A rant about Indian driving and car culture

It is almost 1 AM and I'm exhausted. I should be sleeping but few things keep me up. Apart from the constant pressure about work, the other frustration I have is, how the whole country is unfit for driving any size of vehicle at all and how easier it is getting a driving license and buying a vehicle.

I was on a trip to attend a friend's marriage and faced a lot of usual stuff on Indian roads such as bus cutting me down very closely, people jumping at the vehicle at random places and the usual driving on the wrong side like their father own the road.

I usually stay frustrated for a few hours and then it'll wear down. But this week, I keep on hearing news after news which makes it really hard to let go.

First thing is a 17 year old rich dickhead teenager drove his Porsche Taycan at over 150 kmph and rammed it into a software engineer couple on their bike, the teenager was under the influence of alcohol, the couple (despite heavily regretting what happened to them) weren't wearing even basic protection gear like a helmet. The car was not registered under anyone's name and was running on a temporary registration.

If you're from any of the saner countries that doesn't drive to kill, you can instantly feel, "Wow, that's a whole lot of wrong things within one paragraph", right? Not for Indians. In fact, most of the above would not shock Indians because that's the norm here.

The court has granted bail to the accused considering he is minor. I agree minors needs to be tried as juveniles not as adults. But why on earth a minor can get their hands on a sports car, was served drinks on a bar, and was allowed to even get to the steering wheel under influence?

The father, the bar owner have been arrested after a lot of public outcry on social media. But this case has enough loopholes that this 17yo shithead accused can drive his Porsche through and get out safe.

The pressure and attempts to protest organised through social media put pressure on politicians and cops to at least make some arrests. But case may not hold it together in the trial and witness may be bought, bent or... But what worries me more than this is attitude of some self proclaimed car guys and teenagers on Instagram who were spitting golden statements like below.

Few people attacked the car in outrage and these guys are supporting the rich and the people who are angry are attacking the car because they are jealous.

These are all just samples, you can find millions of comments like this. These comments are showing only one thing, how insensitive an average Indian is about fellow road user and a fellow Indian. All they care about is "his beautiful car".

Don't believe this is just internet attitude which usually brings out the worst in people. In real life too, Indians are very uncivilised in road manners. They want to go fast but never get anywhere. They jump red lights, drive on opposite track/lane, drive on pedestrian crossing continuously, cutting others off, taking incorrect turn lines on street, driving on high beam always, honking at people who stop at signals, and the list goes on.

These people are educated, almost upper middle class who were living normal life otherwise. But when it comes to road manners, they somehow thinks that the road rules are not for them and they are optional. They also believe having a bigger vehicle, costlier vehicle or faster vehicle gives you instant supremacy over other road users. Just watch Fortuner, Creta, Thar guys driving on youtube and the shit they pull everyday.

To add more to it, the government issued a statement that the process to getting license is simplified and people can get their license from driving institutions themselves instead of government. The licenses are handed out like candies, this is going to make things worse, like a lot.

I can write almost 10-20 posts about how bad it is, but I choose to stop here. End of rant.