August 21, 2006

Roads, Traffic, and Driving in Bangalore, India

Roads, traffic, and driving is a real experience in Bangalore, India. No rules, no regulations.

There are not enough roads for the amount of traffic. Every inch, every millimeter is taken up on the road. Talk about efficiency. Very high.

Roads are in horrible conditions. Some better than others, but in general, mostly broken up. No paved shoulders. Lanes on same road vary from 1 to 2 to 3 depending on the area. Many outside lanes have tree trunks blocking the lane. Since the tree was cut to expand the road, the trunk is still left in the ground. So that lane is practically useless, causing more problem than actually helping traffic. Some of the potholes are so huge on Bannerghatta road, I'm sure you can find motorcycles or rickshaws in there if you look deep enough.

Most roads don't have sidewalks. So pedestrians are using the side of the road and blocking the traffic. The few sidewalks that do exist are completely full and so the foot traffic is then overflowing onto the road. No J-walking here.

Roads have what are called 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, 4-wheelers, and other such creatures.

2-wheelers are mopeds, scooters, and motorcycles. And there are tons of those on the roads. Everybody and their mama seems to have one. And that's another story. It's not just the mamas or the papas on these 2 wheelers. You can literally find the whole family on a scooter. I've seen family of 4 and 5 quite often. And judging by the weight of the mama and the papa, the 2-wheelers suspensions look to be way overloaded and the engines seem to be huffing and puffing.

3-wheelers are auto-rickshaws. Open air taxi service. There are literally millions of these running around the city. Not sure why there are 100 rickshaws for every 100 feet. Nevertheless, they are all buzzing around, zig zagging their way through other traffic and clogging up the roads. They are always in a hurry and spewing out this dark black smoke all over the other motorists. So we have these new cars with very low emission standards, but rickshaws make up for that loss of emissions and about 10 times more.
4 wheelers ofcourse are cars, SUVs, and Vans. Mind you these are all motorized 4-wheelers. Not to mention the cows freely roaming the streets. Bullock carts and camels are not so uncommon either.

Not sure what trucks and buses classify as. Can be 6-wheelers, 8-wheelers, etc. Anyway, you get the point. Suffice it to say, the roads are being roamed by all creatures motorized or non-motorized.

For one to survive in traffic, and get anywhere, here are some guidelines. Try and start driving on the left side. If there is no room, try the right side. If that is blocked, then try the shoulders, the sidewalks, the storefronts, or any other openings that may not be taken up yet.

Have you ever seen an ant line? Now imagine many ant lines criss crossing each other. Ants bumping into each other at intesections. Whichever ant gets to a spot first has the right of way. That basically is the picture of traffic flow in India. There is no stopping or slowing at intersections. More like speeding up around corners, generally scaring the heck out of pedestrians and causing more traffic confusion. There is no checking of cross traffic while making a turn. It's the other person's job to slam on the brakes and let you in.

There is no right of way in driving. It's truely the survival of the most daring. If you dare to stick your vehicle in front of moving traffic, you either get hit, or others slam on the brakes to let you in the traffic flow. Most times the traffic will jam on the brakes and will let you in, nevertheless, your life is in their hands. You have to just hope and pray that they don't hit you. The rest is up to karma.

Now I know why the Indians drive that way in America. Zig zagging, criss crossing, no stopping or slowing at intersections, or driving on the wrong side of the road. It's the other motorists job to watch out for them, and give them the right of way. They are just a little home sick.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I ve being going to Bangalore often, in last 8 mths it'll be my 3rd visit next month, and i dont look forward to it. one week in such mess is irritating. nowhere in the country i ve seen such roads except mumbai offcourse but they do have locals to escape in. but bangalore takes the cake for traffic mismanagement and bad roads. in front of that road rage in delhi seems like a dreamwalk.

Anonymous said...

I was in New Delhi last December. The roads and traffic there are much better. And they actually follow most of the rules there. We've been here (Bangalore) almost one year now, and traffic keeps getting worse everyday. Now they are talking about adding Metro rail. Hope that will improve things a bit.

Sreeraj Nair said...

Bangaore city sucks. There is no traffic sense in this city and roads are dirty and destroyed. People don't give a damn about traffic rules and guidelines. There is no proper traffic management system for this city. If you go a little bit further from the main road, chaos rules the roads and narrow streets. Vehicles are parked flouting all parking rules. In places like Kammanahalli, there will be no space for the pedestrians as the entire sidewalks will be occuppied by cycles, scooters, bikes and autos. Bangalore is fast turning into the worst city in South India.