Drive:

700 meters from Palarivattom to ByePass and it takes 35minutes to cover that.Same with Padamugal to Vazhakala or Kakkanad to CEPZ.

In Europe or States I definately think it is a pleasure to drive. Everyone is patient and curteous. There's not honking, roads are good and the enforcement of the law is serious.

In India, the main problem is population,narrow roads and number of vehicles on the road which makes it a huge excercise in logistics to manage. The roads are bad, and people not educated in the ways of traffic to know that the more orderly they are, the better and faster the ride will be.

I think the govt should take themselves and our laws seriously and enforce the laws no matter what it takes. Have a digitized online driver points system that is linked to the amount of insurance they pay. The more violations / accidents = more points = higher insurance. Improve roads and awareness.
Start spending some real money on this (smartly) and it will pay for itself in lesser pollution, fuel consumption and time spent on the roads rather than at work.

The unwritten law of the road is “FILL IN THE GAPS”. However, that keeps the driver always on alert ready to stop or swerve at any point. Compared to this, driving in the US or Europe can be a BIG BORE. It tests your patience waiting for the cars in front of you to move after the light turns green. Each driver has his/her own response time and imaginary distance to be kept between the next car. The left turn light can be a nightmare at a busy intersection. While, in India -the entire block of traffic starts moving 15 seconds before the opposite light turns yellow - that is Indian efficiency…! And there is the thunder or horning before the actual move. The rickshaw and taxi-wallahs have mastered the art of “wading” through the traffic with wafer-thin margins employing efficiencies of space, time and gas - leaving all others dumbfounded.

Walk overs. Fly overs. Metro lines. All projects saw ground struck months ago, yet precious little progress has been made and even if done, don't think it can match that in other developed countries any time soon.

OOps and with the increase in number of vehicles and traffic - feel sorry, there are no footpaths and bylines to drive bi-cycles. Wish people understood the importance of space to walk, ride cycles - which would benefit the environment as well as the health of individuals. Moreover where and how do we part the vehicles? Once parked, how do we take them out?