Every morning and evening on my way to and from work, I have to venture down New B.E.L. Road. And this experience leaves me with my heart in my throat each and every time.
New B.E.L. Road is a wide, straight tree-lined road with absolutely no median. As a result, people drive like absolute maniacs with no regard for the lives of others. The traffic coming from M.S. Ramaiah Hospital toward Mekhri Circle is coming at 70 KPH, at they take up 3/4 of the road… recklessly driving at oncoming traffic and refusing steadfastly to give way.
I cannot understand this phenomenon. And it’s everyone… buses, autos, bikes and cars all drive straight at us every morning, lights flashing. How can I give way?!?!??! YOU’RE ON MY SIDE OF THE ROAD AND I AM PRACTICALLY DRIVING ON THE FOOTPATH!
And this example is only one of many that I witness every day. Each morning and evening I shake my head incredulously at people cutting off traffic to turn left from the right-hand most lane. Or overtaking from the left. Or turning into traffic without looking even once to see if someone is already occupying the lane. I am incredulous at how careless the driving has become in Bangalore. Even in the last 7 months, it has become worse than ever.
And it seems to be a brand of horrible driving particular to Bangalore, because I did not witness nearly this much insanity in Delhi. OK, Mumbai is bad, but it’s a shade better than Bangalore. And while Hyderabad is crowded, it was not nearly as bad.
Why are Bangalore drivers so bad???? What can we do to stop this activity. Delhi just recently doubled traffic fines. Would that work here? And why don’t people recognize that if they stopped driving so badly that traffic would actually decrease?
“Ma, its a jungle out there”