Home

India Traffic

 

From the moment I hit Chicago in 1956, and saw a woman on crutches crossing against a red light, I've relished free-for-all traffic.  Then New York in 1967 upped the ante a bit

But pedestrian and motor traffic in Mumbai and other Indian cities seems like the ultimate in traffic complexity and challenge

In New York, when two cars are vying for position, as in lane merging, there's a moment at which the front fender of one car edges out that of the other.  When that moment comes is usually negotiated and settled fairly early on (though it may not seem so at the time)

In India, that moment gets delayed until the very last possible nanosecond, requiring inordinate attention on the part of each participant

 

 

 

Here's a mild case, an intersection in Agra

First, recognize that in India you drive on the left side of the road

But notice here the several directions in which vehicles are trying to move

 

 

 

And the multiplicity of participants--pedestrians, human-powered vehicles, motor cars and buses

All pretty much unregulated

 

 

The sense you get is that the only rule is that there are no rules

India has very few traffic lights, very few traffic policemen, very few traffic-regulating signs (few, that is, relative to the size of the country and its population)

 

 

 

 

 

Each participant pressing for advantage

 

 

Size Matters

Might makes right of way

 

In Varanasi I needed to go from my guest house to an intersection a few kilometers away.  A man offered to take me on his motor bike.

Hop on the back with me

 

 

We launch into traffic

 

 

And he starts looking for a way to open up a hole and move ahead

He does this aggressively

 

 

Notice how much attention he has to pay to his various adversaries, the close tolerances

One moment of inattention, and someone will pay dearly

 

 

On the return trip we enter narrow alleys to approach the guest house

Motorbikes routinely storm up these passageways with careful abandon

 

 

 

He negotiates with an approaching procession

 

 

But pushes for every advantage he can get

 

 

 

Now come with me on an inter-city bus, in the south of India

 

Here we're passing through a town, seeing the typical mix of traffic, with the bus aggressively moving forward 

 

 

On the open road, going perhaps 50mph/75kph, the bus will coopt the center line, routinely passing between cars going each direction

 

 

Smaller vehicles, the 2- and 3-wheelers, will have no choice but to accommodate to the bus

 

 

In this case the bus did not yield the center area, and the oncoming black car continued to pass the 2-wheelers

Acceptable practice

 

 

One particularly aggressive bus driver was on the route from Kannur (Kerala) to Mangalore

Here we're again going perhaps 50mph/75kph, and he stays in the center, backing off only if absolutely necessary

 

 

He'll continue to wedge between traffic going both directions

 

 

Cars understand that mass is might, and the 2-wheelers take what they can get--which is last position, unless there are bicycles

Lee's home page

India blog index

Previous Blog Entry    India Transport