You could make one helluva adrenalin-rushin’ game based on driving in India. The guidebooks said it would be hectic, but nothing quite prepares you for an experience that at times resembles a human-sized version of what happens when you bust open a big anthill. It took us some time to learn there’s a method to the madness. Here are some of the basic driving rules we learned.* The number of seats in a given vehicle is in no way indicative of the actual passenger capacity of said vehicle. The ubiquitous autorickshaw (kind of an enclosed scooter with a couple of benches, left of the motorcycles above) is designed to hold 4 or 5 passengers as far as I could tell, but we routinely saw 10, 12 or more people wedged into and onto them.
* Those lines painted on the road are chiefly decorative.
* Stop signs or lights at intersections are nice, but not at all necessary.
* Watch out for pedestrians and other vehicles, but also dogs, cows, donkeys and camels, some of which will be with people, some just wandering around.
* Pedestrians have the right… to get the heck out of the way.
* If you see some space, get in it before someone else does.
* The horn is an essential tool for driving, almost as important as the steering wheel or tires. If you forget, there are constant reminders on the back of trucks.
* For motorcyclists, bicyclists and "scooterists" (what the heck do you call them?), nerves of steel are mandatory; helmets are not.
* A seemingly major highway can turn abruptly into a traffic choked small town street, and then abruptly into a highway again.
* There’s no such thing as a ‘payload limit’, even for a bicycle.
This is by no means intended to be a comprehensive guide, but should give you some impression of how things are (it goes without saying that we hired native drivers).
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