Wrong-side Driving
We, as Indians, take great pride in our country being amongst the leaders in any field. We have excelled in certain areas and won wide international recognition. Space, nuclear technology, pharmaceuticals, and IT come immediately to mind, in the tech area. Elsewhere, movies, music, cuisine, yoga. And, of course, beauty: both natural (of the National Geographic type) and human (as recognised in Miss Universe or Miss World contests).
Now, even preceding our much-publicised G20 Presidency, which puts us up there amongst world leaders, our ambitions have soared to being not a, but the Vishwaguru. This means being not just amongst the top few, but numero uno. There are some areas in which we are number one: cricket, for example. But then we are often displaced quickly by some other country. The same may be true of GDP growth rates, though with caveats like “amongst big economies”, which (though in fine print) take away some of the glory. There are other areas in which we have long and indisputably been number one (the number of poor or of illiterates), but let’s not talk of those. Who knows, the data may be wrong.
We are (already, or will be, next month) number one in population and will stay so for many decades at least, but somehow this parameter (unless we call it a productivity indicator) is not one that sits comfortably with the Vishwaguru role. There is another area in which we are indisputably on top and have been so for long: wrong-side driving. No country comes anywhere near us in the extent, scale, and spread of this. On highways, to avoid the few extra kilometres to a u-turn, vehicles (often tractors) routinely drive on the wrong side of the road. In cities, though the u-turn may be only a few hundred metres away, one sees the same phenomenon. This is not restricted to motorbikes and autorickshaws, cars do the same too. In a city where the Audis, Mercs and BMWs outnumber the rickshaws, even their owner-drivers do this.
Following The ‘Middle Path’
On undivided roads, many drive in the middle. On divided highways and roads, it is common to see three-wheelers (though legally barred on some expressways), motorbikes, and trucks driving in the extreme right lane, as close to the middle as possible. Possibly, this has to do with the Buddhist philosophical inheritance of following the “middle path”. After all, as a country, we have laudably navigated the middle path between Russia and the West/Ukraine. More pragmatically, on undivided roads, using the middle path enables an easy shift to the other side.
In driving, though right is wrong (one more deep dialectical issue, which we shall not discuss), maybe it comes from another inherited value: waste not. After all, if roads are a limited capacity resource, why not use the right (i.e., wrong!) side of the road if it is relatively empty? The same applies to footpaths, so don’t begrudge the motorbike weaving past as you walk on the footpath: after all, he is optimising use of civic investments in infrastructure.
The Brighter Side of It
Whether to take pride in being number one in this may seem arguable to many. After all, it is indicative of indiscipline, adding to the general chaos on our roads. Yet, wrong-side driving does much good. First, it saves time for the individuals concerned; time that they may use productively, thus contributing to their income. It also enables faster logistics (Gati Shakti), contributing to growing the GDP. Besides, it saves fuel, and the resulting increase in disposable income with the individual will drive consumer demand, benefitting industry and the economy. Less fuel consumption means lower oil imports, reducing our adverse balance of payments and the fiscal deficit. This will contribute to strengthening both, our economic foundation and the Rupee. Therefore, both individual and macro benefits.
There is, of course, the matter of accidents. Some figures show that one of the biggest causes of accidents on the road is vehicles driving on the wrong side. But then data, as noted earlier, is contestable. Also, given the many benefits – including those noted above – driving “right” clearly has its virtues. Accidents, though very unfortunate, can be considered collateral damage, to borrow a term from the US lexicon: the explanation for civilian casualties in a terrorist-targeted bombing or drone attack.
Search For Optimal Solutions
More seriously and importantly, we might give thought to this penchant for wrong-side driving, a habit that seems to unite very diverse Indians, almost as much as cricket or movies. It is, one may argue, indicative of a deeper rebellion against authority and regulation: a vote for complete freedom and autonomy. A similar “voting with their feet” is done by pedestrians who randomly walk across roads where they please, a habit formed by lack of any properly demarcated crossings. Apart from the philosophical point of preferring anarchy to regulated order, this mind-set is indicative of something else: a constant search for optimal solutions and seeking these even outside the given framework (traffic rules, in the case of driving). A practice characterised, in popular jargon, as “thinking outside the box”.
The big challenge to organisations, and to the country, is how to tap this innate DNA so that instead of indiscipline and chaos, it is channelised towards creativity and innovation.
In a world of AI, automation and robots - all bound by training, rules and algorithms - metaphorical wrong-side driving may yet be a saviour. Going beyond regulations, frameworks and givens, it may create solutions, through innovation and creativity, that overtake AI’s (present?) capability and keep humans in the driving seat (even if it be on the wrong side of the road).
*The author loves to think in tongue-in-cheek ways, with no maliciousness or offence intended. At other times, he is a public policy analyst and author. His latest book is Decisive Decade: India 2030 Gazelle or Hippo (Rupa, 2021).
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