Driving in India is one hell of a task. No rules, no safety, thousands of vehicles of all sorts on the road, animals of all sorts on the road, people honking for no apparent reason, motorcyclists accommodating themselves even in the tiniest of space left between 2 cars or buses, no priority based driving, no lane discipline, no place for cyclists, pedestrians, even footpaths are not left empty instead motorcyclists manages to ride even on footpaths. Government is trying now and then all sorts of ideas to implement to make it better but no we don’t like that, we will find some work around to make sure that nothing should change and we should always be as messed up as we are. List of problems is endless and if you could survive driving in India , you can survive anywhere else on planet earth.
I exchanged my Indian driving license to Dutch driving license and I was excited to drive here(off course, I considered taking a few classes). Though it didn’t come as easy I imagined,. Well it's quite easy in terms of driving but understanding rules were something new for me. Not just 1 or 2 but lots of them. I took a few classes, it didn’t help me though because my teacher was quite annoying, she didn’t understand the fact that I come from another country where everything is just the opposite to here, even the side of the road we drive on , steering is also the opposite side. Rather helping me, the classes only demotivated me and I decided to learn and slowly practice myself.
My husband was preparing for driver's license exams during that time, I took his help to understand the rules. I referred few videos and e-books to understand the signs and priority, changing lanes on highways, to enter a roundabout, priority of cyclists and pedestrians and so on. After few months, I was quite comfortable on road and It was quite shocking for me how safe , frustration free, peaceful, honking free driving here is(well, most part of it).In my opinion, driving is so fun here because first of all there are strict rules for people who violate the traffic rules and the second is the process that one has to go through in order to get a Driving license. Having a driver license in the Netherlands is one of the toughest in the world.
I feel, driving here could make you learn a few things and make you a better person. I know, some of my Dutch friend may find it funny but trust me , a person coming from India, driving here can make a person better in many ways. And I am sharing how it made me a better person.
It made me considerate of others on the roads:
Well, even in India I wasn’t not one of those people who wasn’t considerate at all. I cared about pedestrians, cyclists and gave priority to them however if I followed it too much I probably couldn’t survive on road because one person alone can’t follow all the rules 😉
Here it’s a different thing, it’s so pleasant to see how people stop for each other, give priority, care for pedestrians, acknowledge and appreciate each other. On highways, people make sure to keep left lane empty when fellow drivers asks for it. It's good to see how people take other people into account and then enter the roundabout. People wait patiently on traffic lights and don’t run over each other.
It has made me patient
I don’t honk or try to bypass somehow to reach my destination early. I wait patiently even when the person ahead of me got delayed by a few seconds for some reason. I am not in rush when all of sudden someone’s car got off while crossing the signal. I am not honking when other person ahead of me not abiding by the speed limits, rather I wait for the right time to come to overtake him.
I don’t blindly merge into main roads without making sure to stop and look far ahead if there is a car approaching.
I check rear mirror, side mirror, front mirror and look at my shoulder and then I give indicator and not just blindly change the lanes.
It teaches how important it is to use indicators, side mirrors
In India, we use indicators, side mirrors but not everyone does it and reason of half of the accidents could be this. If everyone made sure to look in all the mirrors and turned his head a bit to look on his shoulder to cover that Blind spot , life could be so easier already, road safety would have been much better for everyone.
We shouldn’t forget how important indicators are, they are not one of the show parts of the car but they are their for a purpose.
How important lane discipline is and as a result you get a better control on steering
Now, I have been to 16 countries so far(All Europeans) and off course, I follow other countries online around the world. What leaves me wondering is why there are few things exist only in India, what has gone wrong with us. I mean, I have seen people crazily driving in Paris, Spain, Germany but nowhere it’s as bad as it is in India(I know, I shouldn’t even compare) but one simple basic thing is “Lane discipline”, in India, all major highways, roads in big cities have lanes so well marked but no one bother to follow. Why?????
Lane discipline is so important , not only it ensures the safety of you and your fellow road users but also makes you a better driver because you remain only in your lane while taking turns and as a result you get so better with your steering and can handled even narrowest of turns.
Honking is the last thing that I do
In India, people take out their frustration by honking. We honk for entertainment and we are so used to it that if we don’t do it for it we feel something is missing in life. When signal turns green(we honk), when people crossing road we honk, dog crossing road we honk, when we overtake we honk basically this is what we are best at, Honking.
It was the most shocking thing for me among many others that people don’t honk at all like its really rare. Some may do when you change lanes on highways with not much distance between his n your car or maybe you got stuck signal, you took a turn without noticing but that’s rare. Doesn’t it sound so cool?? To be honest, in close to 1.5 years of driving, I have honked only 3-4 time and my husband not even once. So once in a while, we honk in garage just to check If its working fine(pun intended) 😉
Pedestrian and cyclist are always priority
In India, we don’t have well managed infrastructure everywhere that there are separate lanes for cyclists or pedestrians however bigger cities have footpaths at most of the places. Now saddest thing is motorcyclists, auto drivers don’t leave a single chance to run through even on footpaths if they don’t find any other way to get through. There are some rules regulations, fine to avoid such things but who cares, everyone is in it together. Its shame full and sad at the same time.Zebra crossing line exists in India in bigger cities specially but who is bothered , neither the pedestrians nor people in vehicles. There are over bridges for pedestrians to cross the road but may be only 10% of people who might be using them. We are so good at crossing roads while begging for our life in front of a running vehicle.Here, situation not relatable at all. Pedestrian and cyclist are always a priority, even when there is no priority for them by rule. And in fact they take advantage of this situation many times but at least it is safe. At least people on foot or on cycle are not getting suppressed and not having a hard time sharing road and being in danger at the same time.
These are my observation of having spent close to 3 years in the Netherlands. Road safety in the Netherlands is among the very best in the world. Having said that there are a few exceptions who do change lane without indicating, some honk for no reason(a rare sight though ;)), motor bikers over take the wrong way, people over speed in the absence of speed cameras, some might be so involved in driving that they forget that they are on the most left lane of the highway and someone is asking them for way.
Well, comparing India with here would be total foolish. India is a continent in itself but I feel we are centuries behind even for our standard. It's time to use our brains, take responsibility, be considerate and patient, make it a better and safe place for everyone !!
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