Road Rage

With the absolutely horrendous traffic in Bangalore, it is amazing that more instances of road rage are not seen. The increasing vehicular population of Bangalore has transformed this once sleepy, reclusive retirement town of Southern India into an asphalt jungle of roads snarled with cars, two wheelers, buses and autoricksaws, all spewing noxious fumes and jockeying for positions to advance their travel.

It wasn’t always this way. In 1961, there were 19,000 cars registered in Bangalore. At the start of the tech boom in 1995, 797,000 cars were jostling about the constricted roads of Bangalore. Ten years later, there were 2,130,000 cars! Many of the tree-lined, narrow roads of Bangalore have become wide, un-shaded rivers of blacktop filled with bobbing, belching machines. The burgeoning mechanized population has resulted in the evolution of a jungle-like, chaotic driving culture. Lane discipline is preached without any visible adherence. Right turns from left lanes, unannounced u-turns and vehicles zipping though red lights at intersections are common. Drivers act as if traffic signs and signals are mere suggestions.

Road noise is overpowering. More than anything, the horn is invoked to negotiate the many impediments faced by drivers. Autorickshaw operators who survive on narrow rupee margins are notorious for operating with defective silencers (mufflers). Aging city buses billow dark fumes and pass with a deep-throated rumble that deadens all competing noise. We are frequent walkers and find that, because of the intense noise, our conversational volume is just one notch below shouting. But it is the horn, the constant honking of the horn, that is the most ubiquitous companion for any man or beast that may venture forth.

In Bangalore, and India in general, the previous generations of transportation have not yet surrendered to the combustion engine age. Bullock carts still ply the roads in Bangalore. In Rajasthan camels are commonly seen pulling cart loads of wood or other goods along busy roads filled with trucks, cars and buses. Elephants are still used as beasts of burden in many areas in India. When visiting the tea plantations of Munnar in Kerala, elephants with their mahouts (handlers) were seen ambling down the twisting mountain roads mingling comfortably with a variety automobiles, vans, buses and trucks.

It was surprising, then, when we read a newspaper article indicating that an elephant in Gajanur in the Western Ghats had gone amok and pushed a tourist van with 10 people off the road. The area is known for its elephant training camps, and a lumbering pachyderman passing an automobile is a common sight. Elephants have been known to go amok when they are unfed. The story indicated, however, that this elephant had recently been fed and bathed before he dragged the van for 30 meters and then deposited it in a ditch. The bull elephant was calmed down with the help of a cow elephant. What was the cause for this outburst of elephant road rage? It turns of the driver of the van reverted to his jungle driving culture and had been honking his horn at the elephant. Moral of the story: Any creature that weights 12,000 pounds has a distinct advantage over any modern day motorized leviathans…regardless of how loud one may toot their horn.