This Week's Driving - Nov 19th '99 - LOG 11

As possibly the only motoring journalist in this country who also drives a public carrier bus on city routes every now and then, the insight one gets into the inner psychology of Delhi bus and truck drivers is something which no amount of research or statistics can provide. There are no indepth surveys or market research type activities involved here, but simple, on the road and down to earth observations. Comparisions made with the situation in Mumbai have been provided for the simple purpose of saying that yes, even in India it can be done.    

Problem, even before we portray the problem, is: are the authorities in Delhi willing to implement these solutions? Maybe they would, after the accident on Sikandra Road a few months ago, when two people connected to the Delhi Police lost their lives and the PRO of the Delhi Police got seriously injured. It doesn't seem they will, though.

1) Driver licencing: The provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act not-withstanding, there is no control anymore on this aspect in Delhi. Most of the drivers seem to operate on pieces of papers also known as "kacha parchis", while the actual driving licence may well itself be procured for a small price from any of the neighbouring states. Unlike in Mumbai where public transport vehicle drivers sport a metal "badge" with a number on it in addition to carrying a proper driving licence. Efforts made by the Transport Department a few years ago to tally this came to naught and it seems the whole process of checking on driving licences has been given up.

2) Literacy: Though not specified in the Motor Vehicles Act, there are clauses which can enforce literacy as a requirement for certain classes of vehicles. This is done in Mumbai but in Delhi, a person who cannot read, leave alone write, is permitted to take powerful vehicles on roads. How are they supposed to read when a road is one-way or not, for example?

3) Pressure horns: Apart from being very dangerous, pressure horns are operated off the brake circuit of heavy vehicles, thus ruining the integrity of the brake system admirably. These are used as psychological warfare tools by bus drivers on Delhi roads. If a pressure horn is even heard in Mumbai, the vehicle is fined as well as the rest of the book is thrown at the owner, which usually means about 4-5 days of vehicle detention in addition. Here in Delhi, the police challan pressure horns, if at all, for Rs 100/-. Bus drivers in Delhi, used to having people jump out of their skins and move away in fright when they blast their illegal trumpets, find that in an emergency they have drained the brake system of compressed air and have little or no braking power left. This is the single most dangerous aspect of psychological terror tactics by bus drivers, already mentally wrecked after 6 or 8 hours of driving on Delhi roads.

4) Double duties: This is a fact. Many private buses and local trucks are operated by people who already have a full-time job elsewhere. This is made worse by the fact that buses and trucks are often controlled or owned by middle-level government employees in Delhi, who have no hesitation in using other junior level government employees for long duty hours. Somehow this doesn't seem to happen that much in Mumbai, where even taxi drivers work shorter shifts for themselves.

5) Height of bumper: Here again, buses in Delhi have high bumpers over a metre tall, which can easily "swallow" up even a large car. Pedestrians, two-wheeler riders and small cars go completely under. In Mumbai, by comparision, local buses and trucks have bumpers fixed at the same height as Maruti cars. There is some very simple engineering involved in this. Higher bumpers give the driver a feeling that they can ride over everything with impunity.

6) Height of headlamps: Headlamps in Delhi buses are set high, at almost 1.5 metres height, while those in Mumbai are just over the bumpers. The Delhi driver feels that come what may, his headlamp glass will not even be scratched. So he pelts on. The Mumbai driver, however, is aware that even a slight brush will in the first instance break headlamps, so he does tend to be cautious.

7) Interior ventilation: Delhi buses are designed like bread-boxes, sheer sides. The air in Delhi buses seems to become stale very soon. This does impact the drivers, who then tend to drive with the doors open. In the case of a "situation", it is not unknown that the driver falls out of the door or jumps. Mumbai buses have a 3 centimetre venting slash all along the sides, at the floor level, which also helps in washing the insides of the bus. Moreover, any driver caught driving with the door open is heavily challaned for unsafe driving.

8) In Delhi, the traffic cops and Transport authorities seem to think that with the taking of bribes their job is over. In Mumbai, the bribe is presumably taken there too, but a minimum standard is enforced. The difference is visible in the standards of the public vehicles on the roads.

No amount of conferences and seminars, fancy interceptors or drives/campaigns will solve these problems if some of these simple aspects are not brought to follow what is done in Mumbai. But then, do our authorities even care?

New mid-size car releases not-withstanding, the ad lampoon award of the week goes to Maruti Udyog Ltd. and their new series of ads featuring a Maruti Esteem car-owner tricking his paid driver to sit in the rear seat. Well, sad thing is that inspite of a little slogan down below urging users to make good use of their seat belts, the ad itself has the lady model not choosing to wear one! That is, in a nutshell, the tragedy of our Indian car manufacturers: they choose to not practice what they preach.

Drivers Log
Veeresh Malik
The Edit Team
bluepencil@cybersteering.com

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