80% of Bangalore's Traffic jams are caused by two things: A BMTC bus that broke down on the road and is parked almost diagonally on the road only leaving enough space for Auto rickshaws and two wheelers to pass through. The other thing that causes Traffic Jams in Bangalore roads are traffic cops, who have blocked half of the road with barricades in order to repaint a zebra crossing on the road during peak hours. Or they have caught a truck without proper papers and made him park the truck blocking the road till a higher official gets there
Majority of the bus stops are at the closest proximity to traffic signals, fly overs and bottle necks on the road ensuring that very limited vehicles should get past them during peak hours.
When you realise that the vehicle in front of you trying to move towards the left side of the road while there appears to be a lot of empty space towards the right side of the road don't think you are smart and move to the right side of the road because you will bang into a cow standing in that side of the road or fall into a huge pit around which the road seems to have been built.
If you ever happen to be driving a car to some place trying to make it on time and if you are in a narrow road where there two auto rickshaws trying to overtake each other right in front of you. Then the only sensible thing to do is to give up the idea of making it on time. The auto rickshaws will appear to be going faster than the speed of sound and the engines will be constipating to death but the auto riskshaws are actually going at a speed of may be about 25 Kms per hour. So just sit there and pray that the road gets broader soon so that you can over take them.
The simplest soultuion our government can come up with reduce traffic congestion in Bangalore is to put as many traffic singals as possible. Some times you see a free left and a signal for the same, don't assume that the free left concept in Bangalore is the same as in the rest of the world and turn left because there will be a cop wating to fine you just round the corner.
If you are walking down a pavement and if you hear somebody honking at you, don't get startled or offended because most of our pavements are meant for two wheelers and if you happen to be walking in a pavement blocking the way of a biker they will honk to death.
The size of your vehicle decides whether your father owns the roads or not. And hence the size of your vehicle is inversly proportional to road sense.
Traffic rules and road sense are not applicable to BMTC buses and auto rickshaws.
If you are going for an important appointment in a bike, never stop your bike to a bus in singnals. Or if you are in a car, never park you car next to a bus and even if you do so don't leave your windows open. Because its not cool to wear a shirt on which sombody has spit paan.
If you are behind a bus that is moving at about 25 kms speed, never try to overtake the bus from the left because suddenly you'll see people jumping out of the bus.
If there has been an accident there will definitely be a traffic congestion for a long time not because the road is not cleared, its beacuse though the road is cleared every vehicle that passes by that road will drive at 10 Kms per Hour speed staring at the victims. No body will do a jack sh*t to help the victims but will just stare for a while and move on.
If somebody even slightly bangs into your vehicle, you are supposed to stop you vehicle right at the middle of the road, get off from it and start a fight with the other guy regardless of how much of traffic congestion you cause. You can then disperse at the sight of a trafic cop because if the cop gets there he will not let you clear the road until he's made a profit.
Signals are primarly meant for old people, women drivers, new drivers and NRIs. If you are not any of these then you can drive past the signal even when its red and there is a traffic constable standing there. The only thing you need to be careful is if there is more than once traffic cop then you should adhere to the traffic signals unless you want to donate money to the cops.
If you have a two wheeler you are not allowed to drive in the wrong direction on the road but it is perfectly normal and acceptable if you are pushing your bike in the wrong direction though the trouble you'll cause doing so will last longer that it would if you have to just drive in the wrong direction. This is because of the fact that you are not sitting on you bike which means technically you are not driving but you are just walking which is not an offence but the only thing is that you've got a bike along with you while walking.
It is perfectly normal to honk, shout and abuse a vehicle with an "L" board that is either blocking your way or is going too slow for you to tolerate. Its not your problem that the other person does not know driving.
The Secret to success for "Driving in Bangalore Roads" is all about filling the gaps without banging into other vehicles, animals, people, cops, barricades, etc. You just need to keep adjusting your speed and switching lanes.
These are some of the things i can remember for now, will keep adding to the list as and when I recall / discover more on this topic.
