Indian Drivers the Worst
When it came time to get a driver’s license, it wasn’t important to me. I was living in a place with great public transportation. When I finally decided to learn to drive, I took driving lessons. My best friend, still my friend to this very day, would take me out driving. One time my car stalled in the middle of a crowded intersection, the light changed, and I was almost out of my mind with panic.
My friend calmly said “You’re doing just fine. Take a breath. You have time. Start the car, and complete the turn.” She didn’t sound worried at all – only later did I discover how terrified she was. She held it together. I will owe her to the end of my life for her loyalty to me and for her patience with me.
This is from the Arab Times. My mistake – I thought Kuwait was the deadliest spot on earth to drive. Not so – the Indians take that cake:
Good luck needed as Indians drive themselves to death
MUMBAI, Oct 23, 2008 (AFP) – The Good Luck Motor Training School in Mumbai is aptly named, according to its owner, Sohail ‘Raja’ Kappadia, who says luck is exactly what you need to drive on India’s roads.
Kappadia knows it only too well: a friend recently became another of the country’s shocking fatal road accident statistics, while one of his pupils has just rammed into the back of another car during a lesson.
‘Sometimes you just don’t know if the guy in front is going to brake,’ he told AFP with a shrug. ‘Presence of mind is a must here. Most of the accidents in Mumbai are due to rash negligence.’
India has the dubious distinction of being the deadliest place in the world to drive.
The country has 10 percent of the estimated 1.2 million road deaths worldwide, according to the International Road Federation in Geneva.
Mortality rates on Indian roads are 14 per 10,000 vehicles, compared to less than two per 10,000 in developed countries, the World Bank has said.
And by the end of the next decade, the organisation predicted that road deaths will overtake those from deadly diseases and most of the fatalities will be pedestrians.
It is not difficult to see why.
Drivers here run the gauntlet of speeding taxis, weaving auto-rickshaws, trucks and buses as well as hand-carts and cows on congested, pot-holed roads, some of which have remained largely unchanged since the end of the colonial era more than 60 years ago.
At the same time they have to be on their guard against stray dogs and jaywalking pedestrians, forced into the road by the clutter of street vendors, crumbling pavements or crossings.
Meanwhile laws governing the wearing of seatbelts and a ban on using mobile phones at the wheel are frequently flouted, indicators are seldom used and at night drivers often fail to switch on their headlights.
Motorcyclists riding without helmets with pillion passengers perched behind are a common sight.
For a learner driver, Shahik Arqam looks unfazed by such experiences.
‘It’s a little bit difficult but I know how other drivers work,’ the 24-year-old architect said.
During an hour-long lesson in a battered right-hand drive Hyundai Santro, Arqam has had to be alert.
Other drivers made no allowance for the red L-plates and warning triangle displayed prominently on the car.
Instead he was treated like any other road user and blasted by a chorus of car horns for driving too slowly, failing to pull away quickly enough from traffic lights or for stalling.
Filtering vehicles from the left failed to give way as he headed down the main road to Churchgate railway station, and he had to hold his nerve as cars swerved in and out of lanes in the tussle for pole position.
Mohsin Ali, an instructor for 12 years, takes Mumbai’s chaotic roads in his stride, gently issuing either verbal instructions or hand signals to his pupil as the car picked its way through the heavy mid-afternoon traffic.
‘If you follow the traffic rules then it’s very easy,’ the 39-year-old said afterwards. ‘Compared to Calcutta (Kolkata) and Madras (Chennai) the traffic is better here.’
To be sure, the Mumbai authorities have been trying to make the roads safer.
Roadsigns reminding drivers to belt up, only use the horn when necessary — rather than in constant cacophony, as encouraged by the ‘horn please’ request painted on the rear of many vehicles — and not use their mobile phones have appeared across the city.
Signs also remind motorcyclists to wear helmets and there has been a crackdown on drink-driving.
Some 632 people died in what the Indian media calls road traffic ‘mishaps’ in Mumbai in 2007, but by the end of August that had fallen to 377, according to police figures.
Kappadia agrees that better driver training is a must if safety is to be improved on India’s roads, particularly as private car ownership increases on the back of the country’s strong economic growth.
The 33-year-old said he would ban heavy goods vehicles from cities during the day, toughen sentences for drink-drivers, improve road infrastructure and spread the message that speed kills, especially among the young.
Some welcome measures have been taken, such as raising entry standards and lowering age limits for truck drivers, but more needs to be done, he said.
In the meantime, the Indian driving mantra of ‘good brakes, good horn, good luck’ will have to do.
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lol ! just now i was saying to my wife , how Kuwaiti’s hire drivers from India… i know couple of dudes from my place who probably may not have sat in a car 10 times in thier entire life and all of a sudden they land in Kuwait as Drivers …
LLOOLL, Grey, I hadn’t even thought of that. No kidding, “Poof! You’re a driver!” and you haven’t a clue how to drive, how to get around Kuwait, etc. Holy tamale!
lol no wonder number of car accidents are going up
in Kuwait
No wonder, Pearls!
lol @ โgood brakes, good horn, good luckโ
thats the truth when you’re driving in India ! ๐
watch out kuwait, i’m an insane indian driver and i got wheels!!! i keep telling everyone the worst drivers are indian. but only in india. we seem to drive “kindly” here in kuwait. or maybe we just dread having to wait for weeks to get any paper work done at the station ๐
LLOOLL, Mathai!
LLLOOLLL, Mario! I’m keeping my eye out!
๐ cmon indian drivers arent that bad! you should know going by the no. of accidents where the driver has been an indian, here in kuwait. The roads are bad, the moving population is bad, the rules are bad, well there is total chaos out there on the roads, and you just get by with your sheer instincts! ๐
i used to think, after driving here in kuwait, life is going to be tough driving in india again. There you need to have all your senses, and some extra ones too if possible, alert to get you to your destination!! ๐ Here things are too easy and ‘straightforward’!!
LOL, Onlooker – the article is about Indian drivers in INDIA! You are right, though, I find that I really have to readjust in Seattle, where drivers are polite and even gallant. Where here you have to fight for every inch, in Seattle people are co-operative. I have to tone down my aggressive style. Oh! And the intersections have cameras; a yellow light means STOP! Not go faster! And the fines are huge.
That’s so true! everywhere indian drivers are the worst!!! stupid and dumb, bottom of the pile, worse thing is, they think they’re so great,
i think there should be a world wide band on indians on roads, their stupidity and rage. worse kind ever!!
About 99.9% of all Indian drivers are men. Road conditions therefore, reflect a misplaced belief in machismo.
Most male drivers, especially from the lower classes, think that good drivers drive recklessly, take risks, and live to talk of their exploits. There’s a strong undercurrent of machismo and bravado in their attitude to driving.
I am a woman, and have been harrassed and driven off the roads several times because many male drivers think that a woman should never overtake them, or drive faster than them, never mind the risks.
Just a few minutes ago, I was parked at a major intersection, where the light changes every three minutes.
Behind me, was a man on a bike, with his wife and child perched precariously on the pillion. He picked a fight with me, because I stopped when the light turned amber (yellow). He vengefully mouthed vile abuses; all because he couldn’t speed through the intersection by the skin of his teeth.
Thanks Neha, for a insightful comment. I’ve had some similar kinds of experiences; I hate to see people take out their frustrations on the road.
I let the late Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat’s divine spirit guide me. Yes, I meditate while I drive and it helps me to reduce my anxiety and possibly being involved in a road rage incident. It’s too bad that more people can’t be aligned spiritually and to let this goodness be with them while driving.
I agree, Hardeep, that a spirit of goodness makes for a better driving experience, for the driver and for the others on the road ๐