If you haven't witnessed the Last Meter you have either never driven on Indian roads or you are visually impaired. Since you're reading this, I suspect it's the former.
The Last Meter is the space that is occupied by vehicles that can't discipline themselves to stop when the light turns yellow but are too slow to cross the junction. They stay in the common junction area butting out of their end of the road and creating a bottleneck for vehicles coming from the right.
The Last Meter is the single biggest reason for traffic anarchy on Indian roads. It is also the most infuriating. Why it happens is a matter of conjecture. I'll take a shot at explaining it and invite you to add your two bits.
One reason could be genuine. While the 18 year old strapping stud might think he has the energy to beat the signal before it turns red, the 20 year old Maruti 800 that he's saddled with, simply doesn't oblige. Too slow to cross and too late to stop, it kind of ends up hanging in the middle. It can't go back unless it wants to maim the street urchin selling strawberries. It can't go forward or the guy coming from the right will jump out of his car and do what he's currently threatening to!
The second reason is Auto rickshaws. These are cockroaches of the road. Their ethic is that it's not important where the body is, it's enough to just jut in their snout. The snout of the auto rickshaw has higher legal claim on space than the handkerchief of a Mumbai local traveller. And the Auto rickshaw-wallahs are genuinely illiterate. Chaos is their culture. Order is anathema. Every other vehicle on the road is the enemy. It's a war out there and they are trying to secure all the trenches.
The third is the absence of roads themselves. If you don't know where it ends, you don't know that you're in the Last Meter. You might delude yourself into thinking that you are doing no wrong, that the guy coming from the right is in fact maliciously coming straight at you - you are just waiting for the signal to turn green! 'Why is he making those angry gestures' you might wonder! There is no white line to signal start of the junction, no lane for pedestrians to cross at the junction - no wonder traffic is Darwinian in its mood and method.
Lastly, I wonder whether people even know that they are creating the Last Meter. Or are they just thinking of escaping the hell that's Mumbai roads vs. worrying about the hell that they are creating. What's more, even if they were well meaning, do they know what the right way is? At a time, when driving license is a matter of Rs. 500 and a contact, who even knows traffic rules. In fact it's a wonder that people stop at all at a red signal. It won't be unimaginable for them to run at red like raging bulls - in fact some actually do that!
The Last Meter is symptomatic of India. There are no clear boundaries and no clear rules. Everything is negotiable - from the traffic signal to the traffic cop. Well, if the Nuke deal can comfortably rest on the Last Meter, how can you blame the poor guy with the Maruti 800?!
3 comments:
I guess the feeling of racing past the signal before the amber turns to green, a good 50M lead, with no other vehicle even threatening to come close, is motivation enough for a lot of Last Meter'ers :)
Happens more in the case of the bikers and sub 22 yr olds, i guess!
ps: loved the 'temptation' post!
It is I, me, myself and each man for himself. And it has to do with the other topic you are so fond of - education - or rather it's failure to teach civic sense.
Come to Bangalore and you will feel grateful that you live in Bombay. At least the downtown there is disciplined.
Have you also observed that everone is overtaking everyone else. We hate to follow another car. if he goes at 45 I have to go at 48. If he goes at 48, then 52 is right for me :).
Srivathsa
here to claim my royalty for likening auto rickshaws to cockroaches. oops i forgot, now that i am in india, i must unlearn the concept of IP.
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