Logistical Observations - India
1. Traffic
To an outside Western eye, Indian traffic is a life-threatening spectacle of unexplainable near-misses, complete anarchy, and confusing politeness. Cars, Buses, Trucks, Motorcycles, Scooters, Auto-Rickshaws, Cycle-Rickshaws, Bicycles, and Pedestrians both Human and Animal safely share wide stretches of tarmac, seemingly without following any obvious set of rules and yet without incident. How is this possible?
To answer this, we must first analyse what it is that the Western eye has been taught to appreciate as the fundamentals of safe traffic management, and what this says about the societies in which these fundamentals exist. In Australia, we have a strong body of traffic laws, accompanied by signs and symbols which relay powerful messages subconsciously. STOP signs. Traffic lights coloured in Red and Green. Lane markers which definitively split the road into independant sections. And so on. The adherence to these directives/laws is of course ensured by the threat of punishment if they are disobeyed (as with all systems that attempt to create absolute RIGHT/WRONG scenarios).
What results from this system of traffic, is a manner of driving that emphasises the individual. Comfortably secure that each and every other driver is following the same rules that he/she is, the Australian driver is able to operate efficiently at high speed. This is because the amount of information that he/she needs to process in order to judge the movements of other vehicles is limited by what those vehicles are allowed to do. However as most Australian's can testify, especially those who ride bicycles or motorcycles, people frequently ignore these rules for their own gain, thus creating danger for others who expect car's to indicate before making a turn for instance, or to stop at traffic lights when it turns yellow, or even the simple courtesy of checking before opening a car door onto a busy street. This points to the selfishness which can result from individualism in some circumstances.
Now let's compare this to the traffic system in India. The same rules, and signs that exist in Australia are also found here, albeit in a much more limited scope. There are very few speed signs that i have seen, or traffic lights, or stop signs. Lane markings are present but are almost completely meaningless as traffic drives across the entire road surface at it's convienience. To a Western eye, India is lacking in the proper adherence to a set of rules that make a system work. However when negotiated by a local driver, the flow of traffic seems graceful, natural even. What then do the road users here refer to in order to make their decisions about how to drive? The sneakily obvious answer is that they refer directly to each other as parts of a greater whole. Rather than being intimately concerned only with their own progress through traffic, there is larger appreciation of how all the vehicles on the street are moving. I would like to identify this type of traffic management as a function of the 'hive mind'.
The 'hive mind' is a term that refers to the patterns of movement evident in the behaviour of creatures within the natural world, such as Bees, Ants and other insects which belong to group societies, the movements of birds in large flocks, or fish in shoals. It has also been used to refer to political protests and the protest theory that emerged after the game-changing riots at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, USA, in 1999. Other titles for this body of observations about natural patterns include swarm intelligence and collective consciousness, while political theorists might use the term decentralised organising. At the heart of what these theories share is the lack of a centrally governing body commanding each movement within the system.
Applying this again to Indian traffic systems, what i have observed is that by giving priority to the behaviour of other road users over the rules of a central authority, traffic in Indian cities is able to function efficiently without the same need for highly developed systems of signage, without the same need for punishment as a deterrent to wrong behaviour, and with a greater emphasis on awareness of others as a civic merit over it's Australian equivalent.
Here then are a few logistical observations about how this style of driving appears to work.
- People drive slower. The maximum speed for most vehicles seems to be around 60km p/h, ranging down to 30 or 40km p/h for Auto-rickshaws and motorcycles. This naturally gives drivers more time to assess and respond to traffic conditions.
- Drivers will willingly slow down for other road users - something that is greatly different from Australia. Second only to speed, this factor alone contributes to the success of Indian traffic. For instance if a vehicle is turning across a street with traffic coming in the other direction (turning right from a left hand lane), once that vehicle has begun moving, the oncoming traffic will modify it's speed to allow it to cross safely.
- Drivers are both willing to wait (as above) and willing to "push in". It's very hard to fathom, but there is a kind of natural merging that goes on here, where no one really has to wait much longer than anyone else. In itself this speaks of how the system functions as an example of collective consciousness. It's not that people let them in, or that they only wait so long, it just seems to somehow gel together into an endless poetry of movement.
- And finally, the Horn! And Indian favourite which no doubt takes many travellers by surprise when they first arrive. The horn is used liberally by all traffic here - even those on cycles will carry whistles. Rather than using mirrors, or rules, drivers share the road by means of announcing their presence with a blast of the horn. Different horn blasts can mean "I'm behind you", or "i'm turning", or "i'm passing". But rarely is it used for messages of aggression or frustration such as in Australia, where it generally means "go faster" or "get out of my way you fucknut".
So this shows how two completely different systems of traffic can produce the same result - safely travelling from point a to point b. The assessments that can be made from this comparison are many, but primarily it certainly seems that Indian traffic proves that a system can function efficiently and safely without the need for a central governing authority. Some other logistical observations that i'm now too tired to flesh out in much detail are;
2. Crossing the road
- Only able to be acheived with a certain amount of personality - slight furrowing of the brows, outstretched hand, palm down, fingers tilted upwards to indicate to car bearing down on you that you wish to cross. I haven't yet managed to master this, and still resemble a game of Frogger when i attempt it.
- Did see one fantastic example today of a civilian man negotiating a full 6 lane crossing with an attitude of a orchestral conductor - pointing and roaring at individual vehicles as though they were chess pieces. "You Go! You stop! I'm moving Now! Slow Down!" Great stuff.
3. Toilets
- Public male urination and open drains. Does the existence of a dramatic monsoon season where excrement and filth gets washed away justify this practice/smell?
4. Rubbish disposal
- Dropping rubbish on the ground. Not just when there is no bin, because there are no bins. Dropping it right next to you as though it will dissapear before it hits the floor. Magical chemicals in the air?
- Street sweepers, rag pickers, pigs, cows and other systems of recycling - dropped rubbish does actually still have a path to travel.
- Burning whats left. Riiight...
Observations, corrections, comments and discussion welcomed via comments form below.
mad larvea from the hive mind
RUIN
To an outside Western eye, Indian traffic is a life-threatening spectacle of unexplainable near-misses, complete anarchy, and confusing politeness. Cars, Buses, Trucks, Motorcycles, Scooters, Auto-Rickshaws, Cycle-Rickshaws, Bicycles, and Pedestrians both Human and Animal safely share wide stretches of tarmac, seemingly without following any obvious set of rules and yet without incident. How is this possible?
To answer this, we must first analyse what it is that the Western eye has been taught to appreciate as the fundamentals of safe traffic management, and what this says about the societies in which these fundamentals exist. In Australia, we have a strong body of traffic laws, accompanied by signs and symbols which relay powerful messages subconsciously. STOP signs. Traffic lights coloured in Red and Green. Lane markers which definitively split the road into independant sections. And so on. The adherence to these directives/laws is of course ensured by the threat of punishment if they are disobeyed (as with all systems that attempt to create absolute RIGHT/WRONG scenarios).
What results from this system of traffic, is a manner of driving that emphasises the individual. Comfortably secure that each and every other driver is following the same rules that he/she is, the Australian driver is able to operate efficiently at high speed. This is because the amount of information that he/she needs to process in order to judge the movements of other vehicles is limited by what those vehicles are allowed to do. However as most Australian's can testify, especially those who ride bicycles or motorcycles, people frequently ignore these rules for their own gain, thus creating danger for others who expect car's to indicate before making a turn for instance, or to stop at traffic lights when it turns yellow, or even the simple courtesy of checking before opening a car door onto a busy street. This points to the selfishness which can result from individualism in some circumstances.
Now let's compare this to the traffic system in India. The same rules, and signs that exist in Australia are also found here, albeit in a much more limited scope. There are very few speed signs that i have seen, or traffic lights, or stop signs. Lane markings are present but are almost completely meaningless as traffic drives across the entire road surface at it's convienience. To a Western eye, India is lacking in the proper adherence to a set of rules that make a system work. However when negotiated by a local driver, the flow of traffic seems graceful, natural even. What then do the road users here refer to in order to make their decisions about how to drive? The sneakily obvious answer is that they refer directly to each other as parts of a greater whole. Rather than being intimately concerned only with their own progress through traffic, there is larger appreciation of how all the vehicles on the street are moving. I would like to identify this type of traffic management as a function of the 'hive mind'.
The 'hive mind' is a term that refers to the patterns of movement evident in the behaviour of creatures within the natural world, such as Bees, Ants and other insects which belong to group societies, the movements of birds in large flocks, or fish in shoals. It has also been used to refer to political protests and the protest theory that emerged after the game-changing riots at the World Trade Organisation meeting in Seattle, USA, in 1999. Other titles for this body of observations about natural patterns include swarm intelligence and collective consciousness, while political theorists might use the term decentralised organising. At the heart of what these theories share is the lack of a centrally governing body commanding each movement within the system.
Applying this again to Indian traffic systems, what i have observed is that by giving priority to the behaviour of other road users over the rules of a central authority, traffic in Indian cities is able to function efficiently without the same need for highly developed systems of signage, without the same need for punishment as a deterrent to wrong behaviour, and with a greater emphasis on awareness of others as a civic merit over it's Australian equivalent.
Here then are a few logistical observations about how this style of driving appears to work.
- People drive slower. The maximum speed for most vehicles seems to be around 60km p/h, ranging down to 30 or 40km p/h for Auto-rickshaws and motorcycles. This naturally gives drivers more time to assess and respond to traffic conditions.
- Drivers will willingly slow down for other road users - something that is greatly different from Australia. Second only to speed, this factor alone contributes to the success of Indian traffic. For instance if a vehicle is turning across a street with traffic coming in the other direction (turning right from a left hand lane), once that vehicle has begun moving, the oncoming traffic will modify it's speed to allow it to cross safely.
- Drivers are both willing to wait (as above) and willing to "push in". It's very hard to fathom, but there is a kind of natural merging that goes on here, where no one really has to wait much longer than anyone else. In itself this speaks of how the system functions as an example of collective consciousness. It's not that people let them in, or that they only wait so long, it just seems to somehow gel together into an endless poetry of movement.
- And finally, the Horn! And Indian favourite which no doubt takes many travellers by surprise when they first arrive. The horn is used liberally by all traffic here - even those on cycles will carry whistles. Rather than using mirrors, or rules, drivers share the road by means of announcing their presence with a blast of the horn. Different horn blasts can mean "I'm behind you", or "i'm turning", or "i'm passing". But rarely is it used for messages of aggression or frustration such as in Australia, where it generally means "go faster" or "get out of my way you fucknut".
So this shows how two completely different systems of traffic can produce the same result - safely travelling from point a to point b. The assessments that can be made from this comparison are many, but primarily it certainly seems that Indian traffic proves that a system can function efficiently and safely without the need for a central governing authority. Some other logistical observations that i'm now too tired to flesh out in much detail are;
2. Crossing the road
- Only able to be acheived with a certain amount of personality - slight furrowing of the brows, outstretched hand, palm down, fingers tilted upwards to indicate to car bearing down on you that you wish to cross. I haven't yet managed to master this, and still resemble a game of Frogger when i attempt it.
- Did see one fantastic example today of a civilian man negotiating a full 6 lane crossing with an attitude of a orchestral conductor - pointing and roaring at individual vehicles as though they were chess pieces. "You Go! You stop! I'm moving Now! Slow Down!" Great stuff.
3. Toilets
- Public male urination and open drains. Does the existence of a dramatic monsoon season where excrement and filth gets washed away justify this practice/smell?
4. Rubbish disposal
- Dropping rubbish on the ground. Not just when there is no bin, because there are no bins. Dropping it right next to you as though it will dissapear before it hits the floor. Magical chemicals in the air?
- Street sweepers, rag pickers, pigs, cows and other systems of recycling - dropped rubbish does actually still have a path to travel.
- Burning whats left. Riiight...
Observations, corrections, comments and discussion welcomed via comments form below.
mad larvea from the hive mind
RUIN
Comments
Post a Comment