international pedestrian's license
The streets here in India are driving me crazy. Nobody stops, ever, and they make no effort to accomodate anyone else on the road--either behind or in front of them. To compensate for this they make incessant use of their horns, which in their cacaphony somehow manage to sound both whiny and indignant.
After two years in the Philippines I was fearless in traffic: you knew that somewhere within that jeep a driver was peering intently out, or that the motor would just go around you. In Vietnam the rule was the same--the waves of mopeds would flow smoothly past so long as you strode across deliberately and predictably.
In India this is either not the case, or the amount of traffic has gotten in my head to the point where my darty-little-squirrel instincts have taken over. Why?
The first thing of note is that every major intersection in this city is a roundabout. I have encountered a variety of roundabouts and traffic circles in my day, some simple, some confusing. The smaller ones can be nice when you're on a bike because you can cruise on through.
Unfortunately, "cruising on through" is the modus operandi here at every intersection here for every class of vehicle. Worse, because there are no lanes and it would be irrelevant if there were, and because often the round thing in the middle is little more than a glorified pole, there is little to no circularity going on in terms of vehicular motion. Right turns (which are like left turns in less confusing countries) are often made by taking the shortest distance from lane A to lane B, opposite to the "natural" flow of the circle. It's up to the driver.
Due to the fact that the sidewalks here make Philippine sidewalks look like Le Grande Promenade, the streets themselves are a mixture of not only swarms of tricycle cabs ("autos") and bicycles, a large amount of smaller cars, and the occasional bus or large utility vehicle, but also pedestrians. Generally the slower vehicles keep left, but especially if you're a motorcycle you should really feel free to pass whereever, because it's fine really.
The basic attitude of drivers is: "if I see a potential problem, I will honk at it and keep going." And keep going they do, as long as there is a few inches of room on either side. Or not--I've been run over twice already, each time by the third wheel of jitney trying to get around me.
In India this is either not the case, or the amount of traffic has gotten in my head to the point where my darty-little-squirrel instincts have taken over. Why?
The first thing of note is that every major intersection in this city is a roundabout. I have encountered a variety of roundabouts and traffic circles in my day, some simple, some confusing. The smaller ones can be nice when you're on a bike because you can cruise on through.
Unfortunately, "cruising on through" is the modus operandi here at every intersection here for every class of vehicle. Worse, because there are no lanes and it would be irrelevant if there were, and because often the round thing in the middle is little more than a glorified pole, there is little to no circularity going on in terms of vehicular motion. Right turns (which are like left turns in less confusing countries) are often made by taking the shortest distance from lane A to lane B, opposite to the "natural" flow of the circle. It's up to the driver.
Due to the fact that the sidewalks here make Philippine sidewalks look like Le Grande Promenade, the streets themselves are a mixture of not only swarms of tricycle cabs ("autos") and bicycles, a large amount of smaller cars, and the occasional bus or large utility vehicle, but also pedestrians. Generally the slower vehicles keep left, but especially if you're a motorcycle you should really feel free to pass whereever, because it's fine really.
The basic attitude of drivers is: "if I see a potential problem, I will honk at it and keep going." And keep going they do, as long as there is a few inches of room on either side. Or not--I've been run over twice already, each time by the third wheel of jitney trying to get around me.
posted by ben at 8:28 PM
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