# Think your commute's tough?



## Jesse D Smith (Jun 11, 2005)

I guess everything's relative.


----------



## uphillcrash (Apr 12, 2009)

I worked in Pune India last year, the traffic was thick but didnt see any crashes in 3 months that I was there not bad to ride in you just take your time,(bikes are heavy steel and made to last my bike was 22kg s/s) if you fear it give way, if you dont ride on ! couldnt work out any road rules but they do have some .the wide road my hotel was on was a wide 2 lane road with no road markings ,in the morning it was it was 6 lanes one way if you were going the other way you would drive on the dirt shoulder then in the evening it was the other way around ! The horn on your car /motorbike is to warn that you are passing turning etc .The Indians are very relaxed drivers you just have to be.


----------



## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

Great video. I am not sure I'd be very good in this, but Indians apparently understand their invisible-to-us traffic rules quite well. Things are moving along nicely.


----------



## perttime (Jun 27, 2005)

I suspect rules may sometimes be even detrimental to safety.

If you only rely on rules, police, a forest of traffic signs, etc. you no longer have the will or even resources to pay attention to what is really going on in traffic.

I believe there's a German town where they removed all traffic lights and signs, forcing people to pay attention to each other instead. The early reports indicated a reduction in accidents.


----------



## mitmoned (Apr 7, 2008)

perttime said:


> I suspect rules may sometimes be even detrimental to safety.
> 
> If you only rely on rules, police, a forest of traffic signs, etc. you no longer have the will or even resources to pay attention to what is really going on in traffic.
> 
> I believe there's a German town where they removed all traffic lights and signs, forcing people to pay attention to each other instead. The early reports indicated a reduction in accidents.


I think this article is what you were thinking about? Very interesting stuff. That would be so nice. Instead of someone getting a traffic ticket (or sometimes not) for running over a cyclist, no signage would mean it was actually the driver's fault. Imagine that; being responsible for someone's death and actually having to answer for it? We have child neglect, why can't we have driver neglect??


----------



## perttime (Jun 27, 2005)

mitmoned said:


> this article


That is the idea, and it mentions the place I was thinking of:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohmte
http://www.bohmte.de/staticsite/staticsite.php?menuid=313&topmenu=123&keepmenu=inactive

It is a small place, but still...


edit: and about the Dutch town of Drachten:
"it shifts the emphasis away from the Government taking the risk, to the driver being responsible for his or her own risk."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1533248/Is-this-the-end-of-the-road-for-traffic-lights.html


----------



## Fixed (May 12, 2005)

*wow*

Wow, looks worse than San Francisco!

Don't see anyone with skinsuits and aerobars, though --


----------



## seeborough (Feb 3, 2004)

perttime said:


> That is the idea, and it mentions the place I was thinking of:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohmte
> http://www.bohmte.de/staticsite/staticsite.php?menuid=313&topmenu=123&keepmenu=inactive
> ...


An innovative concept which seems to work well for the cities involved. I would certainly like to try it, in a car, as a pedestrian and on the bike. For the town of _Bohmte_, I thought the comparison to a skating rink (and its unwritten rules about space and speed) is interesting.


----------



## |3iker (Jan 12, 2010)

The 2nd video is very mesmerizing and hypnotic.


----------



## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

i, for one, am glad I never had to commute in a place like that.


----------



## uphillcrash (Apr 12, 2009)

Its safer than it looks at lest they respect other road users ,which is more than I can say for some of our drivers over here in NZ .I didnt have to ride I wanted to! I had my own driver 24/7 at my call


----------



## seawind161 (Nov 8, 2008)

Lesson from the first vid seems to be: Find a bus and draft it.


----------

