|
British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
|
Home Copyright
© |
Dicing
with Death by Ken Gambier On our way to spend Christmas in Australia, my wife and I stopped over in India to visit Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, using a hired car and driver to travel between the cities. The places themselves were excellent - but the road travel can only be described as a nightmare! We quickly found out that the driver could speak only a little English and it was not possible to have more than a very simple conversation with him. There is only one law of road travel in India, that of the biggest taking precedence. Everyone travelling uses the same bit of road, including pedestrians. There are few usable footpaths so people walk in the road too. There are pedestrian crossings in the main towns, but no vehicle pays any attention to them. Pedestrians are held in the lowest regard and women carrying heavy loads on their heads or men herding goats in their own villages were hooted at to get out of the way of our car. We were quite ashamed at the selfishness being shown on our behalf by our driver but felt unable to express our feelings to him. All drivers are aggressive and sound their horns at the slightest or no provocation. Large vehicles such as buses and lorries have a message at the back "please sound horn". This is because their drivers are far too busy looking at the chaos ahead of them to watch their rear mirrors to see who is overtaking. Throughout the constant hooting we did not observe any fist-waving or shouting insults. Indians drive on the left, a legacy of British rule. In heavy traffic every bit of the road is used regardless of which side the traffic ought to be. At level crossings, vehicles fill the road on each side of the barrier so that, when it is lifted, there is an immediate traffic jam with nobody wilting to give way. On many minor roads the surface is generally so bad that everyone drives down the middle, swerving to the left (only just) in time to avoid a head-on collision. This frequently left us bouncing around on the bumpy verge before swerving back onto the metalled road. In turn our driver would overtake another vehicle, perhaps a rickshaw or a camel cart, using the full width of the right-hand lane. Any "lesser grade" traffic such as scooters or bicycles coming the other way would be expected to pull off the road to let us through. Animals were generally treated with more respect. Cows of course would be given room and even dogs were afforded space wherever possible. Perhaps the worst example of road indiscipline occurred on a rare stretch of dual carriageway between Agra and Delhi. We had just passed a sugar factory on our left when we came face to face with two tractors towing trailers loaded with sugarcane using both our lanes in the wrong direction. Because they were bigger than our car, we had to swerve out of the way. Accidents were very frequent and, though we did not actually see one occur during the week we were there, we saw the aftermath several times each day, on one occasion with a dead body still in a car. When a lorry broke down, and this happened often, it would be repaired where it stood and the driver would put rocks or branches round it to demonstrate that it was not moving and to avoid other vehicles running into the back of it. There appeared to be no restrictions on parking and vehicles frequently stopped just where it suited the driver with no regard to other road users. We saw no sign of traffic police and wondered what would have happened if we had been involved in an accident. Our driver did not have a telephone in the car and had no way of calling for help. If he had run into a herd of goats in a village or, even worse, had knocked down a child or a sacred cow, the local people might have taken it out on us. After all, he was driving on our behalf. When police were in evidence, such as in traffic control, drivers were generally well-behaved and obeyed instructions. Drivers also observed traffic lights, but rarely gave signals when changing lanes. Headlights were not turned on until the last possible moment after dark - and not at all for many rickshaws and scooters. We left India
feeling shattered by the experience of driving some 400 miles under these
conditions. In completing the tour company's questionnaire, we said we
had enjoyed the cultural visits but, because of the traffic situation,
would not be returning to India. First published in VISA issue 29 (summer 1998) |