If you are going to travel to India and plan to drive there, you should be prepared to Indian difficult traffic and road conditions. First of all, you have to know that India has left-hand traffic. It means that drivers sit on the right hand side of their cars and drive on the left hand side of the road. Like any other country in the world, India has the official traffic laws, and you will have penalties, if you:

• Drive without a valid National driving permit and International Driver License, or valid insurance, fitness, or registration certificate;
• Drive an unregistered vehicle;
• Drive on the red light;
• Don’t wear a seatbelt when drive;
• Ride without a helmet;
• Don’t drive in a proper lane;
• Drive on footpath or in the center and not to left side;
• Drive against “One Way”;
• Take “U” turn during outlawed hours;
• Don’t decelerate at intersection;
• Stop at pedestrian crossing or cross a “Stop Line”;
• Violate of “Yellow” or “Stop” lines, or mandatory signs;
• Violate of the mandatory signs: “One Way”, “No Left Turn”, “No Right Turn”, and “No Horn” ;
• Drive without the horn or silencer;
• Drive against the police signal or disobey a traffic police officer in uniform;
• Exceed the prescribed speed limit;
• Drive without light after sunset;
• Overtake from a wrong side;
• Drive under influence of alcohol or drugs;
• Use call phone while driving;
• Smoke in the car;
• Leave your vehicle in the unsafe position or with a functioning engine;
• Play music while driving;
• Drive with a defective registration plate or without it;
• Park your vehicle on a taxi stand, footpath, pedestrian crossing, bridge, traffic island, or “No Parking Area”, or at any corner, or in front of a gate, or within 15 meters on either side of a bus stop.

It is not all traffic infractions for which you may be fined and even deported. Along with official traffic laws in India, there are unwritten traffic rules on the road. Below, you can read helpful advices for who are going to drive in India:

• All the time carry your national driving permit, International Driver license, and vehicle registration certificate, and insurance.
• You can drive with your International driver license up to one year.
• Reed your insurance carefully and completely; avoid accidents at all costs.
• In India, the minimum driving age is 16 years for motorcycles and 18 for all other vehicles.
• Be careful; drivers can turn without signals.
• On Indian roads many cycles, bullock-carts, rickshaws, and others slowly moving vehicles; be ready to use your brakes any time.
• Religious processions can hold up traffic; you should take an alternative route.
• Roads in small towns and villages only have one line. When another vehicle is coming towards you, you should move to the left so your car can only take half of the road.
• Be careful, on wide roads small cars may move on the wrong side.
• Public always sympathize with a smaller car driver; therefore, if accident happen you should call to police for the avoidance of beating from crowd.
• Use your turn signals beforehand.
• Don’t change lanes when you are in the middle of an intersection.
• Maintain a comfortable distance between a vehicle ahead and your car. Distance between two vehicles should not be more than 5 meters.
• Don’t expect any assistance if you have an accident. Avoid any accident; even negligible physical injuries may have heavy consequence over untimely medical care.
• Don't hit the cows; they can be anywhere in the street.
• On Indian roads, there are no differentiations between lines for slower moving vehicles.
• You may visit one of transportation department offices to clarify traffic rules.
• On country roads, Indians often drive in the middle of the road.
• National highways are overcrowded with trucks, buses and cars.
• When you drive in cities, be extremely careful since big cities have so much traffic, noise, and chaos. Concentrate your attention on what is in front of you. In most Indian cities, many people don’t use the pedestrian crossings and may across the road in front of your vehicle without warning. Children or animals may come in your way. Other drivers may suddenly swerve or stop without any signals before; for some of them lanes don’t have any significance. Buses are hazard too. They may suddenly swerve to the edge or slow move, and some passengers may jump off, other jump on.
• In India, speed limit for most roads is 50 km/h; for national highways, 60 km/h; for super highways with toll gates, 80 km/h; for flyovers, 40 km/h; and for residential areas, 25 km/h.
• The front and rear windows of the cars must have at least 70% visibility and the side windows 50%. The front window should be laminated safety glass.
• You should not get too close to another vehicle.
• Driving and drinking is prohibited. For the first time, if you are caught by the Police, you would fine and jail up to six months. Next time, punishment will be severer.
• Overtake from right-hand side, except when vehicle ahead is turning right.
• Pedestrians have right of way at any pedestrian crossings.
• It is prohibited to cross the yellow line.
• Don’t park your vehicle: at a road or pedestrian crossing, traffic light, bend, top of a hill or bridge; on a footpath, roads without a broken line or the wrong side of the road; alongside or as obstruction to other parked vehicle; near a bus stop, school or hospital entrance, or fire hydrant.
• Don’t take the U-turn in places where it is prohibited and on busy traffic roads.
• Avoid driving at night; it is dangerous to drive when on-coming vehicles don’t dim their bright headlights or don’t have them. Moreover, there are many slow moving or stopped vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians.
• Always have spare headlight bulbs; bumpy roads can disable your headlight bulbs.
• Be careful at intersections, some of the red lights may not work.
• You may see drivers jumping red lights; it is illegal.
• Look on both sides of the road while turning, you may find vehicles on the wrong side.
• Seat belts are required for driver and passengers in front seats.

In spite of warnings about Indian road traffic, India is a fantastic country to travel. Be careful on the road and enjoy your trip.
India Road Traffic Signs
India Road Marking

 Driving Overseas - Short Information