Road Traffic in India: Traffic Congestion as No Rules Are Followed
If you have been to any city in India, you will see a hotch-potch of cars, truck, people, cows, hawkers, buffaloes, lots of shit, children running around and some even playing cricket or sleeping on the roads. And yes, you may also spot a few traffic policemen if you are lucky. So, in a city like Mumbai, where I reside, this is a very common sight. Each day traveling to and from work, I get to see these lovely scenes. I keep wondering, where the problem lies: high population density, bad road planning, zero enforcement of traffic rules, bad and arrogant drivers, what else?
I think this traffic mess is a result of all of the above. I will give you a few examples:
- Every Indian behind wheels or on a bike believes ‘I want to be 1st”
and then you see them going far out and overtaking other stationary cars at traffic lights. So near the light post, you will see 100 vehicles (exaggerating) and just a few behind them. Instead of waiting patiently behind the car that’s waiting on the signal, our driver, goes left or right, squeezes into the already small alleys and tries to make it to the front! This pisses me off! I often wait like a model citizen and see these drivers navigate past me and come and stand right in front of me. I mean, are these illiterate people? No, education does not matter, its the “desi” culture. What happens as a result of this, is it creates a major mess at the junction. Too many cars trying to get into that small road causes a bottle neck and hence a traffic jam. What’s worse, by the time the light turns red again, the opposite traffic enters the junction and that complicates the traffic even more! if they could just have waited patiently, all the cars could have easily gone past the signal without any problems. - Another typical sight you will see reminds me of a geometry lesson I had learned: “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line”. The Indian motorist has perfected this art. Unfortunately, instead of doing this in the geometry class, they do it on the road! Whenever they have to make a right turn or a left turn, they will not follow the lane, but cut across forming a straight line. The vehicles coming from the opposite direction has to halt to let them pass. If I drive in the lane, people might think I am an idiot or don’t know where to go.
- Pedestrians also have a stake in this traffic jam pie. I agree we do not have proper pedestrian walks of footpaths in a lot of places and hence they need to share the road with the automobiles. But in places where there are proper footpaths (and hopefully not encroached upon by the hawkers) you will still find people walk on the roads. And most of the times, the footpath will have no pedestrians. This is something I really cannot understand. How do people opt to risk injury while walking and negotiating traffic at the same time. They have such a safe option to just walk peacefully on the footpath, albeit for a little while. With so many people walking on the roads, the cars also have a tough time trying not to crush people under their cars or even simply dash them, scratch them of just drive over their toes!
- Bikers are another breed. They also “suddenly come out of nowhere” and that too from the left side. So I you are driving a 4 wheeler, you must almost always be sure there are a few bikers on your left – so If you make left turn you will end up knowing a few of them down! Overtaking from the left is so dangerous, be it a bike or a 4 wheeler. But no one enforces this law.
- That brings me to the traffic policemen. First though, I must admit that their job is really a tough one. Standing in they blazing sun and braving the heavy rains, breathing the filthy polluted air all day must really be a job no one wants to have. But someone’s got to do it. Having said, you will always see their traffic cops in a group. They are almost never alone of in pairs. There will be at least 7-10 of them, lurking behind some corner waiting for someone to do something wrong so they can pounce upon them and make money (officially or unofficially). Instead of preventing people from making mistakes by being very visible, they hide and want people to make mistakes. If they make themselves visible people will be conscious and may not do the things they would otherwise venture into doing. Plus, people too take these cops very lightly as they feel they easily bribe their way and get away with very little money, sometimes as low as Rs. 10. So there is really not much “respect” for these folks. Unless the cops really monitor the traffic, help prevent people from making mistakes, spread our in smaller groups to cover more areas, and make them pay for the mistakes (enforce the law), this situation will never improve.
Well, enough frustration over the road traffic problem. Have you folks faced such situations? What are your suggestions on how we can improve our daily commute experience. Suggestions and thoughts welcome.
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