I am going to be in Punjab for a month long holiday. I would love to drive around in Punjab as it seems so different and would like to get the different feel to driving. I think one of the best things is being able to speed a bit on the smooth roads in Punjab! I wanted to know has anyone who is not from India driven a car in India? I would like some tips on how to drive a car in India? What should I look out for?
What should you look out for? EVERYTHING. Personally, I prayed more during my two hour taxi ride to the airport than I did in the two months that I lived at an ashram. Driving in India is not for the inexperienced. Cars, trucks, buses, rickshaws, and motorbikes, some overloaded, drive on both sides of the road and honk their horns constantly. People dart out into the road right near your car, bicycles are everywhere, and cows occasionally step right out into the street. Add to that everyone honking their horns constantly, which is almost a requirement for driving on the road, it seems. I was a passenger in several vehicles, and it was a pretty nerve-wracking experience. If you haven't been in India or haven't had experience driving, you may just want to hire someone. Taxis and rickshaws are fairly cheap, and there are buses in most cities. I love India, the drive up the coast of Kerala was beautiful, but driving is a very wild experience.
Yeah! If you're coming in from some other country, I would NOT recommend that you drive yourself unless you're pretty confident about your driving. However, if you're a good driver, you shouldn't have to worry about the roads. Its not just Punjab, roads especially highways are pretty smooth everywhere except parts of UP and a few other eastern states. In terms of speed, the Yamuna Expressway, the Nice road in Bangalore, Mumbai-Pune expressway, Jaipur expressway, Ahmedabad Vadodra expressway (this has been my favorite for some time now), etc. are all great if you want to test how fast a car can drive. In terms of keeping an eye out for things, when near or within cities, drive carefully, especially at night. Even in Chandigarh (which the BBC calls the most beautiful city in the world), all hell breaks lose after 8pm - I mean a lot of people jump lights(since lights go into "blinking mode", and drunk drivers think that the road is a private property. Also, lookout for pedestrians, icecream carts, vegetable carts, and the like because they may not have any blinkers and you won't be able to see them or avoid them if you're too fast. After 8 pm, be very careful. My brother got t-boned a few months back. So, I am saying this from experience (his experience).
