Today as we were driving on Radhakrishnan road, just at the signal where the road touches the beach, the traffic lights flashed red and the vehicles ground to a halt. We suddenly heard a thud and turned around to see what was wrong. A bike following some distance behind did not have time to halt and butted into the car in front and toppled over. The poor man was hurt in the thigh and we got down, the crowds surrounded him and it seemed like he had no major injuries though he was obviously in discomfort.
The car driver was more upset that his car had been knocked against. A passing autorickshaw driver remarked, 'all four in the car are drunk!' Evidently the anger of the car driver was not so much because his car had been hit, rather because he wished to preempt the mobike driver , just in case of trouble. His buddies shushed him up and took him aside. The biker slowly hobbled away to a quiet spot to nurse his aches and pains and we made off, as the signal changed colour.

This is not an uncommon scene these days. I often have my heart in my throat when riding on a bike these days. People driving much above speed limits and bikers zigzaging past a static traffic are the very devil. Even if you avoid getting intimidated it seems like most of the time you survive on the trust you place in the other person's capacity to zig peacefully. Some good means of enforcing road manners must be evolved.