Traffic in Chennai, India

I returned to the country of my birth after 35 years of becoming totally assimilated in American life. Here are my observations and thoughts about the traffic conditions in Chennai.

My one word description of the traffic is “unreal”. I'm not talking about the volume of traffic per se since I am rather accustomed to interstate 66 in the Washington DC area. It is the volume combined with the type of traffic. First of all let me say that they simply waste money and time painting traffic lines (and road signs for the most part). The street is a cacophony of motorcycles, cows, cars, people, buses, bicycles, buses, and rickshaws. There are no lanes and sidewalks will do when the street is too full. Rickshaws, by the way, are three wheeled vehicles used largely as taxies. The drivers use a motorcycle-like handle bar to steer. Each rickshaw comfortably seats 2 people but since this is India, most carry 4 to 6 people.

So when we arrived, my travel companion, S2, happily jumps into the rear seat and I Gomer Pyle-like, took the front seat. You can learn who is S2 and about S2 at his blog site (http://justexpress.blogspot.com/). I should have read more into the knowing smile that only S2 can pull off. Our driver grinded the gears and plunged into the flow of traffic and I am pretty certain he didn’t not even look to see if there was an opening. If I were driving, I would still be waiting for someone to give me room to pull into the road! The ride to the hotel was interesting but it was only a precursor to the fun I would have the next day. After all, it was only Sunday when we arrived. It did however take a few minutes at the hotel to dislodge my fingers from the dash as my nails had dug in fairly deep. I still have the image of the back of one of the many the motorcycles that I swear we were going to run over.

The ride from the hotel to our office is an all urban setting and the road had two and at times three lane markings. At one time during portion of a two lane street, I counted about 5 or 6 “lanes”. Motorcycles ride handle-bar-to-handle-bar-to-side view mirror at 40-50 km/hour. Oh by the way, motorcycles typically have more then one person riding arranged in interesting ways. I saw at most 4 people on a motorcycle and yes it was what looked like an entire family. I’ll have to see if I can get my wife to ride side saddle on my motorcycle. The concept of personal space does not exist. Oh, the horn is a must. Short beeps mean I am here and prolonged beeps mean I am still here. There are pedestrians (that is such a wrong term but I can’t think of another) who walk (not run) along and across the traffic in random intervals. The cows are a bit smarter in that they walk along on the sidewalk median.

After a week of observing the traffic and how various drivers performed, I have come to the conclusion that there is a certain practicality and beauty about the arrangement. Yes, it does look chaotic -- but there is a flow. The trick is simply to “float”; don’t fight the current, don’t make sudden moves, and to remember that the guy cutting you off is not insulting you, but just taking an opportunity to, well, get in front of you. I was told there are two basic rules to follow when driving:

1. Apply the rickshaw driver technique: once the front wheel is in, the rear wheels surely have to follow; and
2. Rule of gross tonnage: the bigger guy always wins.

It is practical and simple -- you can ignore everything else.