strict) system. The full details are as below:

Mondays: 1, 2
Tuesdays: 3, 4
Wednesdays: 5, 6
Thursdays: 7, 8
Fridays: 9, 10
Saturday: No restriction
Sunday: No restriction

[phamilyman]

As I have ranted on twitter - this is horrible for people like my old mother. She's 70 years old, has diabetes (thankfully no neuropathy yet). She barely drives, most of it off-peak hours. Her only drive is:
a. 10km round trip for physiotherapy thrice a week. She's happy rescheduling it.
b. 3km afternoon round trip to the "main road" to pick up my three nieces (5/5/8). No auto is willing to go to her route - she will have to take a shared auto some part of the distance, walk 300+m across a really busy road (Mehrauli Badarpur Road) with 3 kids.

This is unnecessary torture being inflicted on folks like her. Pity other folks park their cars outside our house (and are aggressive geniuses who feel its our duty to give parking space to them like some of the responses here) else I would've gladly bought her a second used nano only for this purpose.

I am okay spending on taxis for myself/wife but i refuse to subject my aged mother in her final years to this lunacy.

PS: We have tried signing up local autos for driving her around at a monthly cost of ~50-60 bucks per day for the 3km distance but no one wants to commit. My current hope is to now pay almost 100-150 bucks per day (or whatever it takes) for someone for this use. This is basically our "extortion cost" for having AAP run Delhi!
PPS: I sincerely think congestion pricing and 100% BRT rollout would've been far better than this.

[tajender]

My 2 cents are, that this would not help improve congestion. Not all cars hit the road everyday anyway. This would encourage each car owner to buy two instead of one car. I suggest that they should take following measures:

1. The commercial vehicles entering Delhi should be CNG powered only, because, these are the vehicles which are causing maximum trouble. The public transport in Delhi is already CNG powered, however, most of the commercial vehicles running in Delhi (including Taxi) are registered in other neighbouring states like Haryana and thus, do not comply to regulations.

2. The small auto-rickshaws which are should used for transporting goods are not fuel efficient as they are overloaded and under-maintained. They run on CNG, thus, not directly contributing to pollution index. However, they breakdown quite often and any time you hit the road, no matter which direction you are heading, you would get to see a hand full of them broken down on the road causing kilometers long jam and thus, causing excessive pollution and wastage of public money. They should be banned. BTW, they do not comply to traffic rules and cause further congestion on roads.

3. The gramin-seva auto-rickshaws should meet the same fate as the goods auto-rickshaws as they cause similar issues.

4. Cycle rickshaws should be taken off from main roads and should be allowed to ply on inner/arterial roads.

5. There should be bi-annual checks for all vehicles including private vehicles and the permit should be renewed accordingly. If vehicle is found to be unfit, it should be scrapped and this process should be completely leak proof i.e. no corruption should be tolerated in this.

6. All commercial and private vehicles entering Delhi should be made to undergo health check at entry point and it should not be a sham as the PUC checks that it is today.

7. The loose dust and mud should be covered with smoked wood or grass as it is done in European countries and United States in order to ensure that there is no loose dust in air. The roads should be vaccumed and not broomed daily to ensure that there is no loose dust on roads as it is ensured in developed nations.

8. Burning or leaves should be completely banned and it should be an actual ban and not a way or securing bribes.

9. Any attempt at obstructing roads, example, raising tents on roads, extending shops on to roads, raising shops on roads, obstructing roads for construction work without planning it in advance and providing additional lanes to ease out the traffic etc. should be made a punishable crime and punishment should be in form of community service like clearing garbage for 15 days etc.

10. The KMP and EPE roads should be completed within next 12 months for easing out commercial traffic that is not destined for Delhi.

11. Foremost should be the fact that Government should take onus and responsibility of making environment cleaner and should not choke the public for any demands that the public makes. This government has been a complete failure as they have just been promoting rights of auto rickshaw drivers, commercial vehicle drivers, squatters and those who disrupt the system in every way just because that is the vote bank these guys are bothered about.

On a personal note, if the situation does not improves in next 1 year, I would actually move out of Delhi to some better place in India or outside of this country, because no matter what anyone says about patriotism, my first and foremost duty is to safeguard my rights and that of my immediate family. I do not pay taxes and contribute to the society here to ensure that these politicians can avoid their duties and ruin our lives.

[hybridpetrol]

All the above posts indicate that this move will force them to buy a second car. Which means nobody who owns a car and uses it every day are welcoming it. People seem to be terrified at the prospect of using the public transport.
Ok we can buy two cars to help us get around this odd even logic. But what if in few months time government comes up with another random math to decide which car would be qualified to be driven that day?
If this is ever implemented, it should be made sure that all parties are relatively trouble free.

[autobahnjpr]

If the government does not do anything, we lament nothing is being done. If it does something, we cry that they are crazy. Poor Government.
Any new change or system will necessarily involve some sacrifice to achieve its objective. This is how life is. To get something you have to sacrifice something. As long as the intention is noble and it brings the desired benefit the residents should welcome the change and extend their co-operation.

But let us pause and think for a moment for the plight of next generation, children who are being exposed to this poison day in and day out with their bodies not mature enough to cope with it. If our little sacrifice can help the cause, shall we not as elders do it?

The world existed when there were no cars and will still exist if they vanish in future. In spite of huge number of cars, there are still many people who do not own one. Just imagine you are one of them and then plan your commute.

[techiecal]

This means more revenue to Delhi RTO because now no one is going to take a chance with new registrations. Second car owners will pay premium for their choice of number and even first car owners will pay premium if they plan to to utilize say a friend's or relative's car on alternate days. Either way all new registrations are going to be premium numbers.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by autobahnjpr

The world existed when there were no cars and will still exist if they vanish in future. In spite of huge number of cars, there are still many people who do not own one. Just imagine you are one of them and then plan your commute.

Excellent. Trundle away upwards of 10kms a day just because the government, who does something, decides draconia is the way to go!
This is probably the myopia that the government suffers from as well. Underexposed to reality.

I'll just take a small best case commute in "public" transportation in 40deg plus heat.
1. Walk or take a rick for about a kilometre to get to a metro.
2. Take the metro, get down after enjoying the warmth of companions, some of whom dont bathe, let alone use deodorant. The longer the gap between baths, the closer teh armpit to the nose.
3. get into another rick or a shared auto, get off a kilometre from office on the road amidst maddening traffic. Get another rick, if he agrees, else walk.

Time taken: about 2 hours.
Outcome: productivity, shot. Time with folks, shot. Clothes, shot. Life expectancy : declining, and at risk of foreclosure as well.

This is for a 10km commute. Imagine the misery of people who commute 30-40kms.

The government is representative. It is an employee, in that my taxes pay for their upkeep. When they do a bad job, they will get lashed. I dont believe there is any consideration of implementation here, rather than a cut and paste job.

They should sit down and call for opinions since they are so ill informed.

[carwatcher]

We have various threads discussing the following:
1. Is is worth to own a car in the age of Uber and Ola.
2. We have few posts suggesting the Govt. should impose more tax on car ownership which is already very high.
3. We have posts discussing in greatest of lengths discussing the mileage to the decimals and demanding mileages even on the hot hatches.
4. We have detailed discussions on Road Rage, Pollution, Driving stress, Traffic Conditions, etc.

Yet No one is ready to co-operate with the Govt. and also posting any solution.

Also remember its a temporary measure as the winters are the most challenging months wrt pollution.

I feel that almost 75% of the T-Bhpians own more than One Car.

I read somewhere that "Progress can't be judged when the poor start buying cars, its when the rich start using public transport."

P.S.- It would be nice if we post our suggestion at the end of each post.

My Suggestion : I strongly feel that we can have a Car Holiday based on the Nos. which is similar to implemented in Manila as mentioned few posts back. It surely won't hurt anybody.

[v_safari]

Very simple, many people will now buy a second car and parking situation in many areas in Delhi, which is already worse, will become pathetic.

Second, people travelling outstation now will have to make proper plans of return. Odd day out - odd day in.

I also demand refund of my road tax paid for both my cars. Unfortunately both my cars are odd numbered.
Corruption in number allocation by RTO is surely gonna be high now. I randomly got odd numbers for my current cars. Now people like me can not afford to get another random odd allocation. Getting an even number will surely cost something.

[titan1999]

I have a question for the Delhi government and everyone supporting this move.

I run an IT company, catering to the US market, most of the people in the company work in the night shift. I.e they come in the evening and leave in the morning.

What are all of us supposed to do? We cannot drive odd or even numbered cars. Public transportation does not work during our work timings. We are all effectively paralyzed!

[Lobogris]

Most people are getting carried away with the idea of people buying a second car. In reality only a small percentage will actually bother to buy and keep a second car. The cost, parking hassle and logistics would be hard for most people. What would happen is that people would avoid going out on certain days, would take the metro, share a ride with a colleague and use other solutions for a couple of days a week. Even if 20 % folks get a second car, the reduction in traffic would still be significant.

The rule is bound to be implemented from Monday to Friday only and might be just during working hours. Yes, it would add difficulty and complexity but the results would be positive if this measure is actually enforced.

[sinharishi]

Originally Posted by mayankk

I'll just take a small best case commute in "public" transportation in 40deg plus heat.
1. Walk or take a rick for about a kilometre to get to a metro.


2. Take the metro, get down after enjoying the warmth of companions, some of whom dont bathe, let alone use deodorant. The longer the gap between baths, the closer teh armpit to the nose.
3. get into another rick or a shared auto, get off a kilometre from office on the road amidst maddening traffic. Get another rick, if he agrees, else walk.

Time taken: about 2 hours.
Outcome: productivity, shot. Time with folks, shot. Clothes, shot. Life expectancy : declining, and at risk of foreclosure as well.

This is for a 10km commute. Imagine the misery of people who commute 30-40kms.

Really? I live in Indirapuram and used to travel daily to Gurgaon ,that is about 50kms one way. 95% of the times I took the shared autos and metros. Travelled during peak hours. Situation is nowhere as bad as you have described.

The way you have described your metro experience seems exaggerated. Wonder how will you describe Bombay local trains.

Delhi/NCR has Garmin-seva, Shared Autos, Tempos, E-rick, Cycle rickshaw, Buses, Cabs and METRO.

There are plenty of options available.

[Ashdel]

Originally Posted by venuvedam

Are taxi cabs considered public vehicles? If not, this would be a disaster for taxi owners - especially those owning just one car. Their earnings will straight away come down by 50%. Maybe they would exempt yellow-plated vehicles from this restriction.

Not sure how feasible this is. I don't think it would see the light of the day. There is going to be stiff resistance from all quarters of the society.

This condition only applies to private vehicles and not on commercial vehicles including Taxi. Idea is to urge people to use public transport instead of using their private vehicles. This also excludes any private vehicle carrying patient to hospital. Even then there are lot of loop holes and questions which needs clarity from the Delhi government. Hope to get absolute clarity from the government before new year.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by sinharishi

Really? I live in Indirapuram and used to travel daily to Gurgaon ,that is about 50kms one way. 95% of the times I took the shared autos and metros. Travelled during peak hours. Situation is nowhere as bad as you have described.

The way you have described your metro experience seems exaggerated. Wonder how will you describe Bombay local trains.

Delhi/NCR has Garmin-seva, Shared Autos, Tempos, E-rick, Cycle rickshaw, Buses, Cabs and METRO.

There are plenty of options available.

Unfortunately, no. I have done this, so no exaggeration.
And my wife used to do the Mayur Vihar to mg road run on the metro. It is utterly exhausting mentally and physically. Kudos to you for coping so well.