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‘Always on phone’: Foreign traveller questions Indian drivers’ behaviour in viral post
A viral Reddit post highlighted a foreign traveller’s take on Indian drivers.
A Reddit post has caught attention after a foreign traveller shared his experience with Indian car drivers. The traveller, who recently spent several weeks in India, spoke about what he found unusual while travelling with different private drivers in India.
Shared by @BarroCastillo on Reddit, the post was captioned “Help a foreigner understand two things about Indian drivers.”
The viral post has sparked a lot of discussion online, with many users agreeing, disagreeing, or trying to explain the reasons behind such driving habits in India.
Foreigner questions Indian drivers' behaviour:
The post claims that in cities, drivers seemed to rush, trying to get ahead of every other car, even overtaking on blind corners or going the wrong way.
But once on the highways, he noticed a big change. Despite wide, smooth toll roads with clear views, all his drivers drove much slower than the speed limit, around 70 to 80 km/h, even when the speed limit was 100 or 120 km/h.
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The traveller found it confusing that drivers were so careful on highways but drove more recklessly in cities just to save a few seconds.
Another thing that surprised the traveller was how often drivers were on the phone. He estimated that during his 30 to 40 hours of car travel, drivers were talking on the phone for about 80 percent of the time.
"What can they possibly be talking about for so long? Do they maybe have other jobs or run other businesses while they're driving?" he questions.
Check out the post here:
Reddit users responded with a mix of agreement, humour, and cultural insight.
One of the users, @neenayal, commented, “Good observation. Welcome to India.”
A second user, @Rauly28, commented, “The primary reason is that standardised driving rules were never enforced over decades. And still isn't. They were outdated as well till about the mid-2000s.”
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Another user, @rudderstock, commented, “As for the phone calls, consider it as a buddy system. Keeping each other awake on night shifts, keeping track of each other. Beat the boredom.”
Others praised the traveller’s polite tone and curiosity, turning the post into a broader conversation about habits, safety, and culture on Indian roads.
