English
The roads are filled with idiots; the campaign by a Ceat tyres to sell tyres with superior grip is apt and brilliantly accurate. They essentially sell their tread block tyres on the notion that it is better to be safe than sorry. The ads show that how driving your car or riding your bike on any Indian road is always a matter of your safety being the last thing in mind and people always have a warped sense of self-righteousness. Here’s one of the bike tyre ads to show this.
Road accidents lead to billions of dollars worth of losses of property but your car or bike can be repaired or replaced. What about human life? Maybe one day medical science will advance to the point where corpses can be brought back to life but unless you have the regenerative powers of Wolverine, you need to fend for yourself.
As per government figures, there is a road accident in India every single minute and 1 death every 3.7 minutes as of 2011. If you are between the age group of 15 and 24 then you and your peers contribute to 30.3 per cent to the deaths but the 25 to 65 age group contributes to over 50 per cent of deaths in a road accident. The number has declined slightly since 2011 due to better safety standards and features like ABS made standard. You can’t rely on ABS and airbags to save you every time.
The zig zag race driver
These kinds of creatures usually come out at night. They may or may not have music blaring from their car speakers but they always swerve between cars, bikes and trucks while speeding on the road clearly way over the speed limit. Highways in India have a speed limit of 80 kmph but people drive at 100 kmph as well and considering there is less traffic, it doesn’t bother anyone.
The zig zag drivers are a menace because they not only have a complete lack of regard for their own life but they endanger others as well. They are seen breaking traffic rules, flying over speed breakers, jumping the red light and often come too close to other vehicles that come in the way.
The slow driver on the fast lane
This kind of driver/rider is a very annoying person on the road. They will not budge to honking, flashing dipper or any other method that you may have tried. This category of drivers/riders are well within the speed limit and they are not really breaking any traffic rule but on moral grounds, riding at 45 kmph to get the best mileage is admirable but they can do it on the left lane too which is meant for slow traffic.
The indecisive pedestrian
Pedestrians have skywalks and zebra crossings at a lot of places on the road. There are speed breakers made especially near zebra crossings so that the traffic has to slow down for the pedestrians can cross the road. In most countries, the signal at the zebra crossing has a button which pedestrians can press to initiate a red light to signal traffic to stop and let them pass but you have to keep in mind that people, both drivers and pedestrians, in most countries have a decent civic sense but that is lacking severely in Indians, in most of us at least. The worst kind of pedestrian is the one who pops up, zebra crossing or no and strut walks down the road with the driver/rider having to swerve to avoid that dumbass. An even worse kind is the running pedestrian who realizes his wrong judgment in the middle of the road and suddenly stops requiring you to take a quick decision and anticipating his/her move.
The horny fool
Pressing the horn at another vehicle is seen as an insult in other countries but in India, the horn really doesn’t matter because people don’t really care about it. Pedestrians seem to become blind when they see that your car/bike is coming at a certain speed and they should wait rather than endanger themselves and others by walking across the road. This lack of respect for the horn is due to many motorists who blare the horn without any real reason. If you have a clear path and there is one of the above mentioned zig zag drivers who swerves in your path, you should honk then to let you pass or as a sign of frustration for having to press the brake where it could have been avoided.
The flasher
This kind of motorist is similar to the horny kind and are usually a mix of both kinds. Illiterate drivers who have no sense of driving and usually get their license but bribing the RTO officials flash the high beam and honk as well without reason. If you are met with a slow driver or a pedestrian who lacks the power of judgment, then you can flash the high beam and honk to warn them but using the high beam anywhere else other than on the highway is unacceptable. We salute the Chandigarh traffic police for strictly implementing a fine stops people from unnecessarily using the high beam.
The perpetual learner with the ‘L’
You can only pray that you are not stuck behind a car/bike with a red ‘L’ sticker which stands for Learner. They are not breaking any rules by being clumsy but they know that they need to get better at the skill of driving which is an acquired skill and an art which combines foresight and judgment. Peak traffic is not the ideal time for them to practice; they should go out at night to practice and get better rather than slow traffic down because stalling in bumper to bumper traffic just makes all the other drivers think about your mother and sister.
The Weekend only driver/rider
The weekend driver is usually the one who is also a perpetual learner as explained above. Weekends were times when you could enjoy a long drive or go to the mall and shop or just enjoy life and forget the traffic and work which starts from Monday. But, this kind of motorist will not let you enjoy the weekend. They will drive slow, not give indicators, turn without any warning or hints and often stall in the middle of the road. They are best left avoid and following them in traffic is a punishment best saved for the worse kinds of motorists.
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