I'm fuming, I'm royally pissed. You might ask Why? Well today I was on my way to work and was waiting at a red light. There was this dude behind me on his bike who kept honking his horn telling me to run the red light. WTF! I let him pass and as he passes me he actually has the nerve to berate me for not letting him go through the red light ! I guess that's all that's needed to tell you about the behaviour of drivers in Bangalore -rude and have no clue about traffic rules. I was hoping I'd catch up with him at the next red light . I would have sat on his head and forcefully injected him with a dose of Swine Flu culture. Luckily for him he had long disappeared into the maze of auto rickshaws on the road.
And don't get me started on autorickshaws and their obnoxious drivers. Well actually you have - If you get into an accident involving an autorickshaw you are automatically always in the wrong regardless of the fact that the auto driver was driving while simultaneously ogling the girls in his back seat and had run through 3 red lights in the wrong direction and was also smoking an aromatic beedi . Try arguing with an auto driver - by the end of the argument he would have you convinced he was holier than Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul combined.
And then you have the green light honkers - they are a breed of drivers who will honk as soon as the red light turns green!! Forget the fact they are like 20 cars behind the green light and will have to wait for a little while before they can start moving. They will start honking like it was the Annual Car Horn Honking Festival. All one can do is give them the finger
..and then hope its not a gang of rowdies inside the car who will come out and beat you to pulp.
I myself have not been a saint either when it comes to following road rules. The other day I was late for work and I was in a big hurry.. I stopped at a red light but there were no vehicles coming from the other direction. So I looked around and ran thro' the light. As you'd have guessed a scooter suddenly came zooming in from out of nowhere. The driver was a middle aged guy and he screamed at me and called me an "Idiot..fool...mumble mumble..grumble.. ." I could not catch the rest of his curse words but I'm sure they must have not been very complimentary.
By contrast back home in Aizawl people are generally more careful drivers. Probably this has to with the winding and steep roads and people drive with more caution although there are certain exceptions to this rule. Also drivers are more polite and respect the rules of the road - I have a picture here taken on my last trip home. I was in a taxi down the steep and winding Durtlang road and there was a huge traffic jam and vehicles were lined up end to end down the road. The right lane meant for vehicles leading up was free but not a single vehicle broke the lane to overtake the other vehicle.
There is also another breed of drivers - the slow ones. They drive so slowly that if you are driving behind them you have time to get down from your vehicle ,check the tires, smoke a cigarette, update your blog and they'd still be only 2 feet away from you. Most of these drivers I've noticed are women drivers. And no don't get me started on women drivers. Seriously. And on that sexist note I shall now drive away into the sunset thro' these innumerable red lights that life throws at ya!
And don't get me started on autorickshaws and their obnoxious drivers. Well actually you have - If you get into an accident involving an autorickshaw you are automatically always in the wrong regardless of the fact that the auto driver was driving while simultaneously ogling the girls in his back seat and had run through 3 red lights in the wrong direction and was also smoking an aromatic beedi . Try arguing with an auto driver - by the end of the argument he would have you convinced he was holier than Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul combined.
And then you have the green light honkers - they are a breed of drivers who will honk as soon as the red light turns green!! Forget the fact they are like 20 cars behind the green light and will have to wait for a little while before they can start moving. They will start honking like it was the Annual Car Horn Honking Festival. All one can do is give them the finger
..and then hope its not a gang of rowdies inside the car who will come out and beat you to pulp.
I myself have not been a saint either when it comes to following road rules. The other day I was late for work and I was in a big hurry.. I stopped at a red light but there were no vehicles coming from the other direction. So I looked around and ran thro' the light. As you'd have guessed a scooter suddenly came zooming in from out of nowhere. The driver was a middle aged guy and he screamed at me and called me an "Idiot..fool...mumble mumble..grumble.. ." I could not catch the rest of his curse words but I'm sure they must have not been very complimentary.
By contrast back home in Aizawl people are generally more careful drivers. Probably this has to with the winding and steep roads and people drive with more caution although there are certain exceptions to this rule. Also drivers are more polite and respect the rules of the road - I have a picture here taken on my last trip home. I was in a taxi down the steep and winding Durtlang road and there was a huge traffic jam and vehicles were lined up end to end down the road. The right lane meant for vehicles leading up was free but not a single vehicle broke the lane to overtake the other vehicle.
There is also another breed of drivers - the slow ones. They drive so slowly that if you are driving behind them you have time to get down from your vehicle ,check the tires, smoke a cigarette, update your blog and they'd still be only 2 feet away from you. Most of these drivers I've noticed are women drivers. And no don't get me started on women drivers. Seriously. And on that sexist note I shall now drive away into the sunset thro' these innumerable red lights that life throws at ya!
18 comments:
Yes! This is one of the reasons i choose not to drive in Bangalore.
I always find myself sayin' "If only everyone is as disciplines as the drivers back home!" to the ones who are driving. And luckily I have a friend who supports me... he followed me home once to see it for himself
Mosy, spend more time in Aizawl, get to know the taxi drivers, scooty-ers and drunk-drivers-who-go-boom-in-the-night, and I bet you'll have less favourable things to say about Mizoram drivers :) But nothing beats autorickshaw drivers, ofcourse
Cmon Mostequila, I'll have you know that women drivers have the safest driving records of all genders - that's male and female of course heh. About your Blore experiences, what can I say but yehi hai bharat, bhaiya. And despite diary's downer, I think Aizawl drivers are fairly law-abiding compared to those like say in Shillong. Khasi drivers overtake at the slightest opening even within city limits and in broad daylight. Aizawl drivers take illegal turns when traffic police are not around but otherwise, we're a pretty civilized lot.
nice, interesting post.
someone said mumbai traffic is much better than delhi's with people following the basic rules, etc. but when we were there in dec last, i found people drove just like in delhi. so i guess its the same most everywhere in india. of all the places i've driven in india, aizawl/mizoram remains the best place to drive in as far as drivers respecting the rules of the road and other drivers is concerned. and i make it a point to mention this anytime the topic of driving in india comes up.
on the other hand, they say that if you can drive and survive in indian traffic like delhi's you can drive anywhere in the world.
Mosmos looking at the pic u posted it appears there's one car that broke the lane..n that happens to be urs...:p.one thing that needs mentioning is the fact that ppl in azl actually stop their cars in order to let pedestrians cross the road whereas in blr it appears as if drivers are trying to prevent you from crossing the road..sch a sickening behaviour!!
N yeah totally agree..lets not get started wit rick drivers.I fume as i think about them FIdiots..its cause of em i carry a pepper spray all the tme..hpe i get to use it bfr i leave :)
shift to delhi
Braving possible slings and arrows I'll say this - it's not just on the roads that people are rude, it's much more spread out than that. Well, the educated ones are nice, but of all of the thring-local types in India, Bangalore's are the worst. As for the rest, I don';t drive so I've never bugged anyone on the roads >:()
oops - it's not just on the roads that people are rude 'in Bangalore,' it's much more spread out than that.
...Need for Speed [Bus Edition]= Kolkata bus race...yea the trams over here may be ancient looking and slow...the buses...are fast and furious...the autos...they play really loud bollywood music to make ones ears bleed...
Guess its everywher in all metros and now catching on quickly to smaller towns(oops cities) like Vellore.
Cant really blame them....cos thets what they learned from their parents....grew up watchin them do all those things on the road...why! they are not afraid of fast moving cars as pedestrians
Whereas, proud to say, back at home its a joy to see respect btwn drivers
I shudder to think of the kind of gridlock that can occur in azl if the drivers behave like they do down here!!
Dude, I feel you.. Pune drivers are not any better, so one has to follow suit.. the honking, the screaming, the "fingering" etc etc..
As Calliopia said Women and really old drivers are the safest, Yes, possibly for them but not for other motorists.. lolz cos' they drive so slow it makes you wanna rip your heart out and beat it to a pulp, make a shake with some ice thrown in, then top it with some mint and a sliced lemon, serve it with.. umm.. what was I talking about??
As for the horn, they actually think that its an invisible ray gun which magically removes everyone in their path so they can rip through a crowded street, even if they hit someone, its not their fault cos' they blew the Horn!! How friggin convenient!
I can actually write a whole post on this, in fact, I think I did already.. so I'd better stop before it gets too long.. or has it??
Try braving a VIP red light + siren attached atop your helmet...might be the one thing that'll pave the roads for ya - it being the universally most effective 'traffic signal' heeded on Indian roads.
But it'll work in yo case not cos they'd see you as a 'VIP' but more cos (in all faith) you could be very successful in being indulged on the roads as exhibiting a case of "Look out! Loony-on-the-Loose make way! make way!!" :D
Or you could just start wif making faces...could very easily be as effective.
It takes all types (of drivers) to make up the world. Once in aizawl on a bike with hubby driving, a truck nearly hit us and we fell down. The driver stopped, got down and apologetically asked if we were hurt,etc. Then in Guwahati, we nearly collided with another scooter and both fell. The other guy was coming on geared for a good shouting match. But before he could start, hubby said, "Sorry, are you hurt?" And they parted in friendly terms. Proud to say the lesson was learned in our 'Zotlangram nuam'
I agree Bangalore roads are bad.....its sad to read such comments on my hometown as well, Bangalore was once called the "pensioner's paradise" (as slow,lazy and sleepy as the word "pensioner" sounds)WAS truly a paradise, of course before it became the so called "IT" capital of India.
So, if not for the "LIVE and LET LIVE" attitude of a Bangalorean (Bangalorean = a person who was born atleast 15 years back in Bangalore and brought up in Bangalore), Bangalore would never be THE IT hub of India. So, who knows the person who swore at you could have been a non-Bangalorean.
And Bangalore would've been beautiful, laid back, traffic free, concrete free and all that you wished for.
I agree completely with you that the system is bad but, then every other city has it's dark side and comparisons such as this are absolutely immature.
i used to think drivers in chennai were quite pleasant. not sure how it is now. drivers in hyderabad are a lot worse than bangalore/bengaluru, but less aggressive/angry.
i tend to agree with yamuna that it is the mass immigration that is stretching bangalore/bengaluru to its limits now. if we hadn't filled it up with people and vehicles, it would have been a much nicer place, lol.
@ all of you - i'm sorry i haven't had the time to reply to all your comments. I agree with most of them. :P
it's amber, not yellow.
Indians are horny.. they love blowing hornes. I've been driving since I was 12 years old, I still can count how many times I've blown the horn.. even if I have to wait a bit instead of blowing the horn... I'd rather wait.. like you said, I'm not a saint either, but I just hate when they blow HORNS at me!
Forget blowing horns...And what I hate driving in Pune and Mumbai is this arseholes would blow horns from behind and when you gave them side to pass you bar, they tried overtaking you from the left!
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