Vinay Kumaran

I've done a fair bit of driving since I've come to the US. I drove from Pittsburgh to Ann Arbor to Brooklyn (in Michigan) to Cleveland and back again to Pittsburgh and more recently, to New Jersey and back to Pittsburgh. It did not take long to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road or using units of measurements which make no sense (miles). In most cases, I found that the speed limits posted on the roads were sensible limits and more or less the speed I considered to be reasonably safe. Unfortunately, nearly everyone else on the road wanted to drive considerably faster than the posted speed limit. There were periods of time when I found a truck driving at the speed limit (for cars) in the slow lane and I was able to spend long periods of time behind the truck without having to worry about being overtaken or changing lanes. At other times, I found myself on State Highways with only a single lane. Here I determinedly drove at the speed limit (typically 35 or 45 miles...

As I drove from Pittsburgh to Ann Arbor yesterday, I was ruminating on the differences between road traffic in India and that in the US. The highways are generally good although it seems to me that they are not in as good condition as they were 10 years ago. Maybe Trump has a point when he talks about decaying infrastructure. The speed I felt was safe was about 90 to 100 kmph. However it was impossible to drive at that speed even in the slow lane on the right. Trucks (which are supposed to have a speed limit of about 85) would come right up behind me, then swing over to the faster lane (which they are not supposed to do in most stretches of the highway) and swing back into the slow lane sufficiently close to my car to emphasize that they were not happy about having to perform the maneuver. Those trucks are huge. We passed one truck which was carrying five more trucks. It was like a rigid train. I changed tactics and increased my speed to just under the speed limit. The speed limit i...