Having spent most of last December touring round Western India by car, personally I think anywhere in India would meet your criteria.
Traffic lights are only for decoration, lane markings are only to employ someone and keep the paint factories going.
There are spot checks and you can be stopped for jumping the lights but the price of a cup of tea will get you off the (higher) on the spot fine - its funny watching the cop go through all the motions, checking your papers, etc, making notes and also issue a receipt (I was told from a book kept for the purpose).
I am told there are some cops who will refuse to join this scam, but the trick is to work out which ones will accept tea money and which ones won't and will really book you for jumping the lights and also for trying to buy him off! I'm sorry if this is read by a clean traffic cop, I sure there must be some.
Normal driving method is to aim for your destination and head straight for it, honking like mad even in the dead of night with nothing in sight. During the day, any little weakness like leaving a space beside your vehicle means you will find anything from a great big lorry to a motorbike to a rickshaw trying to squeeze in. I have seen three lanes have seven lanes of traffic trying to get through. You can hit anything you like except a cow - if you do, then the advice is to get out make a run for it as fast as you can as the driver can be quite badly beaten up.
During the night all traffic lights turn to flashing amber even in the large cities. There then starts a game of chicken as both sides try to cross before the other. My host said, as we hurtled towards flashing amber lights, with me tensing up, that there was a higher chance of a crash if you slowed down.
Though there are huge signs on their Expressways (motorways) about staying in lane and lane discipline, the (overloaded) lorries stay in the outside lane and the cars zoom in and out between them, all at breakneck speed. Some motorways have quite long tunnels through the mountains. The tunnels are lighted quite well, but all the drivers insist on turning on their hazard lights. So if anything happens up ahead, there is no way to warn the traffic hurtling up behind you.
If you drive smoothly without using your horn every 5 seconds, even your passengers will think that you are an nancy boy and there is something wrong with you. The other vehicle drivers will sus out that you are a weakling and literally bully you off the road including various (UK, US and local) finger signals all accompanied with various tones and volume of horns.
I asked my hosts' daughter who had just passed her test, to show me the highway code; she didn't know what I was talking about. Her father said there probably was one, but it might be in the government archives being the one left by the Brits before they left!
The driving test consists of a quiz about random road signs, and being able to drive in a straight line the distance between two ends of a football field.
Needless to say you need to be really mentally/physically challenged to fail (even then there a ways round it...)
I said that it looked like the Traffic Dept and Traffic Commissioners had surrendered to the chaos, and was told that they have to be careful and watch their backs. If one of their men stops a famous film star or politico or even a member of the underworld there is a chance of the Commissioner being beaten up, dismissed, demoted or transferred.
My host was most amused to see me tense up as my hazard perception kicked in but nobody seemed to be bothered.
"Nothing to worry about. This is how we drive here. If you can drive here you can drive in any part of the world!"
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Although we hail from different lands,
we share one earth and sky and sun,
remember friends, the world is one....
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Posted by MikeB on Fri Apr 05, 2013 1:29 pm
