The psyche of Indian traffic.

I had been commuting to work on 4 wheels for 2years and few months every single day. Then again I've clocked close to 20,000miles travelling/touring on 4 wheels. That first on a 2000 make VW Jetta GLS 1.8 churning close to 115hp@5200 rpm. Then on a 2000 make Nissan Altima 2.4, that was surprisingly quicker but more frugal inspite of it churning out 155hp@5600 rpm. Mostly averaging speeds making my friends bucket me in category of freaks. The Nissan got totalled in a crash unfortunately.
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Now its been 2years since I've been commuting to work on 2 wheels cause 4 wheels choke me here. Then again I've been touring on 2 wheels for 2 years clocking (a shameful) 10,000kms. The 2 wheels, albiet not as powerful as 4, but surely more powerful than what a lot of others have been riding. A 27hp@10250rpm Hyosung Comet GT250 & 18hp@5000rpm Bullet Electra 5S adorn my parking lot.
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So whats the point of all this? The point is that I was never scared to do those 140mph (225kmph!!) but I'm today when I'm doing mostly 100kmph. Why? Cause the seemingly insane speeds were on US Freeways and the crawls I do these days are on the roads/highways of our so called 'Shining India'. So if India had those US like freeways, would i feel less scared and more confident? The answer is still a strict no-no. Even if I graduated from 2 wheels to 4 here in India, I wouldn't still be dreaming of doing those speeds. In fact its far more likely that I would get far more slower, at least in the cities.
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So whats the problem? Our own fellow Deshwasi's! And its not just the large majority that is uneducated. It includes even the ones like me who have degrees to flaunt. Its like the traffice-sense switch is on a default state of 'switched off' for any newborn in India!! And since all the education is imparted by adults who fail to switch it on, any trace of this sense and its switch disappears akin to losing a vestigial organ like tail! We are all just born and a majority are raised insensitive to traffic rules. Even the primary human instinct of fear disappears. Rather we look more like birds of prey out on a hunt when we get astride our wheels.
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A few interesting observations on the behaviour of Indian traffic that I've made during these years of riding/commuting/touring/travelling :
1. The pressure on the gas pedal increases in direct proportion to the speed with which light turns from green to yellow to red. ==>
We just don't know how to stop! I'm sure each one of us has stepped on the gas to make it through the quickly changing light rather than slowing down and stopping. We always believe we can beat the light and our fate.
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2. The longer you are riding/driving the same vehicle, the smaller it seems to you. ==>
We try to squeeze our vehicles through absolutely hair thin gaps in the traffic and manage to get stuck resulting in miles and miles of jam behind us. Why are we so confident of getting through the gaps no pedestrain dares to take? Is it cause we have been riding that same vehicle long enough for it to feel like its a part of our bodies! And 2 wheels or 4, it doesn't matter, the feeling is still there.
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3. We always race on the street with a vehicle faster than ours. ==>
Have you felt the urge to beat a faster car/bike than yours till the next light? Liar! You sure have and I'm sure you have done it umpteen times. Getting to that next light faster than the fella with quicker wheels seems to take us for a high however short lived it is. Cause soon enough, some wheels slower than ours zoom by leaving us biting dust (and breathing in lotsa smoke!).
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4. Larger the oncoming vehicle, more it fills us with bravado and further in his tracks we venture. ==>
Ever feel like taking one fast swoop around a car to overtake it right in the path of the oncoming bus/truck in the opposite lane? You bet! We risk ourselves that ego-trip on razer thin safety margins! A few learn from the first scary experience but for most dare devils, its like getting high on weed! They just keep at it getting more and more foolish (brave in their own language) with each escape.
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5. We encourage/force others to violate traffic rules. ==>
I'm sure you have been honked at by a car, truck, rick from behind egging you on to break the red light cause there is no one crossing the junction from the lanes where the light is green.
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6. Pedestrains always cross at the speediest part of the road and their urgency to cross the road is inversely proportional to the size and speed of the oncoming vehicle. ==>
Have you seen pedestrians crossing the road at a zebra crossing? I'm yet to see one. They always take the shortest path across the road which is always that portion of the road where vehicles are travelling fastest. Okay, you choose the wrong place to cross the road but then can you atleast hurry???? Naaaaah! Everytime I see a pedestrian crossing the road, he seems to be at his nimble best when the oncoming vehicle is a biped cycling! And watch how he does a lazy-stroll-in-the-park crossing when the oncoming vehicle is a car or a bus. Its almost as if scaring the day lights outta the car driver gives him some sadistic pleasure.
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I'm sure there are many more that I can't really remember.In fact the situation is so bad that if someone new driving takes to the road, he might get hurt bad for following the traffic rules. Try being the first one to stop at the red light and I assure you that someone who confirms to Observation#1 above will bang right into you from behind. I don't know what has resulted in such a sorry state of affairs but sorry it is for sure. Cops not wanting to discipline errant traffic, traffic not wanting to follow the rules and just more and more vehicles pouring on our roads. Its going to require a mammoth effort of will for us to change cause right now, violating rules seems to be as much a part of Indian Culture as the 3 wheeled Rickshaws that are so infamous for it!