But that is all in America. A country where people expect one another to stay in their lane, use turn signals, use their horn only when necessary, carefully avoid pedestrians, and wait their turn even if the line is long. Jet around the world to Delhi, India. OH MY GOSH. Because of my carsickness on the drive from the airport Friday night, I did not open my eyes. So Saturday morning was my first time looking at the Delhi traffic as I rode in it. And what a horrifying scene met my eyes! [Now, as far as my background knowledge: I noticed as we were waiting to board our flight to Delhi that the majority Indian crowd was eager to push forward, regardless of whether people were actually moving onto the plane or not, forming more of a mosh pit than a queue; and the nice man who sat next to me on the plane said I would be shocked by the traffic]. As Prof Mason said, Indians only know one direction: forward. If that is where they want to go, there is no diverting them, no matter who or what is in the way or already in the space. Lanes? What are those? Most roads in India don't even have lanes drawn because they are just ignored when they're there. On a road that is theoretically designed to be two lanes, you'll find 5 "lanes" across of motorbikes, auto-rickshaws, taxis, trucks, cars, vans....and there is no method to the madness! Vehicles weave around one another into non-existence space in a desperate attempt to get where they want to go, not caring that they are cutting someone off or almost hitting a pedestrian or (my personal terrified "favorite") driving ON THE COMPLETE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD.
Horns are also used liberally. In the US, horns have a few simple meanings that are used occasionally, such as, "Watch out, you just pulled in front of me too close and I'm annoyed!"; "You slammed on your brakes and I almost hit you!"; "Why are you going soooo slow on this one lane road where I can't pass you?"; or with a friendly little toot of the horn, "Excuse me, I need your attention to tell you your gas door is open/get directions/etc." Now in INDIA, the horn means one thing and one thing only, as far as I can tell. "I AM COMING INTO THIS SPACE, SO IF YOU'RE IN IT MOVE BECAUSE I'M BLOWING MY HORN SO THAT IS ME CLAIMING THE SPACE AS MINE!!!!" I have never heard horns used so often or so vehemently. It is a horrible constant cacophany of "Get out of my way"s. Some places have "Please Do Not Honk" signs, such as neighborhoods, driveway gates, and some places along the road (I haven't been able to figure out what is special about those places). They are small areas, so they seem to work decently. On the other hand, some auto-rickshaws or trucks have those pleas written on their rears and I just have to laugh because they are so useless. I'm worried that I'm going to get back home and be so conditioned to ignoring honking, that I don't realize it means something important again.
It is really just a scene of constant chaos. Motorbikes winding their way through cracks that don't exist -sometimes with up to a family of 4 on them!-, pedestrians crossing the street wherever they want or walking along the edges in the street because the sidewalks are all under construction or covered with stands, people hopping on and off the public buses as they slow down or speed up. One of the most hectic areas are the giant traffic circles because, as there are no lanes, you have vehicles literally going in every direction as they try to merge on, off, or keep going "straight."
Suffice it to say that I have sworn an unbreakable oath with myself to NEVER drive a vehicle in Delhi. We have three taxis that take us to and from classes and to and from our excursions when it is a "scheduled activity" with the whole group, so I have found my favorite driver, a sweet man with a steady hand in this craziness, so I desperately try to ride in his car everytime. I will stick with him driving, looking at what we are passing off the road so that I don't see what is going on all around me, and clapping my hand over my mouth with eyes tight shut when I think we're about to kill or be killed.
Say a little prayer for three weeks of travel mercies, please!
Oh my goodness once again, exactly my life of the last 3 months. Thankfully,the town I lived in was small enough that traffic wasn't too, too crazy (although yielding to pedestrians? Does NOT exist in Ethiopia). But the capital... wow. About died of anxiety-induced heart attack every time I entered a vehicle. Particularly hated left hand turns across a busy road, because it's not like they have traffic lights in most places. The few places they do were these HUGE wide gigantic weird intersections with no lanes and cars would just randomly cut across in all directions. So scary.
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