Chennai, India: Part 2

Of all my travels, Chennai has the craziest traffic I've ever experienced. Typically when I think of "bumper to bumper" traffic I have visions of stop and go traffic. In Chennai, "bumper to bumper" traffic is defined as just that...bumper to bumper but without the stop and go aspect. The experience Liz and I had in our taxi was both thrilling and scary. Bumper to bumper traffic going 40-60 miles per hour is not an experience that I'll soon want to repeat. Traffic signs and laws seemed to be a suggestion rather than rules of the road. One way streets were formed by which ever direction had the most traffic traveling in one direction.

Other drivers were not the only concern. Local pedestrians simply walking into traffic was common. I'm convinced we missed  hitting pedestrians by mere inches. I've never seen more brave pedestrians in my life. It was as if they welcomed death!

Live-stock was another concern. Countless times there were cows (sacred?) walking, standing, sleeping on the busy streets with cars zooming around them.

Bicyclists in Chennai are some of the bravest in the world. We viewed countless helmet less bicyclists traveling between lines of cars traveling 50 miles per hour. A few times there were bicyclists traveling between rows of speeding cars going against traffic! Motor bikes like the one viewed above were commonplace. Also commonplace were families of five (father, mother, and 3 children) on one motorbike!

As luck would have it (and it wasn't a surprise) our driver rear ended another car. Our driver and the driver of the other vehicle got out their respective vehicles and with arms and hand gestures flailing in the air began screaming at each other. At the same time traffic was zooming by fast and furious on both sides of the accident. The screaming match lasted 45 seconds. No papers were exchanged. No information was exchanged in written form. Our guess is that both drivers didn't have what we know as insurance. I don't think they have a "discount double check" in India.