On the Road. In India

Of the rules of the road in India, we can only be (mostly) sure of one thing: That traffic travels on th left hand side.

Mostly.

The rest of it is a free for all, frankly.

Take what counts as motorways: If travel on the left is correct, then the slow lane must be the extreme left. Only trucks and lorries will travel in the right hand lane.

And I should point out that all lorries are restricted to 40km/h, which is 25mp/gh. On all roads, including motorways.

Trucks are ancinet and underpowered, so that when travelling up a hill, they will mostly be in first gear.

There is, apparently, no maximum wight for trucks and lorries, so they are loaded looking like giant loaves of bread, with tarps and lashing keeping it all in place.

Who has right of way at a roundabout?

Beats me. Whoever has the loudest horn and the one that doesn't give way.

This is even more true at roundabouts, as who gives way loses in life. So no one does.

Who gives way at a T-Junction?

Again, no one. Time and time again, the jeeps and tuk-tuks just kept going, hoping that other traffic would make room for them. And then there is the use of horns.

As I have said many times, all journeys were accompanied by a cacophony of horns from ALL other road users. In cities this goes on 24 hours a day. Use of the horn might indicate that the road user is there. So the repeated use must therefore to restate that he or she is still there.

For trucks and buses there appears to be no annual check up for road-worthiness, just load it up and git gorn. Painting the trucks and lorries with bright colours and helpful messages like "horn please" make the trucks go faster and the rest of the road users less angry.

On the main road into Delhi, it is a three lane road, but road users seem to have decided among themselves that it is wide enough for four lanes. All well and good until it narrows to two lanes.

*Use horn.

India is currently building a modern road network. It is a work in progress. You can be driving along a three lane road, then come to an unfinished bridge, and there is a gravel track for all lanes, in both directions, to use. Then back on the tarmac once the work in progress has been bypassed.

Sometimes one of the on-ramps is closed/being constructed, so traffic uses the other one and does a massive u turn across sixlanes of traffic to get going in the direction they want.

This is normal.

As is when motorways go through towns, there are gaps in the reservation, and all directions are supposed to give way. No one does, just put the horn on permanent and put your foot down.

Several times on our travels I thought we were going to die. One time I was certain.

Well, if not die, then be injured as the bus driver went for a gap in overtaking that just wasn't there.

But was.

We lived.

We saw few accidents in the three weeks we were there, so it must work. Somehow.

Sometimes we just put our headphones on, closed our eyes and imagines we were somewhere quiet like the North Circular.

The final part is the road into the foothills, which is rather like the Amalfil Coast Road, but with Indian (no) rules. Overtaking on blind bends, with drops of hundreds of thousands of feet on one side, all the while honking the horn.

We were glad to get to the hotel at the top one day, and then down on the plain safe and sound the next day.

In moments of reflection, I ponder how we're still alive, as the driver went for a non-existant gap between a truck and two tuk-tuks. And yet here I am. Alive.