Traveling in India is an almost hallucinatory mixture of sound and
sight. It is frequently heart-rending, sometimes hilarious, mostly
exhilarating, always unforgettable - and, when you are on the roads,
extremely dangerous.
Most Indian road users observe a version of the Highway Code based
on some ancient text or on the position of the moon. In general the 12
rules of the Indian road code are:

ARTICLE I

The assumption of immortality is required of all road users.

ARTICLE II

The following Order of Precedence must be accorded at all times.
In descending order give way to: cows, elephants, heavy trucks, buses,
official cars, camels, light trucks, buffalo, jeeps, ox-carts, private cars,
motorcycles, scooters, auto-rickshaws, pigs, pedal rickshaws, goats,
bicycles carrying goods, handcarts, bicycles carrying passenger(s), dogs,
pedestrians.

ARTICLE III

All wheeled vehicles shall be driven in accordance with the maxim:
to slow is to falter, to brake is to fail, to stop is defeat. This is the
Indian drivers' mantra.

ARTICLE IV

Use of horn:
Cars (IV, 1, a-c): Short blasts indicate supremacy, i.e. in
clearing dogs, rickshaws and pedestrians from path. Long blasts denote
supplication, i.e. to oncoming truck, "I am going too fast to stop, so
unless you slow down we shall both die". In extreme cases this may be
accompanied by flashing of headlights. Single casual blast means "I have
seen someone out of India's 870 million people whom I recognize", "There is
a bird in the road (which at this ...