Holidays on and when you don’t want have stamina for a hike
or money for games, people mostly go for road trips here in US. With plenty of
miles already under my belt, no one was more excited than me when some of my
friends proposed one recently. Not having a US driving experience (and not many
knew this at the time) was not a deterrent as I had heard driving is quite
organised and easy here. Driving was organized.. very.. but never easy!
Here I am! My first blogpost to what I like most.. Driving(
and off course.. not killing people J) Let me
tell you about the experiences I had in my short stint. First thing in the
morning, we started from the rental car parking and saw a guy at a zebra
crossing. He was idly standing at the edge of the road. What do we do in such
cases? Off course honk, so that he be warned and not try to cross the road lest
be run over. And “Blow Horn” I did as I was not in a mood to slow down (let
alone stop) for mere mortal pedestrians incorrectly finding themselves on the
road. He and others in my car were swearing bewilderingly and that was the first reminder that I was not in India and was indeed in US!
First rule, roads belong to drivers but crossings to
pedestrians! If you see someone crossing on a zebra crossing, you are obliged
to stop and not honk! I was so amazed as a pedestrian in my initial days here
and almost guilty every time someone stopped for me at a crossing even when I
was not on the road and allowed me to pass with a smile and could not get what
have I done to enjoy this respect! It took me some time to realize that I was
never special and the drivers were just being good citizens by following rules.
Now, behind the wheel, it was my turn to reciprocate the honors and it was
such a culture shock coming from a place where most drivers treat anyone
walking on the roads equivalent to dogs! (?) Err, it’s the same here, just that
the dogs are much more valued than the way we value our pedestrians!!
Moving on, we were at a junction waiting for the lights to
turn green and were discussing where our other friends would be. I was advised
to take a left by people sitting at the back. Let’s try to understand the
geometry for the driving rules here in US. Imagine you are waiting in the
“right” right lane of a road (because of the right hand driving) and you have
to turn left, your car will have to take a longer turn as you would be entering
the “right” right lane on the road to your left whereas if you are taking a
right turn, it is immediate shorter right turn for the right lane on the road
on right. And it is so easier to read than drive if this is your first time on
the wheel. One more important rule is, when the signal is green, a driver is
supposed to see for anyone crossing the road and then take the turn if the road
is clear. They call it ‘yield and go’ rather than ‘green’. By definition, “a yield
sign calls on the driver to do the following: Slow down, defer to
oncoming or intersecting traffic, stop when necessary, proceed when safe, and
remain aware of oncoming vehicles. “
Thinking that we were indeed to turn left, I started. All
was good as I crossed the zebra crossing in front of me, entering the square so
I would take the longer radius to turn. Suddenly, my navigators from the back
came to life asking me to turn left instead as our destination was that way.
Panicking is bad! When you have committed to something, panicking in between is
worse! But one simply does not learn lessons without mistakes! I turned right,
though there was nothing right in it. Panicking when you are committed to long left
turn, driving halfway through it and then having to turn short right is worst!
To my horror, there was a girl crossing the road in the same direction that I
started on a zebra crossing. There is something called as ‘fight , flight,
freeze or fawn behaviour’ in psychology which defines our response under
stressful situations. And from common sense when you are driving, it is always
better to freeze/stop in such situations when you make mistakes, but doing what comes naturally to most humans, I accelerated. The car I was driving was a
longer car than I have ever driven, I could not see the bonnet and hence gauge
the contours of the vehicle. The girl in question was doing something on her
cell phone with music in her ears and could no way have had an idea about us
without us actually hitting her. And still she would have been legally correct.
Traffic rules are a bit strict here and enforced very aggressively. So even if
we would have only brushed her, I was in deep trouble.
In that fraction of a second, I could see my stay in US,
dreams, everything gone! In the end my earlier mistake of taking a left turn
actually provided me extra space as the right turn was immediate right turn
that I needed to take and I completed my turn inches away from the girl. If
there would have been a cop around, all the savings that I had for my quarterly
expenses were gone! Finding a roadside parking space, we stopped. Everyone was
in a shock with such a close encounter. Many had thought of trying their hand
at driving on the trip but nobody spoke now. We called our friend in other car
who had some driving experience in the US and agreed to take the wheel. With
him at the helm, things were better, sun brigher, breeze cooler and mood
lighter!
Here comes the best part! I was checking in the rear view
mirror when all this happened and to my surprise and delight, the girl in
question was so engrossed in her mobile phone, she did not even know anything
like this happened!
On a lighter note, see this video which shows (though a bit
exaggeratedly) difference in driver behaviour in US and our beloved India.
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