Indian Roads Thread

[Sachin]

Do we have highway police at all?

In the south Kerala Police have a dedicated team for Highway Patrolling. Last I checked they have got around 50 vehicles across the state. Tamil Nadu Police too have highway patrolling team. I have not seen such a move by Karnataka Police.

Now, the moot point becomes what does these Highway Police patrols actually do . As expected there are widespread stories that basically they only stop trucks and in some cases private vehicles and do the rudimentary check of registration and insurance papers. With this comes the standard stories of bribe taking or levying on the spot fines. None of these squads actually do any enforcement on speed, drunken driving etc. I dont think they have equipments for the same in every patrol vehicle.

In Tamil Nadu highways (esp. NH7 which I frequently use) I have seen Highway Patrol squads, but they generally dont bother about bullock carts, or two wheelers who move on the wrong side of the road. I dont know if there is some local political orders that such "local people" should not be charged, and highway police should focus more on out-of-state vehicles.

in most NHAi highways I have not even seen blinking lights and dedicated long buffer U-turn lanes & u-turn merge lanes to make the U-turn process less of a crap shoot

I have seen blinking lights and some kind of extra area provided for U turn takers in the newly laid Express Highway between Hosur and Avanashi (near Coimbatore). On this stretch I have not got rude shocks of finding the vehicle ahead just breaking, in order to take a U turn.

Similarly, apart from the infrastructure front, inculcating road sense should be a national aim.

That movement needs to start at the basics, i.e at the driving school level. Defensive driving for many is an insult. Speeding and rash driving is supposed to be macho. Political class also does not have seem to have realised the need of good roads, because their actions have always been short sighted (building speed breakers on express highways is the best example).

[Sudip]

in massa land, there is one practise that if one has had a ticket/accident/moving traffic violation, not only do they get ticketed, but there is also a record of their driver's license, because of which their vehicle insurance also inflates and this stays for minimum 5 years after which the record is removed.

When i was in Delhi, we regularly paid our car/motorcycle insurance etc so I would assume atleast 40% vehicle owners/businesses in india maintain vehicle insurance. So what is stopping the government from adopting this rule? Because now even a bribe isnt going to totally get you out of trouble. you get into trouble once and then you are paying higher insurance for next 5 years. i feel this is a big impediment to the traffic violator and will go a long way in curbing traffic unruliness.

the only infrastructural problem i see here is to set up an online driver's license database such that the traffic cop can record the driver's license number and his violation record using a wireless device to the database.

[Aditya_V]

I think road safety is one issue that every politician across the board will agree on..

Really, they should first teach it to thier drivers. Just a week back a White scorpio in Chennai with a Congress flag on it nearly rammed until I Breaked to avoid the accident... I guess the driver thought if he drives for the Congress he has been personaaly elected as the PM of India. Hero tries overtaking in a 2 lane road where one side is full of near stationery vehicles moving 0-15KM, drives on the wrong side sees oncoming traffic swears left and appraently the car in the correct lane (me in this case) has to swerve near the footpath and break to let his highness go.

[Sachin]

you get into trouble once and then you are paying higher insurance for next 5 years. i feel this is a big impediment to the traffic violator and will go a long way in curbing traffic unruliness.

Here I feel it is the lack of political will which is not bringing in this change. The insurance agencies have a neat little database in which they record every single insurance claim the vehicle owner makes. And the smart alecs increase the rate of premium if the owners have made some good sized claims during the year. Also the detailed reports of the service done by the various agencies are also getting fed into their database. Insurance companies do all this as it helps their business.

A little push from the government/politicians would force them to accept data from RTOs, and various police departments as well. And this need not be even real time data. Feeds can be sent say once a month. And I feel this is the best way to tackle the menance of dangerous driving. Nothing is more precious to people than money.

the only infrastructural problem i see here is to set up an online driver's license database such that the traffic cop can record the driver's license number and his violation record using a wireless device to the database.

It need to be even that complex. Even the traditional note book of the police man is more than enough.

For cases in which a camera records the violation provision already exists to record the vehicle number. The owner of the vehicle can contest the charges at the courts or plead guilty. If the verdict is guilty provide the vehicle number to the insurance agencies.

For cases in which a police man stops the driver. Again charge sheet him, and generally he has the facility to pay a spot fine or contest the case in court. The vehicle number, driver license number any ways would be noted down by the police man. In case of guilty, provide the same to insurance companies.

Only chance would be that people could bribe the police man not to charge sheet the case (or charge spot fine) and not pass on the information to the database of the insurance-wallahs.

A big difference in US is that every case charged for traffic violations are heard in a court, and also traffic police men dont accept bribes and leave the driver alone.

[Vasu]

I think road safety is one issue that every politician across the board will agree on..

Really, they should first teach it to thier drivers. Just a week back a White scorpio in Chennai with a Congress flag on it nearly rammed until I Breaked to avoid the accident... I guess the driver thought if he drives for the Congress he has been personaaly elected as the PM of India. Hero tries overtaking in a 2 lane road where one side is full of near stationery vehicles moving 0-15KM, drives on the wrong side sees oncoming traffic swears left and appraently the car in the correct lane (me in this case) has to swerve near the footpath and break to let his highness go.

I'm sorry it happened to you but my point was more political, saying that it will not become an issue to be debated at the broadest policy level.

But yes, its expected of the CONgressi driver. Even the minions need their power trip!

[Bade]

in massa land, there is one practise that if one has had a ticket/accident/moving traffic violation, not only do they get ticketed, but there is also a record of their driver's license, because of which their vehicle insurance also inflates and this stays for minimum 5 years after which the record is removed.

When i was in Delhi, we regularly paid our car/motorcycle insurance etc so I would assume atleast 40% vehicle owners/businesses in india maintain vehicle insurance. So what is stopping the government from adopting this rule? Because now even a bribe isnt going to totally get you out of trouble. you get into trouble once and then you are paying higher insurance for next 5 years. i feel this is a big impediment to the traffic violator and will go a long way in curbing traffic unruliness.

the only infrastructural problem i see here is to set up an online driver's license database such that the traffic cop can record the driver's license number and his violation record using a wireless device to the database.

Insurance is tied to the vehicle in India unlike in massa. Different drivers drive any given vehicle. So the impediment to the traffic violator does not exist, but only to the owner. Very few vehicles are self-driven in India.

The type of violations by self-driven vehicles and driver-driven commercial people and goods carriers fall in different classes and need to tackled separately.

[Sachin]

Insurance is tied to the vehicle in India unlike in massa. Different drivers drive any given vehicle. So the impediment to the traffic violator does not exist, but only to the owner. Very few vehicles are self-driven in India.

I learn some thing new today . Never knew that Vehicle insurance was tagged to an individual. Perhaps it may be too harsh, but I guess a heavy insurance premium for the owner; thanks to the "brilliant" drivers he employed would also change some things. The owner would think twice of any sundry-person with a DL as his driver. And soon drivers also may have to show some certification to prove that they are not an "insurance risk" .

[Bade]

Sachin, for poor YenAarEyes like moi we do not have the luxury of wetting driver skills on our short trips. We take whom we can get from the existing pool.

Only result from such draconian measures would be that NRIs would start taking things in to their own hands and become an added risk, due to acclimatization issues with local driving habits.

The correct measure is to target the driver in India as was mentioned before.

[Bade]

I am not sanguine about implementation of rules to smooth out the issues. There is a huge lobby to keep alive the need for drivers. One way it has been done is to make it harder for ordinary people to drive on Indian roads by their poor design as well as lax enforcement of driving etiquette.

In any sane country drivers are needed only for commercial vehicles, not in India. Read job creation and try to beat that lobby out first.

[vina]

Never knew that Vehicle insurance was tagged to an individual

Not true. It is for the vehicle in Massa as well. In fact when you are getting insurance , the agent will ask you before giving you a quote on who will be driving the vehicle in addition to you.

That doesn't mean that if someone else with a valid license is driving the car the insurance is not valid. Accidents and traffic violations are a different story. That goes against your driving license and you rack up points against your license.

[vina]

Sachin, for poor YenAarEyes like moi we do not have the luxury of wetting driver skills on our short trips. We take whom we can get from the existing pool.

Pah!.. You Americans are such wimps. I started driving within a week of moving back to India and waded into the traffic and from the 2nd week could turn and burn and thrust and parry with the beastliest auto guys in Bangalore.

[Bade]

True, all drivers in a household are also listed for insurance and the risk decides the premium. But then the chances of a private car being driven by someone outside of the household is next to nil in massa. In India that is not the case, and hence drivers need to be penalized.

If only vehicle owners are penalized it is quite likely that bribing culture will prevail. If a driver errs and is penalized, it is unlikely the owner is going to bail him out. So it works as a better deterrence to poor driving.

[Bade]

Sachin, for poor YenAarEyes like moi we do not have the luxury of wetting driver skills on our short trips. We take whom we can get from the existing pool.

Pah!.. You Americans are such wimps. I started driving within a week of moving back to India and waded into the traffic and from the 2nd week could turn and burn and thrust and parry with the beastliest auto guys in Bangalore.

What do your drive a hummer. So you threw away all the good driving habits from massa and joined the unwashed abduls.

[vina]

What do your drive a hummer. So you threw away all the good driving habits from massa and joined the unwashed abduls.

Actually no. I drive an honest to goodness thin skinned car and I didnt join the unwashed abduls. I still drive properly like in Massa. The only thing you need to do is keep your wits about you, take it easy, anticipate and drive defensively a lot more and avoid crowds as much as you can.. Of course I end up changing lanes lot more than in massa and yes, I do check mirrors and glance over the shoulders before changing lanes and stop at red lights and all that.

In fact, my in laws were shocked in the beginning when I drove with the wing mirrors open, looked over shoulders and checked blind spots etc. It was a huge culture shock for them. The first thing father-in-law does is fold the wing mirrors when he drives and doesn't look anywhere except front and doesnt change gears because he claims "he is saving fuel" and drives at 4th gear at 10/15 kmph with engine jerking and wheezing and threatening to stall and other traffic whizzing past and irate traffic behind him honking like crazy and he drives right in the middle of the road.

That thing drives me crazy and India has a lot of my FIL types , along with rank morons who think Koramangala main road is an F1 race track and go absolutely Loco with no sense of driving and zero checking of mirrors and blind spots while changing lanes. in fact, they snake all around ..

[Suraj]

Started driving one week after returning home ? That's not a big deal. I drove around Cochin city hours after getting back on a trip, dealing with rush hour Kerala drivers, including KSRTC madmen. Bangalore drivers are tame in comparison. Besides Cochin has no roads, as Bade and Dileep will agree.

Now let's wait for some NRI to tell us how they drove the car from the airport itself

[Bade]

When I get off a plane I am so groggy that I rarely drive from the airport even in massa, unless a gun is pointed at me. These days after long haul all kinds of jet-lag issues make my head feel an out of body experience, but in the younger days it used to be the booze.

[SaiK]

I have no such problem adjusting cochin, chennai or bangalore roads even after driving million miles in maasa or elsewhere. It just happens to me in a flip.. and of course one thing I do notice.. I tend to be calmer and quieter if someone crosses the road when I drive.. I have started smiling and wait patiently or perhaps drive a little slower. Heavier traffic sometimes I have to follow the heard of dodgers around even the best of elderly desi beings.

[vina]

Started driving one week after returning home ? That's not a big deal. I drove around Cochin city hours after getting back on a trip, dealing with rush hour Kerala drivers, including KSRTC madmen. Bangalore drivers are tame in comparison. Besides Cochin has no roads, as Bade and Dileep will agree.

I have to agree with you. If Bangalore/KA is aggressive and ridiculous, Chennai/TN is aggressive and ludicrous, the only word for Kerala is Maniacal and Suicidal.

During my trips in Kerala, I simply cant imagine what gets into the Mango Mallu once he gets behind the wheel of a car. It seems like that there is a collective SooSide /Deathwish that immediately afflicts everyone.

Couple that with those ridiculous roads in Kerala which simply cannot support that amount of traffic that passes off for main highways, I dont deny that Kerala is easily the most stressful as far as driving goes.

I remember Kochi and places where there was a barrier /checkpost and there was a bus/lorry already nosing it's way into the barrier and the cab we were in suddenly went berserk and nosed in between the bus and the barrier entrance and scraped his side and then he got off from the cab and started arguing with the truck guy and did the jaw-jaw and then called up his office and told them about it and asked them to pull strings and set it right. Of course he heard a earful from me and SHQ (who has absolutely no humor for that sort of thing) and was rather more sane after words.

And of course in Munnar, in those tiny winding hill roads, the Jeep-Taxis .. ada Guruvayurappa.. I cant imagine how they complete even one trip without a fatality. They without fail drive on the wrong side of the road , with one "Conductor" Abdul hanging out from the passenger side frantically waving for the on coming traffic to move out of the way/stop / while jarnail driver weaves and passes other wimpy traffic in front of him.. err. forget about the small matter of sheer drops down hundreds of feet and no barriers on the side where jarnail is driving and if he collides with on coming traffic, he takes the other guy to Jannat to get their 2 * 72s together. Total madness. Thankfully things are lot lot better in KA and TN .

[Aditya_V]

In fact, my in laws were shocked in the beginning when I drove with the wing mirrors open, looked over shoulders and checked blind spots etc. It was a huge culture shock for them. The first thing father-in-law does is fold the wing mirrors when he drives and doesn't look anywhere except front and doesnt change gears because he claims "he is saving fuel" and drives at 4th gear at 10/15 kmph with engine jerking and wheezing and threatening to stall and other traffic whizzing past and irate traffic behind him honking like crazy and he drives right in the middle of the road.

That thing drives me crazy and India has a lot of my FIL types , along with rank morons who think Koramangala main road is an F1 race track and go absolutely Loco with no sense of driving and zero checking of mirrors and blind spots while changing lanes. in fact, they snake all around ..

When me or my Bro in law drive my Father in laws car the first that would change is the side view mirrors would open out and he makes it a policy to close them when he drives, anther changes is the seat angle, I prefectly reltively straight whereas he drives with seat angle laidback.

[Bade]

Things a lot better in TN and KA. You must be joking or looking through blinders. I just completed a long trip few weeks back and I can attest that people in TN are the craziest lot when having to interact with on the road irrespective of whether they are behind the wheels or on foot.

Kerala drivers are maniacal/suicidal for sure, but they seem to know what they are doing most of the time. It is just that people like me cannot match their skill levels in formula-1 driving. They can still miscalculate and result in fatal accidents, but it is not because of want of driving skills. Of course, the me first attitude is a common streak all over India which only adds to stupid mistakes on the road by one and all. Saw plenty of that with pedestrians of all ages from kids to old men and women at random crossing the coimbatore-salem stretch of the highway, where cars were regularly overtaking us and leaving my poor santro to bite the dust.

There are no wrong side drivers in Kerala wherever there is a divided highway, which thanks to Baalu, commies and ABV's initial plan not having kerala roads, the dividers are only in small segments of NH-47. So the wrong side issue does not arise unlike in TN where buses, cars were driving on the wrong side of divided NH and on shoulders coming out of service lanes opposite to the legal flow. So much for TN roads and etiquette. I felt the most unsafe while in TN on way to Blr. It was proof that throwing money and building divided highways alone does not solve the most critical problems of proper usage of roads by vehicles and people alike.

Road quality was marginally better in TN compared to segments like TCR-Palakkad via Shornur, but nothing to write home about either. Try the Ponmudi route or to Sholayar from Chalakudi to feel what even good rubberized 2-lane roads can do for hill driving without any fancy central funding.

[Sachin]

When me or my Bro in law drive my Father in laws car the first that would change is the side view mirrors would open out and he makes it a policy to close them when he drives

When I picked up driving (in an Ambasaddor with the gear lever behind the steering, and then in a Hindustan "Trekker" which has a floor gear) the usage of the side mirrors were not even taught. I dont know if they do it even now (when most of the cars do come up with a default set of side mirrors). It was after I started driving heavily on city roads that I loved this device .

A friend of mine had an interesting tale to tell. They bought a new car (with side mirrors). They had to go on a long drive. Since no one was confident they decided to call a veteran driver on hire. The veteran was known for his speed and skill in driving. But in this car he was not upto the mark. Always tensed and the speed much reduced. The senior passenger (the owner of the vehicle) asked what is wrong. In an apologetic tone the driver asked permission to close the two side mirrors. He said he was scared, and it is not helping him judge the size of the vehicle. He was scared that if he drove the vehicle with his usual judgement, the mirrors would get hit by another vehicle. The mirrors was closed, and the man was back to his usual form.

Kerala drivers are maniacal/suicidal for sure, but they seem to know what they are doing most of the time.

For many folks in Socialist Republic they have better opinion of the KSRTC bus drivers. They are supposed to be much more better in driving, when compared to the 21 year olds going crazy on private vehicles. In routes where private buses go ahead with their rash driving, there is always an encouragement from the bus owners. Again the idea is that if some one gets killed Insurance would any way pay up. The only thing is to leave the scene quickly (if possible with the bus). People also are aware of this, so that is why the urge to thrash the driver to pulp (and the bus crew in general) in case of an accident. The police too when things become too hot, threaten to charge the drivers with "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" charges, which has a more longer prison sentence etc. Again "Insurance" seems to be a more simpler way to bring in some road discipline.

Unless an individual is clearly identified for paying up huge premiums for Insurance, this would continue. Either the owner or the driver have to be made to pay through the noses. And for pedestrians, the Insurance company should not pay up if it was the pedestrian's fault. And from what I heard Insurance companies are also now fighting every single case, if they feel that they are getting taken for a ride.

[Singha]

K(arnataka)SRTC volvo drivers were specially selected and trained to control their huge vehicles and the long overhang ahead of front axle. they wear white dress, they are the elite and the first line of defence.
but the easy power and smoothness of their typhoons went to their heads and they play pretty rough, using the car like handling of the B7R to go head to head with errant Swifts and such they come up pretty fast in the rear view mirror...

[Dileep]

KSRTC Drivers are no better than the pvt bus drivers. They just don't do F1 because they have no obligation to keep time. The SuperFasts are as good a killer weapon as the tipper trucks.

We don't have wrong side drivers because we don't have divided highways with (relatively) lower traffic density. Till recently, the ONLY one in the state was the NH-47 from Angamaly-Cherthala, where the traffic density is so high, that you can't go wrong side at all. You need a bit of a gap in traffic to maneuver the vehicle into the lane, which is not available on those stretches.

Ref to insurance system, I don't agree with Bade. Not many owners employ 'casual drivers'. You either self/family drive, or you employ a driver long term. It is a good idea to penalize the insurance of the owner, because then he would take some initiative in choosing who drives his car.

[manish]

K(arnataka)SRTC volvo drivers were specially selected and trained to control their huge vehicles and the long overhang ahead of front axle. they wear white dress, they are the elite and the first line of defence.
but the easy power and smoothness of their typhoons went to their heads and they play pretty rough, using the car like handling of the B7R to go head to head with errant Swifts and such they come up pretty fast in the rear view mirror...

Saar, if you remember, the early lot of Volvo crews (driver+conductor both) were pretty nice and well mannered. They would be extremely polite to the passengers (who were no less 'elite', many first time travellers on 'sarkari' bus services etc) and generally complied with all the guidelines laid down by the corporation for the premium services which included facilities such as stop on request.

This went on for a while, but as the KSRTC Volvo fleet exploded in size and swelled to 400+ buses (the largest IIRC in the country) the SF regiments could no longer cherry pick from the best of the best types. Add to this the emergence of a superiority complex amongst the lot, and you get the bunch of snobbish/arrogant types who use their vehicles as Weapons of Mass T(ransportation)errorization. It is a similar story with BMTC as well.

But at this juncture I must note that there has been a bit of a pull back by the yahoos in KSRTC uniforms ever since the corporation's hitherto 'clean' record in Volvo ops was hit by a string of deadly accidents happening close together in 2008-09. Apparently the corporation clamped down on speeding and rash driving by its drivers and the speeds in many key Volvo sectors such as MLR-BLR and BLR-CHN has definitely come down a notch or two, driving up journey times as a result.

[ravar]

While in SRK drive as the SRKites do!

Why, just as in dialect, there is considerable difference in the driving culture between Tvm (talking about early 2000, not sure how it would have changed over the years) and Kochi! When I had relocated to Kochi from Tvm, the city greeted me with a new style of driving culture which I hadn't seen until then, shocking to say the least (have to cut some slack for Kochiites, since as someone here mentioned, there is no 'road' as such in Kochi)!. If you give way for someone on the road, you are considered a nut case with bumper-to-bumper and wriggling-out driving style being the norm! The silver lining of my stint in Kochi is that I can manage the worst driving culture in any part of the world (a Gelf driving license not withstanding) with equal elan!

And those Red boxes aka pvt buses in Kochi always make me feel that the drivers would qualify for podium finishes on F1! Alas, only if Mallya travelled in one of these boxes for an 'out of the box' experience, we could have had our own home-grown Sutils!

Unsuspecting drivers will find more hair-raising surprises if they drive around in the district of Malappuram (the land of Friday holidays). Once, my relative ( who was new to the place) was in the process of overtaking a pvt bus, when, without giving any signal whatsoever, the bus driver banked hard to the right for a turn, almost colliding with the overtaking car! In the altercation that ensued, the bus driver contended that 'everyone knows' that buses took a right turn at the spot! To buttress his point, he righteously pointed to the route board written in Malayalam, displayed behind the bus!!

[ravar]

Sachin wrote
For many folks in Socialist Republic they have better opinion of the KSRTC bus drivers. They are supposed to be much more better in driving, when compared to the 21 year olds going crazy on private vehicles. In routes where private buses go ahead with their rash driving, there is always an encouragement from the bus owners.

Usually, after 9 pm, which is when the private bus services wind up for the day in SRK, the empty return trip to the shed is manned by the conductor aka 'kili' (birdie) at the driver's seat! Many of these 'conductors' learn driving on such journeys without any prior experience nor driving license on HVs! I have seen youngsters in their late teens doing this !This is the process of career progression to the next level of driver as devised by the bus owners! The police also turns a blind eye!

[Singha]

in assam the early morning driving is by these apprentices...they usually run over unwary pedestrians or scooterists in the morning mist.

[sum]

Some kind words for Bluru traffic police ( after all the brickbats till now) :

Sunshine year for traffic police

The Traffic cops of the City known for its road mess have secured full marks this year. With roads dug up for a slew of projects being executed by various agencies, they had a formidable task in ensuring smooth traffic flow. And they have emerged successful.

“Smooth traffic flow was our main concern. We made the stretch between Trinity Circle and Indiranagar 100 feet Road two-way and ensured smooth traffic flow on Old Madras Road. Solving the slow traffic movement partially, reducing the number of minor accidents and opening the elevated road in Peenya sector are the major achievements this year,” Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic & Security) Praveen Sood told Deccan Herald.

Slew of projects
About 50 kms of road has been dug up to facilitate Metro Rail projects, while in some other areas around 60 kms of road has been dug up to facilitate the BWSSB and Bescom projects. Nearly 30 flyovers/underpasses are under construction. Despite such hurdles, overall travel time came down by 15 minutes due to proper monitoring of traffic on roads, Sood claimed.

The Elevated Road on Hosur Road disappointed with nearly 80 per cent of its capacity going waste. Toll fee deters motorists from using the stretch. Sood said the objective of the project has remained unfulfilled.

Traffic situation slightly improved in Bangalore East as Agara, Iblur and Horamavu flyovers were thrown open for public. Opening of Sumanahalli and Nayandahalli underpasses in Bangalore West reduced travel time by 25 minutes. Flyovers at Kengeri New Town and MC Junction in Vijayanagar were also made operational. In Bangalore North, flyovers at Yeshwantpur, Mattikere and Malleswaram were opened. However, Bangalore South suffered the whole year as there was hardly any progress in road development projects.

Boost in infrastructure
The traffic infrastructure in Bangalore will get a boost in 2011 as flyovers/underpasses at Devarabisanahalli, Kadabisanahalli, Kammanahalli, Veeraiahpalya, Mahadevapura and Hosur 14th Cross will be opened for traffic. Vehicles can move smoothly from Silk Board Junction to Hebbal once these projects are completed. Situation will improve in Bangalore South as ongoing road projects at Puttenahalli, Kadirenahalli and Tagore Junctions will be completed. All the roads blocked for traffic in and around Jayanagar will be reopened by January end. Bangalore North will also see some improvement with flyovers/underpasses at Bhadrappa Layout, Kuvempu Circle and C N R Rao Circle likely to be commissioned. Traffic will move smoothly on West of Chord Road as some stretches will be opened for traffic in another six months. Some stretches on Magadi Road, Gorguntepalya and Jalahalli will be given back to road users.

No respite on Mysore road
The year 2011 will not bring any good news for road users on Mysore Road and Bannerghatta Road.

The entire Mysore Road is in horrible condition as BBMP, BWSSB, Bescom and BDA have taken up projects, the completion of which is likely to take much time. The stretch between Arakere-Hulimavu and Dairy Circle is in a pathetic state as infrastructure is highly inadequate to meet road users’ requirements. There is hardly any new project happening on Bannerghatta Road.

It’s going to be tough for road users in Bangalore Central as work on underground portion of Metro Rail project has just begun. The traffic pressure is likely to shift to Outer Ring Road, Jayamahal and Mekhri Circle as road closures will be frequent in the Central part.

Vacant posts
Vehicle checking was 10 times more, while booking of cases was two times higher this year. There used to be about 60 drunken drivers for every 100 drivers checked, but this year there are about 10 such drivers of 100 checked.

All this brought about more discipline on the roads. The traffic police contributed Rs 45 crore to the State exchequer by way of fine.

The department trained policemen in soft skills and public interaction, thus reducing the conflict with road users. The department, with a sanctioned strength of 1,845, has 400 vacant posts.

The recruitment process has been set in motion and the new staff will join only in 2011 by which time another 100 posts would become vacant. Ideally, a city like Bangalore should have 5,000 staff.Sood said there were plans to increase the number of surveillance cameras from 176 to 300 in the coming year. The motto for 2011 is “Safe Traffic and No Gridlocks’.

[Raja Bose]

I wonder how Kolkata driving compares to Kerala Soo-siders? - anybody driven in both places this year? Dilli traffic I got used to within the week but Kolkata traffic would easily take a month to get used to - it has simply gotten worse by several orders of magnitude.

This year father is also going to take a test for his US driver's license after driving on Indian roads (plains and hills) for the last 40 years - he better not apply Dilli driving skills and fail coz that will be a massive blow to enchandee onlee

[Pratyush]

Guys,

All you southies claiming that the drivers are ***** none of them can compete with the Pure Jat dirvers of NCR. Gurgaon, Faridabad or Noida not to mention Delhi. The words death wish cannot begin to describe the driving style. It is more like a demolition derby. No road sense whatsoever. In a single lane road they will overtake like it is a multi lane expressway. Hit you from behind and then claim that it was your fault. The cyclists and motorised two wheelers the less said the better. They drive as if their life is a burden and a loan which they are eager to repay.

A recent example; A Santro broadsides an Innova. The result was that the Innova turning turtle. The Santro driver claims that the Innova driver was to blame.

The accident could have been avoided if the santro driver had been seeing where he was going but no.

Can any of your drivers match that feat.

[Singha]

yesterday due to fog there was a 10+ car pileup on the greater noida expway my mother told me.

[Raja Bose]

^^^Singha, didn't know you were a closet Dilli Billi

Pratyush mian, I can personally vouch for the fact that Kolkata driving is worse than Dilli as of now.

[Purush]

I salute all of you EnAreEyes who hop in and start driving immediately upon touchdown in India.
I simply don't have the guts to go anywhere near a steering wheel when I am there.

In fact, the first taxi ride home from Nedumbassery to the City, at ~2330h on dimly lit and dug up roads is sheer terror.

1. Get into the taxi..rear seat onlee always. (An infinitesimal chance of survival that way in case of a head-on chai-biskoot with a Formula Racing Lorry).
2. Hang on as the driver guns the engine and takes off immediately.
3. Desperately grope around in the dark interior for the seatbelt and slowly realize- it simply doesn't exist.
4. Close eyes tightly, invoke all Yindoo Gods, and for the next 45 mins, contemplate deeply the questions of Salvation and Rebirth, the Meaning of Life etc.
5. Occasionally, open eyes briefly, get blasted by high beams from Formula Racing Lorries and gas tankers hurtling down the opposite direction. Also note the rear taillights of long distance KSRTC bus in front looming rapidly in the windshield. Immediately squeeze shut eyes and return to contemplating the probability of being reborn as a bakri in a Pacqui harem.
6. Take occasional breaks from contemplation, to silently curse all yindoo leaders in history, from JLN down to the mayor of COK, for the state of the roads and traffic. Repeat several times during journey.
7. Reach destination. Open eyes. Thank all Yindoo Gods for not arranging a trip to the 72. Pay taxi driver. Gingerly exit vehicle and collect luggage from boot.
8. Enter home, greet mom and dad. Explain that an urgent visit to Pacquistan is in order.
9. Rush to pacquistan.
10. Change soiled khakis and put on new jernail uniform.

Repeat every year for trip to and from airport.

When I am home, i don't even leave my house as far as I can help it, let alone long distance road trips.
Any trip outside COK is by train onlee.

For fixing the traffic problems in India, no amount of infrastructural improvements will help. Drivers don't even properly utilize whatever infrastructure is already there. Only a sea change in driving habits and mentality will fix things. For that education, gentle coaxing etc is not going to do squat.

Fear may do the trick.
A few public roadside executions of particularly egregious traffic offenders by mobile firing squads perhaps.
After all, the oiseaules are attempting to mass-murder fellow citizens whenever they get on the roads. They should be treated accordingly.

[JE Menon]

[Bade]

Purush, that was a well compiled list. But now that ya revealed your insecurity here and exposed your echandee, that upper hand with a PhD has taken a toll.

The suggestion below makes perfect sense.

Fear may do the trick.
A few public roadside executions of particularly egregious traffic offenders by mobile firing squads perhaps.
After all, the oiseaules are attempting to mass-murder fellow citizens whenever they get on the roads. They should be treated accordingly.

[pgbhat]

[Dileep]

Let us take some statistics. How many 'injury accidents' happen per year for a taxi originating from the COK airport in the NH-47? Next to zero. Like a good yindoo, believe in Karma and enjoy the ride onlee.

[Bade]

Road rage in India growing along with economy

The city's roads have not kept up with traffic growth. While the vehicle count has soared 212 percent over the past two decades, the number of miles of road has grown a mere 17 percent, according to the New Delhi Transport Department.

"People are on the road longer, and everyone is on a short fuse," Satyendra Garg, the police official in charge of New Delhi traffic. "The result is a situation which begins verbally, then escalates to physical confrontation."

And because vehicles are a powerful symbol of often-newfound wealth, any scratch can feel like an assault on a person's status, he added. "So if someone scrapes their new car, they find it unacceptable and are ready to hit out."

Sociologist Abhilasha Kumari also senses a change in attitude as the country's new economic wealth makes society more materialistic.

.......

"The police are mute spectators," she added. "They feel if they stop a driver who is breaking the rules, they will hold up traffic and make the situation worse. So the offender gets away scot-free."

Maxwell Pereira, a retired police officer, said there is only so much the police can do.

"It's high time vehicle drivers learn to be civilized and follow road rules," he said.

As the situation on the roads deteriorates, he worries that even normally levelheaded drivers will resort to road rage.

"There's no saying whom it will strike next," he said. "Even the most sober and most calm person will lose his cool."

[Singha]

a guy was killed in rohini market last night - while opening his car trunk it accidently hit one of three youths who got into a argument before one pulled out a unlicensed weapon and killed him right there. you can imagine a car trunk can hardly hurt anyone seriously, people are always drunk and in a mood to pick fights as night falls.

two more:
http://www.ndtv.com/article/delhi/two-a ... elhi-75069
http://www.hindustantimes.com/Stalker-s ... 38933.aspx

unless you are moving around with a group of NDA buddies bearing arms its probably not a good idea to get into road arguments in NCR - you never know when some 16 yr punk lowlife driving a bmw5 will pull out his fathers pistol and end your life or wound you or family seriously.

[pgbhat]

^

Batra used to live in the neighbourhood but had recently moved to Bahadurgarh, where he worked in a factory, Sharma said. "Batra came to Rohini along with his friend Manmeet, a resident of Ballabgarh, on Sunday evening. Around 9.45pm, the deceased and Manmeet accompanied three of his friends -- Saurav, Naveen Singh Negi and Gulshan -- to a chicken joint.

Manmeet and Batra decided to stay in the car but as it was getting late, Batra decided to tell his friends and return home early. As he opened the rear door of the Wagon R, it hit two young men returning from the hotel," Sharma said.

An argument began and both sides abused each other in foul language. "As Manmeet tried to interfere, he was pushed and heckled. This infuriated Batra who suddenly lunged at one of the accused. The accused then pulled out an unlicensed weapon and shot thrice at Batra. Two bullets hit his chest," said Sharma. Batra was rushed to Ambedkar Hospital but he died on the way.