I learnt to drive a diesel Indica, moved onto a M800 5 speed and now an i10 Kappa
Due to work, I am often required to visit congested inner city areas, very often with huge loads of equipments/drawings. The roads in these are narrow streets, with just enough room for a car to pass. The streets are teeming with pedestrians, rickshaws and cyclists, busy in their own activities, so one has to negotiate very carefully weaving between the pedestrians.
Now in the Indica, i never bothered to us the horn, but the rumble of the engine was more than enough to ensure people moved out of your way
Never had any kind off incident with that car.
The M800 offered supreme visibility, and was a whole lot more negotiable in the circumstances,but I would end up edging to close to the pedestrians in front, expecting them to move, but then having to suddenly brake and or honk. Had a couple of close calls but never anything problematic.
Now the i10 - a whole lot quieter than my previous cars (both inside and out). Also I suppose I have off late become more of a highway driver not venturing into the bylanes all that often.
The first time I drove into the congested streets of Malviya Nagar, I was extremely cautious but found that I was driving to close to the pedestrians directly in front. Nearly hit a lady who decided to swivel around to buy some oranges.
Nearly a month later, on a similar stretch a cyclist who had just overtaken me from the left decides to swing right across the road within mm of my bonnet - now he should have seen me but no - braked hard, but nicked his rear mudgaurd. No real damage done, but a few abuses hurled around.
And now yesterday, It was hot and I had my windows up and ac on (thats a bad idea in such congested streets) this bunch of school children were walking hand in hand, pretty much occupying the entire rad width - there was an indica in front of me, they moved aside and he passed between them. As I was following, they suddenly moved back together resulting in me nudging one of them.
Now the question - Is this because pedestrians don't consider newer cars like the i10 a menace, or is it because these cars are silent and thus the pedestrians dont realise, or I'm willing to admit, is it simply that I have grown to be a highway driver, and are no longer familiar with the nuances required to be safe within congested inner city streets?