Car Rental
In India you drive on the left hand side of the road, but don't count on this basic rule being followed by everyone. It is not unusual to find someone driving in the opposite direction on a dual carriageway or a motorway. It is advisable get an international driving permit if you want to drive yourself in India. The police enjoy catching foreign tourists without a valid international permit. They are mostly interested in the "donation" you will be forced to pay to get them to look the other way.
The main roads are narrow and in poor conditions, most of them lacking overpasses for intersecting roads. Pedestrians, animals, bicycles, ox carts and tractors all use the road, even children use the road as a playing ground and during harvest times people spread grain and other crops on the road to dry. Pot holes and speed breaker bumps are common, and rarely marked. Rocks are commonly left on the road by a truck that has blocked its wheels while stopped to repair a tire.
It is also unbelievable the crazy things other drivers are capable of until you have driven there. People overtake blind corners. They swerve blindly in traffic. They come off side roads at full speed and join the traffic flow without even looking. They barrel down the middle of a one lane road playing chicken - forcing anyone smaller off on the shoulder. It is not uncommon that there are 15 people plus in an indian car, this among other things means that one person is working the steering wheel while another works the breaks or accelerator.
Driving in India in full daylight is a real challenge that takes nerves of steel, but at night it becomes almost unbearable. You face on-coming traffic with astonishingly bright headlights. Few well dim them, and many more will flash you as they pass. Some vehicles run with only one light, and more than a few with no lights at all. Slow moving vehicles, stopped vehicles, ox carts, bicycles and pedestrians may not be visible, neither will the many road hazards, so DON'T drive at night.
