The other day our Prime Minister commented that building good roads alone ain't enough, it should be complemented with better road manners. I thoroughly agree with him. In India Road manners are virtually non existent. As with any other case, there is no one single party to be blamed.
The RTO officials are corrupt only because we are ready to bribe them. How else could I manage to get a license at the age of 16 (the official age here is still 18 unlike most of the western countries) without so much as even giving a driving test (the officer just asked for my name and that was it).
The so called Driving schools are a scam. They don't teach you about lane discipline, how to parallel park...heck I didn't use the reverse gear even once during the entire duration of the course (which by the way is 1 month). Sometimes they are not even bothered whether you really know to drive or not, but you will get your license as long as you pay up their fee.
The infrastructure in most parts of india really isn't meant to observe road manners. The signals don't work most of the times so do the street lights, there are no lane markings and no crosswalks. The pedestrians occupy the roads since hawkers occupy the sidewalks (if there are any). The pedestrians don't give a shit about the motorists and the motorists reciprocate the gesture. It may sound funny but I was on my bike and suffered a minor wrist injury because a man, blindly crossing the road to catch a bus, dashed into me instead of being the other way round.
Truckers on the highways are much well behaved inspite of being illiterate, its the spoilt rich brats in their flashy cars who cause all the mayhem. Autorickshaw drivers are in a league of their own. They'll cut in front of you, make U-turns, stop in the middle of the road without a warning. I won't even start with the incessant use of the horn (very irritating).
But then all this has its (sort of) plus points too. Where else can you drive without the fear of being pulled over by cops for speeding. Burn rubber on the highway, weaving in and out of traffic as if you are runnning a race. My brother used to drive here in India but being used to the US roads he now shudders at the very thought of taking over the wheel here.
Before leaving I would like to mention that road infrastructure is being improved to world class levels on the major highways and the newly planned cities. Its just us people who have to catch up.
The RTO officials are corrupt only because we are ready to bribe them. How else could I manage to get a license at the age of 16 (the official age here is still 18 unlike most of the western countries) without so much as even giving a driving test (the officer just asked for my name and that was it).
The so called Driving schools are a scam. They don't teach you about lane discipline, how to parallel park...heck I didn't use the reverse gear even once during the entire duration of the course (which by the way is 1 month). Sometimes they are not even bothered whether you really know to drive or not, but you will get your license as long as you pay up their fee.
The infrastructure in most parts of india really isn't meant to observe road manners. The signals don't work most of the times so do the street lights, there are no lane markings and no crosswalks. The pedestrians occupy the roads since hawkers occupy the sidewalks (if there are any). The pedestrians don't give a shit about the motorists and the motorists reciprocate the gesture. It may sound funny but I was on my bike and suffered a minor wrist injury because a man, blindly crossing the road to catch a bus, dashed into me instead of being the other way round.
Truckers on the highways are much well behaved inspite of being illiterate, its the spoilt rich brats in their flashy cars who cause all the mayhem. Autorickshaw drivers are in a league of their own. They'll cut in front of you, make U-turns, stop in the middle of the road without a warning. I won't even start with the incessant use of the horn (very irritating).
But then all this has its (sort of) plus points too. Where else can you drive without the fear of being pulled over by cops for speeding. Burn rubber on the highway, weaving in and out of traffic as if you are runnning a race. My brother used to drive here in India but being used to the US roads he now shudders at the very thought of taking over the wheel here.
Before leaving I would like to mention that road infrastructure is being improved to world class levels on the major highways and the newly planned cities. Its just us people who have to catch up.
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