Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to drive in India (2015)

theforeignchallenge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 82 posts

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#41

Post by RileyJames »

> Expect potholes and unmarked speed breakers almost everywhere! A nice flawless looking asphalt road can suddenly surprise you with deep potholes , just like someone has thrown a hand grenades on a road. The more rural you go the more extreme it can get. You can even find yourself driving inside a pothole which has it’s own potholes in it.

Haha, so true. I remember coming to skidding halt in taxi, in a rural area, at 2am. And directly out of the passenger door, was a pot hole. When I say pot hole, the entire middle of intersection had been torn up. And at the bottom of the pot hole were three men fixing a pipe, by the light of a fire.

Of course there were no barriers, signs, tape, nothing to show work was going on.

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#42

Post by dsfyu404ed »

vmarsy wrote: post #28

I think in a lot of the situations, there's a simple rule that Indian drivers follow, which is like motor boats official rules: the biggest vehicle has priority. So when it comes to u-turns, cars won't do a u-turn if there's a van or bus coming from the other side, but a bus will have no problem starting a u-turn if there's only a flow of cars and motorcycles coming. Motorcycles are just expected to flow around, make…

>I think in a lot of the situations, there's a simple rule that Indian drivers follow, which is like motor boats official rules: the biggest vehicle has priority.

This is how it works everywhere in the world. In any given ship yard small fork lifts yield to service trucks which yield to semis which yield to large fork lifts which yield to freight trains yield to ships. It generally works quite well unless you ask pedestrians and cyclists in wealthier urban areas in the west (and I say this as someone who rides trains and walks for my commute).

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#43

Post by gruez »

virtualwhys wrote: post #34

I visited India for the first time last year, in early March. Spent 2 weeks traveling by train through the north of India, and then planned on settling in Rishikesh for 1 month or so. Rented a scooter and began to experience India roads directly (i.e. not as a passenger in a taxi/tuk tuk). Was chaotic, but certainly doable if you paid attention; that is, until a giant black bull cow came charging through oncoming tra…

>whereupon I was refused surgery at the local hospitals (3 in total)

did they say why?

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#44

Post by virtualwhys »

gruez wrote: post #43
virtualwhys wrote: post #34

I visited India for the first time last year, in early March. Spent 2 weeks traveling by train through the north of India, and then planned on settling in Rishikesh for 1 month or so. Rented a scooter and began to experience India roads directly (i.e. not as a passenger in a taxi/tuk tuk). Was chaotic, but certainly doable if you paid attention; that is, until a giant black bull cow came charging through oncoming tra…

>whereupon I was refused surgery at the local hospitals (3 in total) did they say why?

Traveling alone, risk of surgery too great to take on.

The last and largest/most modern hospital in Rishikesh agreed to do the surgery, provided the US Embassy signed off on it, or a family member was present. The latter wasn't possible, and neither was the former ("we don't authorize surgery for our citizens").

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#45

Post by oh_sigh »

thisisit wrote: post #5

Couple of things which needs to be added: Never get into an accident in India. First, if you driving a car mob will surround and harass you. Second, in case you get away from the mob, police will come and harass you. And things get worse if they perceive you as an outsider. Here's an anecdote which happened with a friend: While taking one of these mentioned u-turns and ensuring that he was honking constantly, a bike…

Why did he give these people his contact information, etc?

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#46

Post by alistairSH »

virtualwhys wrote: post #44
gruez wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>whereupon I was refused surgery at the local hospitals (3 in total) did they say why?

Traveling alone, risk of surgery too great to take on. The last and largest/most modern hospital in Rishikesh agreed to do the surgery, provided the US Embassy signed off on it, or a family member was present. The latter wasn't possible, and neither was the former ("we don't authorize surgery for our citizens").

Was it risk of bad surgical outcome, or risk of non-payment regardless of outcome?

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#47

Post by alistairSH »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #42
vmarsy wrote: post #28

I think in a lot of the situations, there's a simple rule that Indian drivers follow, which is like motor boats official rules: the biggest vehicle has priority. So when it comes to u-turns, cars won't do a u-turn if there's a van or bus coming from the other side, but a bus will have no problem starting a u-turn if there's only a flow of cars and motorcycles coming. Motorcycles are just expected to flow around, make…

>I think in a lot of the situations, there's a simple rule that Indian drivers follow, which is like motor boats official rules: the biggest vehicle has priority. This is how it works everywhere in the world. In any given ship yard small fork lifts yield to service trucks which yield to semis which yield to large fork lifts which yield to freight trains yield to ships. It generally works quite well unless you ask ped…

Part of the issue with pedestrians, in the US, is they have priority over cars/buses/etc. I don't believe this is true in many other parts of the world. As the smallest, easiest to stop/start, and most likely to be injured, they probably should yield to other users.

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#48

Post by virtualwhys »

alistairSH wrote: post #46
virtualwhys wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Traveling alone, risk of surgery too great to take on. The last and largest/most modern hospital in Rishikesh agreed to do the surgery, provided the US Embassy signed off on it, or a family member was present. The latter wasn't possible, and neither was the former ("we don't authorize surgery for our citizens").

Was it risk of bad surgical outcome, or risk of non-payment regardless of outcome?

My death was the risk

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#49

Post by reaperducer »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #19
paulvs wrote: post #15

A couple more from around the world (esp. Paraguay): 1. To drop a passenger off where there is no street parking, just turn on your hazard lights and stop in the middle of the road. 2. In the seconds before a red light turns green, the cars behind you will honk to get you moving. 3. Be prepared for squeegee men at traffic lights who clean your windscreen for coins even if you say no. 4. Most city parking spots are co…

>3. Be prepared for squeegee men at traffic lights who clean your windscreen for coins even if you say no. 4. Most city parking spots are controlled by guys who "take care" of your car while you're away This so much in South Africa.

And New York. And Chicago. And Houston (the squeegee guys). At least in the 90's and early 2000's.

Thanks to Lyft and Uber, I rarely drive when I'm in cities anymore, so I don't know if it's still a thing in the U.S.

Re: How to drive in India (2015)

#50

Post by reaperducer »

factsaresacred wrote: post #7

There's an extremely readable version of this for Chiang Mai here: http://www.chiangmailocator.com/wiki-traffic-rules-in-thaila... It's as much a window into Thai culture as it is a guide to driving and contains a few 'aha' insights for those who've ever been perplexed by some of the traffic etiquette in Asia. > The most important factor that influences all Thai traffic behaviour is what I call a Thai driver’s ‘Range…

time isn’t as valuable as in Western societies, there is less of a hurry,

This is the opposite of my experience in Bangkok. We were stuck in a taxi in a traffic jam and all the cars were honking, and the taxi driver was fuming.

But then Bangkok may be different than Chiang Mai.

Post reply on HN