Traffic Madness

My first blog had to be about traffic on Bangalore roads and that might very well apply to traffic on roads of any Indian city as well. It is my very personal feeling, and I am very well entitled to, that there are probably very few places that I so much don't want to be in, as much as I don't want to be on Indian roads. Indian roads are not meant for people who care for others rights and expect others to care for their rights. Over a period of time, the Indian roads have a tendency to break your will to remain a law abiding citizen and in a way dehumanize you without your own knowledge.

It appears that road signs and traffic lights are there just for cosmetic value, as drivers disregard them with impunity. Lane discipline is just not in the pathology of Indians. Have you noticed that there seems to be some serious aversion on the part of Indians to follow queue systems in general. It is as if we strongly believe in getting to our destination by hook or crook and not necessarily by our rightful turn.

Apart from the frustration that it causes to individuals, just look at the average speed. It takes anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour to travel a distance of 10 km. It is a colossal waste of time, energy and resources.

When we try to discuss amongst ourselves and try to figure out the reason behind this callous attitude, we get to listen to typical Indian replies such as "traffic jams are common even in western countries" and one enlightened person who has never put his foot on US soil remarked - it is much worse in New York city!

Interestingly, I once had a chat with a BMTC bus driver who was incessantly honking at a car ahead when the traffic light was red and his point - you don't have to stop at red lights on a Sunday and that was a Sunday! I hope he does not extend the same bizarre logic to other laws that prohibit criminal activity, such as murder!

Now for numbers, there are more road accidents and road accidents related deaths in India than in any other country, not by just absolute numbers but also for every hundred thousand registered vehicles. And the biggest killer of men & women of our armed forces during peace time is road accidents, not terrorism. And in our own city, Bangalore, about a 1000 lives are lost every year and should be a serious cause for concern, more than any epidemic.

Finally, one can quote any number of reasons for not following the laws, be it traffic or any other laws, but there should be one over riding reason to follow the laws in letter and spirit. And that should be a matter of principle. We surely have a very lousy attitude for the laws of our own land.

Here are some samples of our madness on road collected over last few weeks.