Commuding in Delhi
 

Think your commute to work is bad? Check this out:

http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vi...855583&cache=1

Razor-sharp reflexes are what keep you alive there. The stereotypical SUV-driving soccer mom wouldn't last 5 minutes. Some of the comments are interesting, too. Apparently they only drive about 20mph (the video is sped up a bit), though there are still 2000 deaths every year. Also, it's reported to be even worse in Milan...

Kinda makes my morning commute, where I meet maybe 50 cars, look like a joke.

It is really funny, an mesmerizing. I think that Delhi could come up with some high tech scenarios to integrate bicyclists, and motorists they could become the poster city of the human powered movement

It has been a couple of years since I was in Delhi, and there is no way I would commute there. I believe that the pollution has been cleaned up some with the banning of diesel vechiles there, but at the time I had black stuff running out of my nose, and was blowing it clear every 1/2 hour. It was also 40 degrees C (100 F).

In the video, the traffic isnt as heavy as it can be in Delhi, but if you look you will see that there are rules, just not the same as in the west. It has to do with mass. A big bus or truck wins, and the smaller guys give way. But as the smaller ones bank up, waiting to cross, they eventually aquire sufficient combined mass to cross the other stream.

The same applies to motorbikes, and pedestrians. If you want to cross a busy street you just wait until there are enough people and they start to walk. You just join them. Scary at first, but you do get used to it, sort of.

I have seen small children in busier traffic than that in Phnom Phen and Bangkok on the way to and from school on bikes, but dont remember them from Delhi.

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Compared to what I have encountered in India, specifically Mumbai, the video has shown a rather light traffic. Milan traffic can be deadly (in 2h I have seen 3 separate accidents, where passenger compartment got virtually eliminated), but by far does not get as complicated as in India. In Mumbai, the vehicles commonly form a single medium with inch separations between vehicles and yet move nonetheless, not necessarily in the same direction. Vehicle groups accelerate in synchronicity, as seen in the video, but continue to do it at much vehicle densities, with the vehicle medium rarefying, compressing, mixing, etc.

I recall a State Dept directive asking Americans not to drive in India, as a relatively high number has apparently died in trying to cope with that complicated traffic. Also, I know Indians who own cars but hire drivers to drive them around, when in need, as they do not trust their own capabilities. Within the short time I had there, I did not try to ride a bike.

Delhi is actually probably the easiest city in India to ride a bike in. The streets are (compared with other cities like Mumbai or Kolkata) wide, well-maintained and fairly lightly trafficked, especially in New Delhi, which was built with broad avenues and a lot of traffic circles. I used to bike a lot there (usually very early Sunday mornings when the traffic was at its lightest). Whenever I had to stop, people would gather in a small group to stare at this strange, helmet-clad white guy. Some would point at my rear derailleur and pronounce wisely, "automatic transmission."

I miss India ...

Great video. Definitely would keep you on your toes.