Driving on Indian Roads

On the road this lack of respect manifest even more glaringly. People have absolutely no respect for other people sharing the road with them. Here I am not talking about following the traffic rules or lane markings. That’s difficult as it is given the overcrowded roads and myriad denizens occupying them.

But simple things like not blocking a lane because we want to join a main road from a side road, changing lanes only after letting the car behind you have sufficient warning, letting the car in front of you into your lane if he is giving a signal, honking relentlessly just because the car in front is stalled or slow in getting off the mark at the signal. Simple things like that would make the roads so much easier to traverse on.
There are two types of bad drivers in my opinion on Indian roads.
1. Big and Powerful: I have the big car fast car. I own the road. All slower smaller cars need to get out of the way. I know that if I hit somebody I will face minimum damage.
2. Small and Idiotic: I am a small two /three wheeler or 800. I can get in and out of very small places and corners. I will do that and the other cars can just watch out for me. I don’t care that if there is an accident I will suffer maximum injury.
As you can see above the bad driving behavior cuts across social, economic and educational strata. I have seen employees of Hi Tech companies, managers in big firms (based on the cars they drive) drive the same way as say an Indica, Sumo or Qualis taxi driver.
So what makes us behave this way on the road? What makes us behave this way in life?
This last weekend I made my regular trip from Pune to Mumbai via the expressway. It just glaringly brought out the difference between the two cultures once again. People in fast cars just feel that the expressway is their birthright to drive at manic speed and don’t care to share the road with others at all. They will zoom down the fast lane and if god forbid you are in that lane at a speed below 120 kmph will start flashing their headlights into your rearview mirror or start honking like crazy as if they have a fire to put out somewhere down the line.
This was particularly disturbing during the return trip which we made in the night as the flashing lights make it more difficult for you to drive.
The public servant is treated with respect. They may do their job at a slower pace than in a corporate environment but will not ask for anything under the table or make you run around endlessly. They will also talk to you civilly. Everything will be organized.
Here we treat govt workers with the scantest of respect and vice versa. This does not lead to a very good transaction and increases levels of frustration and inefficiency.