Interesting topic!
As an expat living here in Mumbai, I only recently dare to buy a car & drive myself, only after 2 years learning most of driving 'tips' from taxis & call cabs. Here are my comments & findings:
Honking - First few months I refrain myself using the horn very much. But then people is doing 30km/h on the right lane on expressway/4-lane road...
The line on the road - I assumed this line is to divide 2 lane line other countires. But most drivers (especially taxis) normally driving ON the line - blocking both of the line and make it hard to overtake them.
And I always shock cars from opposite lane coming into my lane in break-neck speed & blaring horn & high beam! (occur on the flyover road where the Porsche showroom are in South-Mumbai).
Side-mirror & turn indicator - and i very much agree with some of the forumners regarding the usage of these items. They are simply useless.
If you can drive in India, you can drive anywhere else in the world - true... maybe in Bangkok or Shanghai. I remember sending some travel agents & journalist (not from this publication) driving in my country (highway & country roads) and they ended up in passanger seats after a number of 'hand-sign' and sharp stare from other users. Why? Changing to the fast lane in the expressway doing 60km/h, with no indicator and with cars approaching behind doing 110-120km/h.
And finally - the road itself. This one I couldn't comment very much. I respect the forumners sensitivity. But you all know how is it. And manufacturers have to tune the cars they wanted to sell here according to this. That's why your 2.0 civic here is still running on 15-inch wheels - even the so-called sport model running the same size. And because of this tuning, the car handling is not quite as good as other countries are enjoying.
I observed most cars here (Mumbai) are driven by personal driver/chaffeur, even small car. I assumed these people are not really educated or even understand the road manners. Is it because of this, they don't really following the law? Is there any some sort of test before you get a driving licence?
Not everybody is a bad driver - I came by a some fellow drivers (which I assumed the car owners) that drive responsibly. But the number is embarassingly small.
I'm scared once I get back to my home country, this habit will continue..
I'm here not to condemn this country - sorry if fellow forumners are offended. I hope all this will change in future.
Regards.
