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very interesting collection of thesis doc. and i am immensely impressed that, like a good teacher, you have resisted the urge to give the "answer". i will attempt to arrive at an answer if you promise not to psychoanalyze me by looking at my "worksheet" :) rofl!!!

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DrASj you have admirably identified one of the root causes of the problems facing the traffic situation in the country today. This is exactly what is needed and we need to push this to the authorities for enforcement. I feel these suggestions are directly actionable leaving the authorities only the details to be worked out.

At the same time I feel this is only 50% of the story and importantly the 2nd half. The first half is to ensure the right kind of traffic engineering is done on the roads consistently across the city.  You would have noticed the instructions in the training refer to specific signals on the road for which the driver needs to respond to in an appropriate way. Without the right kind of road markings and signboards we will be teaching the driver to look for an respond to non existent signals thus defeating the very purpose of training. A very good example was the non-existent speed limit signboard on NH7. What good will training be if nobody know what is the speed limit to be followed?

I hope if we are following the British system of training at least we can borrow their best practices in traffic engineering along with it.

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Hi Adhiraj

That's an excellent and interesting writeup. But I would like to add a couple of more things which I have observed

1) excuses and fingerpointing - This happens to an extent in developed countries but to a huge extent in India. Here are some scenarios and these were the answers given to me when I walked up and asked the folks to try and understand their behaviour

   a)scenario 1 - delhi airport, passengers using the water cooler and then depositing the disposable cups there all around the water cooler. Here are the answers I got when I politely asked them why ->

               1. why are you bothered?

               2. there is no waste basket around. (this was correct, but just to demonstrate the fact that it doesn' take much to find one i picked up the cup asked him to follow me, walked around till I found one and threw it there). 

               3. don't worry, the cleaning folks will clean it, why are you asking? It is the airport staff's responsibility to keep it clean anyway.

b) scenario 2 - bangalore, Jayanagar. I saw residents dumping garbage on the street and in an empty abandoned site where no house had been built. I asked several people why and here are the responses (given the fact that there was a garbage disposal bin at the end of the street)

             1. I of course got "who the hell are you" cold silent stares with some asking why are you bothered?

             2. Corporation is not doing it's job, they haven't provided a garbage disposal bin.

             3. The one at the end of the street is too far away.

             4. When I asked a home owner the reply was - my servent does it, I have no control.

             5. Another reply was "the empty site is not being used for many years anyway, why bother?"

c) bangalore airport during checkin - people not following a queue system for checkin and the x-ray machine. Here are the responses I got when asked those who jumped queue -

         1. sorry, i did not know if the person in front was in the queue (all the guy had to do was ask if the guy in front was in the queue)

         2. who can tell where the line is, it is very confusing. (if each person does his job of dutifully forming and following an orderly queue the confusion would not be there in the first place)

The long story short in a nutshell ->

Now, the above 3 scenarios and the replies tell a lot. Please note that the folks I talked to seemed like educated middle class or upper middle class folks. All the points in your post are valid but to me they seem like excuses of a society that complains but does nothing. If we are given a good road with lanes I am sure folks will come up with 100 different reasons why they can't follow lane discipline as opposed to the approach of..hey, we need to follow lane discipline so what does it take to achieve that & let's get it done.

 But when it comes to other (sometimes misplaced) priorities, somehow there is an electric effect and things seem to fall in place such as -

1) When it comes to religion, rituals are somehow dutifully followed down to the last detail. Ashrams and temples are spotlessly clean. People follow queue systems etc. Building a golden temple (http://www.trsiyengar.com/id123.shtml) which shows that we actually have the money and will to do anything (please note that I am not trying to hurt anybody's sentiments here).  

2) Displaying loyalty to a language - destinations on local buses in kannada in Bangalore or Tamil in chennai and of course kannada license plates. I noticed that on many buses in the city destinations written in english had just disappeared and been replaced with kannada. Not that I care but goes to show that if there is will anything can be done. 

3) Renaming cities, railway stations, airports etc. to show how Indian or Kannadiga or Tamilian etc. we are

From what I have observed India to a larger extent  has an excuse giving society largely who as a group will complain about everything including garbage and filth etc. but will not take individual responsibility and do something about what we complain. When you extrapolate this attitude and behaviour to the folks who are supposed to build roads and maintain them OR drive on them you will get the same results of badly designed roads, no enforcement, no accountability, confusion & anarchy. Hopefully education right from the school level will solve this fundamental issue.

 

 

 

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The late US Ambassador to India, John Kennenth Galbraith, an admirer of India in the 1970s, described India as a "Functional Anarchy". The emphasis is on functional, but still even now, India is still the anarchy it was back in the 70s.

Back in ancient times, people in the country had a concept of "rule of law" by adhering to "dharma". But successive waves of colonisation both by Islamic rule and British rule relegated the concept of absolute morality to the dustbin.

In my experience, Bangalore traffic atleast follows *some* rules. When the helmet rule was reintroduced, people have started religiously following it. This is because it is easy for the police to spot people without the helmet.

It is the threat of fines which forces people to follow rules. If at all Bangalore had much more traffic police per capita, then there could have been a force forcing people to follow rules.

Proper signage and simple infrastructure such as cats eyes, barricades, dividers are very essential and infact more required than underpasses and magicboxes. 

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A wise man once said that the character of a nation can be judged by how its people drive on the streets. Road sense on Indian streets is often completely missing. The consequent chaos is on display for the whole world to mock and laugh by way of hundreds of videos on Youtube. Being a psychiatrist, I have always wondered and tried to understand the genesis of the pathology or indiscipline on Indian roads. Over time I have come up with a few theories, some I have discarded myself. I will however present to the interested reader below - Indian masses have been subjugated and ruled over by others ''foreign powers'' for hundreds of years. People were left powerless and enslaved. Could it be that the chronic dis-empowerment of the masses has led to a paradoxical ''abuse of the freedom'' we gained about 60 years ago? Then there is the Maslow's hierarchy of needs. As seen in the diagram below, the basic needs of hunger and safety (security is a better word) need to be fulfilled before being able to move to more civil ways of living, eventually leading to self actualisation. Again, could it be that the since gaining freedom we have struggled with ''poverty'' and hence for huge majority रॊटी, कपडा और मकान is a bigger challenge to think and deal with rather than road safety. (wikipedia image inserted by blr_editor) But then look at the roads in South Africa, despite a similar history to ours and years of subjugation, lack of freedom and economic instability, their roads are far better than those in India with regards discipline and following of the traffic rules. May be then the The Western / UK drivers can follow rules more easily as the roads are bigger and number of vehicles very few. Perhaps they can do so because they do not have multiple modes of transport (rickshaw, motor bikes et al). Or could it be that their road signage is so good that drivers find it easier to follow rules? In realty though, many Western cities have population densities similar to ours. In the Western world 80% use personal vehicles, this means car densities may be even higher than those seen on Indian roads. Most EU cities are historical and do not always have wide roads. Congestion and traffic jams are common, but one hardly ever hears any honking. And rules are followed by all, including those on bikes, cycles, mobility scooters, buses, truck drivers.....the lot. In fact as explained on my FAQ, The videos are even more relevant to 2/3 wheel drivers. Often these vehicles do not have mirrors (definitely there is no rear view). This then makes checking blind spot more important for such drivers. The principle of MSM (video 2), dealing with traffic lights, dealing with junctions (giving way), dealing with roundabouts, speed limits, keeping safe distance (far more important for 2 wheelers which take longer to stop than cars), tailgating and the biggest of all - showing courtesy - everything applies to all types of vehicles, cyclists included. Could it be that the Indian culture and tradition of hospitality was lost by us over centuries? Some of our behaviours like spitting across each others face, littering, honking at each other and lack of consideration for fellow humans on our roads suggests this is a huge problem. But then will this be a reason for our poor record on road safety and indiscipline? Now the Western culture is not any more courteous or better than ours. From mugging to gun crime, all vices are rife in most cities. In fact ethical and moral violations are as common (if not more) in the Western world. I am hence inclined to think this in itself does not completely explain the chaos on Indian roads. The other possible explanation is the ''power equation''. Being a populated country, there is competition right from the word go. We have to struggle to get places in schools, universities and jobs. Its cut throat. Perhaps this habitual competitive streak which we end up with is seen on our roads as well, where every vehicle driver tries to occupy every inch available at the cost of road safety and discipline. The other related thought is the powerlessness one experiences in our lives. My doctor colleagues render patients powerless, as a doctor in a bus, the conductor renders me powerless. The बाबू अ at the window or the telephone company man or the civic official meant to rectify the water supply...... the person in the seat of power constantly leaves the other feeling vulnerable and weak. Almost habitually then, perhaps the driver of a vehicle, suddenly finds himself / herself in the seat of power and ruthlessly deems or makes an effort to deem everyone else, especially the pedestrians completely powerless. However, all the above happens between every interacting humans across the globe and yet traffic discipline in many countries is superior to that in India. One final piece of the jigsaw is ''education and awareness''. Yet, it is not formal education (whether one completed schooling) that matters. What matters is the driver education and training which instils the right road habits at the outset. Britain has one of the toughest driving test which can be taken even by school dropouts, the point is by the time one passes the test, the correct road etiquette is ingrained in to the drivers. I would think that the above covers numerous possibilities. To me its know-how and training at the outset which is useful. This includes know-how which traffic authorities need to have. This very nicely brings me to collating my thoughts on how Indian road traffic can be reformed. To read more on how we could reform India's traffic and road culture, click here. Dr. Adhiraj Joglekar Visit www.driving-india.blogspot.com Your one stop resource to video tutorials covering all aspects of defensive driving.

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