"Diversity" in Driving

Immigrants to a new country bring with them their language, culture and cuisine. They also bring along other ingrained habits of day to day existence. Some learn and adjust to the norms of the new country, others have a harder time shaking off old ones.

"Drive like you never left home."  That seems to be the guiding principle behind the driving style of many immigrants from countries where official traffic rules exist only on paper - on the roads, the rules of the jungle apply.  Traffic signals, "Stop" and "Yield" signs, "Right of Way," signaling to turn or change lanes and other such niceties are for sissies. Honking loudly to signal intent and anger, squeezing into the smallest place between vehicles, cutting off the next motorist within inches of death, stopping suddenly, driving into oncoming traffic, driving the wrong way on a one-way street to make a short cut and scaring the heck out of pedestrians, bicyclists and any smaller vehicle that might have the chutzpah to share road space with you are considered signs of skillful driving.

In India at least, I have long suspected that some of the privately operated bus and truck lines hire their drivers exclusively from a pool of recently released felons. Nerve racking? It's more than that. Driving is often a game of Russian roulette. Also, not everyone who is behind the wheels actually knows how to drive. Let me narrate one incident to illustrate what I mean. Soon after our marriage, my husband's driver's license came up for renewal. He showed up at the designated location. There the examiner informed him that instead of his own car, he would have to take the driver's test on an open bed small truck (known as a Tempo in local parlance) that was parked on the side of the building. Bemused but in a hurry to get on with the task at hand, my husband agreed. After he and the examiner got in the cab, he was asked to wait a bit when he noticed a dozen or so unidentified men clambering on to the bed of the truck. Once the last man had settled in precariously , he was asked to drive with the mysterious entourage perched in the back. My husband passed the test and was issued his license.  To his astonishment, so were the strangers who went for the ride!  All the men were seeking commercial licenses which requires taking the driving test in a truck.  My husband's co-passengers got their proxy permits by riding in one instead - the examiner's modified nod to the rules and regulations on the book! 

Houston, like most other big cities is a home for a large diverse immigrant population. Along with language barriers, navigating the streets of Houston in an automobile is a special challenge many immigrants face. Brand new drivers, who never learnt to drive in their native countries actually make better drivers on the streets of US cities because they don't bring with them the "cultural" baggage of having driven in their own country. Other drivers have to learn to "forget" what they had previously practiced on the streets of India, Vietnam, Mexico or Nigeria. Some have a hard time "shifting gears" and shedding old habits, making for some truly hair raising moments.

There are several crowded and jammed highways, free ways and fast toll roads in Houston that can tax one's nerves. I know some will accuse me of being insensitive but I swear that some of the most dreaded places in Houston to ply one's automobile are the parking lots outside large Asian markets. Men and women, serene of face and impeccable of attire, operating shiny Lexuses, Mercedes Benzes and BMWs can sometimes make such unexpected and jarring moves that it can tax not just your nerves but your common sense. As I have argued recently, too much diversity without a "unified" vision or at least, commonly agreed upon traffic rules, can sometimes be downright dangerous :-)

There is a joke about cities thick with immigrants: People drive under the law — the law where they were born. That's the punch line in Houston, known for wide roads, snarled traffic and being home to people from just about everywhere.

As immigrants come, they often bring with them the traditions of their homelands, and that includes how they drive. It is impossible to know how many different ways of driving are out there, and the Texas Department of Public Safety doesn't keep special statistics to track the driving records of foreigners. The potential for variations is huge.

Instructors say among the biggest challenges is getting foreign students to understand that driving laws are not just suggestions as is the case in many countries where laws are often ignored.

"Check the mirror, give the signal," instructor Deena Patel said to a student as she switched from Hindi to English while recently guiding a sedan through the intersection of White Oak Drive and Heights Boulevard.

Patel, who was born in India, said she speaks with students in English as well as three other languages from her homeland. "Most other countries, aside from Europe, don't have the rules and regulations, whereas we have plenty of rules and regulations," she said.

Nothing seems to signal an immigrant has arrived in Houston like having a Texas driver's license, but taking to the roads can be daunting.

"For some of them, the biggest headache is just staying in the lines," said Sunday Iyamu, a driving instructor from Nigeria. "They get here and try to drive like they did back home," he said of the many international students he has had.

Someone from Latin America might treat red lights more like stop signs, as they're used to not stopping too long, especially at night, to avoid carjackings. For a woman from Saudi Arabia, getting behind the wheel would be an entirely new experience, as they are banned from driving in the Middle Eastern kingdom.

"In Vietnam, there are no rules, it is a free-for-all," said Tommy Tran, an insurance agent who was born in Vietnam. "Over there, it is just survival."

Comments

[Dean C. Rowan]

Knowing how to drive, knowing the rules (i.e., the laws, the Vehicle Code here in California, for instance), and knowing how to comply with the rules are not coterminous skills. I confess I can be obsessive about the sacred inviolability of some rules, full stops at stop signs, for instance. I won't tolerate people who blithely breeze through stop signs, even when there is no risk of injury. I'm thinking this is because it indicates a possible ignorance of how to drive, an insensitivity to the fact that others share the road. On the other hand, I'm all for certain kinds of speeding, because done right it exhibits one's total awareness of the field of navigation.

I am also opposed to the misunderstood notion of defensive driving. It is not the same thing as timorous driving, which must surely be among the most dangerous sorts, short only of driving with one's eyes closed. Again, plodding along and whistling a happy tune (or, worse, gabbing blandly into a cell phone) with air-headed indifference to other drivers is...gauche.

I have a hypothesis which posits a direct relationship between proximity to a major research university and average (driver) IQ. I have "tested" this hypothesis in Westwood near UCLA and here in Berkeley, and I think it's viable. This is so not merely because there are lots of wacky young students in the neighborhood. There are also lots of wacky old emeriti navigating on auto-pilot.

I wish I could remember enough of the details of stories told to me by a friend who worked for California's DMV as the person who tests folks seeking to obtain or renew their licenses. One had to do with accompanying a timorous driver through an intersection that had been blocked off by a rent-a-cop making way for a funeral cortege. As they reached the middle of the intersection, a procession of Harley Davidson hogs in a memorial for a fallen Hell's Angel surrounded and circled the car for several minutes. At the time, it must have been a frightening prospect, but as cultural narrative, it's a precious tale.

(An ironic aspect of the fact of my friend's career at DMV is that when we first acquired our driver's licenses in the mid-'70s, he made fun of me for driving precisely according to the lines in the road. If the line curved a bit, I'd curve a bit--so he claimed--when most folks would just approximate the adjustment in the road, a.k.a., cut the corner. I was, perhaps, too closely following the rule.)

[Amit]

I experienced the flip side of this when I was in India visiting my parents. I sat next to my dad on the passenger seat, and I could not handle viewing the traffic from the front seat and the excessive beeping of the horn. :)
I promptly shifted to the back seat, and my brother and I did convince our dad to use the horn less sparingly, and it worked - at least for the time I was there.

Now only if we can get the drivers in the US to be more aware of us bicyclists and not "door" us!!

[Ruchira Paul]

I ride my bike on quiet suburban streets without too many hairy moments. I also use sidewalks and trails rather than the main streets. It is true that bicyclists and other two wheelers get a raw deal on US roads - mostly due to "omission" than "commission," I suspect. My husband occasionally rides a motorcycle. He swears that at four-way stop signs, drivers (mostly women, according to him!) actually don't see him.

[Pooh]

I know what you mean about Houston! Live there, drive there...navigating the famous Hillcroft is a skill!

[Traveller]

Which is why Indians never have problems driving on the 'wrong side' when in the US -- they drive on both sides when in India.

[ASJ]

Much of the world wide web is full of sarcasm & mocking of driving on Indian roads.

This site http://driving-india.blogspot.com/ has been created with the purpose of providing driver education and training rather than criticism.

At present I have produced and made available 17 driver education videos aimed at changing the driving culture on Indian roads are available. To watch the videos, please visit: http://driving-india.blogspot.com/

The videos cover the following topics:

Video 1: Covers the concept of Blind spots
Video 2: Introduces the principle of Mirrors, Signal and Manoeuvre
Video 3: At red lights, stop behind the stop line
Video 4: At red lights there are no free left turns
Video 5: The Zebra belongs to pedestrians
Video 6: Tyres and Tarmac (rather than bumper to bumper)
Video 7: Merging with the Main road
Video 8: Leaving The Main Road
Video 9: Never Cut Corners
Video 10: Show Courtesy on roads
Video 11: 5 Rules that help deal with Roundabouts
Video 12: Speed limits, stopping distances, tailgating & 2 seconds rule
Video 13: Lane discipline and overtaking
Video 14: Low beam or high beam?
Video 15: Parallel (reverse parking) made easy
Video 16: Give the cyclist the respect of a car
Video 17: Dealing with in-car condensation

Many thanks