Traffic in India!

[cooperluke]

It's incredible.

I guess no one has a license there!!

India Driving - YouTube

[husyk]

Suprised that there weren't any accident, 1 guy almost got squished between a car and motorcycle. Don't want to be a driver there LOL!

[ARMAN]

Rule nr.1 - the biggest go first
Rule nr.2 - see nr.1 :mrgreen:

If not the horning it looks pretty calm, no agressive idiots you can see in Prague for example. Dad said the horn all the time just for sake of it :)

Nice find Luke :wink:

[5vz-fe]

That is completely insane@@!!!! :shock: :shock:

They just keep inching forward ....it's almost like playing chicken all the time

[itsallbeendonebefore]

hahahahahah lol ...i have driven in india in exactly the same way and i have never really thought about how insane it looks. its not too hard to drive there...just gotta have some cajones and as u can see, no traffic lights and no cop to say who goes when, keeps the traffic flowing smooth without accidents. i wonder what will happen if you just cut off the traffic lights at an intersection in NYC.

[sameerrao]

Driving in India is an experience for locals that ranges from "Interesting" to "Sheer and complete terror". For foreign visitors, it will be more towards the latter end of the scale than the former. One of the worst places I've been to is a city called Ahmedabad. I was on a 3 month project there and saw the locals used the lights and signs as suggestions and not rules :).

My project manager had spent some time in the US and then returned to India. Once over dinner, I mentioned that he must have enjoyed the (relatively) stress free driving in the US compared to crazy Ahmedabad. He looked at me for a few seconds and said that he hated driving in the US because it was too boring and easy. He liked the fact that in Ahmedabad, you would land up in your moped or whatever at the traffic light and take a quick look for cops, dont even bother to check out if the light says green, yellow, or red. Look at other motorists across the intersection , give them the eye to tell them "Me first, then you" and with the negotiations concluded, charge across the street. :) I always get a good laugh when I recall the wise man's words :lol:

[RC45]

hahahahahah lol ...i have driven in india in exactly the same way and i have never really thought about how insane it looks. its not too hard to drive there...just gotta have some cajones and as u can see, no traffic lights and no cop to say who goes when, keeps the traffic flowing smooth without accidents. i wonder what will happen if you just cut off the traffic lights at an intersection in NYC.

Holy crap....

4 posts since 2003?

Is this bloke the lurker to end all lurkers?

[hemi_fan]

That is nothing. When I went to China over the christmas break I saw similar driving with 3-5 times the volume of vehicles. It is insane. I was scared shitless all the time riding around (with 15+ people in a single vehicle lol). The driver didnt even break a sweat. In China, the horn is used waaaaayyyyy more than here in north america. When I hear a horn I get a slight panick attack since people only really use them when you cut them off badly or are about to hit them. Over there nobody even seems to notice all the horns. Its incredible.

[SPEED_DEMON82]

Hehe nice find .... This is a scene from one of the smaller towns here. Yeah the Traffic lights are out and also no cops present to manage the traffic flow ... well thats because its a scene very early in the morning in India when everyone is in a hurry to get to work. Like most cities (or may be i'm assuming) the road signals get functional at 8:30 AM. Thats when things get slightly better .... also, by then the cops arrive.
What you guys saw in the video is what i would call 'less' traffic. As the day progresses and the city awakens, the traffic increases and then we have the all so famous traffic jams. Nevertheless, it is a challenege for Westerners to come and drive on the road. You'll will be surprised but even looking at all this, we have fewer number of fatalities than there are in the Western world ..... well thats because we cant go fast enough :P No, jokes apart, it somehow works amazingly well even with all this chaos. I love it here :D

[RF1]

Rule nr.1 - the biggest go first
Rule nr.2 - see nr.1 Mr. Green

(Lots of Hindustan Ambasador - India 100%)
http://www.paultours.com/images/car_ambi.jpg

junction...
:D

[ARMAN]

@SPEED_DEMON82 - you should make a video of "crowded traffic" for us :) Btw havent seen you for months overhere

[saadie]

see it everday ..... nothing big for me lol ...... :lol:

[SPEED_DEMON82]

(Lots of Hindustan Ambasador - India 100%)
http://www.paultours.com/images/car_ambi.jpg

junction...
:D

No Sir, Not many of them exist now. Most of the ones in existance serve as Government Vehicles for lower officers. The Hindustan Ambassador is probably the easest car to maintain imo and the spares are dirt cheap ... its pretty much on the verge of extinction .... the company did give it a new face in 2004 but sadly there were way to many other (read cheap Korean make) cars that hit it bigtime with the people here. I'm just sick of seeing those boxes moving around in our streets here. Everyone from a college going guy/girl .. to a family guy ... to old people ... drive around in those boxes. Another local favourite car is the Fiat-Premier Padmini. Most of these cars still in existance ply as city-cabs here in Mumbai. Its probably as old as the Ambassador.

Well, now things might get better (or may b i think so) with the european car makers showing interest in launching their cars here. From the US Chevrolet has arrived but then again what did they get .... the gave us the Daewoo Nubira ooops .. Chevrolet Optra

Daewoo Nubira :
http://arabam.milliyet.com.tr/fuar/2003/cenevre/daewoo_nubira_xx.jpg http://daewoo-schromm.cz/pic/popup_nubira4.jpg


Chevrolet Optra :
http://www.blonnet.com/iw/2003/07/20/images/2003072000441301.jpg http://paulinesdijo.tripod.com/pauds/chev_optr_pop_model_4_lrg.jpg

Slowly but definately we have better 'cars' coming in. What need to change with that are the roads here.

@SPEED_DEMON82 - you should make a video of "crowded traffic" for us Btw havent seen you for months overhere

Yeah you're right .... i havent been 'posting' here much since the very day i joined but i have been visiting the forum and reading through most topics everyday. I will definately make a vid of the road traffic conditions here and post it for you guys ... :wink:
[/img]

Cheers!!

[RC45]

You'll will be surprised but even looking at all this, we have fewer number of fatalities than there are in the Western world ..... well thats because we cant go fast enough :P No, jokes apart, it somehow works amazingly well even with all this chaos. I love it here :D

You know this is not true.

There have been MANY shows/documentaires on television exposing the appaling death rate and severe accident numbers on Indian roads.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2006/04/01/spike_in_road_deaths_stirs_alarm_in_india/
An estimated 270 people die daily from road accidents in India, where the traffic in such cities as New Delhi is bumper to bumper. (Globe Staff Photo / John Donnelly )

I think thats about double any where else.. ;)

It is "fun and interesting" to watch we all agree, but at the end of the day there is no excuse for such unorganized and dangerous chaos.

:)

[cooperluke]

India is for pussies - Saigon is the real deal!! :P

:arrow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EskKqsGyLyM&search=saigon

IMPRESSIVE!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

[AlienDB7]

Funny couple of weeks ago I just saw a doc on the discovery channel about an experiment in Netherlands called the "naked street". Basically they just removed all the traffic lights and road signs so people will pay attention to others. They said it works, I say they're stealing ideas from india :roll:

http://driving.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,12389-1427660,00.html

[SPEED_DEMON82]

An estimated 270 people die daily from road accidents in India, where the traffic in such cities as New Delhi is bumper to bumper. (Globe Staff Photo / John Donnelly )

Okay, i don't doubt the figures, but again, 270 road deaths in a country of 1.1 Billion + as stated by the correspondent, is not very high imo, considering the fact that most of these people get out on those crowded roads everyday either on foot, motorcycle, car or bus and share the same limited amount of space. And yeah that picture showing the rickshaw kissing the buses ass in traffic is just one rare incident ... too bad that the correspondent used 'that' to depict 'bumper-to-bumper' traffic and NO ... people here in towns & cities do not use carts (as in bullock carts) to move around other than the farmers in our villages. Was an interesting read though. We still are a developing nation and are getting most infrastructure upto the mark and in the right places .... once that happens & the people learn whats good for them and the environment the traffic congestion & volume is bound to decrease ... i'm sure the fatalities can be tackled then.

Cheers!

[caneswell]

What's the problem with that?? No accidents at all! :P

At least they are all paying attention, which is much more than can be said for most of the drivers in the UK and US! Not a great place to drive your Enzo though.

[itsallbeendonebefore]

[/quote]
Holy crap....

4 posts since 2003?

Is this bloke the lurker to end all lurkers?[/quote]

:D yea i been lurking this board for what seems like eternity lol. i never really post much...which i should start doing. work and school seems to keep me busy to even post. i will try to be more active from now.

i wonder if the NAKED STREET thing will work in america. any ideas?

[RC45]

^^ I knwo if they had naked streets around here I would going through tyres at 4 times faster than I do now... and I would make every street my own personal race track... ;)