Driving License: License to kill OR privilege to drive?
March 29th, 2007 , by amitagwlI do not need a survey to claim that almost 100% of the folks are frustrated with the traffic woes in India. I have been to many cities and all the cities have this problem albeit of different magnitude. Pune probably has one of the worst and maximum traffic violators. Virtually no one respects red lights, one ways, lane culture, speeding and high beams.
Few months back, one of my friends in Pune took the protected left turn (For the uninitiated, left turns in India are mostly free - left side driving) and a cop stopped him. My friend accepted to pay the fine and then he saw many people jumping red lights. He pointed that to the cop and the cop responded that its fine to jump red lights as it eases the traffic jam!!! The traffic discipline needs to be inculcated in the citizens as well as cops.
My top traffic grievances:
a) Jumping Red Lights: I just feel like killing those folks who jump red lights or honk me from behind when I am waiting on a red light.
b) High Beam: Couple of days back, I was driving from Indore to Pune and it was dark on Jalgaon-Pune road. All the vehicles (Bikes, Cars, Jeeps, Trucks, Buses) were driving on high beam. When it is pitch dark and you are driving on single lane highway on a hill with these vehicles coming to you with a high-beam, it just blinds you. If you are not vigilant and active as an owl, you will bump into the vehicles in front of you. No one understands and respects this law of driving on low beam. These vehicles are creating situations for accident to happen. For heaven’s sake, drive on low-beam unless necessary!
c) Driving on the wrong lane: Driving in the wrong lane is not only dangerous for you but for the oncoming traffic as well. It irritates the hell out of me when I am waiting in my lane for the traffic to get cleared and there is one indica crosses me from the wrong lane to beat the traffic. My time is as precious as the next person. Respect traffic, respect other people on the road and follow the lane discipline. It will not only clear the traffic jam quickly but also reduce accidents.
d) Two bikers driving side by side at 30kmph and gossiping on the road: I am very sure you have witnessed this camaraderie on the road. Two bikers going side by side on a road with 30kmph speed and covering the whole road. If you honk, they will give you a stare as if you are tress-passing their property! Be little aware and responsible while you are on the road.
e) Disrespecting one ways: One ways have been created for a purpose. It is to make our commute better. If we our-self abuse it, the whole purpose of one way is lost! I was cruising on NH4 from Bangalore to Chennai (part of golden quadrilateral) at 100+kmph in the rightmost fastest lane and suddenly I saw a guy(wearing a lungi but thats immaterial) on a bike with 100 odd plastic bottles on the back driving towards me! It scared the shit out of me and I had to shift to a left lane in fraction of a second. When I saw in my rear view mirror, that guy was actually shouting at me! Golden quadrilateral has cost the tax payers a fortune. Lets use it in the right way to maximize the return on its investment.
f) Parking at the turns: You do not have to be Einstein to understand that parking vehicles at turns create problems for the other vehicles. The turning radius increases and the vehicle taking the turn can not see if other vehicle is coming from the opposite direction. Be little understanding and park away from the turns in the designated parking spots.
Solution For Traffic Problems:
In my humble opinion, the traffic laws enforcement is very week. That’s why people have utter disrespect for the laws. They know if they violate a red-light, they will get away with paying 50-100 bucks as against to 200-500 bucks which is the actual fine. What if the actual fine is 2000 or 3000? Would not the cop ask for at least 500 rs in bribe to let the culprit free? If an auto driver has to pay 500 bucks for the traffic violation, he will think twice before jumping red-light. If the cop has a potential to make 500 bucks (thought with corruption), he will be more vigilant to catch these violators.
Another initiative to tighten the law enforcement can be that each traffic inspector needs to generate x amount of revenues in traffic fines every month. This will make them more vigilant and improve the law enforcement. May be these cops can get 25% of the excess fines collected as bonus every month. It will not only improve the traffic in cities, but also decrease corruption, increase taxes (as cops make more white money) and reduce traffic delays and frustrations!
We all need to understand that a driving license is a privilege and a responsibility and not a license to be disrespectful and threat to others.
March 29th, 2007 at 4:54 am
V right in every sense and sentence . Looks like its a national problem . Everyone of us has dealt with it some time or other .
Traffic/driving issues need whole lot of cleansing like many other things crippling our cities .
Solutions offered seem good but may increase corruption and exploitation of common man with no contacts to wriggle free .
Traffic police in order to make money may misutilize their power unless there are watchdogs for them too .
March 29th, 2007 at 10:09 am
High beams! My favourite crib while using the highway.
I have put in a lot of thought into this problem and here is a fool proof solution:
Everyone has seen the movie “Jackal” starring Richard Gere and Bruce Willis (If you haven’t, stop reading this and get yourself a DVD immeditaely). Well what interested me most (I found the technology as well as the mayhem just as appealing). Well the fundamental idea is you can track the movement of any object, even if the object moves. Well all you need is a similar device which can lock onto the f***** whos blinding you with his latest Xeon lamps.
Do you shoot him? (Well I wish we could, but then we do have something called the constitution which expressly forbids you todo just that). Then what do you do? Simple really. Just mount a highly reflective mirror instead of the gun and blind him in return. After all the bible says “an eye for an eye”. Besides you wont be leaving behind any proof of your involvement when the target crashes onto some divider after being unexpectedly blinded! The perfect murder! Man I should patent this and make my first million!
Ok. You have closed your eyes, and have started imagining your target flashing his Xeon lamps. You cock one eyebrow sardonically, grin and flip the control which activates the HeliosGun mounted on the roof of your car. (Helios~Greek for Sun). One light touch on the big red button and WHAM, you hear a tremendous crash behind you. You deactivate your weapon and ride off into the sunset. Well not sunset really, he was not THAT big a jerk to switch on his Xeon lamps during daylight was he? So you ride off into the high beam glare coming from the vehicles approaching you in the opposite lane! You open your eyes and suddenly find yourslef filled with craving for the HeliosGun! Pity its not currently available over the counter. What do you do now? Let your dreams wilt like a rose bud in the hot sun?
No siree! There IS a practical and a very economic solution.
Have you observed that nowadays every car practically has THREE tail lamps? Yep. Two on the extremities and one mounted on the glass. If your car doesnt have one, get it. Its worth it.
Just take of the cover (red) and carefully take out the bulb inside. Replace this bulb with Flash Lamps (the bulbs used in cameras). Do NOT replace the red cover as you will spoil all the fun.
Yes, thats right.
The next time anyone flashes his Xeon at you, you let him come in closer for the kill and tap your brakes lightly! This is completely legal (as compared to the other type of “flashing” which is liable to get you arrested for indecent exposure) and economical. At a very low cost you still get the screeeech of the brakes and the WHAM sound!
With music like this, who needs a 3CD changer and Blaupunkt speakers in your car?
About me:
Officially I am working in a software company. But as you can see, I have better things to do than write software. I also work as a freelance consultant to provide fast solutions to everyday problems. So the next time you find yourself stuck without an idea, just drop me a line. A bottle of whiskey will assure my utmost attention!
Ciao.
March 29th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
LOL… This is definitely a hilarious comment.. How I wish to get this HeliosGun
Jokes apart, I sincerely think that we need to find some solution to these traffic problems.
April 2nd, 2007 at 3:42 am
life has become a chase…i feel. I stand at my own office gate, waiting to cross the road, amidst a gang of ruthless drivers, bikers. But are all of them really what they wanted to be? reckless drivers?? I guess it has to do with the daily ‘bhaag daud’ one has to do to make a living in this competitive world. Not everyone is being reckless for the kick of it. everyone is running out of time, 24hrs is not enough probably. and especially in a huge populace like ours, where life is not valued so much. Everyone is striving to get a better life tomorrow. But at a cost..at the cost of breaking laws, bending rules. One’s chase for life ..might mean end of it for some other soul out there, say like my office colleagues and me who wait and wait to cross the road
and still emerge alive….as if one has survived a land mine.. 
April 3rd, 2007 at 1:39 am
More or less I agree with Spartan’s comment. It is indeed a daily fight. Having said that, I disagree at the point that breaking traffic laws is the reason for daily ‘bhaag daud’. I have seen people breaking red lights at 1AM in the morning. I myself a wreckless driver but I do not break traffic laws. I try my best not to be a threat to the other person if he is following traffic laws.
It is probably a cultural shift that laws are to be abided and not to be broken, moulded or twisted for personal gains.
April 5th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Breaking laws is what all of us have enjoyed since childhood… reaching school at just the last bell… eating lunch boxes during classes… bunking classes…not reaching home at the deadline set by parents… guess this has continued in all aspects of our lives…
we were never taught to respect ourselves and others ever.. I feel once we really start respecting ourselves rather than being selfish we automatically will resolve issues…
There is no 3 point solution to any problem.. Its not mathematics….Its about people its about their lives.
April 6th, 2007 at 4:04 am
Well said Shelly. I just have one point to make. If it is about people, how about same people behave in the most dignified way in US or other foreign countries? We take things for granted in India because we know we can. I agree that its a cultural shift. What I think is that shift will start from a stronger and better law enforcement.
April 10th, 2007 at 5:35 am
Yes, I also used to wonder why the same set of people behave differently. One school of thought says Indians feel inferior when they are in countries like US and UK, hence behave in dignified way. The same people when they come back to India think that they have seen the world and are superior and have their own ways… But they dont remember and neither do they learn that respecting oneself and respecting others is the key… Not sure how right or wrong this thought is..
October 26th, 2007 at 7:20 am
This site http://driving-india.blogspot.com/ has been created with the purpose of providing driver education and training to all Indian road users. It is by far the most comprehensive website providing training in defensive driving. Learning simple road habits can make our roads safe and also free up congestion caused by traffic chaos.
At present 17 driver education videos aimed at changing the driving culture on Indian roads are available. The video are unique in that the footage is real life action from streets of London. We have copied the Western habits: Replaced the dhoti with denim, high rise buildings for Indian cottages, burgers and coke instead of Indian breads and perhaps sugarcane juice. Surely we can copy the Western ways of travelling too.
To watch the videos, interested readers may visit: http://driving-india.blogspot.com/
The videos cover the following topics:
Video 1: Covers the concept of Blind spots
Video 2: Introduces the principle of Mirrors, Signal and Manoeuvre
Video 3: At red lights, stop behind the stop line
Video 4: At red lights there are no free left turns
Video 5: The Zebra belongs to pedestrians
Video 6: Tyres and Tarmac (rather than bumper to bumper)
Video 7: Merging with the Main road
Video 8: Leaving The Main Road
Video 9: Never Cut Corners
Video 10: Show Courtesy on roads
Video 11: 5 Rules that help deal with Roundabouts
Video 12: Speed limits, stopping distances, tailgating & 2 seconds rule
Video 13: Lane discipline and overtaking
Video 14: Low beam or high beam?
Video 15: Parallel (reverse parking) made easy
Video 16: Give the cyclist the respect of a car
Video 17: Dealing with in-car condensation
Many thanks