Friday, April 25, 2008
INDIA EXPERIENCED
INDIA EXPERIENCED
Anyone who has driven on Indian roads must have had near misses. The most dangerous drivers with no road sense and have no regard for road safety.
It is very difficult to understand the mind of Indian road users, the most educated to the most illiterate and the richest to the hand to mouth. All are at fault. It seems the licensing agencies are the culprits, where no driving licences are issued without greasing the hands of officials (every thing done through agents), without these middlemen one stands no chance to even obtain an application form for a driving test.
Driving test procedure is comical and pathetic (this may differ from test centre to test centre throughout the country). The examiner sits at a window a distance away from the learner driver at the wheels of a car who is asked to drive forward in the first gear and reverse only a few yards (the examiner’s eyes seldom on this learner driver) passes him. Next process is the photo and finger printing and voila the licence is there in a few minutes, no questions asked.
Roads in many parts of the country are getting better by day, but the public is not ready for the use of such advanced road system, where hardly a few know the road signs, many can’t even read or right.
One may find oneself in a dangerous situation on a duel carriage way , where a car, a two wheeler, a lorry or even a police vehicle using lanes of a carriage way as a normal road driving head on to the on coming traffic. Accident scenes that one finds on Indian roads are a quiz to solve. Could it be, brake failure, tyre burst, a drunken driver, full beam of on coming traffic, a feral dog, a cow, a buffalo, a pig , or even a road user on two legs who only walks where his or her nose points to. The only difference is when ever a vehicle runs over an animal it stays there on the road till scavenging birds have nothing to peck on and the rotting remains stay there for days on, while humans are claimed and cleared after a lengthy police procedure, only to be grilled and questioned and to line the pockets of police and hospital staff.
Accidents also happen due to very poor road maintenance, drivers dodging pot holes big enough to cause serious damage to vehicles. Road humps appear without any signage again causing serious damage (these road humps have no standards; they are made according to ones liking).
Pavements are not there for public to walk on; they are there for homeless and hawkers. The disabled and aged do not exist for Indian road planners or else they would not construct knee high pavements, no wonder wheel chair bound are a rare sight. Surely the cost to human life and damage to wheeled property must run in billions of rupees in insurance claims (who give a damn about uninsured millions unaccounted for). Rural road users are the worst culprits, give ways (what are they) means just join the main road traffic without looking left or right. Roundabouts are a real fun, where one finds the shortest way possible to join the exits and also be considerate and stop in a roundabout to give way to entering traffic.
Talk about NOISE POLUTION; the sound of a claxon is something that is considered an orchestral instrument. Every minute of the twenty four, three hundred sixty five and a quarter days is blaring time. No place is immune to noise pollution; it seems we Indians love the sound of horns. Are we ever going to come to the levels of driving we find abroad, forget about the western countries; middle eastern and far eastern lands have better and disciplined road users, their discipline and consideration for other road users is far superior than ours, feat which we will never be able to achieve (or will we?). It’s a million dollar question that has no answer, yes may be possible if there were only a couple of factors responsible for this rule less cacophony on these killer roads, but there are as many as there are people in the land. Road rage is on the rise and people are accustomed to taking law in their hands, at times beating individuals to death (life has no value in India). Police are seen beating drivers with lathis (bamboo staffs) and loosening their bonny joints, perhaps a process to empty their wallets with ease. Police corruption is a disease that has no anti dotes. It is religion (Laxmi gotten both good and evil ways) is pure.
Like many say India is a state of functioning chaos, indeed it is.
Anyone who has driven on Indian roads must have had near misses. The most dangerous drivers with no road sense and have no regard for road safety.
It is very difficult to understand the mind of Indian road users, the most educated to the most illiterate and the richest to the hand to mouth. All are at fault. It seems the licensing agencies are the culprits, where no driving licences are issued without greasing the hands of officials (every thing done through agents), without these middlemen one stands no chance to even obtain an application form for a driving test.
Driving test procedure is comical and pathetic (this may differ from test centre to test centre throughout the country). The examiner sits at a window a distance away from the learner driver at the wheels of a car who is asked to drive forward in the first gear and reverse only a few yards (the examiner’s eyes seldom on this learner driver) passes him. Next process is the photo and finger printing and voila the licence is there in a few minutes, no questions asked.
Roads in many parts of the country are getting better by day, but the public is not ready for the use of such advanced road system, where hardly a few know the road signs, many can’t even read or right.
One may find oneself in a dangerous situation on a duel carriage way , where a car, a two wheeler, a lorry or even a police vehicle using lanes of a carriage way as a normal road driving head on to the on coming traffic. Accident scenes that one finds on Indian roads are a quiz to solve. Could it be, brake failure, tyre burst, a drunken driver, full beam of on coming traffic, a feral dog, a cow, a buffalo, a pig , or even a road user on two legs who only walks where his or her nose points to. The only difference is when ever a vehicle runs over an animal it stays there on the road till scavenging birds have nothing to peck on and the rotting remains stay there for days on, while humans are claimed and cleared after a lengthy police procedure, only to be grilled and questioned and to line the pockets of police and hospital staff.
Accidents also happen due to very poor road maintenance, drivers dodging pot holes big enough to cause serious damage to vehicles. Road humps appear without any signage again causing serious damage (these road humps have no standards; they are made according to ones liking).
Pavements are not there for public to walk on; they are there for homeless and hawkers. The disabled and aged do not exist for Indian road planners or else they would not construct knee high pavements, no wonder wheel chair bound are a rare sight. Surely the cost to human life and damage to wheeled property must run in billions of rupees in insurance claims (who give a damn about uninsured millions unaccounted for). Rural road users are the worst culprits, give ways (what are they) means just join the main road traffic without looking left or right. Roundabouts are a real fun, where one finds the shortest way possible to join the exits and also be considerate and stop in a roundabout to give way to entering traffic.
Talk about NOISE POLUTION; the sound of a claxon is something that is considered an orchestral instrument. Every minute of the twenty four, three hundred sixty five and a quarter days is blaring time. No place is immune to noise pollution; it seems we Indians love the sound of horns. Are we ever going to come to the levels of driving we find abroad, forget about the western countries; middle eastern and far eastern lands have better and disciplined road users, their discipline and consideration for other road users is far superior than ours, feat which we will never be able to achieve (or will we?). It’s a million dollar question that has no answer, yes may be possible if there were only a couple of factors responsible for this rule less cacophony on these killer roads, but there are as many as there are people in the land. Road rage is on the rise and people are accustomed to taking law in their hands, at times beating individuals to death (life has no value in India). Police are seen beating drivers with lathis (bamboo staffs) and loosening their bonny joints, perhaps a process to empty their wallets with ease. Police corruption is a disease that has no anti dotes. It is religion (Laxmi gotten both good and evil ways) is pure.
Like many say India is a state of functioning chaos, indeed it is.
