For a long time Romeo thought Chennai is the worst polluted place to drive a vehicle. Now, he has changed his mind after living in Bangalore nearly a year. The result of lack of infrastructure in Bangalore redirected IT corridors to other rival cities like Chennai.
Coming back to driving lessons in Chennai; we need to know many things apart from actual normal driving. We need to understand the language of the drivers before stepping into a vehicle ride.
Let’s see one by one from Romeo's experience :
Auto rickshaw: - Let’s start with the real nightmare in Chennai roads. Residents of Chennai are widely aware how worst an Auto could be. When you are riding a bike behind an auto, then don’t look for indications in turnings. Because most of the vehicles wont be having any indicators at all. He would definitely hand signal you; but don’t worry you wont be able to see his hand actually. Only fingers (4) will be projected a little bit. If you have a good vision… you are lucky.
I forgot to tell you this; he in fact won’t show signal before 10 metres at turnings. The decision to turn left or right will be made by him only before 5 or 7 feets. Auto rickshaw, indifferent from other vehicles has outstanding turning capabilities. It can rotate to more than 90 degrees. Auto drivers use this extensively in good traffics. Two wheelers should be 1000% alert when going near an Auto.
Cyclists: They are fantastic riders who never obey rules; of course none is going to ask driving license to them !! The possibility of extensive rotation & brakes annoy riders behind them. They don’t care to go in corner of the roads rather would go in the lane for 2 wheelers. You can often witness a cycle clash with any vehicle on the road.
Pedestrians: Yes, believe me I was also a victim of a sudden turning pedestrian. There are no footpaths available sufficiently (other than main roads). Also majority of the streets are very narrow. People in Chennai always cross (some times even they run across) the roads at any place any time without even looking on either of the sides. Usually you can see people staring a name boards or thinking some where (like a scientist in the labs) in the middle of the roads. If you are smart and well trained in Chennai roads you can actually compute from their dressings, body language, eyes & foot directions where can they probably head next step.
Lorry: Lorries, the real breath takers can be found only in outer areas. If you are in national Highway you can always witness a lorry impacting with any vehicle. In Indian myth we can call a lorry driver as “Yama Dharma raja”, the one who is responsible for taking lives/souls to Hell/Heaven just like St.Peter in Christian belief.
Buses: Bus drivers are the most dexterous persons in the city. They know all kinds of vehicle drivers very well & their driving language. I always like watching them drive in front seats. Its amazing to see them driving only inches gap between any vehicles.
Two Wheelers: You need more learning here. Determining the age of the person, depends how speed they could go or turn. For all these you have a lot of time like some milli-seconds. They won’t care to change the lanes at any time without watching the rear mirror. Female drivers are considered the most dangerous riders; they can literally show us the “The Highway to Hell” song in realty.
