Hacker News Reader

Comment by rrrazdan | Hacker News Reader

Having been exposed to more sane systems I can't begin to think how the Indian system can improve.

- Bad reckless drivers who don't know any better.

- Bad road design. Gurgaon has an expressway running through the city, whose exits and entrance were designed by a madman.

- Unsafe vehicles. Seltos sold in India has a 2 star child safety rating. Same car in Australia is a 5 star.

- Culture of fatalism. "My life is not in my hand, but in God's hand".

View on HN

The fatalism culture is probably one of the biggest problems to overcome. A family member told me of witnessing a terrible car accident in Bahrain and the first thing which happened, instead of tending to the wounded, was to get down a pray. The vital moments where a life could be saved are replaced by religious acts asking a deity to help. To a westerner this seemed absurd!

One big lesson that India needs to learn from saner countries is consistent and impartial law enforcement. I am not talking about just traffic deaths, but across all problems. India has to get that right first, and then all the other problems will solve themselves.

Delhi has started rolling out traffic cameras in more places (most notably in farther south Delhi) and Uber drivers have been noticeably careful to not speed in these places. They have local apps telling them all the spots the speed cameras now already though (that was fast)

Consistent and impartial law enforcement is rare. You are probably counting America among “saner countries” but I can tell you that numerous cities, particularly west coast cities that are practicing “restorative justice” or declare themselves as a “sanctuary city”, are definitely not practicing consistent, impartial, or sane law enforcement.

What India is experiencing is more of a general lack of law enforcement period rather than partiality. In poorer countries this is especially true for “low level” crimes - like littering. Although it is fashionable for social justice types to decry “broke windows theory” it is definitely real in countries like India, where the allowance of some crimes really sets a broad cultural tone that numerous crimes can be excused or overlooked or normalized.

I don't know the ground reality of how things work in USA. The impression I get is that it is better than India. In my experience, western Europe gets it right. When I wrote about impartiality, I was referring to how Indian govt. officials get a free pass for all kinds of activities ranging from inconsiderate to criminal.

maybe - economy

I can attribute most developing world to economy. Once you have enough money, everything changes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com