4 ms·

This is the kind of low-effort, off-the-cuff pronouncement that I hate seeing on here. Because an Indian (presumably) you knew was driving in an unsafe manner,

This is the kind of low-effort, off-the-cuff pronouncement that I hate seeing on here. Because an Indian (presumably) you knew was driving in an unsafe manner, you can directly make pronouncements about "mass insanity" about a country of a billion people? Mind you, I'm not saying Indians are safe drivers. Indian driving, I freely admit, is spectacularly unsafe and makes me worried. There are a host of factors that cause this unsafe driving, including: - Roads built for way smaller cars - The sudden liberalization of the economy in the 90s leading to way more vehicles than the roads were designed for - A lot of people owning a vehicle, and having social expectations from them about automatically knowing how to drive (I'm not kidding, and we're talking stick shift here) - Traffic policemen numbers from the middle of the last century - Mushrooming urbanization and the resultant low level of trust among urban populations ...but "some kind of mass insanity is going on in India because my brother's Indian father-in-law ran a bunch of red lights at 2am" is ridiculous.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago
Sorry to hit your hot button! That was meant kindly. But I see your point. And thanks for fleshing out the argument - certainly there is something desperately wrong with the Indian road situation.
- ansible 10y ago
  Frankly, it is not just India, but, well, most of the hemisphere. Traffic is nuts, and drivers are nuts across most of the area (China, India, SE Asia, Russia), except for maybe Japan. Its not a race thing, but maybe it is a culture thing. We certainly have our share of asshole drivers in the USA, but it doesn't at all compare to what I've seen elsewhere, in terms of quantity / quality.
  - tunap 10y ago
    In Mexico cities(Mazatlan & Pueto Penasco) a red light only means 'avoid collision with cross traffic' with no obligation to stop or slow if you don't have to.
- parennoob 10y ago
  > Sorry to hit your hot button! That was meant kindly. The apology is meaningless; this has nothing to do with buttons. I merely pointed out a generalization based on an random anecdote, based on no real experience of the situation. Acknowledging it as such would help.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago

Sorry to hit your hot button! That was meant kindly. But I see your point. And thanks for fleshing out the argument - certainly there is something desperately wrong with the Indian road situation.

ansible 10y ago
Frankly, it is not just India, but, well, most of the hemisphere. Traffic is nuts, and drivers are nuts across most of the area (China, India, SE Asia, Russia), except for maybe Japan. Its not a race thing, but maybe it is a culture thing. We certainly have our share of asshole drivers in the USA, but it doesn't at all compare to what I've seen elsewhere, in terms of quantity / quality.
- tunap 10y ago
  In Mexico cities(Mazatlan & Pueto Penasco) a red light only means 'avoid collision with cross traffic' with no obligation to stop or slow if you don't have to.
parennoob 10y ago
> Sorry to hit your hot button! That was meant kindly. The apology is meaningless; this has nothing to do with buttons. I merely pointed out a generalization based on an random anecdote, based on no real experience of the situation. Acknowledging it as such would help.