[PRCo] Re: Indian cultural differences

[John Swindler]

So what's the annual highway death toll in India??
 
For instance, it was a surprise couple years ago to learn that China has about twice the number of highway fatalities as the US.
 
John> To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org> From: fwschneider at comcast.net> Subject: [PRCo] Indian cultural differences> Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 18:51:55 -0500> > For those of you who did take the time to look at some of those you- > tube videos of India, the rucus of automobile horns on the streets is > different from here. As our guides and bus drivers explained it to > us, blowing the horn in India doesn't mean, "Get out my way you F--n > S. O. B., I have the right of way." Rather it means, "Hello friend, > I'm here and I don't want you to get hurt. Please don't walk in > front of me."> > A horn never wears out in the United States. I suspect it is a > renewable part in India because you do not drive two blocks in town > without using it.> > There was a case in Lancaster last year where a lady who was drunk > went down the wrong expressway ramp and ran head on into a car coming > the other way. She killed two men. Last month she was sentenced > to two terms, each of ten years to be served consecutively. In > India, if you want to pull onto a non-limited access expressway from > a home or gas station and you are on the westbound side but want to > go eastward, you simply drive east against the current of traffic > until you have a place to cross over to the other lanes. That is > much more expedient than driving a mile out of your way and turning > around. And an Indian expressway will have cattle sleeping on it, > elephants carrying burdens, trucks, cars, motorized rickshaws, > bicycles (except where they are on bridges through towns and then non- > motorized vehicles may be prohibited but you still can't restrict the > sacred cows), and perhaps even a camel caravan in the west. I > even saw a man walking down the middle of an expressway with water > bottles on his shoulders ... it was explained that he was carrying > water from the Ganges to another river to appease his god in the hope > of a better monsoon to end a five year drought. By the way, I never > saw an accident on the roads in India. The first one I saw in two > weeks was after I got off the plane in New York ... then I saw where > a dufus of a truck driver had hit an expressway ramp too fast and > rolled a semi onto its side! That was within 4,000 feet of JFK > airport. > 
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