indian traffic

I didn't get my driver's license until the ripe age of 28. However, I like to think of myself as a pretty aggressive driver: I have battled the one-way streets of London, zig-zagged my way through 8 lanes of Southern Californian traffic, and I've done quite a few risky overtakes. But I've never ever before witnessed THREE lorries/buses trying to overtake a car all at the same time, not caring that they're heading for a full frontal collision with the on-coming traffic.

The 5 hour bus journey from Jodhpur to Ajmer Indian was a perfect example of Indian traffic in it's prime. A caravan of lorries and buses carrying livestock, goods. petrol and people, all trying to race each other, like kids on a fair ground, driving on the road, beside the road, and on the other side of the road. I lost count of how many times the bus swerved in and out of the lane, evading cows and pedestrians and the odd brave motorcycle, slamming on the brakes with just seconds to spare.

In India, there is only one rule when it comes to driving: the biggest vehicle has the right-away, ALWAYS.

I think that those few hours shortened my life span with a good few years.