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Comment by windex | Hacker News Reader

The Indian taxation system is partly to blame. It encourages sub-standard and very unsafe cars. I hear almost everything associated with vehicles is taxed to the high heavens and manufacturers skimp on safety to make the cars affordable to the middle class who anyway are taxed like crazy. As a consequence the most popular cars are the most unsafe with 0 star ratings in crash tests.

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Taxation has nothing to do with it. Indian drivers are reckless. Crash tests are useless when Indian drivers are running over people.

There are countries that crash test pedestrian safety in crashes before certifying vehicles for sale; that wouldn't be useless here. Neither India not the US for that matter do so though.

> Taxation has nothing to do with it. > Indian drivers are reckless.

I will assume it's a bit of both. Especially if your car is worth $5, most people will treat it as such. And they will perform maintenance service worth 25 cents.

I was in Bangalore/Bangaluru some years back. I have only seen worse driving in Egypt! (imagine Carmageddon II grade driving)

Regarding the cars, I remember that Tata wanted to bring their car to the world, except for the fact that it was a coffin with wheels [0].

"Rohit Baluja, President of India’s Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) said: “These results show that India would benefit enormously from the introduction of minimum crash safety standards..."

A country that doesn't have "minimum crash safety standards" simply does not care for its citizens, whether they lived or died. Article is from 2014.

[0]: http://www.globalncap.org/tata-nano-offers-zero-star-safety-...

Tata now though have better safety standards cars than other manufactures some global ones in India.

For the sake of everyone on this planet, I surely hope they do. But living in Europe, and reading something like that in 2014, it will be VERY difficult to change my mind and ignore so many other car producers with (far better) safety record for a Tata. I would prefer to buy a used 2010 VW Golf for e.g. $3k than a brand new Tata for $3k.

Either way, I am very interested (as I believe we all are) to see how all gas/petrol cars will be replaced by electric in the next 20 years. And with the rise of technology, sensors, self-driving and other functionalities (e.g. cars tracking one-another in real time) we will care 'less' for crash-related safety, if we see that crashes are drastically reduced.

Then we can have lighter and faster cars, with more comfort.

Nano has been discontinued. All the latest Tata cars have global ncap 4/5 rating. Whats disappointing is that foreign brands like like VW, Ford don't have 4/5 stars ncap rating cars in india.

If cars were cheaper due to less taxes, people would just pocket the savings instead of spending on safety features. Seatbelts are standard in all modern cars, yet many don't even wear them. Imagine if they were optional too.

You need regulation --- and more importantly enforcement --- to improve any road safety culture here.

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