Day 43 - On Indian road traffic abuses....

I know this is the 2nd blog in a day but after a few days being shuttled around the streets of Jaipur, I wanted to get some thoughts down on paper (so to speak).
There's a marked difference in the way road traffic rules are applied and adhered to in all parts of India and Britain (and I'd hazard most of the rest of the world). The concept of one lane - one direction does not really have a tight hold on people when driving in India - if you can get away with squeezing your car/rickshaw/van down the edge of the road but go the wrong way, no worries. Furthermore, dodgy u-turns in the middle of hellish rush-hour traffic are positively encouraged and I'm sure I saw one gendarme holding up a score card with 5.8, 6.0, 5.9, 5.8 on it to one successful attempt.
If people in London think they're hard done-by being jostled by black cabs and zippy bicycle couriers, they should spend a few days in some rajasthani cities and learn what it feels like to be afraid, really afraid. In traffic terms, human beans have no rights here - they are grouped together with other things that shouldn't be on the roads. Even the wandering cows are given more respect (and a wide berth - it's a imprisonable offence to kill a cow on the road). Roundabouts exist but are ignored by all and sundry (don't fancy going all the way round the long way? Just take a short cut and save yourself time!) - traffic lights are a law unto themselves (even the ones with a countdown timer that tell you how long until the next light change!).

Despite all this, I've yet to see a road accident of any kind, traffic keeps moving, people don't lose their rag over the smallest hold-up and you can guarantee that at some point you'll get to where you're going.

My only gripe, and it's a big one, is that for the love of all that is holy about being able to hear properly, please will everyone stop using their BLOODY horns!

Feel better now.