(Audrey) Reading the stats on how many people are killed every year in car accidents in India is a sobering task. The numbers came out recently that an average of 14 people in India died every hour in 2008 on roads (1.18 lakh overall). As might be expected, Delhi is one of the worst offenders. A combination of the city’s awful traffic and total lack of any driving laws, I suppose. You might think: well, driving in India may be unsafe, but only people like Audrey and Thane are crazy enough to actually drive in a madhouse like Delhi, if they’d just walk they’d be fine. But there, you would be mistaken. In fact, around 30 percent of road deaths in Delhi are of pedestrians. A few dozen were even killed in 2008 from falling into manholes. A comparative stat—You were more likely to get killed by car while walking around this city in 2008 than you were just to be murdered outright. In other words, pedestrian fatalities exceed murders in Delhi. And did I mention that Delhi also has a bad reputation for crime?
It’s a sad legacy of modernity that so many die on roads, not just in India but around the world. And it should be noted that while India is notoriously bad, I’m still more likely at my age to be killed by a car accident in America than by any other means. Driving may be the most unsafe thing I ever do in this country or, really, anywhere in the world.
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